(Newswire.net — May 26, 2014) Rancho Santa Margarita, CA —
Recent Mount Sinai study confirms the effectiveness of hypnosis in helping cancer patients to control fatigue and anxiety while undergoing radiotherapy. Patients treated with hypnosis experienced less fatigue at the end of radiotherapy than 79% of patients who did not receive hypnosis. The number of patients with hypnosis who experienced less fatigue increased to 95% at the 6 month mark.
The study published online before print January 13, 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, evaluated Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy plus Hypnosis (CBTH) against traditional Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to gauge the effectiveness of hypnosis in controlling fatigue for breast cancer patients.
The CBT group with Hypnotherapy had significantly lower levels of fatigue at the end of radiotherapy as well as at 4 week and 6 month follow up assessments. Fatigue was measured in two ways – with the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) – Fatigue subscale, and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) – Fatigue and Muscle Weakness.
The FACIT – Fatigue subscore is based on 47 questions in 5 areas (physical well-being, social/family well-being, emotional well-being, functional, well-being, and additional concerns) that the patient self-reports. The VAS – Fatigue and Muscle Weakness is a similar subjective evaluation but allows for a wider range of responses.
On both evaluations, patients using hypnotherapy reported significantly less fatigue at the end of radiotherapy and the 6 month mark than patients who were only exposed to CBT. 200 patients were evaluated and randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The mean age of the patients was between 55 and 56 years old. The trial was conducted at the School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
“This is really great news,” said Brett Johnson of Does-Hypnosis-Work.org. “Here at Does Hypnosis Work, my community is always looking for proof, not theory, that hypnosis is effective. This research takes us another step closer toward undoing the stereotype that hypnosis has due to the way it’s portrayed in movies and on TV.”
Johnson goes on to say, “This research goes on to prove what we believe at Does Hypnosis Work that hypnosis is not a cure-all, but is effective when used repetitively and in conjunction, not instead of, traditional therapies. The benefits of hypnosis can be experienced by everyone without taking time away from their current activities. The patients in this study, whether CBT only or CBT with Hypnosis, met with an interventionist for 30 minutes at the beginning of radiotherapy and twice a week for the length of the treatment (6 weeks) for 15 minutes, then one last time for 30 minutes on the last day of therapy. Hypnosis patients experienced statistically significant improvement with no additional time investment. That’s powerful proof!”
Additional proof that hypnosis is effective for a wide range of anxiety related disorders including stress, depression, and panic attacks is available at http://does-hypnosis-work.org/
About Does Hypnosis Work
Does Hypnosis Work is a website for skeptics of hypnosis. Founded by Brett Johnson, a former skeptic of hypnosis, Does Hypnosis Work dot org aims to end the Hollywood stereotype of hypnosis and show readers through scientific research, facts, and examples hypnosis is safe, effective, and one of the most powerful self-improvement tools available.