A recent meta-analysis by the Department of Women's Anaesthesia of Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia looked at the effects of hypnosis for pain relief during childbirth. Embase, Pubmed, and the Cochrane library 2004.1 were searched for clinical trials where hypnosis during pregnancy and childbirth was compared with a non-hypnosis intervention, no treatment or placebo. There were no language restrictions.

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Jim Gordon's team from The Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington DC offers a preliminary evaluation of their extraordinary program in Kosovo, helping traumatized, teenaged survivors of war recover from PTSD with the same sorts of mind-body training that this center uses with great success with cancer patients.

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by John Iler

Hypnosis helps patients cope with pain and anxiety Handel coaches patients in therapeutic hypnosis The 14-year old boy was terminally ill and in severe pain. A brain tumor was causing blinding headaches and he suffered multiple fractures of his ribs because of the metastases spreading throughout his side. At night, he clutched a stuffed teddy bear to keep from crying out.

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At the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, Sheffield Hallam University, researchers examined the effects of hypnotic intervention on flow states and golf-chipping performance of 3 participants.

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By Tenley Woodman Monday, September 27, 2004 (An article printed in The Boston Herald)

When Swampscott teen Craig Lewin needed to shave seconds off his race time in the pool, he opted for an alternative training method: hypnotism.

"My problem was that I had all the skills to swim, but I needed to cut 9 or 10 seconds off my time. I had the ability to do it, but I'd get in to swim and I couldn't get any faster," said the 18-year-old Boston College freshman. That's when he turned to Tom Nicoli, a board certified hypnotist in Woburn. "The hypnotism was more to not be self-conscious so I wouldn't have to think about it. It helped me relax and have confidence," Lewin said. Lewin not only beat his own high school record, but he is now a member of BC's Division I swim team.

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Researchers at the Department of Pediatrics at the Steele Memorial Children's Research Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, looked at the effectiveness of relaxation and guided imagery for alleviating recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children with functional gastrointestinal disorders.

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A group of researchers from UCLA conducted a study to assess the usefulness of combining acupuncture and hypnosis for chronic pediatric pain. Thirty-three sequentially referred children (21 girls, 12 boys) aged 6-18 years were offered 6 weekly sessions consisting of individually tailored acupuncture treatment together with a 20-minute hypnosis session, conducted while the needles were in place. Parent and child ratings of pain and pain-related interferences in functioning, as well as child ratings of anxiety and depression, were obtained at pre-and post-treatment.

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(Note from Tim Brunson DCH. This article was released one day after submission. It is included since this is a valid year-long program.)

Promoting the Truth & Benefits of Hypnotism to the World By Tom Nicoli, BCH, CI

What might just be the best kept secret in the profession of hypnotism, at this time, is also what has proven to be an incredible vehicle for hypnotism professionals to increase recognition for their business, products or any services provided.

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A newly published study from Perioperative Services at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire of 84 patients undergoing gynecologic laparoscopy that looked at the effects of two interventions - guided imagery and music - on post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting (PONV) and length of stay (LOS), showed that patients in both the guided imagery and music groups had significantly less pain on PACU discharge to home than controls. The audio recordings used in the study were from Health Journeys.

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by Don L. Price

Success arguably is a process of small steps. Yes. There are those who have experienced some whimsical flash of luck by hitting the lottery or inheriting large sums of money – but rarely could you call them successful.

Clearly, many people experience different forms of success. Winning in a competitive sport and when you are up against others you definitely demonstrate success through your outcome.

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The objectives of this pilot study were to assess the feasibility of recruitment and adherence to an eight-session mindfulness meditation program for community-dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to develop initial estimates of treatment effects. It was designed as a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Participants were 37 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older with CLBP of moderate intensity occurring daily or almost every day. Participants were randomized to an 8-week mindfulness-based meditation program or to a wait-list control group. Baseline, 8-week and 3-month follow-up measures of pain, physical function, and quality of life were assessed. Eighty-nine older adults were screened and 37 found to be eligible and randomized within a 6-month period. The mean age of the sample was 74.9 years, 21/37 (57%) of participants were female and 33/37 (89%) were white. At the end of the intervention 30/37 (81%) participants completed 8-week assessments. Average class attendance of the intervention arm was 6.7 out of 8. They meditated an average of 4.3 days a week and the average minutes per day was 31.6. Compared to the control group, the intervention group displayed significant improvement in the Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire Total Score and Activities Engagement subscale (P=.008, P=.004) and SF-36 Physical Function (P=.03). An 8-week mindfulness-based meditation program is feasible for older adults with CLBP. The program may lead to improvement in pain acceptance and physical function.

