Hypnosis Helps Women Reduce
Pain And Anxiety

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Hypnosis is now being used by radiologists to ease patient pain and anxiety during breast biopsy procedures. A new study found that women who were guided into a state of hypnotic relaxation during biopsy experienced less pain and anxiety during the procedure. The study on this unusual approach was presented by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

It’s highly stressful for a woman to find a breast lump or receive abnormal or inconclusive mammogram results. An effective diagnostic tool is the large-core needle biopsy (LCNB). Most LCNB procedures limit the use of intravenous drugs to reduce pain and anxiety since they are performed in outpatient settings.

Dr. Elvira V. Lang, M.D. associate professor of radiology at Harvard and colleagues studied 236 women undergoing LCNB at a university-affiliated medical center. Three types of care were randomly assigned to the women: 76 women received standard care, 82 women received structured empathetic attention with a person specifically assigned to be responsive to their needs, and 78 women induced self-hypnotic relaxation from instructions delivered by a trained research assistant.

A standardized hypnotic induction script was read by one of the assistants. Among other instructions, patients were asked to roll their eyes upwards, close their eyes, breathe deeply, focus on a sensation of floating and invoke a pleasant setting of their choice with all of their senses.

Several factors, including levels of pain and anxiety and procedure time and cost, were then compared by the researchers. All three groups reported pain during the procedure, but the empathy and hypnosis groups reported significantly less pain than the standard care group. All of the patients presented with elevated anxiety. Anxiety increased significantly in the standard care group, did not change in the empathy group and decreased significantly in the hypnosis group.

Procedure time and cost did not differ significantly among the groups even though the empathy and hypnosis groups had an additional assistant. The hypnosis group had the shortest procedure time and the lowest cost.

Dr. Lang attributed the shortened procedure time to the decreased level of stress, not only for the patient, but for the treatment team. The relaxation technique serves to calm and focus everyone involved in the procedure, she noted. "Hypnosis can greatly help women cope with the stress of breast biopsy," said Dr. Lang, and added, “This is a consumer-driven movement. Already we are seeing the beginning of it."

"The findings show that nonpharmacologic means can be very powerful--without side effects," Dr. Lang observed. "The results extend prior assumptions about mind-body interventions in that self-hypnotic relaxation can be learned very quickly right on the procedure table without additional cost, challenging the notion that extensive office visits or preparation are necessary."

An extra benefit was that through the self-hypnotic relaxation coaching of the research assistant, these patients learned a coping tool that they could use to relieve anxiety through subsequent waits and work-ups.

"This research embraces a holistic approach combining 'high-tech' with 'high-touch' that respects the needs of women during the stressful times of breast biopsy," Dr. Lang said. She added that this method has been successfully applied to a number of other interventional procedures.

This study was supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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Robert Galarowicz ND
Clinical Hypnosis Therapist
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Bergen County
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Source:

Radiological Society of North America (2006, November 29). Hypnosis Helps Women Cope With Breast Biopsy.