Can hypnosis help when it comes to mental illness?

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on December 13, 2009 at 5:58pm

Hi Cathrine,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1064480/Health-news-Eat-p...
Hypnosis may slow dementia
Hypnosis may be an effective way to treat patients battling dementia, according to new research.
A study carried out at the University of Liverpool showed regular sessions of hypnotherapy led to improvements in concentration and memory.
Patients were also more likely to socialise and less inclined to become depressed.
Alzheimer's disease, the main form of dementia, affects 750,000 Britons.
In the study, a group of patients attended sessions where they discussed news and current affairs. The other underwent hypnosis.
Dr Simon Duff, the forensic psychologist who led the study, said: 'Those having hypnosis sessions showed real improvement across all the areas we looked at.'

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Permalink Reply by Jan Krüger on December 14, 2009 at 7:36am

Michael Ellner said:

In the study, a group of patients attended sessions where they discussed news and current affairs. The other underwent hypnosis.

It's hard to say without seeing the actual publication about the study, of course, but that sounds like a lousy control group. To me the placebo effect (expectancy effect) is a huge part of what makes hypnosis work, so in that sense the study shows that hypnosis is effective. If you go from that perspective, however, every study that has attempted to filter out the effects of the placebo effect is evidence that hypnosis works, and this study was essentially a waste of time. If you don't... well, the experiment tells you much more about the placebo effect than about whatever hypnosis is, and so it was a waste of time no matter which perspective you favour.

That doesn't change that I believe in the efficacy of hypnosis much more than even some hypnotists do (no sources cited because I'm a lazy sod).

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