An online survey of 103 clinicians using hypnosis was conducted to gain a broad real-world view of current practices, experiences, and perspectives on clinical hypnosis in Brazil. This research replicated a form focused on identifying clinical hypnosis practices across 31 countries, contributing to a global perspective on this intervention modality. The present study employed descriptive statistics in its data analysis. According to respondents, among the 36 most common uses of hypnosis, improving well-being, enhancing self-esteem, reducing stress, and controlling specific phobias and anxiety were reported as the most clinically effective applications. In Brazil, 90.3% of hypnotherapists do not consider hypnotizability relevant to the success of hypnotherapy. Concerns were raised about the technical-professional training of Brazilian hypnotherapists. This is the first investigation into hypnosis practices in Brazil. Although hypnosis has been regulated for over two decades by professional health councils, such as the Federal Council of Medicine and the Federal Council of Psychology, efforts to promote evidence-based practices must be made to address the identified gaps.

Ankle sprains are one of the more common musculoskeletal injuries in active populations and can develop into chronic ankle instability (CAI), a condition with uncertain etiology and symptoms that include poor dynamic balance, the ability to maintain balance during movement. The components of CAI are psychophysiological and biomechanical, indicating mind-body connections that can influence the development and persistence of this condition. Preliminary evidence suggests that self-hypnosis, a mind-body therapy, can restore physical performance in conditions like CAI. Twenty-four participants with CAI participated in this experimental pilot study, with a crossover design, to investigate the relationship between self-reported measures of ankle instability and other psychological factors with performance-based measures of dynamic balance and heart rate variability (HRV). Participants also received an 8-minute, self-hypnosis session to determine its influence on balance performance. Perceived ankle instability and dynamic balance were not associated with enhancement-based (interoceptive awareness, self-efficacy) or limit-based (kinesiophobia, anxiety) psychological factors. Perceived anxiety was not associated with HRV. Hypnosis was modestly effective in improving direction-specific (lateral) dynamic balance.

About two-thirds of college students rate their sleep as suboptimal which is associated with a variety of additional issues. Poor sleep is shown to follow certain pre-sleep cognitive activity that inhibits sleep onset and reduces sleep quality. Preliminary evidence suggests that a self-administered hypnosis intervention is feasible in improving sleep within a college student population, and the current study explores potential correlating variables to inform future mechanistic research. Twenty-two college students who self-reported poor sleep quality utilized a three-week self-administered hypnosis intervention while completing baseline and endpoint measures of sleep quality, insomnia symptoms, and psychological factors. Results indicated that participants experienced significant improvement with large effects in sleep quality ( = -1.21) and significant decreases in insomnia symptoms ( = 1.05) from pre- to post-intervention. Significant improvements were also observed on measures of pre-sleep arousal and worry. The results suggest that a self-administered hypnosis intervention may modulate pre-sleep cognitive activity associated with poor sleep quality.

The objective of this study was to determine the best-fit factor structure of a standardized hypnotizability measure in a clinical population. The Elkins Hypnotizability Scale (EHS) was administered to 173 post-menopausal women, age from 39 to 75 years, with a mean age of 54.61 years. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were used to determine goodness of fit. Results indicated that the single-factor structure modeled with six indicators based on the individual items on the EHS provides the best description of fit. Results of the present study demonstrate that the EHS has a single-factor structure. Further research is required with other populations and measures.

The lead article in this issue of the (), entitled, "Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale in a Clinical Population", reports on a factor analysis of hypnotizability scores in a clinical population of postmenopausal women. The results found evidence for a general hypnotizability latent variable. This finding suggests a general "G factor" may best account for hypnotizability. More research is needed, however, if confirmed in future research would lead to a new understanding of hypnotizability as having a single-factor structure. Existing research proposes greater recognition of the natural capacity of humans to intentionally alter their own experiences. Another study reports that perceptions of clinical hypnosis are positive among the public and healthcare providers, but more education of healthcare providers about hypnotherapy is needed. Additional articles are presented that examine the feasibility and potential benefit of clinical hypnosis in treatment of pain and distress among patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and in improving sleep disturbances in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

This scoping review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of studies that explore the use of hypnotherapy as a treatment for depression, adhering to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A total of 232 articles were identified through systematic search strategies in four databases. Following rigorous screening, 14 studies, varying from case studies to randomized controlled trials, were included in the final review. The age range of participants spanned from 18 to 70 years, and the number of female participants generally exceeded that of males in these studies. Hypnotherapy was found to be frequently used as an adjunct treatment alongside various types of psychotherapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy and often included techniques like hypnotic induction, ego strengthening, and self-hypnosis. The treatment duration varied from 3 sessions to as long as 20 weekly sessions. Most importantly, the majority of the studies found hypnotherapy to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression, with some studies suggesting it has superior effects to antidepressant treatment in areas such as overall health and vitality. This review highlights the potential of hypnotherapy as a viable treatment option for depression and highlights the need for further controlled studies to establish its efficacy.

