October 14, 2025
This Webinar was accessed via membership of The British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis and/or membership of the Royal Society of Medicine, Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Section. (Webinar 11.09.2025)
The host and presenters were:
Dr Sarah Partridge/ RSM President Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine.
Dr Abhijit Das, Consultant Neurologist and Associate Professor, University of Central Lancashire.
Dr Rachel Stockley, Associate Professor in Stroke Recovery.
Dr Anirban Dutta, Professor University of Birmingham.
Charlotte Philips/ Senior Lecturer University of Staffordshire.
This was a superb webinar appertaining to the application of medical hypnosis being provided to patients suffering from a stroke. Including feedback from a patient who received this adjunctive therapy. Utilising well-structured language patterns, early applications of hypnosis and the use of mental imagery and rehearsal have been proving incredibly beneficial to those patients who received the therapy. This skill set of hypnosis can be used for both acute stroke and post stroke rehabilitation.
The gains with improved movement and function speak for themselves and there is no cost to this product, language is free and in the right hands it can be incredibly productive. The presentation also heard first hand from a patient who agreed to receive hypnosis and who made some significant gains. Language is medicine and while we may be treating a patient with oral prescriptive medication or a surgical procedure we should also be communicating with the subconscious element of the human mind.
The application of hypnosis in post stroke recovery needs to be utilised by a multi-disciplinary team (MDT). Physicians, Physiotherapists and Occupational therapists all have a fantastic opportunity to enhance this work. Regrettably, at the present moment we do not have anywhere near enough health care professionals trained in the use of hypnosis and hypnotic techniques.
I use hypnosis in Physiotherapy for all my patients who wish to receive it and once understood he patient has has a takeaway strategy tool kit that can be simply applied by thinking differently about their condition, utilising positive affirmations, manifestation and mental imagery as well as exercise prescription.
