Abstract
BackgroundThis report describes the utility of hypnosis for patients who presented to a Pediatric Pulmonary Center over a 30 month period.MethodsHypnotherapy was offered to 303 patients from May 1, 1998 – October 31, 2000. Patients offered hypnotherapy included those thought to have pulmonary symptoms due to psychological issues, discomfort due to medications, or fear of procedures. Improvement in symptoms following hypnosis was observed by the pulmonologist for most patients with habit cough and conversion reaction. Improvement of other conditions for which hypnosis was used was gauged based on patients' subjective evaluations.ResultsHypnotherapy was associated with improvement in 80% of patients with persistent asthma, chest pain/pressure, habit cough, hyperventilation, shortness of breath, sighing, and vocal cord dysfunction. When improvement was reported, in some cases symptoms resolved immediately after hypnotherapy was first employed. For the others improvement was achieved after hypnosis was used for a few weeks. No patients' symptoms worsened and no new symptoms emerged following hypnotherapy.ConclusionsPatients described in this report were unlikely to have achieved rapid improvement in their symptoms without the use of hypnotherapy. Therefore, hypnotherapy can be an important complementary therapy for patients in a pediatric practice.
Highlights
This report describes the utility of hypnosis for patients who presented to a Pediatric Pulmonary Center over a 30 month period
In addition to therapist-assisted hypnosis, patients can be taught to use self-hypnosis to achieve desired effects. [1,4,5,8] Hypnosis is useful in altering thoughts, feelings, expectations, attitudes, perception, behavior, and even physiology. [1,4,6] hypnotherapy can be used to treat anxiety, pain, discomfort, to change habits, or as an aid in differential diagnosis
Twenty-eight patients declined to use hypnosis for various reasons including that it was against their religion, or because they felt their symptoms were unlikely to respond to hypnosis
Summary
This report describes the utility of hypnosis for patients who presented to a Pediatric Pulmonary Center over a 30 month period. [1,2,3,4,5,6] In practice it can be useful to think of hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness, and hypnotherapy as a treatment modality utilizing hypnosis to achieve a therapeutic goal. The state of hypnosis is a natural mental state. The stage hypnotist, who appears to be controlling his subjects, first enlists their cooperation by asking for volunteers, and picks subjects who can use hypnosis . Fectively by a pediatric pulmonologist during his first 30 months of experience with hypnosis As hypnosis has been demonstrated to have physiologic effects, e.g. on airway reactivity, blood flow and immune response, [1] benefits of hypnosis may be attributable to resultant alterations of physiology.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
