a) Hypnosis and its application in surgery;
Rev Med Liege. 1998 Jul; Faymonville ME, Defechereux T, Joris J, Adant JP, Hamoir E, Meurisse M.
Service d’Anesthésie-Réanimation, Université de Liège (Belgium).
Since 1992, hypnosis has been routinely used with more than 1400 patients undergoing surgery; It was found that hypnosis used in patients as an adjunct to conscious sedation and local anaesthesia was associated with improved intraoperative patient comfort, and with reduced anxiety, pain, intraoperative requirements for anxiolytic and analgesic drugs, optimal surgical conditions and a faster recovery of the patient. We reported our clinical experience and our fundamental research.
b) A meta-analysis of hypnosis in the treatment of depressive symptoms:
2009 Oct, Shih M, Yang YH, Koo M. Nanhua University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
The efficacy of hypnosis in the treatment of depressive symptoms was subjected to a meta-analysis.. Six studies qualified and were analysed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software package of google scholar. The combined results highlighted that hypnosis appears to be a viable nonpharmacologic intervention for depression.
c) Hypnotherapy in Palliative Care;
Dr Rumi Peynovska, Stone House Hospital; Dr Jackie Fisher, Wisdom Hospice,
Professor V.M. Mathew, Stone House Hospital, West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust
AIM OF THE STUDY
To study the benefits of Hypnotherapy, as a supplement therapy in the management of terminally ill patients.
BACKGROUND
Hypnotherapy is a brief psychotherapeutic approach, which utilizes the persons’ ability to enter into trance and thus make ones mind receptive to therapeutic suggestions given during the session.
Hypnosis has been recognized as an effective psychotherapeutic instrument in panoply of psychological and psychosomatic conditions.
METHOD
22 cancer patients were offered three hypnotherapy sessions and were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before and after the third session together with a follow up after 3 to 4 months after the last session. To avoid bias, patients were also, independently assessed by the nursing staff using a visual assessment scale of 1 to 10.
Particular attention was paid to: management of anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, management of pain, fatigue, insomnia, management of side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
All hypnotherapy sessions were individually tailored to cover the specific individual needs and symptoms.
RESULTS
Of the 22 patients who took part in the study all reported reduction in their anxiety level, feelings of improved well-being and self-confidence and much better day to day coping skills. There was no significant improvement in the depression level.
CONCLUSIONS
The present study represents a small number of patients who showed a clear benefit from the use of hypnosis in alleviating a number of symptoms associated with cancer illness. Despite the limitations of the small number of patients and the short-term follow-up, the findings suggest that hypnotherapy is a valuable tool especially with regard to enhancing the coping mechanisms of cancer patients.
Research looking into the effectiveness of Hypnotherapy and Cancer is showing that Hypnotherapy can help cancer patients successfully deal with anxiety, panic attacks, fear, stress, pain management, sleeping problems, medical therapy compliance, radio and chemotherapy treatment and many other psychosomatic and psychological complaints.
Techniques such as guided imagery and visualisation techniques can also help patients to achieve relaxation and boost their immune system thus aiding the fight against cancer and helping the healing process.
d) Hypnotherapy in irritable bowel syndrome:
A large-scale audit of a clinical service with examination of factors influencing responsiveness
2002 April ; Gonsalkorale WM, Houghton LA, Whorwell PJ.
Department of Medicine, University Hospital of South Manchester, United Kingdom.
OBJECTIVES
Hypnotherapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome in a number of previous research studies. This has led to the establishment of the first unit in the United Kingdom staffed by six therapists that provides this treatment as a clinical service. This study presents an audit on the first 250 unselected patients treated, and these large numbers have also allowed analysis of data in terms of a variety of other factors, such as gender and bowel habit type, that might affect outcome.
METHODS
Patients underwent 12 sessions of hypnotherapy over a 3-month period and were required to practice techniques in between sessions. At the beginning and end of the course of treatment, patients completed questionnaires to score bowel and extracolonic symptoms, quality of life, and anxiety and depression, allowing comparisons to be made.
RESULTS
Marked improvement was seen in all symptom measures, quality of life, and anxiety and depression (all ps < 0.001), in keeping with previous studies. All subgroups of patients appeared to do equally well, with the notable exception of males with diarrhoea, who improved far less than other patients (p < 0.001). No factors, such as anxiety and depression or other pre-hypnotherapy variables, could explain this lack of improvement.
CONCLUSIONS
This study clearly demonstrates that hypnotherapy remains an extremely effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome and should prove more cost-effective as new, more expensive drugs come on to the market.