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Hypnosis

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis may be experienced as an altered state of consciousness or as a state of relaxation. There is no agreed framework for administering hypnosis, but the procedure often involves induction (such as eye fixation), muscular and/or breathing relaxation, guided imagery and orientation to the surroundings. Hypnosis is a controversial intervention that must be investigated with clinician input.

What is the evidence for hypnosis?

Moderate to low quality evidence suggests no difference in study retention between patients receiving hypnosis and control conditions. Low quality evidence is unable to determine any benefit of hypnosis for symptoms or functioning. Review authors conclude that the studies in this field are few, small, poorly reported and outdated, and that better randomised studies are required to properly assess the benefits or harms of hypnosis.

September 2020

Last updated at: 3:42 am, 11th September 2020
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Title Colour Legend:
Green - Topic summary is available.
Orange - Topic summary is being compiled.
Red - Topic summary has no current systematic review available.