IMPACT - Switzerland
3 Rue Varembé, 1202 Geneva, Suisse.
May 13, 2016
Dr Margaret Chan
Director General
WHO, Geneva, Suisse.
SUBJECT: MIND BODY MEDICINE – SPIEGEL FIVE MINUTE PAIN CONTROL PROGRAM AND EPIDEMIC ADDICTION
Dear Dr Chan:
I am still trying hard to help many old people with chronic pain with MBM. May I ask for your help?
With your kind permission, may I briefly present to you the new pain control program by Professor David Spiegel of Stanford University?
It is increasingly recognized that pain control has relied excessively on pharmaceuticals, leading to excessive medications and epidemic addiction with critical outcomes. Thus non-pharmaceutical options, long neglected, are now considered with much greater interest.
One drawback which was always held against these non-medicinal options was that they needed long counselling and training sessions. What is unique in Professor Spiegel’s program is that it can be learned and used effectively, in just 15 minutes.
The program is based on years of research by Professor Spiegel, a world authority on Mind Body Medicine, and director of the Stanford University Center on Stress & Health.
The program video, audio and script are freely available on:

The program is presented to WHO to encourage increasing use of Mind Body Medicine, as a natural part of basic primary health care.
Attached is some research data and the brief two-page script, which can be easily converted into other languages. Rapid learning can be achieved by simply repeating the five-minute video three times, and then simple practice. Then repeat the routine many times until you make it work for you, in your own way.
As background information, you may be interested to view:
-A Stanford University research video on Mind Body Health Care with Professor David Spiegel, available at:
-.
- A video by Dr Maggie Phillips on stress reduction available at:
-
How to get WHO to support more Mind Body Medicine and this simple pain control program, translated and used in many languages? Your advice would be appreciated.
Perhaps briefly test the program for just 15 minutes? It may surprise you? Such a gentle way to help old (and even younger) people to manage acute and chronic pain, without fear of addiction.
IMPACT - Switzerland is part of the Impact Foundation in London () which has a long history of cooperation with WHO programs for disability prevention, since it was founded by the blind Sir John and Lady Wilson in 1982.
Thus your support for the free Spiegel five minute pain control program would be welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Bob Boland
Impactswitzerland.ch
EX UN. 33450408982
Literature on Hypnosis and Hypnotic Analgesia (Mind Body Medicine)
Provided by David Spiegel, M.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine - May 1, 2016
Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention, referred to as absorption [1] coupled with dissociation, compartmentalization of experience, and a heightened response to social cues [2]. Hypnotizability is a measurable trait [3], which is stable throughout adulthood (r2 = .7 test-retest correlation over 25 years) [4].
Hypnosis is a highly effective analgesic for both acute [5, 6] and chronic [7-9] pain. The brain basis of hypnosis and its use in pain control are now much better understood. Hypnotic analgesia instructions reduce the amplitude of both early (P100 and P200) as well as late (P300) components of the brain somatosensory evoked response [10,11].
The degree of pain experienced under hypnotic suggestion is positively correlated with DLPFC, dACC, and insular activity in the brain [12]. Conversely, hypnotic analgesia specifically directed at pain affect (‘the pain will not bother you’) is associated with reduced activity in the dACC [13].
These findings are consistent with evidence of higher functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the dACC among high as compared with low hypnotizable individuals [14].
References:
1. Tellegen A, Atkinson G. Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences ("absorption"), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility. J Abnorm Psychol. 1974;83(3):268-277.
2. Elkins GR, Barabasz AF, Council JR, Spiegel D. Advancing research and practice: the revised APA Division 30 definition of hypnosis. The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis. 2015;63(1):1-9.
3. Spiegel H, Spiegel D. Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2004.4. Piccione C, Hilgard ER, Zimbardo PG. On the degree of stability of measured hypnotizability over a 25-year period. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1989;56(2):289-295.
5. Lang EV, Benotsch EG, Fick LJ, et al. Adjunctive non-pharmacological analgesia for invasive medical procedures: a randomised trial. The Lancet. 2000;355:1486-1490.
6. Butler LD, Symons BK, Henderson SL, Shortliffe LD, Spiegel D. Hypnosis reduces distress and duration of an invasive medical procedure for children. Pediatrics. 2005;115(1):e77-85.
7. Spiegel D. The mind prepared: hypnosis in surgery. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2007;99(17):1280-1281.
8. Butler LD, Koopman C, Neri E, et al. Effects of supportive-expressive group therapy on pain in women with metastatic breast cancer. Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association. 2009;28(5):579-587.
9. Spiegel D, Bloom JR. Group therapy and hypnosis reduce metastatic breast carcinoma pain. Psychosom Med. 1983;45(4):333-339.
10. Spiegel D, Bierre P, Rootenberg J. Hypnotic alteration of somatosensory perception. Am J Psychiatry. 1989;146(6):749-754.
11. De Pascalis V, Varriale V, Cacace I. Pain modulation in waking and hypnosis in women: event-related potentials and sources of cortical activity. PloS one. 2015;10(6):e0128474.
12. Raij TT, Numminen J, Narvanen S, Hiltunen J, Hari R. Strength of prefrontal activation predicts intensity of suggestion-induced pain. Hum Brain Mapp. 2009;30(9):2890-2897.
13. Rainville P, Duncan GH, Price DD, Carrier B, Bushnell MC. Pain affect encoded in human anterior cingulate but not somatosensory cortex. Science. 1997;277(5328):968-971.
14. Hoeft F, Gabrieli JD, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, et al. Functional brain basis of hypnotizability. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012;69(10):1064-1072.
RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS FOR MIND BODY MEDICINE
Benson Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine, Harvard University Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA.
University of Maryland Medicine Center, Baltimore, USA.
Stanford Center on Stress and Health, Stanford University Medical School, San Francisco, USA.
Note: The list of Mind Body interventions includes: hypnosis, acupuncture, chiropractice, meditation, massage, meditation, osteopathy, prayer, Tai chi, Yoga and many others, with varying levels of research validation.

