A comprehensive, methodologically informed review of studies of the effectiveness of hypnosis for reducing procedure-related pain in children and adolescents is provided. To be included in the review, studies were required to use a between-subjects or mixed model design in which hypnosis was compared with a control condition or an alternative intervention in reducing the procedure-related pain of patients younger than age 19. An exhaustive search identified 13 studies satisfying these criteria. Hypnosis was consistently found to be more effective than control conditions in alleviating discomfort associated with bone marrow aspirations, lumbar punctures, voiding cystourethograms, the Nuss procedure, and post-surgical pain. Furthermore, hypnosis was as at least as effective as distraction. Three hypnotic interventions met criteria as a possibly efficacious empirically supported therapy for reducing post-surgical or lumbar puncture pain. Several other hypnotic interventions would have achieved the status of a possibly efficacious therapy had studies used a treatment manual.

J Behav Med. 2009 Aug;32(4):328-39. Epub 2009 Mar 3. Accardi MC, Milling LS. Department of Psychology, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA.

David Kohlhagen LPC, NBCCH is a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. With a career-long interest in holistic health and healing, he has been a practicing psychotherapist for thirty years. In 1997 he began a hypnotherapy apprenticeship with Dr. Jon Connelly of Jupiter, Florida, with whom he attended numerous residential training experiences, served as an assistant trainer and obtained several hundred hours of training experience. He is the author of the soon-to-be-published psychology/self-help book, Force of Habit: Get Well and Stay Well by Clearing Up Your Bad Habits of Mind, Body and Spirit (working title). Doing business as Tranceformation, he provides hypnotherapy, coaching, consultation and professional training.

For more information visit www.TranceFormation.us.