When thinking about hypnosis most people think of a swinging pocket watch, a countdown, or that black and white swirl from cartoons. As far as pop culture goes, hypnosis has been depicted as if it’s a party trick or at the very worst manipulative.
Misconceptions aside, VR hypnosis experts at Hypno VR, are having a huge impact and uncovering alternative options for treating and relieving patients of stress and pain pre- and post-procedures and is used by doctors and dentists in France and across Europe.
Funding Virtual Hypnosis
The Strasbourg, France virtual reality developer HypnoVR has received €700K ($830k) in funding from “lead investors Guillaume Richard, founder and chairman of OuiCare, Daniel Caille, founder and chairman at Vivalto Santé Holding and La Javaness, startup accelerator specialized in AI, who were joined by Bpifrance, the French public investment bank” as well as several unnamed investors last month.
Nicolas Schaettel, president and co-founder of HypnoVR shares his excitement about the newly acquired funding, sharing that, “We are delighted to welcome this diverse group of investors, who bring to the company their expertise in the fields of healthcare, finance and the medical device industry.”
The company’s founders, Dr. Denis Graff and Dr. Chloé Chauvin, are both medical doctors and anesthesiologists with 20 years of combined medical hypnosis experience and work alongside business and technology specialist, Nicolas Schaettel, with 15 years of experience. The cash and work for equity funding are expected to go towards product development and building up their marketing and sales team, which is an absolute necessity with a large-scale release date in September.
What Is HypnoVR?
HypnoVR is a virtual reality and medical hypnosis software solution that’s used by trained professionals to help patients overcome stress and anxiety pre-treatment/surgery, serves as an alternative to drug anesthesia, and helps patients recover post-treatment/surgery.
“But there’ll be scalpels, a needle, or blood!”, you might add.
This is a valid worry. So what about the scary stuff!?
The reality of having surgery or a procedure won’t disappear into thin air, but the hypnosis software paired with VR headsets like the Gear VR and Oculus will help patients get a visual distraction as their trained guide transitions their mind into an “intense multisensory tridimensional immersion experience”, or a deep hypnotic state. HypnoVR is in its final stages of getting a class 1 medical device CE marking and has been used in pediatric surgery, dental surgery, and other invasive medical procedures.
If kids can do it in surgery, so can we! Mind over matter, right?
According to HypnoVR’s site, in France, there are 12 million instances where anesthesia is administered to patients each year. While noting that half could have done a procedure with hypno sedation like HypnoVR. With painkiller and opioid addiction rising alternative methods of treatment are a huge relief to recovering addicts and those who are allergic or uncomfortable with pain-killing medications and anesthesia.
Nicolas Schaettel, president and co-founder at HypnoVR shared how their new hypno sedation software is already helping patients, sharing that, “We are on a mission to bring the benefits of medical hypnosis to the widest number of patients to enable faster recovery, better pain management, lower stress and less anxiety. Following successful clinical trials, where 90% of patients responded with positive feedback, our team is prepped and ready to launch our first product in September 2018.”
Health Benefits of Hypnosis
- Helps patients cope and feel more in control of the procedure or treatment.
- Reduces stress and anxiety.
- Alleviates pain and lowers side effects like nausea and sickness from medications.
- It can be used to change unhealthy behaviors like smoking and can help with weight loss, while also helping patients with insomnia and even phobias.
Where to Find HypnoVR
You can find out more about HypnoVR on their website and can follow them on Twitter.
