Hypnosis Helps Unexplained Chest Pain
Reported September 28, 2006
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — You’ve been to the doctor and had all the tests. But no one can tell you why you’re experiencing chest pains.
If that sounds like you, then hypnosis might help. A new study conducted by British researchers reveals people who suffer from unexplained chest pains experience an easing of the symptoms with hypnotherapy.
Researchers tested the theory on 28 people suffering from non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) who did not respond to treatment with standard heartburn drugs. About half the group underwent 12 sessions of hypnotherapy, while the rest served as controls.
While hypnotherapy didn’t reduce the frequency of the pain attacks, researchers report 80 percent of the people who had hypnotherapy reported less painful symptoms, compared to just 23 percent of those in the control group. General well being improved in 73 percent of the hypnotherapy patients compared to 23 percent of those in the control group. Hypnotherapy patients were also able to reduce their use of medications. People in the control group actually began taking more medications during the study.
The authors write, “The fact that such clear-cut differences in the chest pain primary outcome favoring hypnotherapy emerged in this trial, despite the relatively small size of the sample, indicates that this form of treatment could have considerable potential in NCCP.”
SOURCE: Gut, 2006;55:1381-1384
