You address the disease, pathology, and medical decisions. I address a different dimension: the patient's experience of the problem, particularly stress, symptom-related anticipation, conditioned responses, and difficulties adapting to the demands of care. The two efforts can be complementary, without competing for clinical authority.
Referral, simplified
No insurance billing. No referral forms. No added administrative process for your office. You may simply give the patient this page or the appointment link. The patient decides whether to proceed, schedules independently, and prepays $150 for a 50-minute session. The initial appointment may be in Doral or by Zoom. A physician's referral is welcomed but is not required to book.
The patient continues under your care. You retain responsibility for diagnostic decisions, medications, investigations, treatment plans, and follow-up. Clinical communication is optional and, when appropriate, requires patient authorization and a suitable confidential channel.
The patient you recognize
Some patients remain highly distressed despite careful evaluation and a reasonable treatment plan. Presenting concerns may shift between encounters; reassurance provides only temporary relief; symptoms dominate the visit; anticipatory anxiety grows before procedures or appointments; and the patient struggles to translate agreed recommendations into daily behavior. Repeated visits become lengthy without a corresponding improvement in the person's sense of security or functioning.
These presentations do not establish that symptoms are imaginary, that the patient is intentionally difficult, or that medical assessment is complete. Persistent or evolving symptoms always merit appropriate reassessment. But when medical management and the patient's emotional experience become entangled, simply repeating the same explanation may not address the maintaining pattern.
This is where a complementary referral may help: giving focused attention to the patient's worry, attention to symptoms, conditioned expectations, fear, and learned responses, so that medical care is not the only setting in which those difficulties are addressed. The objective is greater patient agency and less distress—not replacing the clinician or promising adherence, faster visits, or a better medical outcome.
What I provide—and what remains yours
I provide individualized hypnotherapy, informed by nearly three decades of practice and training in medicine, biomedical engineering, and philosophy. Hypnotic procedures are used to work with stress, distress, anticipation, and learned responses. The initial appointment clarifies a practical goal and includes hypnosis when appropriate. Subsequent work is adjusted to the patient's response, with a defined intent to taper and conclude rather than default to indefinite treatment.
I do not provide medical visits, diagnose or manage disease, prescribe medication, change treatment plans, deliver psychiatric care, or offer psychological treatment or psychotherapy through this practice. I do not tell patients to discontinue prescribed treatment. If a patient's difficulty requires psychiatric, psychological, emergency, or additional medical assessment, that care remains necessary and should not be postponed in favor of hypnosis.
Referrals are not limited to the four specialties highlighted on this website. Those pages describe areas of focused outreach, not an exclusive list. Other concerns may be appropriate when a clearly defined hypnotherapy goal falls within the boundaries described here.
Where the evidence is strongest
Hypnosis is not a single uniform protocol. Study populations, hypnotic procedures, comparator conditions, and outcomes vary. The strongest research supports selected uses of hypnosis for pain and distress associated with medical procedures. Evidence also exists for gut-directed hypnosis in irritable bowel syndrome and clinical hypnosis for menopausal vasomotor symptoms. Findings for chronic pain, sleep, and other concerns are more heterogeneous. [1–7]
| Medical procedures and perioperative care | A 2025 synthesis of 20 randomized trials (1,250 patients) reported reductions in procedural anxiety and pain relative to standard care; a 2024 umbrella review found the most robust evidence across published meta-analyses in procedural settings and pain. Controlled trials in interventional radiology and breast surgery demonstrate clinically relevant responses under defined protocols. These findings support referral for selected anxiety and anticipatory responses—not a claim that office hypnotherapy substitutes for anesthesia or procedural care. [1, 2, 8–11] |
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| IBS and disorders of gut–brain interaction | The American College of Gastroenterology suggests gut-directed psychotherapy for global IBS symptoms, while a 2019 multicenter RCT and 2025 systematic review address gut-directed hypnotherapy specifically. Evidence and delivery protocols vary. Gastroenterology evaluation and management remain with the treating team. [4, 5, 12] |
| Menopause-related hot flashes | The Menopause Society recognizes clinical hypnosis among evidence-supported nonhormonal interventions; randomized trials show improvements in vasomotor measures. “Nonhormonal” describes hypnosis itself, not a restriction on patients receiving HRT. Hypnosis may complement, not replace, appropriate menopausal care. [6, 7] |
| Oncology-related procedural distress | The 2023 Society for Integrative Oncology–ASCO guideline states that hypnosis may be offered for anxiety during cancer-related diagnostic and treatment procedures. The evidence is procedure-specific and should not be generalized to anticancer efficacy. [9, 13] |
| Chronic pain and fibromyalgia | Adjunctive hypnosis has been studied in numerous trials. A 2024 systematic review found small additional reductions in pain intensity in some comparisons, with uncertainty and variation across interventions. Small fibromyalgia trials illustrate additional research directions, not guaranteed practice outcomes. [3, 14, 15] |
| Sleep, attention, and other concerns | Hypnosis may be investigated when conditioned arousal or anticipation contributes to distress, but the research is heterogeneous and does not establish hypnosis as a replacement for established first-line treatment of chronic insomnia or indicated mental-health care. Hypnotic suggestion has also been studied experimentally in perception, attention, and sense of agency. [2, 16] |
Safety, selection, and professional boundaries
Published clinical trials generally report good tolerability in selected participants, but adverse-event collection is inconsistent. Hypnosis is not risk-free, and an individual assessment of appropriateness matters. The patient remains free to decline, pause, or end a session. Hypnosis is not a method of verifying or recovering memories; suggestive memory-recovery procedures are not part of this service.
