US medics urged to learn hypnotherapy skills to aid patients
An American psychiatrist has called for all doctors to be able to perform hypnotherapy on their patients.
Dr David Spiegel, Professor in the School of Medince and Associate Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at Stanford University School of Medicine. says hypnotherapy offers real benefits to patients. He told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston that hypnotherapy had been shown to help patients deal with pain, and could potentially be used in many other situations, such as helping patients to cope with long-term illnesses. Professor Spiegel’s call for clinicians to learn hypnotherapeutic techniques echoed the recommendations nearly half a century ago of the British Medical Association for all medical students to be trained in hypnosis. Back in 1955 a specially commissioned BMA inquiry concluded that “hypnotism is of value and may be the treatment of choice in some cases of so-called psychosomatic disorder and psychoneurosis.” In a study of women with breast cancer it was shown that those given support plus self-hypnosis experienced half the pain of those not undergoing self-hypnosis. The Spiegel team also found evidence that the brain's reaction can be changed under hypnosis and demonstrated - by means of brain scans - that human perceptions are altered during hypnosis. Responses obtained from eight patients under hypnosis showed both biological and psychological effects. In particular when it was suggested to patients that a coloured picture was black and white, blood flow in the parts of the brain relating to colour was reduced. Equally it was found that activity in the parts of the brain dealing with grey-scale images were enhanced. The Houston research examined various of ways of enabling patients to relax more and focus better, including biofeedback of Galvanic skin response or electromyographic feedback. However Dr Meyers reports that relaxation therapy, meditation and self-hypnosis also proved successful. Posted January 2004

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