Q28.
Locate a piece of hypnotherapy research on pain
control. Include statistical evidence and explanation. Explain the
scientific methodology used in this research and its advantages.
Properly cite your reference sources. Learning
outcomes: 5.5
- Research methods and application
5.5
A demonstrable ability to locate hypnotherapy research.
Helpful Links:
Example Answer
There have been a
number of clinical trials conducted into the use and effectiveness of
hypnotherapy for pain control. The following study was completed by
Patterson et al. (1992). It is on the subject of pain control in
burns victims. ‘30 burn patients undergoing debridement were
randomly assigned to three groups: hypnosis, attention/pseudohypnosis
(placebo), and no intervention (control). The hypnosis condition
included suggestions for relaxation, analgesia, amnesia, and comfort
when touched on the shoulder. The placebo condition involved
pseudohypnosis (closing your eyes, counting to 20, imagining yourself
in a relaxing place), the touch on the shoulder, and instructions to
distinguish between sensations of healing and signals of harm. The
control condition provided no other procedures to alleviate pain. The
results showed that only the group which underwent true hypnosis
reported a significant reduction in pain. The true hypnosis group
reported a 46% decrease in pain from the baseline, the placebo group
reported a 16% decrease, and the control group reported a 14%
decrease. Even though the placebo group believed that they underwent
hypnosis, those assigned to that group did not report much less pain
than those assigned to the control group. Therefore, the results
discount the effects of expectancy and reveal that pain reduction due
to hypnoanalgesia goes beyond relaxation.
Patterson, D. R.,
Everett, J. J., Burns, G. L., & Marvin, J. A. (1992). Hypnosis
for the treatment of burn pain. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 60, 713-7.
Available at
http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/1999F/Hypnotism.pdf
(accessed on 10/050/2015)
The above study gives
statistical information regarding the number of subjects taking part
in the study, the three different treatments involved, and the
average percentage of pain reduction each group reported. The study
took 30 individuals who had been affected by burns and were
undergoing the medical removal of dead, infected or damaged tissue in
order to aid in the healing of remaining healthy tissue. The subjects
were split into three groups, one using full hypnosis involving
suggestions for relaxation, analgesia amnesia and comfort, one using
a placebo version of hypnosis where only a relaxing place and
suggestions of distinguishing between sensations of healing and
signals of harm was used and a third group where no intervention was
used. The study showed that the group who had undergone full
hypnosis reported a 46% decrease in pain, the placebo group reported
a 16% decrease in pain and the no intervention group reported a 14%
decrease in pain.
This study shows that
there was a significant improvement in pain control in those who took
part in the full hypnosis with the appropriate suggestions to aid
pain control. The advantages of this are that the study took thirty
subjects suffering from a specific injury and undergoing the same
type of medical procedures in order to achieve an accurate result.
The study ensured that all three groups were under the impression
that they were undergoing hypnosis, though with only one group
receiving a full hypnosis session. Therefore, the results show that
regardless of what the subjects were expecting, still only the group
experiencing true hypnosis reported a significant reduction in pain.
The same can be said for the relaxation element of the study as the
other subjects were also in a relaxed state, though didn’t receive
the appropriate pain control suggestions that the true hypnosis group
did and only reported a 14-16% reduction in pain as opposed to the
46% in the true hypnosis group. Therefore it is fair to say that the
relaxation element causing the results can also be discounted.
In conclusion, this
study proves that within this group of 30 individuals there was a
significant improvement of pain control in those who underwent full
and true hypnosis. This is suggestive of hypnosis being an effective
aid in helping people with pain control.
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