To highlight the effects of hypnotic focused analgesia (HFA), 20 healthy participants underwent a cold pressor test (CPT) in waking basal conditions (WBC) by keeping the right hand in icy water until tolerable (pain tolerance); subjective pain was quantified by visual scale immediately before extracting the hand from water. The test was then repeated while the participants were under hypnosis and underwent HFA suggestions. Cardiovascular parameters were continuously monitored. Pain tolerance was 121.5+/-96.1 sec in WBC and 411.0+/-186.7 sec during HFA (p < 0.0001), and visual rating score 7.75+/-2.29 and 2.45+/-2.98 (p < 0.0001), respectively. CPT-induced increase of total peripheral resistance was non significant during HFA and +21% (p < 0.01) in WBC. HFA therefore reduced both perception and the reflex cardiovascular consequences of pain as well. This indicates that hypnotic analgesia implies a decrease of sensitivity and/or a block of transmission of painful stimuli, with depression of the nervous reflex arc.

Hypnotic focused analgesia (HFA) induces local anesthesia. The possibility to induce hypnotic general anesthesia (HGA) has never been investigated. An experimental study was conducted with 10 highly-hypnotizable young volunteers to compare the effects of HFA and those, if any, of HGA on pain perception and its reflex consequences. Pain tolerance was measured through the mA of current necessary to induce maximum tolerable pain, and sympathetic discharge through the response of peripheral resistance (PR). All experienced pain reduction at the maximum ESMN during HFA (-75%, p<0.0001) and HGA (-87%, p<0.0001) in comparison to prehypnosis; 4 during HFA and 7 during HGA reported complete analgesia. The pain tolerance increased by 68% and by 101% (p=0.034), respectively. In prehypnosis, a 65.8% increase of the forearm PR was observed during maximum tolerable pain. Lower variations of PR were observed during HFA and no variations during HGA. HGA therefore exists and prevents pain perception and its consequences.

The means by which information can be transmitted in hypnosis are debated. Aim of this pilot study was to induce and maintain hypnosis without the hypnotist and the subject being in the same room. In other words, we wanted to clarify, using measurable outcomes, if the hypnotic message could be conveyed through an electronic device. We studied 6 young healthy highly hypnotizable volunteers. After a session aimed at creating the rapport, each participant underwent an experimental session consisting in the execution of a cold pressor test (CTP) in basal awake condition, during hypnotic focused analgesia in the presence of the hypnotist (HFA-P) and during hypnotic focused analgesia suggested via transceiver (HFA-R). Cardiovascular monitoring was performed throughout the session. Perceived pain intensity and hemodynamic parameters during the CPT (baseline, 1 st minute, end of the test) in the three phases of the experimental session were compared with paired t-test. During both HFA-P and HFA-R, perceived pain was nullified. The times of permanence in icy water significantly increased in comparison to non-hypnotic condition by 369.2% in HFA-P and by 394.3% in HFA-R. The systolic blood pressure × heart rate product increased in non-hypnotic conditions (+27.8%, p < 0.01, at the 1 st minute; +35.3%, p = 0.01, at the end) but not during HFA-P (−1% and −0.2%, NS) or HFA-R (+7.3% and −1.6%, NS). In conclusion, hypnosis induced and maintained via transceiver was equivalent to that in the presence of the hypnotist. The hypnotic information therefore turned out to be more important than the means chosen to transmit it.

Hypnotic focused analgesia, comparable to chemical local anesthesia, has been widely documented in our Laboratory after hypnotic suggestions. This study is aimed at producing hypnotic local anesthesia suggesting that a hand does not belong to the body (body dysmorphism) without any direct suggestions of analgesia. Eight healthy, highly hypnotizable volunteers underwent a cold pressor test keeping left hand at 0 °C, a painful maneuver, being free to stop the test at any time. Such procedure was repeated after hypnotic induction with suggestion of dysmorphism. The highest pain reached at the first minute and at the end of the experiment, both in prehypnotic conditions and during dysmorphism, was subjectively quantified through a decimal visual scale. The objective measure of local anesthesia was based on time of tolerance and on reflex response to pain. During dysmorphism, pain perception was 92.5% lower at 1st minute and 87.5% lower at the end of the experiment (highest tolerable pain) than in prehypnotic conditions, and nullified in 5 subjects (62%). Tolerance to pain (minutes of voluntary immersion in icy water) increased by 315%. While in prehypnotic conditions pain produced a reflex increase in blood pressure, heart rate and resistance, no increase was found during dysmorphism. Hypnotic dysmorphism without any specific suggestion of analgesia reduced and often nullified subjective pain perception. Objective pain tolerance contextually raised, and the reflex stimulation of the sympathetic drive was prevented. Analgesia produced through hypnotic dysmorphism is therefore not a mere consequence of dissociation but a real physiological phenomenon.

People living in Rovigo were at lower CV risk than those in Castelfranco Veneto and Chioggia, mainly due to lower BP values, better lipid pattern and lower prevalence of CV and pulmonary disease.