SCRIPT OF THE BRIEF FIVE MINUTE VIDEO

NOTE: After the first five minute video, personalize the source of the pain from the right KNEE (in the video) to your PPA - personal pain area

  1. Close the eyes and take a deep breath. Then do three things: breath out, and keep eyes closed with body relaxed. Then just let one hand or the other float up into the air. That is your signal to me and to yourself, that you are ready to concentrate. That’s good. All the way up higher and higher
  1. Now your hand floating upwards, is your signal to me that you are ready to concentrate. Each breath deeper and easier. Body floating safe and comfortable.
  1. Now with the eyes closed and remaining in this state of concentration, describe how your body is feeling right now.

(response).

  1. Where do you picture yourself being, right now?

(response)

  1. In space, OK. Now I want you to imagine right now, that your right KNEE (PPA) feels a sense of cooling numbness. With a cool breeze or some ice resting on your KNEE (PPA) and your leg.
  1. So you feel a sense of cool deepening numbness? Deeper…and deeper into both KNEES (PPA). FILTERING the hurt out of the pain. With each breath deeper and easier. FILTERING the hurt out of the pain.
  1. Now again with your eyes closed and remaining in the state of concentration, please describe how your body is feeling right now.

(response)

What do you feel in the right KNEE (PPA)

(response)

  1. Let’s imagine your right KNEE (PPA) can feel lighter and lighter. And you feel that sense of cool tingling NUMBNESS. So that your right KNEE (PPA) comes to feel more and more like your left.
  1. You are floating in space. And your right KNEE (PPA) and right leg are feeling more and more comfortable. Don’t feel the hurt in the pain. Each breath is deeper and deeper.
  1. How is your KNEE (PPA) feeling right now?

(response)

Good. Lighter and lighter. FILTERING THE HURT OUT OF THE PAIN. Are you having any discomfort?

(response)

Is it feeling heavy or in pain?

(response)

See if you can make that feel lighter too.

  1. You are imagining that you are floating in space. Your whole body feeling lighter and lighter. See if you can make that left arm feel lighter too. It wants to go up. And you feel a buzzing sense of cool tingling numbness.
  1. FILTER THE HURT OUT OF THE PAIN. How is your arm feeling now?

(response)

Now how about your right KNEE (PPA)? Light? Comfortable?

Huge breath deeper and deeper. And now come back again here…

  1. So that is the way to do this exercise, so that you can practice it any time the pain starts to bother you. End of video script.

VIDEO LEARNING NOTES:

  1. After the first five minute video practice, personalize in your mind the source of pain from the right KNEE (in the video) to your PPA - particular personal pain area.
  1. Thus in each second and third 5 minute video practice, feel the video to be your personal source of learning, designed by you alone.
  1. After the third video practice, feel free to exercise your program without the video, several times in one day. Thus to develop your CONFIDENCE and personal SKILL in Mind Body Medicine, to control your pain easily in the future.
  1. Occasionally reinforce yourlearning using the video as needed.