Hypnosis and biofeedback in the treatment of migraine headache

Abstract

Abstract A study was made to explore the decta of subject-hypnotizability in response to 3 treatment procedures applied to 33 migraine headache sufferers. These treatment procedures included biofeedback training for hand-warming, biofeedback training for alpha enhancement, and training for self-hypnosis. The Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) of Spiegel & Bridger (1970) was given to each s to determine degree of hypnotizability and the MMF'I was administered to all 8s. All 3 treatment groups showed aigdicant reductions in headache rates and there were no gignificant differences between groups. Cutting acros treatment groups, high hypnotizable Ss (N = 15) showed significant reductions in headache rates when compared with low hypnotizable Ss (N = 13). There was no correlation between HIP scores and the hysteria scale of the MMPI.