American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

When cure is not possible, suffering often takes form as pain and distressing symptoms, death anxiety, existential distress, and meaninglessness. This paper describes important elements connecting palliative care principles with hypnotic approaches designed to provide support, palliate symptoms, foster hope, and address existential and spiritual distress. We offer a developmental process for and examples of hypnotic suggestions customized to simultaneously ameliorate physical symptoms and address profound distress arising from physical, social, psychological, existential, and spiritual challenges commonly encountered in terminal illness...

This case study explores the effects of a combined intervention involving Mindful Self-Hypnosis (MSH) and Resistance Training (RT) on perceived stress levels and well-being in a university student. The participant, Ms. P, engaged in a 12-week program comprised of two weekly RT sessions accompanied by MSH inductions. Perceived stress levels were evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and well-being was assessed using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Intervention sessions were designed to enhance focus and calmness, along with imagery of performing the workout...

Depressive disorders are common conditions associated with high personal and economic burdens. The best treatment outcomes occur in patients receiving both psychotherapy and antidepressant medications. Behavioral activation is one approach within the most widely available and studied psychotherapy frameworks (cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT) utilized for depression, and is effective in treating depression even in isolation from the rest of the CBT approach. Many hypnosis treatments for depression have been developed to incorporate various CBT techniques, including behavioral activation...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare, incurable, and ultimately fatal, devastating, progressive degenerative neurologic disease. It causes upheaval in the lives of patients and family caregivers alike. Palliative care can play an important supportive role in the care of patients and families dealing with the devastation of this illness. Clinical hypnosis has demonstrated benefits in treating the symptoms associated with severe chronic illness. There are, however, few studies looking at the benefits of clinical hypnosis in treating the symptom burden of ALS...

Rehabilitation Medicine and Palliative medicine have much in common as both specialties deal with loss and impending loss related to incurable medical conditions. Significant losses are encountered by patients in both rehabilitation and palliative care settings, and often threaten quality of life, hopefulness, and resiliency. The losses are related to what the patient has identified as self. In this article the author suggests a way of approaching loss and suffering that incorporates, mindfulness, Disidentification and Ego-State work to help preserve a sense of self that is not identified with what is happening to the body...

Often overlooked by caregivers because of their ability to adapt to a challenging home life by making few demands themselves, the siblings of special needs children have unacknowledged needs of their own. They often are reluctant to participate in therapy because of their self-concept of having to be the "normal" or "perfect" child. Therapy with these children requires non-pathologizing and attuned rapport building focused on creative self-exploration without requests for change. Two composite case vignettes illustrate the power and versatility of clinical hypnosis to facilitate new learning about becoming visible in the therapeutic relationship and beyond...

Trypanophobia (needle phobia) frequently occurs because of negative encounters with medical procedures and/or needles. Trypanophobia ranges in severity from causing mild anxiety, including apprehension about medical procedures, to severe anxiety and complete avoidance of medical care. In this case report, we describe a 29-year-old who underwent hypnosis-facilitated age regression therapy to improve his trypanophobia. Through the guidance of his subconscious, he realized his reaction to needles may not have been directly related to a difficult medical procedure he had undergone at the age of two...

This paper advocates for all child clinicians to learn hypnosis skills as a distinct advantage to enhance their understanding of child development in the treatment of children. It examines the interface of child development and hypnosis. Clinical hypnosis with children follows the child's developmentally determined self-expressions. The clinician must tend to the way in which the child expresses a "problem," structuring treatment goals and pace, and evoking and utilizing opportunities for therapeutic suggestion...

Every time a patient undergoes a medical procedure, unpredicted personal stress occurs. According to the available literature, the hypnotic communication technique has been used to reduce stress and pain during several major invasive procedures. The primary goal of this study was to compare the effectiveness of hypnotic communication combined with buffered Lidocaine, versus buffered Lidocaine alone, on patients' negative emotions while undergoing Peripherally Inserted Central Venous Catheter (PICC) placement...

