The American journal of clinical hypnosis
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Review Case Reports
Hypnosis in the treatment of patients with severe burns.
Burn injuries are a frequent form of trauma, the care for which typically involves repeated, intrusive procedures and acute, excruciating levels of pain. Although research in the use of hypnosis with burn patients is largely anecdotal there is emerging evidence that the burn unit may be one of the most useful arenas for the clinical application of this technique. The acute, identifiable nature of burn care procedures and the emotional state of patients in trauma care both provide an often receptive setting for the use of this intervention.
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This is a review of the systematic studies conducted since 1980 in the area of hypnotic interventions for anxiety, pain, and emesis control in child and adolescent cancer patients. The focus of the present paper is on how the problems encountered in studying the use of hypnosis with this population influence the results. The review is divided between studies focused on controlling anxiety and pain and those focused on controlling nausea and vomiting. Consistent findings are identified, and suggestions for future research are made.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Taped therapeutic suggestions and taped music as adjuncts in the care of coronary-artery-bypass patients.
A randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled trial examined the benefits of taped therapeutic suggestions and taped music in coronary-artery-bypass patients. Sixty-six patients listened to either suggestion tapes or music tapes, intraoperatively and postoperatively; 29 patients listened to blank tapes intraoperatively and listened to no tapes postoperatively. ⋯ There were no significant differences in these same outcomes between the patients who were helped by the tapes and the patients not helped. These results suggest that if taped therapeutic suggestions have a measurable effect upon cardiac surgery patients, demonstrating this effect will require more detailed patient evaluations to identify subgroups of patients responsive to this type of intervention.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
The effects of light, temperature, trance length, and time of day on hypnotic depth.
We evaluated predictions derived from the ultradian theory of hypnosis regarding the effects of temperature, light, trance length, and time of day on reported trance depth in 95 college undergraduates. Temperature and light showed no relation to trance depth. However, as predicted by ultradian theory, subjects who were kept in trance for 15 minutes reported greater trance depth than those who experienced a 5-minute trance. ⋯ This latter finding was inconsistent with ultradian theory and prior research. Alternative explanations for this finding are discussed. Overall, the results from the present study do not provide strong support for Rossi's ultradian theory of hypnosis.
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In this paper I examine the clinical use of hypnosis for pain management from a cognitive-behavioral perspective. This perspective emphasizes the multifaceted nature of hypnotic interventions and the importance of patients' attitudes, expectations, and beliefs in modulating the pain experience. ⋯ Since this approach does not pivot around the concept of a hypnotic trance state, we look elsewhere in our quest to understand the nature of pain modulation in the hypnotic context. Freedom from a theoretical commitment to the hypnotic trance state is seen as opening new avenues for the development of effective clinical interventions.