Clinical Hypnosis in Medical Care: A Mixed-Method Feasibility Study
Open accessAbstract
Background: Preoperative hypnosis has shown promising effects in controlling side effects from breast cancer surgery, but the feasibility and effects are largely unknown outside the US. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was applied involving a large-scale population survey and a small-scale pilot study. The survey assessed attitudes toward hypnosis in a representative sample from the general population (n = 1049), while the pilot study involved interviews with 5 women who received hypnosis prior to mastectomy/lumpectomy. Results: In the survey, 8% reported to have previous experience with hypnosis, and 67% reported willingness to accept hypnosis in a medical setting. Increasing age was associated with more skepticism, while previous experience was associated with less skepticism. In the pilot study, 4 themes were identified: (1) caretaking, (2) experiences related to hypnosis, (3) thoughts and feelings related to diagnosis, and (4) surgery. All participants reported positive experiences related to hypnosis, and none described unpleasant side effects or postoperative pain (pain intensity > 3) after surgery. Conclusions: The results indicate that the general public is positive toward clinical hypnosis as a supplement to medical treatment and that preoperative hypnosis is feasible in Norwegian breast cancer patients. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04300283.
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The hypnosis intervention has been thoroughly translated and piloted in a previous study that showed both feasibility and acceptability of hypnosis in this context.
“The intervention has been thoroughly translated and piloted in a previous study that showed both feasibility and acceptability of hypnosis in this context [94].”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lind, S. B., Jacobsen, H. B., Solbakken, O. A., & Reme, S. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Venue
- Integrative Cancer Therapies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 20
- Pages
- 15347354211058678-15347354211058678
- ISSN
- 1534-7354 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-695X
- PMC
- PMC8646199
- OpenAlex
- W3215687196
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 1.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Integrative Cancer Therapies (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Keywords
- hypnotherapy, preoperative hypnosis, breast cancer surgery, mastectomy, breast-conserving surgery, feasibility, postoperative pain, patient experience
- MeSH terms
- Breast Neoplasms, Feasibility Studies, Female, Humans, Hypnosis, Mastectomy, Pilot Projects
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