"The relationship" is often cited as an essential aspect of successful psychotherapy, but what is it about the relationship that contributes to positive outcomes in treatment? This article introduces the concept of implicit rapport, which, in the parlance of social psychology, is an element of influence. Influence represents those things to which people respond without awareness of what exactly they are responding. Implicit rapport is here defined as a category of behaviors or interventions that occur within the context of clinical encounters and are designed or intended to promote a sense of feeling known, understood, valued, and safe. It is characterized as implicit because the variety of interactions referred to are not likely to be overtly or explicitly recognized by the client but, nonetheless, influences their willingness to commit to the work of psychotherapy. Clinical vignettes are presented to provide examples of how implicit rapport is conceptualized and actualized.

Despite advancements in medication,managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains challenging, necessitatingalternative control methods. Gut-directed hypnotherapy, known for alleviating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is debated as an IBD management method. Anextensive search across PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Clinicaltrials.govuncovered five randomized trials and two case series involving IBD patients undergoing hypnotherapy. A small trial reported statistically significant remission at one year ( = .04), but larger trials, including one with 63 patients, showed no significant gastrointestinal improvements. The first case series noted post-intervention reduction in the mediators of inflammation in rectal mucosal, without long-term monitoring. The second case series observed the absence of flare episodes in 12 of 13 ulcerative colitis patients during follow-up, possibly influenced by the simultaneous use of two drugs alongside hypnotherapy. Psychological outcomes, demonstrated no significant differences between hypnotherapy and control groups. While current literature doesn't decisively support hypnotherapy for managing IBD symptoms, it underscores the importance of further research, including randomized clinical trials, to thoroughly assess its effectiveness in this context.

The objective of this study was to determine the model fit of a standardized hypnotizability measure in a targeted clinical sample. The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C) was administered to 168 post-menopausal women aged 39 to 75 years. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were used to determine goodness of fit. Results indicated that the single-factor structure modeled with twelve indicators based on the individual items on the SHSS:C provided the best description of fit. Results of the present study demonstrate that the SHSS:C has a single-factor structure. These findings suggest that new scales of hypnotizability can be optimized by focusing on the use of items that correlate highly with the overall score representing the unidimensional construct of hypnotizability. The findings should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size, and further research is needed with other populations to clarify generalizability.

When used separately, virtual reality (VR) and mind-body therapies (MBTs) have the potential to reduce pain across various acute and chronic conditions. While their combination is increasingly used, no study offers a consolidated presentation of VR and MBTs. This study aims to propose an overview of the effectiveness of VR combined with MBTs (i.e., meditation, mindfulness, relaxation, and hypnosis) to decrease the pain experienced by healthy volunteers or patients. We conducted a scoping review of the literature using PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar and included 43 studies. Findings across studies support that VR combined with MBTs is a feasible, well-tolerated, and potentially useful to reduce pain. Their combination also had a positive effect on anxiety, mood, and relaxation. However, insufficient research on this VR/MBTs combination and the lack of multidimensional studies impede a comprehensive understanding of their full potential. More randomized controlled studies are thus needed, with usability evaluation protocols to better understand the effects of VR/MBTs on patients wellbeing and to incorporate them into routine clinical practice.

Controlling acute pain for individuals undergoing orthopedic surgery is highly desirable as it is related to various treatment outcomes. Immersive, virtual reality hypnosis (VRH) is one potential treatment modality to aid in pain management. This three-arm, randomized clinical trial evaluated the efficacy of two hypnosis interventions for reducing post-surgical pain and anxiety in addition to evaluating the effects on sleep quality, mental health, and physical functioning. Results indicated no statistically significant main effects associated with intervention groups for pre-post change scores of pain intensity (F(3, 177) = 0.35,  = .71, partial η2 = .004), anxiety (F(3, 177) = 0.20, = .81, partial η2 = .002) or sleep quality (F(3, 175) = 0.81,  = .45, partial η2 = .009). Additionally, there were no statistically significant group effects of treatment condition on mental health (F(2, 162) = .71,  = .49, η2 = .009) or physical functioning (F(2, 165) = .43,  = .65, η2 = .005). Issues and future directions for this line of research are discussed.

