Effect of hypnotic suggestion on fibromyalgic pain: Comparison between hypnosis and relaxation

Abstract

The main aims of this experimental study are: (1) to compare the relative effects of analgesia suggestions and relaxation suggestions on clinical pain, and (2) to compare the relative effect of relaxation suggestions when they are presented as "hypnosis" and as "relaxation training". Forty-five patients with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to one of the following experimental conditions: (a) hypnosis with relaxation suggestions; (b) hypnosis with analgesia suggestions; (c) relaxation. Before and after the experimental session, the pain intensity was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the sensory and affective dimensions were measured with the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The results showed: (1) that hypnosis followed by analgesia suggestions has a greater effect on the intensity of pain and on the sensory dimension of pain than hypnosis followed by relaxation suggestions; (2) that the effect of hypnosis followed by relaxation suggestions is not greater than relaxation. We discuss the implications of the study on our understanding of the importance of suggestions used in hypnosis and of the differences and similarities between hypnotic relaxation and relaxation training.

Psychological intervention reduces postembolization pain during hepatic arterial chemoembolization therapy: A complementary approach to drug analgesia

“…Other psychotherapies, e.g. hypnotic suggestion, relaxation training [31] , distraction therapy [32] , therapeutic touch [33,34] , and imagery [35,36] , are used in the treatment of disease-related pain. Our results reveal that psychological inter vention decreased the pain score significantly (P < 0.01).…”

Hypnotizability and chronic pain: an ambiguous connection

“…The observation of a similar effective hypnotic analgesia in subjects with high and medium levels of hypnotic suggestibility (Montgomery, Du Hamel and Redd, 2000) and, sometimes, even in Lows (Jensen, Hanley, Engel, Romano, Barber, Cardenas, Craft, Hoffman and Patterson, 2005), makes this topic particularly intriguing and suggests the possibility that chronic pain represents a distinct 'state' modifying the interaction among the components of hypnotic responding (Benham, Woody, Wilson and Nash, 2006) and, maybe, inducing analgesia through different mechanisms in patients with various level of hypnotizability. For instance, relaxation does not seem to account for the reduction of pain in Highs (Castel, Perez, Sala, Padrol and Rull, 2007;Appel and Bleiberg, 2005), while the role of expectation has not been defi nitely assessed because some fi ndings indicate it to be a mediator of the effectiveness of hypnotic treatments (Milling et al, 2006;Milling, Shores, Coursen, Menario and Farris, 2007) and others discount its contribution (Castel et al, 2006). Suggestibility could be enhanced by situational variables, i.e.…”

Electromyogram Biofeedback in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…One reason for these positive effects in the meta-analysis may be the fact that the patients were taught additional relaxation techniques in 3 of the 4 RCTs. Since relaxation training alone has a beneficial effect in the treatment of chronic pain and is recommended for treatment of FM [37][38][39][40], it remains unclear if the positive effects on pain were due to EMG-BFB. Only in 1 study of the meta-analysis the patients learned to relax their muscles according to visual and audio feedback without additional relaxation strategies [41].…”