ABSTRACT
This chapter presents patients who are typical of those whose methods were clear. It describes two other patients who contributed to an understanding of the nonhypnotic coping methods. The use of distraction techniques in one form or another is a familiar method of coping with pain. The type of distraction that the young patients used which bore the least relationship to hypnosis included activities such as gripping the treatment table or a nurse’s hand, taking deep breaths, and, in a few cases, screaming. The various distraction methods must be prepared to meet challenges posed by pains of varying intensities and durations. In a comparison of the ability of the nonhypnotic and hypnotic distractions to relieve clinical pain, hypnosis presents some advantages. Its major component, imaginative activity, is inherently interesting to almost all children and to many adults, a characteristic that promotes deep involvement.
