Medical student helps create a hypnotherapy research program for eye pain

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As a first-year medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Ashlyn Anzu Gary got the opportunity to help establish a research program focused on the potential use of hypnotherapy for eye pain.

According to a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine news release, Gary became interested in the subject after watching a documentary that showed a patient undergoing a tooth extraction — without anesthesia. The patient remained calm and pain-free by being kept in a hypnotic state under the guidance of a hypnotherapist.¹

Gary, who watched the movie in a class about mind-body medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was drawn to the subject. She had elected to pursue a scholarly concentration in the Miller School’s Advancing Mind-Body Medicine Pathway as a result of her interest in mixed martial arts training.²

Gary started to research hypnosis on PubMed.

“I started finding this growing body of research suggesting that hypnotherapy could be very beneficial, as a complementary treatment approach, especially,” she said in the news release.“I was really interested in the pain management aspect.”

Launching a hypnotherapy research program

Gary looked for ways to learn more about hypnotherapy for her student scholarly project. She soon landed an opportunity to help launch an interdisciplinary clinical research program looking into hypnotherapy as a treatment option for people dealing with chronic eye pain.

Relying upon her experience coordinating clinical research at Woebot Health and Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign prior to enrolling at the Miller School, Gary helped build the novel clinical program under the direction of mentors Anat Galor, MD, MSPH, professor of ophthalmology, and Mary Ishii, PsyD, voluntary assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a clinical psychologist/hypnotherapist at the Miami Burn Center.¹

According to the news release, Gary and the team focused on patients with neuropathic ocular pain (NOP), a rare disorder that occurs when the eye’s corneal nerve malfunctions.

Ashlyn Anzu Gary (Image credit: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine)

Galor is one of a handful of experts on NOP worldwide. She noted that patients typically describe their eyes as burning, dry or achy. They often spend years unsuccessfully seeking relief with eye drops or pain medications while also facing mental health challenges.

“Many people who feel their eyes because their nerves are dysfunctional also have an emotional component to the pain,” Galor said in the news release. “They have depression and anxiety associated with eye pain. We wanted to see if hypnosis could help.”

Using hypnotherapy to reframe pain

According to the news release, during her second and third years of medical school, Gary helped eight of Galor’s NOP patients enroll in a series of 10 hypnotherapy sessions.

During the project, Ishii guided each patient into a relaxed state and used words like “soothing” and “cooling” to help them reframe their brain’s reaction to pain signals from the corneal nerve. The goal of this treatment was to teach patients to view their pain as a controllable entity they could manage.¹

Gary then reported the outcomes of Ishii’s hypnotherapy sessions to Galor. She poured over scientific literature to learn more about NOP and the use of hypnotherapy in other pain states. She also invested time in thinking about ways to improve the developing hypnotherapy program.

Galor lauded the work done by Gary.

“The active part of building the program with us clinically was above and beyond what most medical students do,” she said in the news release. “We appreciate her involvement in developing a program in patient care that didn’t exist before.”

Reducing pain and anxiety

Gary is now a fourth-year medical student applying to residencies in ophthalmology, Gary will present the team’s preliminary results at a student symposium this fall.

In their pilot study, the team found that patients who completed the hypnotherapy sessions reported a drop in pain and anxiety levels, suggesting the approach warrants further investigation and implementation.¹

“There is a certain patient population that I think will benefit from this,” Galor said in the news release. “This is something Dr. Ishii and I want to continue working on.”

Gary noted in the news release that the project widened her scope of understanding what mind-body medicine can be.

“Ophthalmology and hypnosis are worlds apart in terms of their medical expertise and knowledge,” she concluded in the release. “Being able to create dialogue between these two specialties is really special and a very unique way to approach this problem of neuropathic ocular pain.”

References:

1. Masset C. Medical Student Helps Establish Hypnotherapy Research Program for Eye Pain. InventUM. Published July 23, 2024. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://news.med.miami.edu/medical-student-establishes-hynotherapy-research-program/

2. Pathways. med.miami.edu. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://med.miami.edu/medical-education/curriculum/scholarly-concentration/pathways