Hypnotic suggestion and placebo for the treatment of chronic headache in a university volunteer sample.
Spanos, Nicholas P. Liddy, Sharon J. Scott, Heather Garrard, Catherine Sine, Joy Tirabasso, Angela Hayward, Amber
Abstract
Following a 3-wk baseline, 136 university student volunteers who reported chronic headache were administered either 1 or 4 sessions of imagery-based hypnotic treatment, 1 or 4 sessions of a placebo treatment (i.e., “subliminal reconditioning”), or a control treatment. Ss monitored headache activity daily during baseline and followup periods.
Control Ss reported no significant changes in headache activity from baseline to follow-up 8 wks later. Hypnotic and placebo Ss reported significant and equivalent decrements in headache pain between these intervals.
Magnitude of headache reduction was unrelated to expectancy of treatment success
Citation
Spanos, N. P., Liddy, S. J., Scott, H., Garrard, C., Sine, J., Tirabasso, A., & Hayward, A. (1993). Hypnotic suggestion and placebo for the treatment of chronic headache in a university volunteer sample. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17(2), 191-205.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01172965