Adding Hypnosis to Trauma Therapy

This was the first controlled trial to test whether hypnosis adds anything to established trauma therapy. Eighty-seven civilian survivors of trauma, all showing acute stress symptoms, were assigned to cognitive behavioural therapy, the same therapy with a hypnotic induction before each imaginal exposure, or supportive counselling. Both active therapies left far fewer people meeting the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder than counselling, at the end of treatment and six months on. The distinctive finding was speed: adding hypnosis produced a greater reduction in intrusive re-experiencing, the flashbacks and unbidden memories, by the end of treatment than therapy alone. The interpretation the authors favour is that hypnosis helps a person engage more fully with the difficult work of processing a memory. It is one modest trial, and hypnosis here was an addition to therapy, not a treatment by itself. For a woman carrying the imprint of a frightening event, it suggests hypnosis may be a legitimate accelerant within proper trauma care, not a shortcut around it.