The aim of this study was to test the clinical feasibility of hypnotherapy in the management of fatigue and sleep disturbances among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the south of Iran. Forty patients aged 25-47 were enrolled, and 22 (19 females, 3 males) completed eight 50-minute sessions of hypnotherapy for 10 weeks. Patients were required to practice the hypnotherapy sessions at home throughout the week. Participants completed the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) at baseline and after the final hypnotherapy session. The mean MFI score was significantly reduced by 8.19 points following hypnotherapy ( < .05). The mean PSQI global score following hypnosis treatment significantly decreased from 7.4 ± 3.3 to 5.52 ± 3.12 ( < .05). Our results suggest that MS patients might benefit from hypnotherapy for controlling fatigue and sleep disturbance symptoms. Confirmative assessment is required in a randomized controlled trial after feasibility has been established.

For over a decade, the growing use of smartphone apps provided a way to make hypnotherapy more widely accessible. However, available apps vary widely in the quality of hypnosis provided to users. This study systematically reviewed apps delivering some form of hypnotherapy intervention and summarized their characteristics. Using hypnosis-related search terms, a list of apps was generated, yielding 679 unique hypnosis apps across both Android and iOS stores, and 168 apps met inclusion criteria for this review. The most common app targets were sleep ( = 94, 56.0%), relaxation/meditation ( = 92, 54.8%), and stress ( = 62, 36.9%). Only 34 (20.2%) of the apps indicated that the developer or person providing hypnosis was trained in hypnosis. Thirteen (7.7%) apps included some claim of evidence-based treatment. Only four apps reported inclusion in a clinical efficacy trial. Relationships between key app characteristics were explored using chi-square analysis. Though hypnotherapy apps have much potential in health care, apps based upon evidence-based protocols and empirical research are limited at this time.

The main objective of this systematic review is to comprehensively describe and evaluate the evidence on hypnotherapy for smoking cessation. Included studies were comprised of adults, had measurable objective/subjective data reflecting smoking cessation, hypnosis or hypnotherapy studied alone or as part of a multicomponent intervention, and at least ten participants. A total of 745 nonduplicate publications were screened, and 63 papers were included for analysis. Based on 33 of these studies, 66.7% reported a positive impact of the hypnosis intervention for smoking cessation. Positive impact studies had longer average treatment duration, greater number of hypnotherapy sessions, and utilized both self-report and objective measures of smoking cessation outcome (40.9% of positive studies using both vs 20% of no impact studies). The efficacy of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation is positive; however, more studies using biologically confirmed abstinence and reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked are needed. Hypnotherapy is a useful approach for smoking cessation that warrants additional inquiry. Future studies are needed that assess treatment fidelity and hypnotizability, provide information on race/ethnicity, and report on side effects and adverse events.

This issue of the provides a systematic review of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation as well as a systematic review of hypnosis apps. These reviews are followed by articles that examine hypnotherapy for sleep disturbances in patients with multiple sclerosis, and provide results from a randomized clinical trial of immersive virtual reality to reduce pain and anxiety in individuals undergoing orthopedic surgery. In addition, an important new study, with findings that suggest a "general factor" may best account for hypnotizability is presented. Together, these articles address important emerging research on applications of clinical hypnosis and methods of intervention.

This study presents the norms and psychometric properties for a shortened online adaptation of a French version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A). Assessment of involuntariness and subjective intensity was added to the traditional scoring. A total of 373 individuals completed an online hypnotizability screening test on their own computer. Participants received the HGSHS:A script through an audio recording lasting about 30 minutes. The results showed that the item difficulty and reliability of the short online HGSHS:A were consistent with the offline version of the scale and with the reference samples. Involuntariness and subjective intensity corrections improved significantly the accuracy in the measurement of the scale and helped to dissociate between different phenomenologies in hypnotic responding. These findings indicate that the short online HGSHS:A is a reliable tool for measuring hypnotizability. Moreover, we suggest that using complementary measures of involuntariness and subjective intensity helps to shed more light on hypnotizability as part of a multi-componential approach to hypnotic response.

