Hypnotherapy For Chronic Pain
Schedule Phone ConsultationChronic pain is often kept alive by a nervous system that keeps sounding the alarm long after the injury has healed. Hypnotherapy works on how your brain produces and amplifies pain — calming that alarm and easing the pain’s grip on your life. In my Fort Lauderdale practice I offer it alongside your medical pain care, never as a replacement for it.
When pain never really leaves, it stops being a symptom and starts being your whole world — reshaping your sleep, your mood, your work, and what you say yes to. As both a Medical Doctor and a certified hypnotherapist, I offer hypnotherapy for chronic pain to people in Fort Lauderdale who have done the scans, tried the treatments, and still hurt. Chronic pain is one of several conditions hypnotherapy can support alongside your medical care. If you’re ready to explore it, you can book a free consultation anytime.
Pain That Has Outlived Its Cause
Pain is supposed to be a messenger: it warns you of damage, then fades as you heal. Chronic pain is different. It’s pain that lingers for months or years — often long after the original injury has healed, and sometimes with no clear damage left to find on a scan. That doesn’t mean the pain isn’t real. It absolutely is. It means the problem has shifted from the tissue where it started to the nervous system that carries and interprets it. In my practice, I meet so many people who’ve been quietly made to feel their pain is imagined because “the tests look fine.” It isn’t imagined — it’s being generated differently than acute pain, which is exactly why it needs a different kind of help.
How the Brain Amplifies Pain Signals
Here’s the piece that changes everything: pain is not produced in your back or your knee — it’s produced by your brain and nervous system, using signals from the body. In chronic pain, that system can become sensitized, turning up the volume so that ordinary signals are read as pain, and real pain is amplified far beyond what the tissue warrants. Think of it like a smoke alarm that has become so sensitive it shrieks at a little steam from the shower. The alarm is working — it’s just miscalibrated. Stress, fear, poor sleep, and the exhaustion of hurting for years all crank the sensitivity higher, which is why pain so often worsens in hard seasons of life. This is also the doorway to relief: if the brain is amplifying the signal, the brain can also learn to turn it down.
What Hypnotherapy Changes — and What It Does Not
Hypnotherapy works directly on how your brain processes pain. In a focused, deeply relaxed state, your nervous system becomes more open to new instructions — and I guide it toward calming the amplification, softening the pain signal, and loosening the grip pain has on your attention and your body. A pain-medicine meta-analysis found that hypnosis produces meaningful, measurable reductions in chronic pain for most people, with the strongest results from direct pain-focused suggestion. Let me be equally honest about what it does not do. Hypnotherapy is not a cure and not magic. It won’t repair a structural problem that needs surgery, and it is complementary to your medical care, never a substitute for it. What it reliably offers is real relief in pain intensity and, just as importantly, a changed relationship with pain — less fear, less suffering, more life. You can read more about my approach on my hypnotherapy services page.
A Session for Pain, Step by Step
Your first appointment begins with a 40-minute consultation — a real conversation about your pain history, your diagnoses, your current treatment, and what a better day would actually look like. Because I’m an MD, I also make sure the medical side is properly in place first. A session then moves through a gentle induction (guided relaxation), then pain-focused imagery and suggestion aimed at recalibrating that over-sensitive alarm, and parts work — a compassionate dialogue with the part of you that has been bracing against pain for so long. Sessions are available virtually or in person in Fort Lauderdale, and I’ll teach you a self-hypnosis technique to use at home during a flare. See a full walkthrough on my session experience page.
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Consultation & goals, getting clear about the desired goals and readiness for change
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I show you the map of your mind and the plan to get you to go to sleep consistently and more regularly.
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You then settle into a relaxed yet focused state, hypnosis, that is similar to right before you fall asleep. This will be the sam etechnique us use to call asleep as well.
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We work directly with the subconscious, unscripted and tailored to you, not read from a generic template. We identify the barrier to sleep.
Working Alongside Your Pain Physician
Hypnotherapy belongs beside your medical care, not instead of it. Please keep your pain specialist, your medications, and your physical therapy, and talk with your physician about adding hypnotherapy — especially if your pain is new, changing, or hasn’t been evaluated. Never adjust medication except in partnership with your prescriber. What I often see is that hypnotherapy helps people get more from the care they already have: calmer nervous systems respond better to physical therapy, sleep improves, stress-driven flares soften, and some people are able — with their doctor — to gradually rely less on medication as their symptoms ease. My job is to add a layer, and to know when something else needs to happen first.
Related Conditions I Support
IBS or Gut issues rarely occur alone and instead overlap with the following additional conditions I support:
Stress-related physical symptoms
Insomnia & Stress
IBS & Gut Health
Ready for Relief that reached your life?
Ready to begin? Learn what a session looks like, or book aconsultation with our hypnotherapist in Fort Lauderdale — virtual or in person.
Most Commonly Asked for Questions for IBS & Gut Health
Will Hypnotherapy make my pain disapear?
Usually not entirely, and any honest practitioner will tell you so. Hypnotherapy for chronic pain typically reduces pain intensity and loosens its grip on your life, rather than erasing it. In pain-medicine meta-analyses, most people achieve meaningful, measurable relief. As a Medical Doctor, Dr. Balkanski gives you a realistic picture at your consultation.
Does it work for my fibromyalgia specifically?
Often, yes. Fibromyalgia is a condition of an over-sensitized nervous system — exactly what hypnotherapy targets. Controlled studies of hypnosis and guided imagery show reduced pain and distress in fibromyalgia. Results vary by person, so Dr. Balkanski will assess whether it is a good fit for your symptoms at your free consultation.
Can I use this with my current pain plan?
Yes. Hypnotherapy is complementary and works alongside your existing pain care — medications, physical therapy, injections, or your pain specialist. It never replaces them. Keep every part of your current plan, and make medication changes only with your prescribing physician. Many people find hypnotherapy helps them get more from the care they already have.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on the issue and your goals. Some athletes notice change after just one or two sessions; others benefit from a short series (3–6 sessions) to reinforce new patterns and strengthen confidence. Together, we’ll tailor a plan that fits your needs.