This study used data from a randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of hypnosis with analgesic suggestions relative to hypnosis with nonspecific suggestions to explore two areas. The first was the immediate effects of each hypnosis session and their relevance to the treatment induced change in pain intensity. The second was the identification of variables associated with the beneficial effects of hypnosis treatment in the form of reducing pain intensity and pain quality. The predictive value of the initial treatment response, hypnotizability, and the dichotomous variable of pain medication use were examined...

Bertrand Russell, philosopher and Nobel prize winner said "Laughter is the most inexpensive and most effective wonder drug. Laughter is a universal medicine." Humor as medicine may be just what the doctor ordered to keep us emotionally, mentally and physically fit. Children are not only wonderful hypnotic subjects, they love laughter and silliness. The therapeutic effectiveness of hypnotherapy with children and adolescents can be enhanced when humor is incorporated into the session. Laughter is fun and free and can be used to strengthen rapport and the therapeutic alliance between the clinician and the child...

Retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction (R-CPD) causes an inability to belch. This case report describes the successful treatment of R-CPD with the use of hypnosis. Thereafter, the patient was able to burp small amounts of air, and was encouraged to continue his use of hypnosis as needed. Hypnosis and possibly other noninvasive treatments should be used for R-CPD before employment of more invasive and costly treatments such as botulinum toxin administration.

The national conversation continues to focus on the negative impact of social media on teens/young people. The lingering effects of the pandemic revealed sharp increases in the common practice of "compare and despair" as well as higher rates of loneliness, isolation, depression, and self-harming behaviors. In May 2023, the US Surgeon General warned that social media "is the defining public issue of our time" and is driving the teen mental health crisis. These concerns for the mental health of humans across the globe are real and dramatic...

This study investigated the impact of hypnotic suggestions on improving attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (ATSPPH). The study administered the Chinese version of the ATSPPH scale on 303 college students, of which 61 with low levels of ATSPPH were recruited as the participants (male: 18; female: 43). All participants were tested with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A, prior to the formal experiment and assigned with balancing hypnotic susceptibility in hypnotic suggestion, relaxation, or control groups...

Depression in children and teens has been on the rise for several years. Recent increases in anxiety and loneliness, both contributors to the development of depression, are putting more young people at risk for chronic and comorbid mental health struggles. The use of hypnosis with depressed children offers the opportunity to target the identified skills depressed and anxious children need and is a modality clinicians should embrace. This article describes how to create hypnotic interventions focusing on improved emotional and cognitive management, better sleep, and the ability to make positive social connections...

Sleep disturbances take many forms. Negative health consequences are associated with nearly all of them. Insomnia, the most common sleep disturbance, can present as an inability to initiate sleep or to maintain sleep such that the restorative benefits of sleep are limited. This case report describes a client in her 60s who sought treatment for early morning awakening that persisted for four years despite the use of sleep-inducing medications. Her successful course of treatment utilized hypnotic suggestions and interactions that targeted distinctive features of the sleep cycle as well as her daily transition from wakefulness to sleep to early morning reawakening...

The clinical hypnosis literature suggests that confidence in new clinical skills is an important learning outcome; however, many current training standards for clinical hypnosis do not address outcomes such as confidence. To address this deficit, this pilot study asked whether clinical hypnosis instruction offered by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) leads to learner confidence. A one-group observational A-B survey-based design examined baseline, expected, and post-training confidence in the use of skills necessary for clinical hypnosis...

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Although the belief that hypnotizability is a mental dysfunction has been refuted over time, there is still research today that seeks to explore and clarify this preconception. The results of recent research indicate that, on the contrary, greater psychopathology is more frequent in subjects with low hypnotic susceptibility. Using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale type A (SHSS-A) for hypnotizability, Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R) for psychopathology, and the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for psychosomatic dimensions, we found no relationship between baseline psychopathology, alexithymia and hypnotizability in 69 subjects with chronic pain in this retrospective observational study...

People, worldwide, are in dire need of stress regulation. This paper presents a six step alert self-hypnosis protocol that individuals can use to regulate a wide variety of stresses. A brief anonymized case reports from a diverse range of clients follows the protocol's six step outline. The step-by-step algorithm can be modified to address the unique circumstances of each client. Finally, summaries of neuroscience research provide possible explanations for the observed efficacy of the approach.