The use of hypnosis in cocaine addiction

Effects of hypnosis during pregnancy: A psychophysiological study on maternal stress

Because it induces a state of reduced awareness and deep relaxation, hypnosis is thought to be efficient at relieving stress and anxiety. This study examined whether hypnosis may alter the pattern and time evolution of maternal and fetal stress. Here we report a 23-yrs-old primigravida woman at 31-weeks' gestation who underwent daily sessions of hypnosis during one week. An A (baseline)-B (intervention) - A' (return to baseline) design was used. Each study phase lasted one week. The State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) was completed daily. Uterine contractions as well as maternal and fetal heart rate were recorded over 24-h periods in each of the study phase. Uterine contractions and maternal systolic blood pressure showed clear reductions during the hypnosis phase. In addition, a statistically significant declining trend in anxiety scores was observed during the hypnosis phase, and anxiety re-increased in the return-to-baseline phase (p<0.05). Coefficient of variation of maternal heart rate was found to be considerably lower during the hypnosis phase. Our results suggest that a short-lived hypnosis intervention (combined with standard care) holds sufficient promise for antenatal stress relief to justify testing its efficacy in larger groups of pregnant women.

Enhancing workshop safety: learning from colleagues' adverse experiences (part I--structure/content)

Recent studies demonstrate that unwanted responses to hypnosis during training workshops are not uncommon, and usually are covert (Kluft, 2012). Adverse events usually occurred subsequent to inadequate realerting from previous experiences of hypnosis. Inadequate realerting almost invariably was associated with unsuccessful permissive instructions for dehypnosis. Further, workshop faculty tended to accept partial dehypnosis as adequate dehypnosis. This article, the first of two related communications, offers 13 suggestions for minimizing workshops participants' risk of experiencing adverse events. It recommends safer replacements for techniques and stances often associated with adverse outcomes, and advocates using measures of alertness, such as the Howard Alertness Scale (Howard, 2008) to identify those at risk for unsuccessful realerting and the problems associated with it. Additional safety-related recommendations are communicated in Part II.

Intensive therapy: utilizing hypnosis in the treatment of substance abuse disorders

Hypnosis was once a viable treatment approach for addictions. Then, due to hypnosis being used for entertainment purposes many professionals lost confidence in it. However, it has now started to make a comeback in the treatment of substance abuse. The approach described here, using hypnosis for treatment, is borrowed from studies effectively treating alcoholism by using intensive daily sessions. Combining the more intense treatment of 20 daily sessions with hypnosis is a successful method to treat addictions. The treatment has been used with 18 clients over the last 7 years and has shown a 77 percent success rate for at least a 1-year follow-up.

Self-hypnosis relapse prevention training with chronic drug/alcohol users: effects on self-esteem, affect, and relapse

This study evaluated 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 transtheoretical cognitive-behavioral (TCB), and a stress management (attention-placebo) group. Participants were 261 veterans admitted to Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs (SARRTPs). Participants were assessed pre- and postintervention, and at 7-week follow-up. Relapse rates did not significantly differ across the 4 groups at follow-up; 87% of those contacted reported abstinence. At follow-up, the participants in the 3 treatment conditions were asked how often they practiced the intervention materials provided them. Practicing and minimal-practicing participants were compared against the control group for each of the 3 interventions via MANOVAs/ANOVAs. Results revealed a significant Time by Groups interaction for the hypnosis intervention, with individuals who played the self-hypnosis audiotapes "at least 3 to 5 times a week" at 7-week follow-up reporting the highest levels of self-esteem and serenity, and the least anger/impulsivity, in comparison to the minimal-practice and control groups. No significant effects were found for the transtheoretical or stress management interventions. Regression analyses predicted almost two-thirds of the variance of who relapsed and who did not in the hypnosis intervention group. Hypnotic susceptibility predicted who practiced the self-hypnosis audiotapes. The results suggest that hypnosis can be a useful adjunct in helping chronic substance abuse individuals with their reported self-esteem, serenity, and anger/impulsivity.

Utilization Sobriety: brief, individualized substance abuse treatment employing ideomotor questioning

This article presents a substance abuse treatment method that acknowledges and accommodates the personal needs that are being addressed by substance. This method, Utilization Sobriety, bypasses perceived resistances and employs idiosyncratic psychobiological learning to achieve a body-mind gestalt that is complementary to the client's sobriety. It develops a safe framework for addressing any subsequent mental health themes directly or indirectly related to substance misuse. A treatment protocol for the use of Utilization Sobriety as well as relevant clinical material illustrating its application and a discussion of its implications are offered.