Perceived stress is a significant problem among female college students that can impact psychological distress, sleep, and overall well-being. Mindful self-hypnosis (MSH) and resistance training (RT) have both been shown to reduce perceived stress. The rationale for the present study was to investigate whether MSH combined with RT could be more effective at reducing perceived stress as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale than RT alone due to synergistic effects achieved by combining the interventions. Forty-four female college students were randomized to one of the three groups: MSH+RT, RT only, or a wait-list control (WLC). Results indicated that, compared to RT only, the addition of MSH led to pronounced improvements in perceived stress which was significantly greater than WLC. Also, MSH+RT resulted in significant increases in mindfulness, sleep, strength, and well-being in comparison to WLC. MSH+RT was shown to be feasible with highly satisfactory participant ratings. Future research should examine the MSH+RT intervention with a larger population and with older women who are more at risk for stress and declining strength.

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) stands as an advanced technology embraced by researchers and clinicians to influence thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The prevalent NIBS methods include transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), both proficient in either exciting or depressing neural activities in specific cortical regions. Recently, NIBS has been integrated into hypnosis research with the goal of enhancing hypnotizability. Specifically, the limited existing studies have predominantly focused on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) due to its significant role in neutral hypnosis. Overall, these studies suggest the fascinating potential to alter hypnotizability and hypnotic phenomena, although the impact on responsiveness to suggestions remains modest. In contrast to psychological and pharmacological methods, NIBS enables alterations in hypnotic experiences that are independent of operators and noninvasive. This grants researchers the chance to employ a causal approach in investigating the brain-behavior relationship associated with suggestibility. The present paper evaluates existing NIBS studies in this domain, delving into the neurocognitive mechanisms at play and their potential implications for hypnosis research and practice.

Research into clinical hypnosis for sleep disturbances is an expanding with important implications for clinical practice and future research. This issue of the includes emerging research on clinical hypnosis to improve sleep quality and disturbances. While clinical hypnosis for sleep is very promising, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. To address this is an article that examines pre-sleep arousal and worry reduction as potential variables associated with the effects of clinical hypnosis in improving sleep quality. Related to this topic is an article entitled, "Aging adults' willingness, preferences, and access to self-hypnosis for sleep: A cross-sectional study," which identifies aging adults' preferences and access to self-hypnosis for sleep. This issue of the IJCEH also includes an important article on health care professionals' perceptions, knowledge and attitudes toward clinical hypnosis which considers the need for more training and education in clinical hypnosis among health care providers. Further, a scoping review of hypnotherapy for treatment of depression is presented, followed by an exploration of implicit rapport in hypnotherapy, and a case report on hypnotherapy in oral surgery with a highly hypnotizable patient.

This article proposes a multicomponent hypnotherapeutic approach for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) treatment. This new approach combines hypnosis with exposure and response prevention, cognitive reappraisal, principles of acceptance and commitment therapy, and other components. In the presented case study, the patient was treated for four months with both biological and psychological first-line therapy with minor effects; the patient was then treated with hypnotherapy. The patient listened to a recorded hypnosis session, which was constructed according to the new proposed principle. After three weeks of near-daily listening to the session, the patient's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale score decreased by 38.5%, which helped achieve a 51.5% reduction from the initial score, suggesting that this method might have significantly contributed to the therapeutic outcome. In addition, this article discusses the differences between the proposed approach and previously published hypnotherapeutic methods for OCD treatment and the hypothetical use of such an approach for other disorders characterized by compulsive behavior. Further randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of hypnotic approaches for treating OCD.

Sleep disturbance is a public health problem among aging adults (age 45 and older). While aging adults are at an elevated risk for sleep disturbance, many also have high rates of mistrust toward psychological interventions, such as self-hypnosis, which may be beneficial for sleep. The purpose of the study was to assess factors that may impact utilization of self-hypnosis for sleep, including willingness, preferences, and access among informed aging adults. 244 aging adults were recruited. After reading an information sheet on self-hypnosis for sleep, participants completed questionnaires assessing sleep related worry, stress, and perceptions of self-hypnosis for sleep, including willingness, benefits, barriers, preferences, and access. The findings indicated that informed aging adults were willing to engage in self-hypnosis for sleep, regardless of their race or gender. Furthermore, they preferred technological delivery methods (i.e. telehealth or smartphone apps) with flexible scheduling options. However, very few participants endorsed having access to self-hypnosis.

