Now this is fabulous, amazing and wonderful to read about… What’s more, if you do a search online you can find photos of this man undergoing his surgery… Why would I hink that was cool? Because he had complex surgery with no anaethesia at all except that induced by himself using self-hypnosis. Brilliant.
Want some gory, hypnotic details? Of that and another classic example?
So, a hypnotist, apparently been using self-hypnosis since he was 16 years old, has stunned medics by snubbing anaesthetic and sending himself into a trance before undergoing surgery. Why they were that stunned amazes me, have theynot actually read about this phenomena elsewhere?
The hypnotist in the limelight here, Alex Lenkei, who could hear the cracking of bones as the surgeon sawed at his hand but felt nothing; lots of medai are saying that this is thought to be the first person in the world to perform the feat in such conditions…
However, this is not the first time this was done…Even more impressive and spectacular is the case of a dentist named Victor Rausch, who used self-hypnosis to undergo the surgical removal of his gall bladder, which is major surgery and he had no anaesthesia or analgesic.
Rausch’s documentation of his experience in 1980 included the following; He said that from the moment of the first incision he “felt a flowing sensation throughout my entire body…. my eyes were open and the operating team said that I had no visible signs of tensing of the muscles…” Rausch chatted with the team and enjoyed the process and even walked away from the operating theatre when it was all over. He had obviously had a lot of experience with hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and it really does illustrate what can be done with the correct belief system and application.
Back to our man of the moment though… Mr Lenkei, 61, has told of how he felt “wonderful” as he showed off his bandaged and swollen hand, fresh from the 83-minute surgery he underwent on Wednesday at Worthing Hospital, West Sussex.
He also told how he could hear his surgeon talking as he slit a four-inch cut in his right wrist to chisel out a walnut-sized chunk of bone and move a tendon… Whoa-ho-ho… How about that? I have had some dentistry done without anaesthesia and have shown many people on my courses (as per video clips on my homepage) how to use self-hypnosis for having pins put through their arms… But this is on another level and it is simply amazing to read about and have documented.
Mr Lenkei said: “It took me about 30 seconds to put myself under and I wasn’t aware of any part of my body apart from my arm. I could feel the surgeon pulling and manipulating me — then I heard the cracking of bones. I heard him say, ‘can I have the saw please?’, and imagined him holding this great big thing in his hand. But fortunately he then said’ ‘I think we’ll use the smaller one.’
“He used a hammer and chisel at one stage and I could hear him hammering away at the bone. I heard everything he was saying to his assistants and anaethetist, but there was no gossip. It was a shame — I was hoping to hear something juicy.”
Hahaha. Love it.
You can read what the BBC had to say here: Man Hypnotises Himself Before Op
You can read the Daily Telegraphs article here: Hypnotist ‘Put Himself Into Trance For Surgery’
You can read the Independent newspaper article here: Hypnotist Entrances Himself
It is just brilliant for me to be writing about a modern day, real life example of the kind of thing that I discuss in my books and audio programmes so often.
Some research last year indicated that recovery speed might be shorter if standard anaesthetics are not used. I’ll be interested to hear from the man himself in a couple of weeks to read about that too.
Hi Adam,
This story is also an awesome PROOF Element that any professional hypnotist can use in their marketing. Make that SHOULD be using in their marketing.
Even if they don’t do pain management, the fact that major news agencies worldwide are carrying this story gives major believability that Hypnosis works.
I’ve been encouraging my newsletter readers to be sure and print out copies of this story to put in their New Client prospect packets, and of course to write about it on their blogs.
Cheers,
Craig Eubanks
HypnosisMarketingTips.com
Hi,
Yes, it is an awesome outcome. Unfortunately, however, Lenkei appears hell bent on sensationalising his experience to garner media attention. He did something similar a few years ago on Carole Vorderman’s Mysteries series.
He makes several false claims also, such as being a leader in the field of hypnoanaesthesia, training nurses on an RCN course, and being the first to undergo hypnosis using self-hypnosis instead of hetero-hypnosis.
Here’s evidence against the latter claim. You can see an excellent video of Dr John Butler, who is the leading UK hypnoanaesthetist undero a hernia operation with self-hypnotically induced anaethesia. This was 3.5 years ago and he admits that even he was not the first. Notice the lack of sensationalism?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sClE-xm-P8A
I understand what you are saying… Bu what is wrong with media attention? Why should something be considered any better than something else because it is or is not sensationalised.
I am quite pleased he is getting as much media attention as possible – the guy is in business after all, I’d do the same.
I personally did not need the video proof – I have worked with several clients in hospitals myself and seen much video footage of other operations using hypnosis… Heck, James Esdaille used to do amptutations using suggestion and hypnosis a very long time before videos were even invented.
I like John Butlers work and loved the show he did on More4 last year, again, this was great publicity and a demonstration of the efficacy of hypnosis used to replace anaesthesia… I love it all and hope more people can get media savvy and publicise these kinds of things to get the notion far more commonplace.
Good to hear from you Lyndon.