Comparison of hypnosis and distraction in severely ill children undergoing painful medical procedures.

Abstract

An ethnically diverse sample of high and low hypnotizable children (N = 27) suffering from cancer or blood disorders and their parents were trained to use both distraction and hypnosis to reduce pain and anxiety. Measures of pain and anxiety were obtained from the children and their parents. Independent raters also judged participants' video-taped distress responses. Data were collected during painful medical procedures, for baseline, distraction, and hypnosis conditions. Supporting E. R. Hilgard's (1977, 1992) neodissociation theory, hypnotizable children showed significantly lower pain, anxiety, and distress scores in response to hypnosis in contrast to the low hypnotizable children. Distraction produced significant positive effects for observer-rated distress scores for the low hypnotizable children.