Secondary diurnal enuresis treated with hypnosis: a time-series design

Hypnotherapy as an Adjunct to Medical Treatment: Highlighting Effectiveness and Identifying Barriers to Further Integrative Treatment

Integrative models of health care have garnered increasing attention over the years and are currently being employed within acute and secondary health care services to support medical treatments in a range of specialities. Clinical hypnosis has a history of working in partnership with medical treatments quite apart from its psychiatric associations. It aims to mobilise the mind–body connection in order to identify and overcome obstacles to managing symptoms of ill health, resulting in overall improved emotional and physical well-being. This article aims to encourage the use of hypnotherapy in physical health care by highlighting the effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to medical treatment and identifying barriers preventing further integrative treatments.

Clinical hypnosis with a Little League baseball population: performance enhancement and resolving traumatic experiences

A model for the use of clinical hypnosis with a Little League population was proposed and outlined with dual emphasis: performance enhancement and resolving traumatic experiences. The Performance Enhancement Training Model was developed to enhance performance with this non-patient population. It employed clinical hypnosis to bring to fruition recommendations made by coaches to enhance players' batting proficiency. The second emphasis of the proposed model focused on the resolution of involuntary maladaptive habits secondary to a traumatic experience that impede or compromise optimum performance. Included in this category were detrimental defensive habits "at the plate" after a beaming by a pitch and detrimental defensive habits "on the field" after being hit by a batted ball.

The effectiveness of hypnosis in reducing pain and suffering among women with metastatic breast cancer and among women with temporomandibular disorder

The authors describe two studies of special interest to clinicians and clinical researchers. Both are randomized controlled studies, exclusively focused on female patients. The first study tests whether a year-long weekly group intervention including hypnosis can reduce cancer pain among women with metastatic breast cancer. Findings suggest the intervention slowed the increase in reported pain over a 12-month period relative to controls. The second study examines the effect of hypnosis in women suffering from temporomandibular disorder (TMD), with a special focus on function as well as pain. Hypnosis reduced TMD pain as measured by a numerical-rating scale.

Clinical research on the utility of hypnosis in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical and psychiatric disorders

The authors summarize 4 articles of special interest to the hypnosis community in the general scientific and medical literatures. All are empirical studies testing the clinical utility of hypnosis, and together address the role of hypnosis in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical and psychiatric disorders/conditions. The first is a randomized controlled study of smoking cessation treatments comparing a hypnosis-based protocol to an established behavioral counseling protocol. Hypnosis quit rates are superior to those of the accepted behavioral counseling protocol. A second study with pediatric patients finds hypnosis critically helpful in differentiating nonepileptic seizure-like behaviors (pseudoseizures) from epilepsy. The remaining 2 papers are randomized controlled trials testing whether hypnosis is effective in helping patients manage the emotional distress of medical procedures associated with cancer treatment. Among female survivors of breast cancer, hypnosis reduces perceived hot flashes and associated emotional and sleep disruptions. Among pediatric cancer patients, a brief hypnotic intervention helps control venepuncture-related pain.