Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

A meta-analysis was performed on 18 studies in which a cognitive-behavioral therapy was compared with the same therapy supplemented by hypnosis. The results indicated that the addition of hypnosis substantially enhanced treatment outcome, so that the average client receiving cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy showed greater improvement than at least 70% of clients receiving nonhypnotic treatment. Effects seemed particularly pronounced for treatments of obesity, especially at long-term follow-up, indicating that unlike those in nonhypnotic treatment, clients to whom hypnotic inductions had been administered continued to lose weight after treatment ended. These results were particularly striking because of the few procedural differences between the hypnotic and nonhypnotic treatments.

Hypnosis and top-down regulation of consciousness

“…Hypnosis is typically used as an adjunctive intervention that supplements or is weaved into another treatment and it is most advantageous when implemented to enhance the effectiveness of an already established empirically supported approach. For example, a meta-analysis of 18 studies found that the average client receiving cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy displayed greater improvement than at least 70% of clients receiving the same non-hypnotic cognitive-behavioral treatment (Kirsch, Montgomery, & Sapirstein, 1995 (Flammer & Bongartz, 2003). There is also evidence for superior outcomes for hypnosis than control treatment in outcomes related to surgical patients (20 studies) (Montgomery, David, Winkel, Silverstein, & Bovbjerg, 2002) and surgical or medical patients (34 RCTs) (Tefikow et al, 2013), reduced nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy (6 RCTs) (Richardson et al, 2007), and reduced needle-related pain and distress in children and adolescents (7 trials) (Birnie et al, 2014).…”

Effects of self-conditioning techniques in promoting weight loss in patients with severe obesity: a randomized controlled trial protocol

“…40 The role of hypnosis as an effective tool for producing behavioral changes in patients with overweight/obesity has been evaluated by old studies, most of which with methodological limits, such as a low number of participants, the lack of a control group, the high percentage of dropouts, the heterogeneity of patients, the short-term follow-up, variations in procedures and different measures of response. [40][41][42][43][44] Overall, the use of hypnosis seems to provide some additional benefit increasing over time when added to a weight reduction program, but the results are still highly controversial. Indeed, the need for more rigorous research has been emphasized by all the reviews on this topic.…”

“…Indeed, the need for more rigorous research has been emphasized by all the reviews on this topic. [40][41][42][43][44] A rapid induction technique of hypnosis has developed some years ago. 37,39 This allows to administer behavioral and awareness recommendations in a hypnotic context in a short time interval, making this method easily applicable for trained patients in everyday life.…”

Neurophysiology of pain and hypnosis for chronic pain

“…However, although hypnosis has now demonstrated efficacy for pain reduction, there are very few studies that have tested the efficacy of hypnotic suggestions for improving other outcomes that are affected by pain, such as return to work, increased social activity, improved sleep quality, or improved physical functioning. Given evidence that hypnosis can enhance the efficacy of CBT interventions that target behavioral change in nonpain populations [87], there is good reason to expect that hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions could enhance functional outcomes. Suggestions may also be directed towards improvement with physical interventions, such as better adherence to medications or increased motivation to participate in physical therapy.…”