Hypnotic Technology for Pain Relief at Home

Virtual Reality Assisted Guided Imagery (VR-AGI) for Patients with Advanced Cancer

Primary investigators will describe the first-ever randomized controlled human trial of virtual reality assisted guided imagery in a home setting.

This process uses three hypnotic metaphors based on seasons to create numbness, alter pain perception by altering the associated learning channel, and reduce pain via reducing general anxiety. The goal is not mere distraction for a brief interval, but to diminish the patient’s ongoing perception of pain.

Fredric Mau, D.Min., LPCS, BCH is a US mental health counselor and hypnotherapist in private practice. He is well-known at the UKHC for his engaging and evidence-based presentations on the science of hypnosis. He is a co-investigator in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Virtual Reality Assisted Guided Imagery for Improving Pain in Patients with Advanced Cancer being conducted through Clemson University, a major research university, and Prisma Health, a large healthcare corporation with teaching hospitals.

Teny Henry Gomez MBBS MD is a palliative care physician at Prisma Health, which is a tertiary level hospital system in South Carolina, USA. He has been practicing medicine for over a decade. Additionally, he is the lead palliative care physician at the Prisma Health Cancer Institute. His clinical role allows him the privilege to journey alongside cancer patients and attempt to reduce their physical and psychosocial suffering caused by cancer and cancer treatment. Dr. Gomez is the Principal Investigator for the 'Randomized Controlled Trial of Virtual Reality Assisted Guided Imagery for Improving Pain in Patients with Advanced Cancer' that has now received funding from the Clemson University Research Foundation, CU-Prisma Innovation Fund.