Hypnosis: An Experiment In Pain

Following on from our earlier article about the new television series Medicine Med Go Wild, last night the pain episode was broadcast on Channel 4. This episode was to investigate why people react differently to pain and how they can cope without painkillers.

The two doctors travelled to Kuala Lumpur to a religious Hindu festival. The devotees believe that if they honour their god by remaining celibate, eating nothing but fruit and stay teetotal, they will be able to enter a blissful hypnotic trance and will not bleed, will feel no pain and will not scar. We saw a boy of no more than twelve years old with a surprisingly blunt skewer shoved in a rather rough fashion through his tongue and then another skewer through both his cheeks.

You could tell both doctors were nervous as they prepared to follow this ordeal. Despite Xand having spent a week preparing in the traditional manner, both doctors felt the pain as the skewer was pushed through their tongues and then their cheeks. The pain did not subside as they walked the two kilometres to the temple before the skewers were removed.

Chris remarked how many of the devotees seemed to enter some kind of hypnosis and did not appear to feel the pain or suffer at all. He wondered how they were achieving this state of mind, so different to their own.

Buddhists claim they can learn to control the mind through meditation, in a process very similar to hypnosis. The doctors visited a buddhist accomplished in the art, who agreed to give them both a demonstration, for the benefit of both themselves and their patients. Sat on the floor of a cold cave, they were told to sit up straight, focus on the tip of nose and relax. Afterwards, both doctors commented how thinking of nothing was much harder than they thought. In the midst of a cold cave and feeling the discomfort in their legs and back, Chris claimed he found at least one minute where he had no issues, a tiny moment of stillness and he wondered if you really could learn to control the mind and handle pain more easily, simply through learning the art of meditation.

One of the doctors, Chris, took every opportunity to practice his meditation at least twice a day, valuing the time away from the usual everyday stress and found that he needed only a few minutes of meditation to feel the benefits. He found the art extremely difficult, comparing the mental discipline required to empty your mind. Compared to his brother Xand, Chris suffered less from the effects of high altitude as they walked for five days up the mountains to visit a Tibetan medicine doctor, Gatso, who teaches the art of Amchi medicine. It becomes clear to the visiting doctors that Gatso is as interested in the mental wellbeing of his patients as he is in the physical.

Chris questioned the medicine man and asked how he deals with pain, to which the doctor responded by saying that he just thinks of more important things. He also said that the heart is the most important thing and what is in your heart will happen so if you believe you are in great pain, then you will feel it.

The doctors still wondered if it was something to do with the Buddhist’s religious belief and so their next visit was to a group of atheists, who follow a similar ritual as the Hindu’s but without any religious beliefs. The doctors watched as large, metal skewers were pushed through the men’s cheeks, chest and back. Xand and Chris closely examined for any signs of pain. They even took a pulse reading at each stage and found it was not only lower than their own, but it didn’t change.

Amazed, they watched as the finale ensued. Two men were suspended by hooks in their back from a wooden merry go round and yet could talk quite contentedly to the doctors, so were not in any kind of hypnosis. Chris remarked that it seems to be something about saying yes this hurts but I’m not going to mind and so he decided to see if he could try a bit of this too.

To test the theory of distraction, Xand talked to Chris, asking him questions about his daily life whilst one of the men inserted a metal hook into the skin of his back. To Chris’ surprise, his pulse remained the same but he was distinctly aware of the pain as the hook entered his body.

Once the hook was in, Chris asked Xand to pull on the hook to see how much weight he could bear. As Chris described it, ‘something suddenly clicked’. Xand asked Chris to not react, to tell him it didn’t hurt as the hook was pulled on his back. To Chris’ amazement, he found the technique worked. The pain didn’t go away but he wasn’t bothered and continued happily for a few more minutes. He said that when he totally relaxed his body, he was so surprised that he seemed almost proud to continue. When they were finished, he didn’t even notice as the hook was removed.

The programme concluded as the doctors summarised their thoughts. It seemed that despite their fears, they learned not how to diminish pain but how to not mind pain. The experiment confirmed what they feel all doctors know but do not realise how much: the mind is incredibly important in human health and suffering. Although they now believe that you cannot stop feeling pain, they do believe that you can learn to control it and this is a skill that can be taught through meditation and hypnosis.

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