August 14, 2003 – Visualization combined with hypnotherapy is no more effective than visualization alone in relieving pain.
Scientists already knew that some people in pain manage to eliminate much of their pain when they relax and imagine, for example, being sitting in a field of flowers during a spectacular sunset. They now wanted to know if hypnotherapy could improve the effectiveness of the technique.
The researchers therefore recruited 285 participants, who were asked to rate how well visualization, used alone or in combination with hypnotherapy, was able to relieve the pain of a prick on their fingertips. They found that even for patients who were highly sensitive to hypnotherapy, the latter technique did not increase the effectiveness of mental imagery.
However, experience has enabled them to establish that the relief provided by mental imagery is directly proportional to the patient’s expectations: the more the patient was convinced that the method would relieve his pain, the greater his relief.
The researchers also found that a relatively short preparation is enough for mental imagery to be effective, which is encouraging for patients who have limited time to prepare for painful treatment (such as severe burns). .
Scientists now would like to see the same experience repeated with people experiencing “natural” pain rather than deliberately inflicted “artificial” pain.
The results are published in the current edition of the journal Health Psychology.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
According to WebMD; August 13, 2003.
