Self-hypnosis training for in-hospital chronic pain patients : Aretrolective observational study

Abstract

Hypnosis is probably one of the oldest therapies known to man. In the last decades modern hypnosis has mainly been used by psychotherapists; however, hypnosis is becoming increasingly more important as atherapeutic method in medicine. Hypnosis can be used for avariety of medical indications. In the literature there is much evidence for the effectiveness of hypnosis. The aim of the present investigation was to demonstrate the effectiveness of hypnosis in inpatient treatment of chronic pain patients and to present aself-hypnosis program, which can be easily integrated into pain therapy. From October 2012 to April 2013 all inpatient chronic pain patients were included (group1: non-hypnosis group, group2: hypnosis group). Concerning group2 astandardized protocol for hypnotherapy was integrated in addition to the standardized pain management program. The main goal of hypnotherapy was to integrate aself-hypnosis training so that further implementation in adomestic setting could be guaranteed. By means of standardized test procedures, e. g. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Pain Disability Index (PDI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Numerical Rating Scales (NRS) for pain and general well-being, data were evaluated before and after the pain therapy. The prestandardized and poststandardized test procedures of 30chronic pain patients were evaluated (17patients without hypnosis, 13patients with hypnosis). The main diagnosis according to ICD-10 was "chronic pain disorder" (F45.41) with aMPSS stageIII in all patients. The PDI was significantly improved in the hypnosis group (p = 0.019). The other items all showed atrend towards improvement in the hypnosis group (exception GAD-7) but without statistical significance (p > 0.05). In asmall patient collective, the present investigation was able to show that the integration of modern hypnotherapy into the treatment of chronic pain patients in an inpatient setting can be another useful therapeutic aspect. In particular, the instructions for learning independently seem to be useful due to the limited in-patient time. More research needs to be carried out to support our initial findings.