Researchers from Florida International University's School of Nursing find that a 6-week intervention of guided imagery significantly improves many of the effects of fibromyalgia in a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Researchers from Florida International University's School of Nursing in Miami investigated the effects of a 6-week intervention of guided imagery on pain level, functional status, and self-efficacy in people with fibromyalgia (FM) in a two-group, randomized, controlled clinical trial with 48 subjects.

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In a small exploratory study by Carol Ginandes, PhD and Daniel Rosenthal, MD at Mass. General's Dept. of Bone and Joint Disease in Boston, 12 adults with bone fractures were followed for 12 weeks, to see if hypnosis accelerated their healing. Radiographic results showed dramatically improved healing at 6 weeks in the hypnosis patients.

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The age-old question - is meditation good for epilepsy or does it make it worse? - gets a very good shot at an answer here.. It looks like yoga can make it a lot better!

The R. Madhavan Nayar Center for Comprehensive Epilepsy Care at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Kerala, India, assessed the efficacy of a yoga meditation protocol (YMP) as an adjunctive treatment in patients with drug-resistant chronic epilepsy. The yoga intervention consisted of a YMP 20 minutes twice daily (mornings and evenings) at home, and supervised sessions of a YMP every week for 3 months. Continuation of the YMP beyond 3 months was optional.

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Virtual Reality & Imagery compared for use in reducing fear of flying

Thirty participants who had been treated for aviophobia (fear of flying) with virtual reality graded exposure therapy with physiological monitoring and visual feedback (VRGETpm), virtual reality graded exposure therapy with physiological monitoring only (VRGETno), or imaginal exposure therapy (imagery) with physiological monitoring only (IET) between January 1998 and January 1999 were contacted in January 2002 for a 3-year posttreatment follow-up assessment.

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A pilot study at Virtual Reality Medical Center comparing the effectiveness of Virtual Reality

A randomized, controlled, pilot study at the Virtual Reality Medical CenterM in San Diego, compared the efficacy of virtual reality graded exposure therapy (VRGET) with imaginal exposure therapy for the treatment of fear of flying.

Thirty participants (mean age = 39.8 +/- 9.7) with a confirmed diagnosis of specific phobia fear of flying were randomly assigned to one of three groups: VRGET with no physiological feedback (VRGETno), VRGET with physiological feedback (VRGETpm), or systematic desensitization with imaginal exposure therapy (IET).

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Ten of the thirteen original participants from the Relaxation Response pilot study with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) patients participated in a one year follow-up study, to determine whether the effects of Herbert Benson's Relaxation Response Meditation (RRM) on IBS symptom reduction were maintained over the year.

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Stress reduction techniques such as relaxation and breathing exercises can help lower A1c (HbA1c) levels by as much as 1% or more, according to principle investigator, Richard Surwit of Duke University Medical Center.

The study worked with 108 patients with type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. All patients took part in 5 30-minute educational sessions about diabetes. Half also got stress management training as well. There were no differences in weight, diet or exercise between the 2 groups.

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This study assessed the efficacy of hypnotherapy in treating functional dyspepsia (FD). A total of 126 patients were randomized to either a hypnotherapy condition, a supportive therapy plus placebo medication condition, or a medical treatment condition, for a total of 16 weeks of treatment.

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Researchers from University Hospital of South Manchester in the UK looked at long term data on the benefits of hypnotherapy on irritable bowel syndrome. Two hundred four patients prospectively completed questionnaires scoring symptoms, quality of life, anxiety, and depression before, immediately after, and up to six years following hypnotherapy. They also subjectively assessed the effects of hypnotherapy retrospectively.

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A team of researchers from UNC Chapel Hill, interested in learning how hypnosis manages to improve irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), designed two studies that measured and separated out possible physiological mechanisms from psychological ones.

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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 study at South Dakota State University finds that relaxing music reduces anxiety and pain in post-operative open-heart surgery patients during chair rest and concludes it should be used as a complementary therapy

Researchers from the College of Nursing at South Dakota State University studied the effects of relaxing music on anxiety and pain in post-operative open- heart surgery patients during chair rest.

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Researchers at the School of Kinesiology of The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, surveyed the attitudes of competing athletes on the importance of using imagery as part of their sports practice. Altogether, 159 athletes from one of three different competitive standards - recreational, provincial and national - completed the Deliberate Imagery Practice Questionnaire, designed to assess their perceptions of the importance of imagery.

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Researchers at the University of Brighton in East Sussex, UK, sought to identify a safe and effective therapeutic intervention that would promote well being in post-op patients recovering from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery - something that could easily and practically be provided by nurses on the floor. Foot massage and guided relaxation were the interventions chosen to be studied.

