Hypnosis as a Treatment of Chronic Widespread Pain in General Practice. A Pilot Study.

Objective: The study was performed to evaluate the effect of a standardized hypnosis treatment used in general practice for patients with chronic widespread pain (CWP).

Design: A randomized control group-controlled study. Setting and subjects: 16 patients were randomized into a treatment group or a control group, each constituting eight patients. Seven patients in the treatment group completed the schedule. After the control period, five of the patients in the control group also received treatment, making a total of 12 patients having completed the treatment sessions.

Intervention: The intervention group went through a standardized hypnosis treatment with ten consecutive therapeutic sessions once a week, each lasting for about 30 minutes, focusing on ego-strengthening, relaxation, releasing muscular tension and increasing self-efficacy.

Main outcome measures: A questionnaire was developed in order to calibrate the symptoms before and after the 10 weeks period, and the results were interpolated into a scale from 0 to 100, increasing numbers representing increasing suffering.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Chronic widespread pain for at least three months and at most five years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients having primarily other organic diseases or serious psychiatric disorders were excluded.