Davis, E., (2015), Literature review of the evidence-base for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Melbourne: PACFA.
Eileen Davis is Senior Lecturer and Academic Head, School of Counselling, Australian College of Applied Psychology.
Thank you to Leon Cowen for this link. Leon is a keen advocate of promoting hypnotherapy through evidence-based research. To become involved in his research program, contact Leon via his website at Contact Us
The goal of this literature review is to provide a contemporary review of research on the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Ten studies have been reviewed on the application of hypnotherapy to two common
conditions: chronic pain and anxiety. The review found that the studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a treatment to assist in the reduction of pain and anxiety. A stronger evidence base for hypnotherapy has developed over the past decade, and the review provides some key recommendations for future research in this area.
Historically, hypnosis has had a somewhat checkered past. Its practice has been associated with witchcraft and hysteria, and its reputation and credibility have suffered at the hands of stage hypnotists. Hypnosis was formerly known as mesmerism, named after Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), a Viennese physician. Mesmerism was renamed as animal magnetism (1766) when it was thought that magnets assisted clients to go into trance. This was later dispelled, and in 1843 Braid coined the term hypnosis (as cited in Lynn & Kirsch, 2006) which remains current today. This review of hypnotherapy research and literature describes the characteristics, findings and conclusions of selected, rigorous studies on pain and anxiety. A comparison of studies and their findings is presented to determine their validity. Knowledge gaps in the literature are identified and recommendations made for future research. Read more >>
Science Daily (22 April 2016) Very relevant when you're dealing with sugar addiction. Fructose alters hundreds of brain genes, which can lead to a wide range of diseases Consuming fructose, a sugar that's common in the Western diet, alters hundreds of genes that may be linked to many diseases, life scientists report. However, they discovered good news as well: an important omega-3 fatty acid known as DHA seems to reverse the harmful changes produced by fructose. Read more >>