Pain. 2007 Jun 1 Morone NE, Greco CM, Weiner DK. Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Norwegian researchers from Sogn og Fjordane University looked at eleven studies on the impact of music therapy on children and adolescents with various forms of psychopathology and mental health problems. There was special interest in how the type of pathology, the child's age and the kind of music therapy approach influenced the outcome.

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In a small Swedish pilot study at University Hospital of Linkoping, Sweden, six menopausal women were given relaxation training to see if it had any effect on hot flashes. The women were given "applied relaxation" training in 12 weekly group sessions. The women recorded the number of hot flashes they experienced for a full month before the intervention, through 6 months after. They were rated on menopausal symptoms (Kupperman Index), psychological well-being (Symptom Checklist), and MOOD scale were measured throughout the duration of the study. The six patients showed a mean reduction in hot flashes by a dramatic 73% (59%, 61%, 62%, 67%, 89% and 100% respectively). Scores on the Kupperman and Symptom checklist followed the improvement pattern of the hot flashes, but the MOOD scale was not affected.

A pilot study in 1996 by B.L. Maguire with 33 multiple sclerosis patients showed that when half the subjects participated in a 6-session group process that taught relaxation skills and physiological imagery, they demonstrated significant reductions in state anxiety (as measured on the POMS test and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), as compared to the controls.

In a 1996 randomized, controlled pilot study by Irvin, Domar, Clark, Zuttermeister and Friedman at New England Deaconess in Boston, 33 menopausal women between 44-66 years old were assigned to either Relaxation Response training, a support group or a control group.

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Researchers from the Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK, conducted a study with 209 pupils to see if a stress management training program could improve their academic performance, yielding very strong results

Researchers from the Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK, conducted a study with 209 pupils to see if a stress management training program could improve their academic performance. The students were randomly assigned to either a cognitive behaviorally based stress management intervention (SMI) group, or a non-intervention control group.

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Researchers at University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, studied the effects of a single session of relaxation training on incidental visual long-term memory. Thirty-two subjects, new to relaxation training, viewed 280 slides without being told that there would be subsequent memory testing. Afterwards, they listened to a 12 minute relaxation tape - sixteen subjects relaxed by following the instructions (relaxation group), and the other 16 subjects pressed a button whenever a body part was mentioned (control group). While listening to the relaxation tape, high frequency heart rate variability (HRV) was greater and low frequency HRV was lower in the relaxation group, implying effective relaxation and increasing parasympathetic activation.

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A new study at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle shows Vipassana meditation to be a promising intervention for incarcerated substance abusers after release from jail..

A new study at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle, explored whether Vipassana meditation (VM), a Buddhist mindfulness-based practice, can provide an alternative for individuals who find traditional addiction treatments incompatible or unattractive. The investigators evaluated the effectiveness of a VM course on substance use and psychosocial outcomes in an incarcerated population.

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Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston conduct guided interviews with bone marrow transplant patients, as a first step to improve the actual design of a mindfulness meditation study.

Researchers at the Phyllis F. Cantor Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and U. Mass/Boston, interested in exploring the potential effectiveness of mindfulness meditation (MM) for patients undergoing bone marrow transplant, took an unusual first step. They conducted a series of guided interviews with nineteen patients undergoing stem cell/autologous bone marrow transplant (SC/ABMT).

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Nurses from San Diego State University research the efficacy and feasibility of teaching mantra repetition to veterans in order to impact stress, anxiety, anger, quality of life, and spiritual well-being.

Researchers from San Diego State University looked at the efficacy of repeating a mantra for reducing stress and stress-related symptoms. The authors tested the feasibility and efficacy of a 5-week (90-min per week) intervention on mantram repetition in a sample of ambulatory veterans.

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Researchers from the State Research Institute of Physiology at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia, mounted a controlled, randomized clinical trial to examine how long-term meditation practice can effect EEG activity during non-emotional arousal (eyes-closed and eyes-open periods, viewing emotionally neutral movie clip) and while experiencing experimentally induced negative emotions (viewing an aversive movie clip).

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A newly published study from Perioperative Services at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire of 84 patients undergoing gynecologic laparoscopy that looked at the effects of two interventions - guided imagery and music - on post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting (PONV) and length of stay (LOS), showed that patients in both the guided imagery and music groups had significantly less pain on PACU discharge to home than controls. The audio recordings used in the study were from Health Journeys.

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Researchers from the Burn Center at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland tested the effectiveness of music-based imagery and music alone for helping burn patients in managing their pain and anxiety during debridement (the painful process of removing dead skin).

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Archives - Hot Research - Medical Procedures/Surgery printer friendly

Helping children relax during magnetic resonance imaging.

In the Sept/Oct, 1997 issue of The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing [Vol. 22(5), pp 237-241], Gail Smart, a clinical pediatric nurse specialist at Children's Hospital of Denver, reports on her pilot study on the effects of guided imagery on kids during MRI procedures. She randomly assigned 20 kids, ages 4-8, to either a guided imagery group or a control group.

