In this first of a two-part series on alternative medicine in the operating room, the focus is anxiety and how to control it with relaxation techniques. Major surgery is probably the single most stressful medical experience that people voluntarily agree to undergo. In a review of the medical literature on surgery and complementary medicine, published in the September issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Judith Petry, MD, reports that anxiety, such as that experienced by individuals undergoing surgery, does indeed affect health. It can diminish the ability to recover from surgery by suppressing the immune system and the body's natural healing responses.
Anxious patients are also more likely to report pain and discomfort following surgery.
Petry is medical director of the Vermont Healing Tools Project in Brattleboro. Fortunately, the field of complementary medicine offers many techniques to help patients relax. Imagery is a similar technique that includes focusing on a positive idea, such as physical comfort and well being. Hypnosis is another relaxation technique that also includes making positive suggestions while patients are deeply relaxed and therefore most open to these suggestions. Music has also been demonstrated to promote the relaxation response, and surgeons already use it during procedures for their own relaxation.