Cancer and Medical Hypnosis
Facts and Research About Relief of Cancer Pain Using Medical Hypnosis
Study:
National Cancer Institute (NCI), 2007
Hypnosis Before Breast-Cancer Surgery Reduces Pain, Discomfort, and Cost
Findings:
Women undergoing surgery for breast cancer who received a brief hypnosis session before entering the operating room required less anesthesia and pain medication during surgery, and reported less pain, nausea, fatigue, and discomfort after surgery than women who did not receive hypnosis. The overall cost of surgery was also significantly less for women undergoing hypnosis.
Women in the hypnosis group reported
- significantly less pain intensity
- less pain unpleasantness
- diminish nausea
- diminish fatigue
- less discomfort, and emotional upset
- diminish amount of anesthesia needed during surgery
- spent an average ten and a half fewer minutes in surgery
- the surgical procedures cost about $770 less per patient in the hypnosis group
“Overall, our results support the present hypnosis intervention as a brief, clinically effective means for controlling patients’ pain, nausea, fatigue, discomfort, and emotional upset following breast cancer surgery beyond traditional pharmacotherapeutic approaches,” stated the authors. “The present brief hypnosis intervention appears to be one of the rare clinical interventions that can simultaneously reduce both symptom burden and costs.”
Study:
Stanford School of Medicine, study by Dr. David Spiegel, 2007.
Stress history and breast cancer recurrence.
Findings:
A history of stressful or traumatic life events may reduce host resistance to tumor growth. These findings are consistent with a possible long-lasting effect of previous life stress on stress response systems such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
Study:
The University of Hull – Institute of Rehabilitation, study by Professor Leslie Walker, 1999. Surviving Cancer – Does Fighting Spirit Matters.
Findings:
Significant increase in natural killer cells and T cells in all patients using these techniques. He also discovered that those given hypnotherapy lived on average 32 months longer than those in the control group who were not using these techniques. “By applying what we have already learned, undoubtedly we can improve the lives of our patients and their families – now!”
Study:
California Department of Health Services and National Cancer Institute, 1985-1994.
Use of Coping Strategies and Breast Cancer Survival: Results from the Black/White Cancer Survival Study.
Findings:
At the end of the study, it was concluded that study participants had a nearly four-fold risk of dying from breast cancer if they reported low levels of both emotional expression and emotional support when compared with study participants who were able to express their emotions and received emotional support.
Study:
Stanford School of Medicine, study by Dr. David Spiegel, 1989.
Effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Findings:
Cancer patients who were in a support group that used self-hypnosis as well as other mind-body techniques lived some 18 months longer than the control group (who did not use these techniques).
Study:
California Breast Cancer Research Program, by Janine Giese-Davis, 1995.
(Does Change in Emotional Expression Mediate Cancer Survival?)
Findings:
4 year study to confirm earlier findings that emotional expression extended cancer survival.
Study:
UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 1993.
Malignant melanoma. Effects of an early structured psychiatric intervention, coping, and affective state on recurrence and survival 6 years later.
Findings:
Psychological (emotional release) intervention lowered distress and increased coping abilities in cancer patients and significantly increased cancer survival. Six years after the study, 10 of 34 patients in the control group who were NOT given psychological intervention had died, compared to only 3 of 34 patients given psychological intervention.
Study:
Ontario Cancer Institute, Princess Margaret Hospital, 1992-1997.
Prospective, longitudinal study of the relationship of psychological work to duration of survival in patients with metastatic cancer.
Findings:
This study found an association between longer survival and psychological factors related to the involvement of cancer patients in psychological self-help activities. Median survival of the 22 subjects was 2.25 times that predicted by the oncology panel. “Prolongation of life through adjunctive psychological therapy may thus be more possible than has been generally believed in biomedical circles.”
If you live with cancer and would like to us to help you, call 650-380-1411, or send us email: support@hypnotherapistsagainstcancer.org. We will return you call in 24 hours, and one of our Network Hypnotherapists will call you to schedule a free session.
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