This paper explores the complex area of so-called unfolding processes and unfolding phenomena in hypnotherapy, emphasizing on unfolding movements and unfolding images, identified as complex involuntary phenomena, which emerge spontaneously without suggestions for these phenomena. Unfolding phenomena are examined as foundational elements of the unfolding process. On the one hand, the study unveils the macro-structure of the unfolding process by categorizing it into involuntary unfolding sets, phases, and unfolding subunits, all of which are analogous among patients and across different organizational levels. On the other hand, detailing the micro-structure aids in elucidating the functionality and elements of the unfolding phenomena. These elements encompass unfolding schemas and instruments. They are emphasized for their role in intrapsychic ideodynamics and responsiveness, aiding recurrent induction aligned and being promoted via an intuitive state of consciousness. Unfolding phenomena elucidate resource elicitation, and adaptation, contributing to the phenotypic organization and reorganization. In this context, the mechanisms of responsiveness, characterized by an unfolding process during hypnotherapy with distinct phases, are examined to help therapists and researchers understand how hypnotherapy can induce phenotypic changes, thereby facilitating treatment, personal growth, and the emergence of a new form of consciousness.

This article presents the third molar removal in a highly hypnotizable patient, who had been successfully submitted to oral surgery with hypnosis as stand-alone anesthesia in previous sessions. Unexpectedly, hypnosis initially failed, as a result of a nocebo response due to a previous dentist's bad communication; two complaints made by the patient were associated with increased sympathetic activity (as defined by increased heart rate and electrodermal activity and decreased heart rate variability). After deepening of hypnosis, the patient achieved a full hypnotic analgesia allowing for a successful conclusion of the intervention, an event associated with decreased heart rate, electrodermal activity, and increased heart rate variability. Hence, the initial failure was paralleled by a decreased parasympathetic activity and increased sympathetic activity, while hypnotic analgesia was associated with the opposite pattern. The patient's postoperative report indicated that the initial failure of hypnosis depended on a strong nocebo effect because of a previous dentist distrusting hypnosis and persuading her that it was not enough to face a third molar removal.

This study compares two groups of university students with differing instructions participating in an object drawing task as a part of an art therapy-based self-help online intervention. The intervention aimed to help participants enhance positive mood and subjective feeling of self-control and reduce negative mood. The object task contained suggestive elements in the instructions similar to self-hypnosis with an indirect and a direct way of formulation. Quantitative (positive affect and negative affect scale and Self-Assessment Manikin scale) and qualitative methods (text and picture rating) were used to investigate the difference between the outcome effects on the two groups. The results found a significant decrease in negative mood for indirect suggestion, while a significant increase of positive mood for the direct suggestion condition. Based on qualitative analyses, findings indicated that hidden implications in the art-making instructions modified the chosen imaginary and emotional changes related to art-making. Suggestions in the instructions can make a difference in one's mood and this should also be considered while designing guidelines for self-hypnosis.

Poor sleep quality is highly prevalent among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Further, poor sleep quality is associated with reduced quality of life, increased stress response, memory impairments, and progression to dementia among individuals with MCI. Pharmacological treatments for sleep have mixed efficacy and can lead to dependency. Therefore, alternatives to pharmacological treatments for improving sleep among individuals with MCI are needed. The present study reports on the feasibility of a non-pharmacological self-administered hypnosis intervention focused on sleep quality in adults with MCI. It was hypothesized that the hypnosis intervention program would be feasible and have acceptable levels of adherence to daily hypnosis practice. A two-armed randomized controlled pilot trial was conducted using a sample of 21 adults with MCI. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to listen to either hypnosis audio recordings or sham hypnosis recordings for five weeks. Program feasibility, program adherence, pain intensity, stress, and sleep quality were measured using a daily home practice log, questionnaires, and wrist actigraphy. The results found mid or higher levels of treatment satisfaction, ease of use, and perceived effectiveness at one-week follow-up, with participants in the hypnosis arm reporting greater perceived benefit. Adherence to assigned audio recordings and meetings were likewise within acceptable margins in both groups. No intervention-related adverse events were reported in either treatment condition. Significant improvements in sleep quality, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness were found for the hypnosis intervention. The results of this study can be used to inform future research on the effects of hypnosis on sleep quality in adults with MCI.