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Two reviews of the literature, one from Cambridge in England and one from Zuyd University in The Netherlands, suggest that guided imagery holds promise as a rehabilitation strategy for regaining motor control after a stroke.

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In an exploratory study by Vidakovic-Vukic in Amsterdam, 27 patients with irritable bowel syndrome were treated with hypnotherapy, along with standard care. Of those 27, two stopped the therapy prematurely, and one remained symptomatic.

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Archives - Hot Research - Headache printer friendly

Researchers at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences in Uttaranchal, India find in a randomized, controlled trial that biofeedback-assisted diaphramgmatic breathing plus systematic relaxation yields greater longterm benefits for migraine sufferers than propanalol.

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Ronald Pekala and fellow researchers from the Biofeedback Clinic of the Coatesville VA Medical Center in Coatesville, PA, studied the effectiveness of a self-hypnosis protocol with chronic drug and alcohol patients in increasing self-esteem, improving affect, and preventing relapse against a control, a cognitive-behavioral (TCB), and a stress management (attention-placebo) group.

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Researchers at Ohio State University's College of Nursing conducted a study of 2,810 randomly selected smokers who participated in single-session, group hypnotherapy smoking cessation programs sponsored by the American Lung Association of Ohio.

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When 45 Australian children with histories of ten or more upper respiratory tract infections were taught stress management and guided imagery, their episodes of illness were shorter and symptoms milder at the one-year follow-up than for the kids who were wait-listed.

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In a study by Harvey, Hinton, Gunary and Barry from the Gastroenterology Unit at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, England, 33 patients with irritable bowel syndrome were treated with four 40-minute sessions of hypnotherapy over 7 weeks.

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A study at South Dakota State University finds that relaxing music reduces anxiety and pain in post-operative open-heart surgery patients during chair rest and concludes it should be used as a complementary therapy.

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At Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Ashton, Whitworth, et al found that patients who were taught self-hypnosis/relaxation techniques before undergoing first-time elective coronary artery bypass surgery were significantly more relaxed following the operation, as compared to a control group. They also used significantly less pain medication. Surgical outcomes were the same for both groups.

Two hundred fifty British patients with Irritable Bowel syndrome were treated with 12 sessions of hypnotherapy over a three month period (with homework in between sessions). They completed questionnaires before and after the treatment, scoring themselves on symptoms, quality of life, anxiety and depression. The large number of subjects allowed for some strong data.

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Tiffany Field, PhD., professor of pediatric psychology & psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine found that job stress among hospital employees was significantly reduced (less anxiety, depression, fatigue and confusion) by a mere ten minutes of any of the following interventions: massage therapy, music relaxation with imagery, muscle relaxation and social support group sessions.

Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath examined the impact of a workplace-based stress management program on blood pressure (BP), emotional health and work performance measures in hypertensive employees at a global information technology company. Thirty-eight employees with hypertension were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the stress-reduction intervention or a wait list control group which received no intervention during the study period. The treatment group participated in a 16-hour program, which included instruction in relaxing imagery, positive emotion refocusing and emotional restructuring techniques intended to reduce sympathetic nervous system arousal, stress, and negative mood and improve performance. BP, emotional health, and work-related measures were assessed before and 3 months after the program.

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This research represents the first controlled treatment study of hypnosis and cognitive- behavioral therapy (CBT) for acute stress disorder (ASD), which essentially has the same set of symptoms as PTSD, but they occur within the first few months of the traumatic event(s) and can either persist and become what is known as PTSD, or they can subside on their own. Civilian trauma survivors (N = 87) who met criteria for ASD were randomly allocated to 6 sessions of CBT, CBT combined with hypnosis (CBT-hypnosis), or supportive counseling (SC).

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A study from Siriraj Hospital in Thailand looked at the effect of a 7-day, intensive meditation program for 101 older adolescent male deliquents in the Upekkha Detention Center. All the boys completed the program and answered questionnaires. Seventy percent of the subjects described feelings of contentment and calm, 53 per cent requested the program be repeated, 52 per cent reported a clearer undestanding in the doctrine of Karma, 44 per cent noted improved concentration and awareness, 36 per cent felt less impulsive. All felt that the meditation practice had been beneficial. The report concludes that meditation is a positive adjunctive therapy for institutionalized juvenile delinquents.

The good news: A new survey of the research on music and healing was recently published by Myskja and Lindbaek at the University of Oslo. The bad news: it's in Norwegian. But the English abstract is available in PubMed. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2000 Apr 10;120(10):1186-90 draws tentative conclusions about music's efficacy for treating anxiety and depression, and improving function in schizophrenia and autism; its utility for pain, reducing the need for medication aqnd helping during uncomfortable diagnostic procedures; its usefulness as a support tool during pregnancy and gestation, in internal medicine, oncology, paediatrics and other related fields; with geriatric patients, alleviating symptoms in stroke rehabilitation, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia; and its supportive role in palliative medicine and terminal care.

