Does hypnotherapy work for generalised anxiety?
For GAD: Grade B. Studied as an adjunct. Not a proven stand-alone replacement for CBT or medication.
Last reviewed 27 August 2026
The short answer for GAD is Grade B, not a poster-ready yes. Valentine 2019 found a medium-to-large controlled effect across 17 trials. Most of those trials were dental, medical, or test anxiety, not generalised worry. See the hub.
Key evidence
Valentine’s post-treatment effect size was 0.79 (17 trials). Follow-up on seven trials was 0.99. Combined psychological packages beat stand-alone hypnosis. Wait-list comparisons beat contact-control comparisons.
The four-trial “general anxiety” subgroup effect was 0.93. That is the closest published number to GAD, and it is still a subgroup, not a multi-group GAD programme. Coelho 2007 had already called the clinical-anxiety RCT pile insufficient.
Procedure-day distress is a different question and a stronger one: Schnur 2008, and Lang 2000. That spoke is Grade A. It does not re-grade GAD.
Limitations
There is no current Cochrane review that answers “hypnotherapy for GAD.” A withdrawn dental-anxiety Cochrane record is not a live synthesis and is not used here as evidence.
What we don't know yet
Whether hypnosis adds anything reliable on top of a full CBT dose for diagnosed GAD is not settled by Valentine’s adjunct finding. See hypnosis plus other therapy.
This page is informational only. It is not personal medical advice.
