GREAT & LAURS
Structured approaches to therapeutic communication incorporating greeting, rapport, expectations, concerns, listening, acceptance, utilisation, reframing and suggestion.
Anaesthesia · Clinical Hypnosis · Communication · Pain
Dr Allan M Cyna
Anaesthetist · Clinical Associate Professor · Clinical Hypnosis Educator
Improving patient care through the deliberate use of language, attention, imagination and therapeutic communication.
My work brings together anaesthesia, pain management, clinical hypnosis and evidence-informed communication, with particular interests in needle phobia, paediatric procedural care, burns, obstetric care, informed consent and the mitigation of nocebo effects.
AMC
Add your professional photograph here
About
Clinical practice, research and education
Dr Allan M Cyna is an Australian anaesthetist, clinical academic and educator whose work has focused on how communication can influence pain, anxiety, distress and the patient experience.
His interests include clinical hypnosis, hypnotic communication, paediatric and obstetric anaesthesia, needle phobia, paediatric burns care, pain management, informed consent and the prevention of unintended nocebo effects.
He is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide, a former President of the Australian Society of Hypnosis, and Course Director for the South Australian Society of Hypnosis Advanced Training in Clinical Hypnosis.
Clinical Hypnosis & Communication
Communication is part of the treatment
Words, tone, attention and expectations can influence what patients notice and experience. My teaching focuses on practical communication strategies that can be integrated into ordinary clinical care.
Hypnotic communication
Practical use of focused attention, expectancy, imagination, breathing, suggestion and patient-centred language during procedures.
Nocebo mitigation
Communicating necessary information and risk without unnecessarily heightening pain, anxiety or adverse expectations.
Needle phobia
Helping people with severe needle fear using therapeutic communication, lived-in imagination and other hypnotic techniques.
Burns care
Communication and hypnosis for pain, anxiety and distress during repeated burns procedures and dressing changes.
Pregnancy & childbirth
Patient-centred communication and hypnosis in pregnancy, childbirth and obstetric anaesthesia.
Research & Publications
Selected academic work
Featured publication
Handbook of Communication in Anaesthesia, Pain Management and Intensive Care
Oxford University Press, 2024. A multidisciplinary resource focused on communication across anaesthesia, pain management and intensive care.
Editor-in-Chief: Allan M Cyna
OUP
2024
2024
Research interests
- Clinical hypnosis and hypnotic communication
- Pain, anxiety and procedural distress
- Nocebo effects and clinician language
- Informed consent and patient communication
- Paediatric burns and needle phobia
- Obstetric anaesthesia and childbirth
Find publications
A complete publication list can be added here. For now, use the link below to search PubMed for publications by Allan Cyna.
Search PubMed for Cyna AM →Teaching & Speaking
Practical education for clinicians
Workshops combine short conceptual frameworks with demonstrations, video analysis and hands-on communication exercises that clinicians can use in everyday practice.
2026
European Society of Hypnosis Congress, Glasgow
Teaching on paediatric burns and needle phobia.
2026
IASP World Congress on Pain, Bangkok
Workshop teaching on GREAT, LAURS and therapeutic communication during painful or invasive procedures.
2027
Clinical Hypnosis Congress, Mexico
Invited presentation on overcoming needle phobia.
Teaching topics
Contact
Professional enquiries
For academic, teaching, conference or professional enquiries:
Please do not use email for urgent medical matters or individual medical advice.