Is Hypnotherapy a Placebo
This is a question that is common in my world. There has always been a discussion that hypnotherapy is nothing more than a placebo. This is not to say that placebo is not a useful therapeutic phenomena. After all if a person gets well does it really matter if it is due to a placebo or not.
However, that is not the question for today. Hypnotherapy does work and there is a plethora of evidence which corroborates this. Take for example a study which appears on the Arthritis Foundation website which shows that 75% of those who used hypnosis (self hypnosis particularly) reduced the intensity of the pain of the arthritis as well as giving the patient control over their symptoms.
Indeed, psychologists, psychotherapists and scientists have been researching hypnosis for decades. This shows that there is a definite interest in discovering what it is about hypnosis that makes it more than a placebo. Certainly, most forms of psychotherapy can trace its roots to hypnosis. The naturally occurring trance state which occurs in therapy, what is often referred to as the therapeutic relationship, is a form of hypnosis. So even therapists who do not practice hypnotherapy actually utilise hypnosis as part of their work. I think we can safely say that hypnotherapy is far from a placebo.
