• Agnès Langlade, Claire Jussiau, Laurent Lamonerie, Emmanuel Marret, and Francis Bonnet.
• Anesthetic Department and Pain Clinic, Tenon Hospital, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France.
• Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2002 Jan 1; 27 (1): 43-6.

Background And ObjectivesHypnosis has been reported to induce analgesia and to facilitate anesthesia. To date, hypnotic-induced analgesia has had little explanation and it has even been questioned. The current study was thus designed to investigate the effect of hypnotic suggestion on thermal-detection thresholds, heat pain, and heat-pain tolerance thresholds.MethodsIn 15 healthy volunteers, enrolled in a randomized cross-over study, thermal thresholds were investigated in 2 sequences of measurements, under waking and hypnotic states, using a thermal stimulator.ResultsHeat detection and heat-pain thresholds were increased under hypnosis (from 34.3 +/-.9 degrees C to 36.0 +/- 2.9 degrees C and 45.0 +/- 3.7 degrees C to 46.7 +/- 2.7 degrees C, respectively, P <.05), whereas heat-pain tolerance and cold-detection thresholds were not statistically changed.ConclusionThese results indicate that hypnosis may partly impair the detection of A delta and C fibers stimulation, potentially explaining its analgesic effect.

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