Hypnosis on a consultation-liaison service

Abstract

The use of hypnosis was demonstrated on a psychiatric consultation-liaison service (CLS) in a broad spectrum of medically hospitalized patients. Hypnosis was employed as an adjuvant measure to traditional medical and psychologic treatment modalities. Tapes for autohypnosis were used for reinforcement. Twenty-nine women and eight men from 24 to 75 years of age were hypnotized for relief of depression, pain, anxiety, or side-effects from chemotherapy. Results were excellent (total to almost total relief of symptoms) in 68% of the patients, fair in 22%, and poor in 11% with no differences among the results with the various conditions. This report demonstrates that hypnotherapy can be an extremely useful tool in the medical management of patients on a CLS.