Analgesia

• Analgesia is described as the inability to feel pain. In terms of hypnosis this means that the hypnotist gives you suggestions that make you unable to feel any pain. Even though the pain is gone, you still have other sensations and may even still be aware that there is something wrong with your body part that was previously in pain. According to Roberta Temes, Ph.D, in her Guide to Hypnosis, this has been shown to be the most effective form of hypnosis for pain relief.
  
  

Transformation

• This technique works by using a form of visualization in which you see your pain as a physical object. Once you can visualize the object in your mind, the hypnotist may have you throw it away, shrink it into nothing, or pour it down the drain, for example. Once you have done this you should feel the pain leave your body, since it was eliminated when you got rid of the object that represented it.
  
  

Age Regression and Progression

• Your hypnotist may choose to have you go forward or backward to a time where there is no pain. If you have been in pain for a long time, he may have you go back to a time before you were in pain. Alternatively, your hypnotist may have you visualize a time in the future when you are no longer in pain. This can be an especially useful technique for those who are discouraged by their pain.
  
  

Reframing

• Reframing your pain basically gets your mind to look at the pain from a different perspective. This technique will not actually take the pain away, but instead makes the pain bother you less. This may also make you have a positive reaction to pain instead of a negative one. This technique is helpful for people who have pain in many parts of their body and are not able to focus on just one area.
  
  

Visualization

• Visualization is used for lessening pain rather than eliminating it. Specifically, this technique is meant for those who need to feel the pain on some level for medical reasons. The hypnotist has you visualize yourself in a situation where you are enjoying yourself so much that the pain doesn't seem to matter. Once you have come out of the trance, these feelings will continue, causing the pain to be less intense, less bothersome and not nearly as important.