Hypnosis in the Treatment of Anticipatory Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Receiving Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

Aims and Background: In addition to nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy treatment, cancer patients can experience these side effects prior to a treatment session, the so-called anticipatory nausea and vomiting. As various psychological and neurophysiological aspects have been claimed to be implied in its etiopathogenesis, the present paper aims to shortly review the etiological, epidemiological and therapeutical assumptions on the topic, in particular the psychological-behavioral therapies. Patients and Methods: The present study was carried out on 16 consecutive adult cancer patients affected by chemotherapy-induced anticipatory nausea and vomiting who had received at least four treatment cycles. All of them were submitted to induction of relaxation followed by hypnosis. Results: In all subjects anticipatory nausea and vomiting disappeared, and major responses to chemotherapy-induced emesis control were recorded in almost all patients. Conclusions: The experience highlights the potential value of hypnosis in the management of anticipatory nausea and vomiting; furthermore, the susceptibility to anticipatory nausea and vomiting is discussed under the psychoanalytic point of view.

Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting

“…58,64 Patients who receive a combined intervention of relaxation plus guided imagery have a reduced incidence of nausea during chemotherapy, lower incidence, duration, and severity of post-chemotherapy nausea, shorter duration of post-treatment vomiting, 65,66 and a more positive experience with chemotherapy than patients who receive antiemetic treatment alone. 67 Other interventions include hypnosis, or suggestive therapy [68][69][70][71] systematic desensitization 72 biofeedback, 56 wristbands, 73 and electrical stimulation at the wrist. 74 No single mode of delivery of these behavioral interventions is universally effective or flawless.…”

Psychogenic Carcinogenesis

“…From our own clinical experience, this method could be hypnotherapy, but with compulsory use of pathogenesis-related therapeutic suggestion. The use of hypnotherapy in oncology has a long history (Sacerdote, 1966), however, the therapeutic suggestion used for were exclusively symptomatic orientated (Marchioro et al, 2000;Montgomery et al, 2007;Jacobsen & Jim, 2008;Schnur et al, 2008;Monti et al, 2008). We purposefully developed the technique of hypnotherapy with the compulsory use of pathogenetically important therapeutic suggestions.…”

Complementary and alternative theraphy methods used in the management of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting

“…Hipnoterapiyi takiben 16 hastadan 14'ünün beklenti bulantı-kusmasından tamamen kurtulduğu belirlenmiştir. [43] Richardson, Smith, McCall, Richardson, Pilkington ve Kirsch'in [44] yapmış olduğu literatür taramasında ise altı randomize kontrollü çalışma incelenmiş ve bu çalışmaların sonuçlarına göre hipnozun kemoterapiye bağlı bulantı kusmayı azaltmada önemli olduğu vurgulanmıştır.…”