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Hypnosis for schizophreniaIzquierdo de Santiago A, Khan M
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SummaryHypnosis for schizophreniaAntipsychotic medication is the most effective treatment for people with schizophrenia. However some people, despite taking medication, continue to experience symptoms and/or disabling adverse effects. There is thus a growing need to consider alternative forms of treatment for schizophrenia. Hypnosis has been used with varying success in other disorders and could help people with schizophrenia. In this review we sought and found trials relevant to the effects of hypnosis alone or in conjunction with other treatments for schizophrenia. We found three studies that we could include in our review with a total of 149 participants. The duration of the studies ranged from one to eight weeks. In terms of outcome measures, some data were not adequately presented and hence were not suitable for analysis. Hypnosis was compared to standard treatment, to a relaxation intervention and to music. The data on effects of hypnosis on mental state were poorly reported and we could only include the scores from one study (n=80) which showed there were no significant differences between groups. Participants leaving the studies early were few (n=2 in one trial, hypnosis group). Outcomes looking at the effect of hypnosis on movement disorders and cognitive functions were presented in two separate studies; the results show there were no differences between groups. Hypnosis did not appear to have any adverse effects for the participants, at least in the short term. The studies included in this review are outdated, of insufficient duration, and the participants are too few for us to make any conclusive findings. To be able to assess the role of hypnosis in the treatment of schizophrenia there is a need for further well designed studies.
This is a Cochrane review abstract and plain language summary, prepared and maintained by The Cochrane Collaboration, currently published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008 Issue 3, Copyright © 2008 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.. The full text of the review is available in The Cochrane Library (ISSN 1464-780X).
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July 19. 2004 AbstractBackgroundMany people with schizophrenia continue to experience symptoms despite conventional treatments being used. Alternative therapies such as hypnosis, in conjunction with conventional treatments, may be helpful. ObjectivesTo investigate the use of hypnosis for people with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like illnesses compared with standard care and other interventions. Search strategyWe searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (October 2006), contacted the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field for additional searching (January 2003), hand searched references of included or excluded studies and made personal contact with authors of relevant trials. Selection criteriaWe included all randomised or double blind controlled trials that compared hypnosis with other treatments or standard care for people with schizophrenia. Data collection and analysisWe reliably selected studies, quality assessed them and extracted data. We excluded data where more than 50% of participants in any group were lost to follow up. For binary outcomes we calculated a fixed effects risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). Main resultsWe included three studies (total n=149). When hypnosis was compared with standard treatment no one left the studies between 1-8 weeks (n=70, 2 RCTs, Risk Difference 0.00 CI -0.09 to 0.09). Mental state scores were unaffected (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.6 CI -12.05 to 4.8) as were measures of movement disorders and neurocognitive function. Compared with relaxation, hypnosis was also acceptable (n=106, 3 RCTs, RR leaving the study early 2.00 CI 0.2 to 2.15) and had no discernable effect on mental state (n=60, 1 RCT, MD BPRS by one week -3.4 CI -11.4 to 4.6), movement disorders or neurocognitive function. Hypnosis was as acceptable as music (Sibelius) by four weeks (n=36, RR leaving the study early 5.0, CI 0.3 to 97.4). Authors' conclusionsThe studies in this field are few, small, poorly reported and outdated. Hypnosis could be helpful for people with schizophrenia. If we are to find this out, better designed, conducted and reported randomised studies are required. This current update has not revealed any new studies in this area since 2003. |
