Positive Health Online

Abstract

BROWN, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, danbrown1@rcn.com, has reviewed (84 references) the evidence base for the use of hypnotherapy in asthma.

Abstract: Asthma is a chronic disease with intermittent acute exacerbations, characterized by obstructed airways, hyper-responsiveness, and sometimes by chronic airway inflammation. Critically reviewing evidence primarily from controlled outcome studies on hypnosis for asthma shows that hypnosis is possibly efficacious for treatment of symptom severity and illness-related behaviours, and is efficacious for managing emotional states that exacerbate airway obstruction. Hypnosis is also possibly efficacious for decreasing airway obstruction and stabilizing airway hyper-responsiveness in some individuals, but there is insufficient evidence that hypnosis affects asthma’s inflammatory process. Promising research needs to be replicated with larger samples and better designs with careful attention paid to the types of hypnotic suggestions given. The critical issue is not so much whether it is used but how it is used. Future outcome research must address the relative contribution of expectancies, hypnotizability, hypnotic induction, and specific suggestions.

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References

Brown D. Evidence-based hypnotherapy for asthma: a critical review. International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis 55 (2): 220-249, Apr 2007.

Comment

It is sincerely hoped that further research documenting the clinical efficacy of hypnotherapy for asthma is taken up by clinicians.