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Principle investigator, Elvira Lang, MD, of the Department of Radiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, in a study co-funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office for Alternative Medicine, published these findings in the April, 2000 issue of The Lancet, Vol 355, pp.1486-1490:

When 241 patients were undergoing percutaneous vascular and renal procedures (translation: either invasive balloon angioplasties, or going after blood clots in the leg, or draining urine from an obstructed kidney -- i.e., your basic, roto-rooter, clear-the-pipes, surgical procedure), they were randomly assigned to receive either standard care, or "structured attention" (meaning they had their own health care person at their side, offering reassurance, answering questions, and proffering solicitous support); or the structured attention along with relaxation, self-hypnosis and imagery guidance of the David Spiegel variety (roll your eyes up and close the lids, breathe deeply, concentrate on the sensation of floating, and remember a safe and pleasant experience.).

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In a randomized clinical trial at The Ruttenberg Cancer Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, to determine if brief presurgical hypnosis on breast biopsy patients helps with postsurgery pain and distress, 20 biopsy patients were randomly assigned to a hypnosis or control group (standard care). The study found that the brief hypnosis did reduce postsurgery pain and Distress and suggested that presurgery expectations influenced and mediated this outcome.

A 1995 study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine shows that of 51 patients undergoing abdominal surgery, those who were taught guided imagery before surgery had less postoperative pain than those who did not. They were also less distressed by the surgery, felt as if they had coped with it better and requested less pain medication than patients who did learn imagery skills.

by Jerome Beacham, Ph.D.

• What is Forensic Hypnosis? Forensic Hypnosis means to investigate with Hypnosis as the main tool. Hypnosis may be defined as: a state of increased receptivity to suggestion characterized by an altered state of consciousness. The degree varies from very light to very deep and usually will include relaxation and increased awareness.

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by Kevin Gaspard and Anne Teachworth

In hypnosis it is commonly accepted that "your body is your subconscious mind"; but in "The Psychogenetics System" (TPS), it is emphasized that "Your Parents are your subconscious mind". Teachworth has developed a comprehensive approach which utilizes in part hypnotheraputic techniques in the identification of both inherited "nature and nurture" patterns from the family of origin as well as guided imagery techniques referred to as "reimprinting" to redesign your subconscious programs and create the happy childhood you deserve.

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Getting back to the basics of self-improvement.

Drawing on thirty years of clinical experience, Bill O'Hanlon--one of psychotherapy's most innovative practitioners and teachers--examines this simple yet often elusive aspect of successful therapy: change. With his characteristic wit and style, O'Hanlon presents the key concepts and most powerful methods for achieving personal transformation. Readers are provided with the perspective and inspiration necessary to embrace the risk and reward of change.

Bill O'Hanlon, M.A., is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a certified professional counselor, and a founder of Possibility and Inclusive Therapies. He has authored and co-authored 23 books, including In Search of Solutions: A New Direction in Psychotherapy and Do One Thing Different: Ten Simple Ways to Change Your Life. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Buy Change 101 by Bill O'Hanlon

Forty-six patients were randomized to receive drug (group 1) or hypnotic sedation (group 2) during balloon angioplasty of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Patients were continuously monitored by intracoronary and standard electrocardiograms, and heart rate spectral variability was also recorded.

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CALIFORNIA BLUE SHIELD continues to report positive outcomes with its use of our Health Journeys guided imagery. Through the program, begun in 2000, individuals facing one of 90 elective surgeries are sent guided imagery tapes.Outcomes include: 45% of patients experienced high anxiety before listening to the tapes, but less than 5% experienced similar anxiety following use of the tapes pre-surgery, and "the more anxious patients felt, the more frequently they listened to the recordings and the greater improvement they documented. The findings were developed from data gathered in 2000–2001 based on 900 completed patient surveys.

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Even though this research is a little dated (1995), it's a very strong study with provocative findings that we somehow missed, so we're adding it here. Researchers at the renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle compared the effects of 3 different psycho-social interventions for pain (in the mucous linings of the mouth) in 94 bone marrow transplant patients.

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A research team in Hong Kong tested the effectiveness of music therapy on twenty ventilator-dependent patients, measuring blood pressure, respiratory rate and the Chinese version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety instrument. Patients were randomly assigned to either 30 minutes of uninterrupted rest and then 30 minutes of music therapy, or the music therapy first, followed by the rest period. Patients had a choice of Chinese or Western music. Measures were taken at 5-minute intervals during the music intervention. The study showed that music therapy was more effective at decreasing anxiety than the rest interval (p < .01). Blood pressure and respiration did not show differences.