Hypnosis has sometimes been described as an "altered state of consciousness," but what is "unaltered" consciousness? We approach the issue by first exploring the sense of free will, because it can be lost during hypnosis. However, the argument is developed that free will is an illusion, so should not be present in the waking state. Thus, in a sense, hypnosis is a more accurate state of consciousness. The sense of free will is shown to result from an experience of agency, which is often missing in hypnosis. We consider how hypnotic, illusory perceptions are developed, and plausible processes are discussed, but none throws clear light upon what the philosopher David Chalmers called the "hard problem" of consciousness. The paper concludes with a brief evaluation of the possibility that phenomenal consciousness is associated with feedback loops, which transform the simple registering of stimuli into experiences of which we are aware.

The perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes of healthcare professionals (GPs, oncologists, nurses, midwives and obstetricians, anesthetists, mental health professionals, and other professionals) toward hypnosis are explored in this scoping review. Despite proven effectiveness in various health conditions, the use of hypnosis in healthcare has stagnated, emphasizing a gap between research and practice. Data from 35 studies (1995-2023) were analyzed, revealing predominantly positive attitudes and interest in training. Professionals with more knowledge and experience had favorable attitudes toward hypnosis compared to those with limited exposure or understanding of the practice. The main obstacles were insufficient time and inadequate training. Considering the growing interest in complementary therapies, the need for education in hypnosis for healthcare professionals is highlighted. Barriers to integration require exploration for a focused research agenda supporting knowledge translation and implementation.

Studies have explored the impact of suggestion on the Stroop effect, aiming to understand how effective suggestion is in modulating this phenomenon. The suggestion effect has been replicated in multiple studies, supporting its robustness, but lacks systematic evaluation. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant English-language studies from PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, and ScienceDirect since databases inception until January 2023. Quality of included studies was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) appraisal checklist, and potential publication biases were assessed. Subgroup analyses were also performed, and effect sizes were estimated using Hedges' g and analyzed using random effects model. The systematic review was comprised of 19 studies. For the meta-analysis, 14 studies examined the suggestion effect on Stroop interference effect (SIE), while six studies investigated suggestion effects on accuracy. Results have revealed significant overall effects of suggestion on Stroop performance in participants, as evidenced by SIE and accuracy. Subgroup analysis based on types of suggestion demonstrated a significant effect on SIE. Six EEG/ERP studies have also been discussed in the context of the review.

This prospective, randomized, controlled study aimed to investigate the effects of standardized adjuvant hypnosis on pain, depression, anxiety, aerobic exercise practices, quality of life, and disease impact score in female patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). This study included 47 female patients with FMS who had been under treatment for at least six months. The hypnosis group ( = 24) received a total of three hypnosis sessions and was taught to patients' self-hypnosis. The patients in this group practiced self-hypnosis for six months. During this period, all patients also continued their medical treatment. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to determine the intensity of pain. At the end of the six-month follow-up period, it was determined that the patients of FMS with hypnosis therapy had lower pain intensity, FMS symptoms, depression, and anxiety symptoms, and better well-being than those in the control group ( < .05). Standardized hypnosis is an effective method in reducing pain, depression and anxiety symptoms and improving quality of life in patients with FMS.

We investigated whether adding hypnosis to CBT (CBTH) improved treatment outcomes for MDD with a two-armed, parallel-treated, randomized-controlled trial using anonymous self-report and clinician-blinded assessments. Expectancy, credibility, and attitude to hypnosis were also examined. Participants ( = 66) were randomly allocated to 10-weekly sessions of group-based CBT or CBTH. LMM analyses of ITT and Completer data at post-treatment, six-month and 12-month follow-up showed that both treatments were probably efficacious but we did not find significant differences between them. Analyses of remission and response to treatment data revealed that the CBTH Completer group significantly outperformed CBT at 12-month follow-up ( = .011). CBTH also displayed significantly higher associations between credibility, expectancy and mood outcomes up to 12-month follow-up (all  < .05 or better), while attitude to hypnosis showed one significant association ( = -0.57,  < .05). These results suggest that hypnosis shows promise as an adjunct in the treatment of MDD but a larger sample size is required to fully test its merits.