Hypnotherapy for procedural and medical-procedure anxiety

Distress during a medical procedure is the best-evidenced anxiety-adjacent use of hypnosis. This page is Grade A. It is not a re-grade of the adult clinical hub.

Key evidence

Schnur, Kafer, Marcus, and Montgomery (2008) meta-analysed 26 randomised trials (2342 people) of hypnosis or suggestion around clinical medical procedures. The random-effects estimate for emotional distress was 0.88 (95% CI 0.57–1.19). Children showed larger effects than adults. Live delivery beat recordings in their moderator split. Standard-care versus attention-control did not change the headline.

Lang et al. (2000) randomised 241 people having percutaneous vascular or renal procedures to standard care, structured attention, or self-hypnotic relaxation, with patient-controlled fentanyl and midazolam available to all. Pain rose with time in standard care and attention; it stayed flat under hypnosis. Anxiety fell in all arms, steepest under hypnosis. Drug use and haemodynamic instability were lower, and procedure time was shorter, in the hypnosis arm than in standard care.

Valentine’s three surgery/medical trials (effect 0.82) sit in the same neighbourhood and are not a substitute for Schnur.

Limitations

DARE’s abstract of Schnur tells readers to interpret the review with caution: heterogeneity was high, and methods varied. Procedure hypnosis is usually one encounter, often with an operator in the room. That is not a six-week GAD protocol.

What we don't know yet

Whether a clinic chair course for worry generalises to the next colonoscopy is a different trial. This page does not claim that transfer.

This page is informational only. It is not personal medical advice.