When the Mind Becomes the Anaesthetic

Hypnosis, Pain, and the Case of Mick

Imagine a dental extraction — a deeply rooted molar, richly innervated — performed with no anaesthetic, no sedation, and no pain.

That was the experience of Mick, a highly hypnotically responsive patient who, after weeks of preparation, underwent the procedure using only hypnosis and self-regulation. This presentation explores how such an event is possible, not through mystery but through neuroscience and lived experience.

Pain is no longer understood as a fixed signal from tissue but as a constructed perception shaped by emotion, attention, and expectation. Under hypnosis, neural networks in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and limbic system reorganise, allowing sensations to be reinterpreted as neutral pressure rather than suffering.

Mick achieved this through focused imagery and belief: a pain-control dial, a protective guiding presence, and an observer self that maintained calm detachment throughout. His case reveals hypnosis as an advanced form of self-regulation — a collaboration between biology, cognition, and meaning — showing that, under conditions of safety and
trust, consciousness itself can become anaesthetic. Yet Mick’s experience also challenges the field. While research has mapped the brain, the inner world of hypnosis remains under-explored. Real progress will come when we look beyond technique and start listening to what hypnosis feels like — how imagination, trust, and belief reshape experience from the inside.

I invite you to join me for this presentation, where I will take you step by step through how this remarkable feat was achieved — scientifically, psychologically, and phenomenologically — when the mind itself became the anaesthetic.

I am a dental hygienist of many years’ experience and an Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist. I have a first class (hons) degree in clinical Hypnotherapy, I am an academic researcher in hypnosis, I have an Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapy Diploma, Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy Diploma, Diploma in Psychotherapy and have presented at the International UK Hypnosis Convention in London. I am also a member of the Royal society of Medicine, and a lecturer in Dental Hypnosis at University College London, the Eastmans. I have featured in articles in the BDJ, Dentistry and The Telegraph.