Hypnosis for non-cardiac chest pain

[southboca]

Hypnosis may help ease hard to treat non-cardiac chest pain, according to a small British study of 28 patients.

Researchers at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester divided 28 patients randomly into two groups. One group received 12 sessions of hypnotherapy over 17 weeks; the other, supportive therapy plus a placebo.

For the 15 people in the hypnotherapy group, 80 percent reported significant pain relief. There was no change in the frequency of the pain. Three of the 13 people in the placebo group reported significant pain relief.

Patients who received hypnotherapy reduced their use of painkillers and other medications prescribed to control non-cardiac chest pain. People in the other group increased their medication use.

Previous research found that hypnotherapy affects the part of the brain that processes emotional response to painful stimuli and that it can also reduce levels of gastric acid produced by the stomach.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/146922