Pain is the body’s way of telling you that there is something wrong. It is therefore important that the cause of the pain is thoroughly investigated and the appropriate treatment given. There is a wide range of analgesics available both over the counter and on prescription to counteract pain. However, hypnosis can be used to help relieve pain in those patients where standard treatments have proved to be ineffective. This is particularly evident in the severe pain associated with cancer and in conditions involving bone disease. It has been found that women who have learnt use self hypnosis require much less in the way of analgesics to control the pain during labour. To learn self hypnosis the patient needs to have a number of treatment sessions during the course of their pregnancy with a medically qualified hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is widely used in dentistry both for the relief of anxiety and the control of pain and is becoming more widely accepted as an alternative to anaesthesia for surgery.