Is hypnotherapy a good anxiety treatment?

by | Jul 12, 2016 | anxiety

treating anxiety

Is hypnotherapy a good anxiety treatment?

One of the most popular forms of anxiety treatment is hypnotherapy. In this article we look at some of the research to come out in 2015 into hypnotherapy is an anxiety treatment;

  • One study into treating Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a particular type of anxiety that has historically proven extremely resistant to treatment, found that nearly half of the participants dropped their anxiety score to normal (as defined by 5 or less on the GAD scale short form) (Tajeri & Jahanshahi 2015) in only 5 sessions of treatment.
  • Further evidence for the combination of hypnosis with Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches is found in Turturean’s (2015) over view of existent treatments.
  • We also have strong evidence for the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy at reducing anxiety amongst patients on chemo therapy. (Sakiyan 2015)
  • And last but not least we have a thesis by Mary Elizabeth Brooker who used hypnosis as an anxiety treatment for Grade 8 pianists at the Universities of Leeds with excellent results which were still there when she retested them two years later.

2015 showed some excellent results in anxiety treatment, we look forward to all the new research in 2016

anxiety treatment

The author

Matt Krouwel is a hypnotherapist in Birmingham who specialises in the treatment of anxiety and related conditions

Reference

Brooker, M. E. (2015). Music performance anxiety: an investigation into the efficacy of cognitive hypnotherapy and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing when applied to grade 8 pianists (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds).

Sakiyan, S. (2015). Action Research: Hypnotherapy to Overcome Pain and Anxiety in Colon Cancer Patients. Muhammadiyah Journal Of Nursing, 2(1), 61-78.

Tajeri, B., & Jahanshahi, S. V. (2015) Investigation of the Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy on Generalized Anxiety Disorder. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Research. Vol., 4(2), 245-249, 2015

Turturean, M. A. (2015). Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Disorders–Theoretical and Practical Approach. Available at SSRN 2659842.