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Mind and Body in Harmony: What Does the Evidence Say About Clinical Hypnotherapy and Physical Health?

When we experience persistent physical discomfort, digestive symptoms or anxiety around a medical procedure, it can be easy to think of the mind and body as separate.

In reality, they are closely connected. The brain, nervous system and body are constantly communicating, while factors such as attention, stress, emotion and expectation can influence how we experience physical sensations.

This connection is one reason why approaches that work with both psychological and physical experiences have attracted increasing clinical interest.

Clinical hypnotherapy is one approach that explores this relationship through focused attention, relaxation and therapeutic suggestion, helping people explore how they experience and respond to thoughts, emotions and physical sensations.

For some people, this can provide a useful complement to appropriate medical care, particularly where psychological and physical experiences interact.

Understanding the mind-body connection

The brain and body communicate continuously through several interconnected systems, including the autonomic nervous system and the gut-brain axis.

These systems are involved in processes including digestion, stress responses, pain and the way we perceive sensations from the body.

Pain provides a useful example: Persistent pain can involve changes in how the nervous system processes sensory information. In some chronic pain conditions, a process known as central sensitisation can contribute to increased responsiveness within the central nervous system.

Understanding these connections can help explain why psychological approaches are increasingly considered alongside physical approaches to symptom management.

Pain and other bodily sensations are genuine experiences involving complex interactions between sensory processing, the nervous system, attention, emotion and other factors.

Hypnosis may influence some of these processes by changing attention, expectations and the way sensations are experienced. Research into the precise mechanisms continues to develop, helping researchers understand more about how mind-body interventions may work.

IBS and gut-directed hypnotherapy

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one area where hypnotherapy has a recognised place within UK clinical guidance.

NICE recommends considering psychological interventions, including hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychological therapy, for people with IBS who have not responded to pharmacological treatments after 12 months and who continue to experience symptoms described as refractory IBS.

Gut-directed hypnotherapy focuses on the relationship between the brain and digestive system, using therapeutic suggestions and imagery tailored towards gastrointestinal symptoms.

Research in this area is encouraging. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis involving 1,158 people with IBS found that gut-directed hypnotherapy was associated with improvements in overall IBS symptoms and pain compared with comparator interventions. The researchers also found variation between studies, reflecting the individual and complex nature of IBS.

A 2026 systematic review and network meta-analysis also found gut-directed hypnotherapy to be associated with improvements in IBS outcomes compared with waiting-list control, while noting that the overall certainty of evidence was low or very low for most comparisons.

Taken together, these findings help explain why gut-directed hypnotherapy continues to be investigated as part of the wider psychological management of IBS.

Hypnotherapy around medical procedures

Medical investigations, injections, dental procedures and surgery can understandably create anxiety. Hypnosis has therefore been investigated as a complementary technique for helping people manage anxiety and pain associated with some procedures.

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 randomised controlled trials involving 1,250 patients found reductions in anxiety and pain when hypnosis was compared with standard care during invasive medical procedures. The findings add to a growing body of research exploring how psychological techniques can support people through medical experiences.

A larger 2026 systematic review examined 142 studies involving more than 9,000 patients in anaesthetic and peri-operative settings. It found evidence supporting potential benefits for some anxiety and pain outcomes in peri-operative settings, while highlighting uncertainty around several other outcomes and the need for further research.

For someone preparing for a procedure, this means hypnosis can be considered as one additional psychological tool for relaxation, preparation and symptom management, alongside the care provided by the medical team.

Hypnosis and persistent pain

Pain is perhaps one of the clearest examples of the relationship between the mind and body.

The experience of pain involves sensory information alongside factors such as attention, expectation, emotion and previous experience. Understanding these different influences can open up additional approaches to pain self-management.

Research has investigated whether hypnosis can influence pain intensity, with recent systematic reviews reporting modest reductions in clinical pain.

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis examined 106 studies and found modest reductions in clinical pain following hypnosis compared with non-active controls. The findings also highlighted that different approaches to pain management can have value, with hypnosis offering one potential supportive option alongside approaches such as relaxation, pain education and cognitive behavioural therapy.

A separate 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis also found evidence of pain reduction associated with medical hypnosis, adding to the growing research base examining hypnosis as a psychological approach to pain management.

For people living with persistent pain, these findings provide an area of interest for complementary approaches to pain self-management, including techniques that explore different ways of relating to and responding to painful sensations.

What can we take from the evidence?

The relationship between mind and body is a fascinating and increasingly researched area of clinical science.

Research into hypnotherapy is developing across several areas, including IBS, procedural anxiety and pain management. The research continues to clarify where hypnotherapy may be most useful across different conditions, which is why an evidence-informed approach considers the specific circumstances, the available research and the person's wider healthcare needs.

That provides a useful foundation for exploring where hypnotherapy may have the greatest potential.

Good clinical practice combines curiosity with appropriate boundaries: understanding what an intervention may offer, keeping expectations realistic and ensuring that people have access to the wider healthcare they need.

Making mind-body care part of a wider approach

Physical symptoms deserve appropriate healthcare assessment, particularly when they are persistent, unexplained or changing. Once appropriate medical care is in place, complementary approaches can provide additional ways of supporting wellbeing and symptom management.

For people already receiving healthcare, hypnotherapy can sit alongside existing treatment as part of a broader approach to wellbeing. Prescribed medication and other medical treatment should remain guided by the relevant healthcare professional.

Choosing a practitioner carefully is another important part of this process - because hypnotherapy is not statutorily regulated as a healthcare profession in the UK, checking a practitioner's training, professional credentials, insurance and professional accountability is an essential part of making an informed choice.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists also recommends that hypnotherapy is provided by appropriately qualified health professionals who are accountable to a professional body.

A clinical, evidence-informed approach

At Asclepieia Hypnotherapy and Wellness, clinical hypnotherapy is approached with an emphasis on professional boundaries, safety and informed decision-making.

Christopher Hardy BSc (Hons), DipPSN, RNMH is a Registered Mental Health Nurse (registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council) and has 20 years of NHS mental health experience.

That healthcare background provides a strong foundation for recognising the importance of assessment, professional boundaries and appropriate onward support while offering hypnotherapy as a complementary psychological approach.

The aim is to recognise how closely the mind and body interact.

For some people, exploring that relationship through clinical hypnotherapy may provide another useful way of supporting wellbeing, developing self-management skills and changing how they experience particular physical sensations.

The science is continuing to develop, while one principle remains clear: our experience of health involves the whole person.

References

• Adler, E.C. et al. (2025) ‘Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 37(7), e70037.

• Lahoud, M.J., Gurary, S.T. and Elia, N. (2026) ‘Hypnosis for anaesthetists: a systematic review and meta-analyses’, Anaesthesia, 81(1), pp. 103–115.

• NICE (2017) Irritable bowel syndrome in adults: diagnosis and management (CG61).

• NICE (2021) Chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s: assessment of all chronic pain and management of chronic primary pain (NG193).

• Royal College of Psychiatrists (2021) Hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

• Walter, N. et al. (2025) ‘Hypnosis as a non-pharmacological intervention for invasive medical procedures: A systematic review and meta-analytic update’, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 192, 112117.

• Yerzhan, A. et al. (2025) ‘The Use of Medical Hypnosis to Prevent and Treat Acute and Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 14(13), 4661.

• Yim, T.H. and Derbyshire, S.W.G. (2026) ‘A Systematic Review of Hypnosis for Clinical Pain Relief’, European Journal of Pain, 30(8), e70369.

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