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Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Ohio in Toledo conducted randomized, controlled clinical trials to determine the effects of biofeedback and relaxation on blood glucose and HbA1c (A1C) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized to either 10 sessions of biofeedback (electromyograph and thermal) and relaxation or 3 sessions of standard patient education. All the sessions were individual. Thirty-nine subjects were entered, and 30 completed the 3-month protocol.

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Researchers from the Department of OBGYN at Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center tested the effects of varying the amount of physical practice vs. mental imagery rehearsal for training medical students to perform basic surgical procedures. Using a sample of 65 second-year medical students, 3 randomized groups received either: (1) 3 sessions of physical practice on suturing a pig's foot; (2) 2 sessions of physical practice and 1 session of mental imagery rehearsal; or (3) 1 session of physical practice and 2 sessions of imagery rehearsal.

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Meta-analysis by investigators at the Department of Women's Anaesthesia of Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, looked at evidence regarding the effects of hypnosis for pain relief during childbirth.

Medline, 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 a placebo. Primary outcome measures were labor analgesia requirements (no analgesia, opiate, or epidural use), and pain scores in labor. Meta-analyses were performed of the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs), assessed as being of "good" or "adequate" quality by a predefined score.

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Researchers from the Division of Psychosomatic Medicine at The University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, investigated whether hypnosis is a useful adjunct in the treatment of allergies. In a randomised parallel group study over an observation period of two consecutive pollen seasons, 79 patients with a mean age of 34 years (range 19-54 years; 41 males), with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis to grass or birch pollen of at least 2 years duration and mild allergic asthma, were assigned to an average of 2.4 sessions of hypnosis, along with continuation of standard anti-allergic pharmacological treatment. The controls, who received standard anti-allergic pharmacological treatment alone, were added to the study in season two. Outcome measures consisted of nasal flow under hypnosis, pollinosis symptoms from diaries and retrospective assessments, restrictions in well-being and use of anti-allergic medication.

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When 48 patients with moderate to severe coronary artery disease were randomized into either an intensive lifestyle change group (the changes included a 100% whole foods vegetarian diet, aerobic exercise, stress management training - imagery, meditation and yoga - and group psychosocial support.) or a usual-care control group, and both groups were studied at the 5-year follow up with coronary arteriography, the experimental group far exceeded the most optimistic expectations for improvement.

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Long-term meditating subjects as well as energy healers who work in the altered state have long reported that the mind state that initially produced spotty transcendental experiences at isolated moments during their beginning practice, evolved to subjectively co-exist in a steady, everyday way with normal waking and sleeping states.

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Researchers at The University Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, in Ulm, Germany, investigated the effectiveness of autogenic relaxation training on children and adolescents in outpatient treatment for varied depressive, aggressive, impulsive, or attention deficit symptoms.

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Researchers from Kyoto University find that autogenic training helps firefighters with posttraumatic stress, lowering cardiac sympathetic measures (indicator of alarm response) and increasing cardiac parasympathetic activity (indicator of calming response)...

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Researchers from the Division of Psychosomatic Medicine at The University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, investigated whether hypnosis is a useful adjunct in the treatment of allergies.

In a randomised parallel group study over an observation period of two consecutive pollen seasons, 79 patients with a mean age of 34 years (range 19-54 years; 41 males), with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis to grass or birch pollen of at least 2 years duration and mild allergic asthma, were assigned to an average of 2.4 sessions of hypnosis, along with continuation of standard anti-allergic pharmacological treatment.

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Another summary article from Germany by J.M. Hermann reports on the effectiveness of relaxation techniques, behavioral therapy and biofeedback for hypertension and stress, stating that these techniques lower elevated blood pressure by an average of 10 mmHg (systolic) and 5 mmHg (diastolic). Further, as a "secondary effect", these measures frequently prompt the hypertensive patient to adopt a more health-conscious lifestyle.

A study of chemotherapy patients at The UCSF Mt. Zion Infusion Center by Phaedra Caruso, PhD and Trudy Helge, PhD (at the time doctoral candidates in psychology), compared two kinds of guided imagery - self-generated, unique, fill-in-the-blank type imagery vs. "canned" imagery - standardized, physiologically-based, scripted imagery - along with a third condition: a progressive relaxation tape. All three interventions were recorded by the same person - imagery expert Martin Rossman MD - and offered as part of a four-session course.

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