Clinical review
ABC of complementary medicineHypnosis and relaxation therapies
Andrew Vickers
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A wide variety of complementary therapies claim to improve health by producing relaxation. Some use the relaxed state as a means of promoting psychological change. Others incorporate movement, stretches, and breathing exercises. Relaxation and "stress management" are found to a certain extent within conventional medicine. They are included here because they are generally not well taught in conventional medical curriculums and because of the overlap with other, more clearly complementary, therapies.
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Techniques |
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Hypnosis
Hypnosis is the induction of a deeply relaxed state, with
increased suggestibility and suspension of critical faculties. Once in
this state, sometimes called a hypnotic trance, patients are given
therapeutic suggestions to encourage changes in behaviour or relief of
symptoms. For example, in a treatment to stop smoking a hypnosis
practitioner might suggest that the patient will no longer find smoking
pleasurable or necessary. Hypnosis for a patient with arthritis might
include a suggestion that the pain can
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