Many patients are medically stable and still not settled. During chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, surveillance intervals, and the transition into survivorship, distress, poor sleep, and fear of recurrence can persist despite good care, reassurance, and time.
Focused hypnotherapy gives these patients dedicated time and a structured way to work with that load, alongside your treatment, without adding medication.
When referral may be appropriate
Consider a referral for patients, after appropriate evaluation, who:
- remain distressed or on edge despite stable clinical status
- report mental overload, agitation, or difficulty concentrating
- experience decision paralysis or overwhelm that affects treatment or daily life
- have ongoing sleep disruption without an identifiable medical cause
- show heightened surveillance or recurrence-related anxiety
- face procedures, scans, or infusions with strong anticipatory anxiety
- have hot flashes from endocrine therapy, especially when hormone therapy isn’t an option
- don’t improve with reassurance, time, or medication optimization, or aren’t candidates for more psychiatric medication
This is for patients able to engage in structured outpatient support. Patients needing acute stabilization, safety monitoring, or intensive psychiatric care go to appropriate emergency or specialty services.
What it is, and what it isn’t
It is focused, one-to-one hypnotherapy for stress, distress, anticipation, and learned responses, with individualized pacing, defined goals, and a clear end point, in person or online.
It isn’t emergency mental-health care, open-ended psychotherapy, ongoing supportive talk therapy, or a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. It has no anticancer effect, and I never suggest otherwise.
Clinical rationale and evidence
Diagnosis, treatment burden, and recurrence vigilance keep many patients in a sustained state of stress that disrupts sleep, concentration, relationships, sexuality, and engagement with care, even when disease status is stable. The aim here isn’t insight-driven exploration. It is to reduce that load, so patients can re-engage with treatment, decisions, and daily life.
- The 2023 SIO–ASCO guideline states that hypnosis may be offered for anxiety during cancer-related diagnostic and treatment procedures. The evidence is procedure-specific. [1]
- A brief presurgical hypnosis intervention reduced pain, nausea, fatigue, and emotional upset in breast surgery patients, and reduced presurgical distress before excisional biopsy. [2, 3]
- In breast cancer survivors, five weekly hypnosis sessions reduced hot flash scores by 68%, with improvements in anxiety, depression, and sleep; a 2025 sham-controlled trial found the largest benefit of self-hypnosis in women with a history of breast cancer. [4, 5]
Practice model
- $150 per 50-minute session, booked and paid individually. No packages, no insurance paperwork.
- The first session is a working session, with a recommended follow-up within 72 hours.
- Focused and time-limited, paced to the patient’s treatment schedule and energy, and ended when further sessions are no longer useful.
- Where: my Doral office or Google Meet, in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Online sessions help during treatment, when travel is hard.
- Updates for you: with your patient’s written permission, a brief note that they started and how they are responding.
How to refer
- Share the patient page: drflavio.com/oncology-supportive-care.
- Or hand them a card. Many oncology teams keep printed referral cards at the front desk or infusion center.
- The patient books directly. No paperwork, authorization, or follow-up documentation is required.
Let’s meet. It costs you nothing.
Before you refer anyone, I’d like you to know exactly who you’re sending your patients to. I offer referring professionals a short meeting at no cost, by phone, on Google Meet, or in person in South Florida when it works for both of us. You’ll see how I work, we can talk through the kind of patients you have in mind, and you’ll know whether a referral makes sense. It isn’t therapy, and it isn’t a sales pitch.
Or call or text (305) 505-3279, or email flavio@innermasteryworks.com.
About me
- MD, and a PhD in biomedical engineering; MS and BS in engineering
- Clinical hypnosis practice since 1996, with more than 44,000 sessions
- Author of twelve books and a frequent conference presenter
- Has trained and certified more than 3,000 hypnotherapists
References
- 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.
- 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.
- Elkins G, et al. Randomized trial of a hypnosis intervention for treatment of hot flashes among breast cancer survivors. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26(31):5022–5026. PubMed.
- Elkins G, Arring N, Morgan G, et al. Self-administered hypnosis vs sham hypnosis for hot flashes: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(11):e2542537. PubMed.
Hypnotherapy is an adjunct to, not a substitute for, oncology, medical, psychological, or psychiatric care. It does not treat cancer. Individual results vary, and no particular outcome is guaranteed.