Preoperative Guided Imagery Improves Cardiac Surgery Outcomes

Preoperative guided imagery improves cardiac surgery outcomes.  Effect of guided imagery on length of stay, pain and anxiety in cardiac surgery patients.  “Cardiac surgery patients who listened to a pre-op guided imagery surgical tape had significantly less pain, anxiety and two days shorter hospital stay.”

-Tusek, D.L., Cwynar, R., and Cosgrove, D.M., Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, Journal of Cardiovascular Management 10; 2: 22-8 1999

Popularity: 2% [?]

Hypnosis for Burns

Hypnosis for burns.  The Use of Hypnosis in the Treatment of Burn Patients.  “Hypnosis has a part to play in nearly every aspect of burn care, from the initial visit through tubbing and grafting, and finally to rehabilitation.  Early hypnosis attenuates the inflammatory response to the injury, limiting the usual progression of the burn from first degree to second degree, or from second to third.  Procedural pain can be controlled.  Guilt or anger about the accident need to be alleviated, caloric intake can be increased, and active participation in physical therapy can be enhanced.”

Dabney M. Edwin, Tulane University, LA, USA, International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, Online ISBN: 9780470846407; DOI = 10.  1002/0470846402.ch19

Popularity: 4% [?]

Preoperative Guided Imagery Improves Cardiac Surgery Outcomes

Effect of guided imagery on length of stay, pain and anxiety in cardiac surgery patients.

“Cardiac surgery patients who listened to a pre-op guided imagery surgical tape had significantly less pain, anxiety, and two days shorter hospital stay.”

Tutsek, D. L., Cwynar, R., and Cosgrove, D.M., Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, Journal of Cardiovascular Management 10; 2: 22-8 1999

Popularity: 4% [?]

Hypnosis: Most Effective Way to Stop Smoking

Hypnosis is the most effective way of giving up smoking, according to the largest ever scientific comparison of ways of breaking the habit.  A meta-analysis, statistically combining results of more than 600 studies of 72,000 people from America and Europe to compare various methods on quitting.  On average, hypnosis was over three times as effective as nicotine replacement methods and 15 times as effective as trying to quit alone.

-University of Iowa, Journal of Applied Psychology, How One in Five Give Up Smoking.  October 1992.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Hypnosis Subjects Lost More Weight Than 90% of others and Kept it Off

Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for obesity: a meta-analytical reappraisal.

Researchers analyzed 18 studies comparing a cognitive behavioral therapy such as relaxation training, guided imagery, self monitoring, or goal setting with the same therapy supplemented by hypnosis.  Those who received the hypnosis lost more weight than 90 percent of those not receiving hypnosis and maintained the weight loss two years after treatment ended.

-University of Connecticut, Storrs Allison DB, Faith MS.   J Consult Clin Psychol. 1996;64(3):513-516.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Hypnotherapy is More Effective than Psychotherapy for Addicts

In a comparative study of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy in the treatment of methadone addicts, significantly more methadone addicts quit with hypnosis. At six-month follow-up, 94% of the subjects who received hypnosis remained narcotic-free.

-Manganiello A.J.  American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 1984; 26(4): 273-9.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Hypnosis Shows 77% Success Rate For Drug Addiction

Intensive Therapy:  Utilizing Hypnosis in the Treatment of Substance Abuse Disorders.

In a measure of 18 clients over the 7 years, hypnosis showed a 77% success rate for at least a 1-year follow-up.  (15 for alcoholism or alcohol abuse, 2 cocaine addiction, and 1 for marijuana addiction).

Potter, Greg, American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Jul. 2004.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Mayo Clinic Reviews & Summarizes Prior Hypnosis Studies

A review study of over a hundred clinical studies of hypnosis for medical procedures documents that hypnosis is beneficial for allergy, anesthesia for pain, anesthesia for surgery, warts, dermatitis, irritable bowel syndrome, peptic ulcers, abdominal surgery, healing from injury or surgery, hemophilia, hypertension, headaches, childbirth, asthma, smoking cessation, fibromyalgia, impotence, and urinary incontinence.

“Many important trials reviewed here have helped to establish the role of hypnosis in contemporary medicine.  These trials have established the utility and efficacy of hypnosis for several medical conditions, either alone or as part of the treatment regimen,” writes Stewart, JH, Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL, Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2005; 80: 511-524.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hypnosis: A Powerful Tool in Complementary Cancer Care

Hypnosis a Powerful Tool in Complementary Cancer Care

Complementary therapies, while not given the attention that more traditional cancer therapies may receive, are perhaps equally important while undergoing treatment for certain types of cancer. Patients diagnosed with difficult to treat malignancies will often use these types of therapies in conjunction with traditional surgical, chemotherapeutic, or radiology techniques to form a more comprehensive and effective treatment regimen. Among the most important and effective alternative therapies utilized by those diagnosed with cancer is hypnotherapy.

Hypnotherapy has been used for many years in clinical settings. Hypnotherapy’s role in cancer management however, is relatively new and indications are that its utilization has not been fully maximized yet. Effective cancer treatment often depends on the patient’s ability to not only defeat the cancer through treatments but also to maintain their health and mental spirit throughout the painful side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Often, the symptoms and effects of the cancer itself on the body are negligible compared to the pain and other side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. This is where acupuncture has been said to be most effective. Cancers such as mesothelioma, which are often unable to be removed by surgical means, are often treated with some combination of chemotherapy and radiation. While these potent therapies can be effective in eliminating some of the tumor mass and growth, they also profoundly affect the health of the surrounding tissue. Symptoms of these effects including fever, nausea, and general pain have been dramatically reduced through the utilization of hypnosis. Patients, who are able to withstand these symptoms and recover quickly, will often be able to be more aggressively treated, increasing the efficacy of the treatment regimen as a whole. Some specific hypnotherapy techniques utilized in pain management include altering the neurophysical configuration of pain, control of anticipatory anxiety, and targeted imagery.

Hypnotherapy techniques may not be appropriate for all patient’s pain and individual symptoms but it’s certainly worth exploring as it can do very little harm in experimenting with integrative therapies. The goal with alternative therapies, as with traditional mesothelioma treatments, is always to increase the effectiveness of treatment as a whole. If hypnotherapy can assist in any way in helping patients recover or manage symptoms of chemotherapy or radiation, then it will have contributed to the treatment regimens overall efficacy and should certainly be utilized.

References

Erickson MH: Hypnosis in painful terminal illness, in Haley J (ed): Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy: Selected Papers of Milton Erickson, MD. New York, Crune & Stratton, 1967.

Sunnen, Gerard M.D. , Hypnotic Approaches in the Cancer Patient Ozonics International, LLC

Popularity: 5% [?]