The Wythenshawe team set up a randomised controlled trial involving 28 non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) patients who experienced pain at least once a week, had a normal coronary angiography, no coexisting disease, no previous response to proton pump inhibitors, a normal gastroscopy, and in whom the contribution of oesophageal reflux to the pain had been excluded.
The patients were randomly selected to receive either:
l Twelve sessions of hypnotherapy over 17 weeks
l Or "supportive therapy" plus a placebo medication
Symptoms were recorded for one month before treatment, and then patients attended one 30 minute session for nine weeks, followed by fortnightly visits for four weeks, and a final visit after a further four weeks.
The effectiveness of the treatment was assessed by comparing chest pain (overall global assessment, severity, frequency) scores, quality of life, anxiety and depression and medication use at the beginning and the end of treatment.
The findings were that among patients who received hypnotherapy, there was a significant improvement in global assessment of chest pain compared to the patients who received "supportive therapy" plus a placebo medication.
Twelve of the 15 (80%) hypnotherapy patients compared with three of the 13 (23per cent.,) "supportive therapy" group rated their chest pain as either completely or moderately better. This was also associated with a significant reduction in pain intensity but not pain frequency in the hypnotherapy group.
Hypnotherapy also improved the overall sense of wellbeing and was associated with reduced medication use. There were no significant differences between the groups in the levels of anxiety or depression.
The research team concluded hypnotherapy appeared beneficial in a highly selected group of NCCP and proposed further studies which would include a broader group of patients with this condition. |
