Hypnosis for procedural pain

Elvira Lang, MD, PhD is an award-winning interventional radiologist known for research about the clinical effectiveness and cost savings of pre and intra-procedural nonpharmacologic analgesia adjuncts. She held faculty positions at the University of Heidelberg, Stanford University, the University of Iowa, and Harvard Medical School. With a substantive government-funded research program she demonstrated in three large-scale prospective randomized studies with more than 700 patients that guidance is self-hypnotic relaxation on the procedure table reduces pain, anxiety, drug use, and complications. This work provided much of the evidence-based foundation for widespread acceptance of procedural hypnosis. In >150 research papers and chapters, Dr Lang has presented and analysed medical procedures and interactions with healthcare professionals as well as the effects of patients’ age and disposition on outcomes. She developed and rigorously tested training in methods of advanced rapport skills and hypnoidal language for busy healthcare professionals who have no extra time to spare. This experience culminated in the creation of Comfort Talk®. She oversaw further multicentre trials on the training of MRI teams in Comfort Talk® encompassing >125,000 patient visits which yielded impressive improvements in patients’ satisfaction and ability to complete examinations at the participant sites. She is working with Toronto Hospital for Sick Children on a clinical trial on improving the perioperative and postoperative experience surrounding cardiac interventions. Her research work has been acknowledged with the Ernest R. Hilgard Award for Scientific Excellence for a Lifetime of Published Experimental Work.

After having co-authored the book “Patient Sedation Without Medication” for medical personnel she published “Managing Your Medical Experience,” a book for patients’ use. Dr Lang has been featured extensively in the popular press and on television.