Pilot study of the effect of self-hypnosis on the medical management of essential hypertension

Abstract

Medical patients diagnosed as hypertensive whose blood pressures were normalized while they were hospitalized were often found to require upward titration of medication upon follow-up as outpatients. Self-hypnosis was taught to one group of hospitalized patients; a second group received equal attention and time to relax without the specified procedure; and a third group was monitored with no intervention. On follow-up, the hypnosis group showed greater downward change in diastolic blood pressure than the monitored group, with the attention-only group in between. Additionally, no subjects in the hypnosis group required upward titration of medications. The results suggest both replication with a larger sample and the value of adding self-hypnosis to the standard medical treatment for hypertension. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.