Hypnosis for pain
Coming soon: How hypnosis is used to treat pain
Pain is one of the few aeas where hypnosis can be applied clinically in the absence of any treatment framework - although hypnosis allied to cognitive behavioural techniques may well be an extremely effective intervention.
A number of studies have examined the effectiveness of hypnosis, either when used alongside cognitive behavioural therapy, or when used alone to treat pain.
Pain is also one of the best-researched areas - there have been a number of meta-analyses (studies of studies - a reliable way to find out if there is an effect) of hypnosis for pain control:
Meta-Analyses
Meta-analyses are essentially studies of studies. Where individual studies can sometimes show contradictory results, meta-analyses can be used to assess the performance of a treatment over a number of studies - this takes advantage of a larger sample size and hopefully leads to a more reliable result.
Montgomery, David, Winkel, Siverstein & Bovbjerg (2002)
This meta-analysis examined the results of 20 published controlled studies examining the use of hypnosis as an adjunct with surgical patients. In these studies hypnosis was typically administered to patients in the form of a relaxing induction phase followed by suggestions for the control of side effect profiles (e.g. pain, nausea, distress). Only studies in which patients were randomised to either a hypnosis or control group (no-treatment, routine care, or attention control group) were included. The results revealed that patients in the hypnosis treatment groups had better outcomes than 89% of the patients in the control groups. It was found that adjunctive hypnosis helped the majority of patients reduce adverse consequences of surgical interventions.
Montgomery, DuHamel & Redd (2000)
This meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of hypnosis in pain management. It compares studies that evaluated hypnotic pain reduction in healthy volunteers vs. those using patient samples, looks at the relationship between hypnoanalgesic effects and participants' hypnotic suggestibility, and determines the effectiveness of hypnotic suggestion for pain relief relative to other nonhypnotic psychological interventions. Examination of 18 studies revealed a moderate to large hypnoanalgesic effect, supporting the efficacy of hypnotic techniques for pain management. The results also indicated that hypnotic suggestion was equally effective in reducing both clinical and experimental pain.
Coming soon:
Hawkins (2001). Hypnosis and surgery.
Patterson & Jensen (2003). Hypnosis and clinical pain.
Lang & Rosen (2002). Cost analysis.