Urgent medical complaints, suicidality, acute psychosis, severe disorganization, impaired capacity to consent, or destabilizing dissociative or trauma-related symptoms warrant appropriate specialist assessment and coordination. Hypnotherapy is not a substitute for medical workup, crisis services, or evidence-based psychological or psychiatric treatment.
What patients experience
Discovery → Transformation → Integration. We establish an individualized objective and evaluate initial responsiveness; undertake focused hypnotic work when indicated; then consolidate useful changes in everyday life and stop when further sessions are unnecessary. A follow-up is recommended within 72 hours after the first hypnosis session to evaluate the response. Continued appointments are voluntary, independently booked, and not sold as a required package. Read the clinical process.
How to refer a patient
- Suggest hypnotherapy as complementary support. The patient keeps their medical appointments, medications, and treatment plan.
- Share this page or the booking link. Your office does not need to complete a referral form or submit an insurance claim.
- The patient books and pays directly: $150 for a 50-minute session, in person in Doral or by Zoom for the initial visit.
- Coordinate only if useful and authorized. Please do not include protected health information in ordinary online booking fields. For professional inquiries, call (305) 505-3279.
It remains your patient, your medical treatment, and your clinical relationship. My role is to help the patient with a complementary part of the experience that may otherwise continue to consume attention and complicate care. Better engagement with treatment is a worthwhile aim, not a promised outcome.
A practical referral option
If a patient has a significant stress-related, anticipatory, or conditioned-response burden alongside a medical condition, you can offer this referral without changing the medical treatment you have recommended. There is no insurance processing or required paperwork for the referring office. The patient can schedule independently.
Menopause · Sleep · IBS · Cancer-related distress · About hypnosis and the science
Selected peer-reviewed references and clinical guidance
The references below provide background on the scientific literature—not evidence that every study protocol is equivalent to this practice. Where a position statement or guideline makes a recommendation, the cited indication and evidence certainty govern its interpretation.
- Rosendahl J, Alldredge CT, Haddenhorst A. Meta-analytic evidence on the efficacy of hypnosis for mental and somatic health issues: a 20-year perspective. Front Psychol. 2024. PubMed.
- Walter N, et al. Hypnosis as a non-pharmacological intervention for invasive medical procedures: a systematic review and meta-analytic update. J Psychosom Res. 2025;192:112117. PubMed.
- Adjunctive use of hypnosis for clinical pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PAIN Reports. 2024;9(5):e1185. PubMed.
- Lacy BE, et al. ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol. 2021. PubMed.
- Flik CE, et al. Efficacy of individual and group hypnotherapy in irritable bowel syndrome (IMAGINE): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019;4:20–31. PubMed.
- The North American Menopause Society. The 2023 nonhormone therapy position statement. Menopause. 2023;30:573–590. PubMed.
- Elkins G, et al. Self-administered hypnosis vs sham hypnosis for hot flashes: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8:e2542537. PubMed.
- Lang EV, et al. Adjunctive non-pharmacological analgesia for invasive medical procedures: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2000;355:1486–1490. PubMed.
- Montgomery GH, et al. A randomized clinical trial of a brief hypnosis intervention to control side effects in breast surgery patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99:1304–1312. PubMed.
- Schnur JB, et al. Hypnosis decreases presurgical distress in excisional breast biopsy patients. Anesth Analg. 2008;106:440–444. PubMed.
- Hypnosis for anaesthetists: a systematic review and meta-analyses. PubMed.
- Adler EC, et al. Gut-directed hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2025;37:e70037. PubMed.
- Carlson LE, et al. Integrative oncology care of symptoms of anxiety and depression in adults with cancer: SIO–ASCO guideline. J Clin Oncol. 2023;41:4562–4591. PubMed.
- Dorta DC, et al. Multimodal benefits of hypnosis on pain, mental health, sleep, and quality of life in patients with chronic pain related to fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial. Explore. 2024;20:103016. PubMed.
- Ozgunay SE, et al. Effect of hypnosis on pain, anxiety, and quality of life in female patients with fibromyalgia: randomized controlled study. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2024;72:51–63. PubMed.
- Zahedi A, Lynn SJ, Sommer W. How hypnotic suggestions work: a systematic review of prominent theories of hypnosis. Conscious Cogn. 2024;123:103730. Journal.
- Reme SE, et al. Preoperative hypnosis versus mindfulness for reducing postoperative symptoms in breast surgery: a randomized clinical trial. Anesthesiology. 2026;144:559–569. PubMed.
Research on hypnosis should be interpreted according to indication, eligibility criteria, study design, intervention, comparator, and outcome. Hypnotherapy cannot substitute for medical or psychological diagnosis or treatment; no individual outcome is guaranteed.