treatment of parasomnias with hypnosis: A 5-year follow-up study, The

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2008  by Wickramasekera, Ian II

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Hauri, RJ., Silber, M JI., & Boeve, B J. (2007). The treatment of parasomnias with hypnosis: A 5-year follow-up study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 3(4), 369-373. The authors of this clinical study of hypnosis intended to replicate and extend their previous initial findings on using hypnosis to reduce the symptoms of various parasomnias.

Sleep walking, nightmares, night time eating syndrome, and similar unusual sleep issues are all examples of parasomnias where most experienced clinicians using hypnosis have probably heard of a colleague using hypnosis to reduce or abolish the parasomnic activity. The lead author employed a very brief psychotherapy strategy employing hypnosis to target and reduce the parasomnic activity as the main goal of the hypnotic intervention. Many of the 36 subjects received only 1 or 2 sessions of hypnosis prior to being released for further follow-up over 5 years to asses for the long-term efficacy of the interventions. The lead author was able to hypnotize over 75% of the participants. All the participants were given a tape-recorded version of their intervention to practice using self-hypnosis following the intervention. The patients were directed to practice the self-hypnosis tape daily at home for at least 2 weeks. At 1 month follow-up, about 40% of the participants were reported to have shown a complete remission of parasomnic symptoms or significant improvement in their severity and frequency. About 40% of the participants also reported being symptom free or significantly improved at 8 months and 5 years follow-up as well. The authors provide a critique of their own methods and the shortcomings of their experimental design in terms of their being able to state whether hypnosis was actually the critical factor that helped these patients rather than another method that they may have employed. However, the results surely could be used to encourage future clinical researchers of hypnosis to try to utilize brief hypnotic methods in assisting patients with parasomnias. Address for reprints: Dr. Peter Hauri, Sleep Disorders Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Email address: hauri.peter@mayo.edu.

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