Pain Reduction & Management

Hypnosis & Self-Hypnosis, Stress Reduction & Behavioral Medicine
Can help you to reduce or eliminate pain, and
Reduce or eliminate the need for medications & their side-effects

Pain related medical conditions

Acute pain

Alcoholism

Amputation (after amputation)

Angina 

Arthritis (rheumatoid, osteoarthritis, psoriatic)

Asthma

Back pain

Bone & joint pain

Cancer

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Chemotherapy

Chronic pain

Conversion reaction pain

Diabetes

Endometriosis

Facial nerve problems

Fibromyalgia

Gastro-intestinal disorders

Gout

Headaches (migraine, tension)

HIV infection or AIDS

Herpes

Irritable bowel syndrome (I.B.S.)

Knee pain

Lupus

Lyme disease

Menstrual pain

Multiple sclerosis

Muscle spasm 

Neuropathic pain (caused by damage or disease of somatosensory nervous system)

Nociceptive pain (caused by damage to body tissue)

Panic attacks

Pelvic pain

Penile pain

Phantom limb pain

Post-surgery

Psoriasis

Raynaud’s syndrome

Reflux

Shingles

Skin conditions

Spinal cord compression

Stomach pain

Syphilis

Thyroid problems

TMJ & bruxism 

and others…

Dr. Sheldon provides
Behavioral Medicine Services, including:

Hypnosis

Self-hypnosis

Bio-feedback

Psychotherapy

C.B.T. (cognitive behavioral therapy)

Guided imagery

Meditation

N.L.P. (neurolinguistic programming)

Behavior therapy

Desensitization

Lifestyle coaching

Marriage counseling

Sex Therapy >>

Introduction

I have specialized in the reduction and elimination of pain since 1983, when I wrote my Doctoral Dissertation on the “Use of Hypnosis for Pain Management in Childbirth.”

I worked at U.C.L.A. – Santa Monica Medical Center, specifically helping women in active labor to reduce pain – even when morphine could not help sufficiently.

In addition I have years of experience working with cancer patients to reduce pain – and reduce the need for pain medication, as well as provide pain relief related to a variety of medical conditions listed on the left panel of this page. .

Pain is very complex

Pain is a psychological, emotional and physiological process and experience.  Under certain circumstances pain can be relatively easy to reduce or eliminate. However, sometimes pain can be difficult to reduce or eliminate. It depends on the kind of pain and the psychological, emotional and social factors involved.

Hypnosis and self hypnosis are usually the very best non-medical intervention to use in reducing and eliminating pain.

When working with patients who have pain, I first help them to eliminate or reduce the causal factors of their pain. When that is not possible or only partially possible, I teach my patients to use hypnosis to eliminate or reduce the pain experience from their awareness.

Note: The elimination of pain itself (as opposed to the causes of the pain) must be done with physician approval – for a variety of reasons. For example, a person with chronic headache pain, must rule out that it is not being caused by a tumor. If the cause of the pain is tension, hypnosis is a safe and effective way to teach the patient to reduce stress along with its headache.

Sometimes pain is a signal that we must pay attention to. For example, hip pain can be a sign to the patient that it is time to sit and let the hip relax. I teach such a patient to have the subconscious mind give a different signal (for example, a painless sensation felt in a finger) to be the sign that the hip needs to rest.

I wrote a comprehensive article on the use of hypnosis and self-hypnosis for an Israeli medical magazine published for physicians who specialize in pain disorders. I was asked by Dr. Silviu Brill, Director, Institute for Pain Medicine, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Israel, and President of the Israeli Pain Association, to write this article The Israeli medical magazine is called “כאב” (“Pain”). To view my article on pain management .>>

I also wrote an article on the use of hypnosis and self-hypnosis in the treatment of Oncology patients. This article also includes useful information regarding pain management. To view my article on Oncology >>

My approach to Helping Children reduce and manage pain

Children often respond more quickly and positively to hypnosis, as they usually have more open, flexible and creative imaginations, than do adults. They are able to suspend aspects of reality and thereby block pain and utilize a variety of hypnotic and self-hypnosis techniques to both reduce or eliminate pain and create positive inner experience.

For additional information regarding my work with children you can read the article I wrote for Israel’s medical magazine, – “Pediatricians”>>

You can also visit my web site page Children & Teens >>

Please feel welcome to call me if you have any questions regarding how I work, and
how I would approach helping you achieve your goals.

Dr. Sheldon discusses his work in Behavioral Medicine and the treatment of Stress Disorders on television health show. (1988) (length 28 minutes).

Dr. Sheldon demonstrates biofeedback on television health show. (1988) (length 12 minutes)

Additional Resources

Endorsements

Click here to view the endorsements by physicians,  hospitals, universities and patients of my work.

Stress & Pain Reduction – Dr. Sheldon presents useful insights regarding the psychological, social & behavioral dynamics of stress & pain & related medical disorders. (1996) (length 57 minutes)

Hypnosis & Stress  Management Dr. Sheldon presents on Princess Cruises  (1996) (length 65 minutes)

Some of My Articles

Dr. Sheldon’s articles published in “Connections”, and Israeli magazine (In English)

My articles published in Israeli medical magazines for physicians (In Hebrew)