Mindfulness is effective in conjunction with hypnotherapy for the treatment of chronic stress, according to new research published earlier this year. The Baylor University-led research was published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.
The Baylor team investigated the effectiveness of mindful hypnotherapy intervention in a randomized trial as part of their study. The study included 42 adolescents and young adults with high stress levels.
According to the researchers, participants in the study underwent an eight-week intervention consisting of one-hour individual sessions and self-hypnosis audio recordings for daily mindfulness.
The outcomes demonstrated efficacy among participants who adhered to the treatment and an extremely low occurrence of adverse effects.
“There were significant differences between the mindful hypnotherapy (MH) and control groups postintervention, with the mindful hypnotherapy intervention resulting in significant and large decrease in perceived distress and increase in mindfulness,” the study’s co-authors explained in a news release.
“This study indicates that MH is a feasible intervention for stress reduction and increasing mindfulness.”
Their findings represent the first empirical evaluation of the combination of mindfulness and hypnosis. Due to the recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus and other sociological disruptions causing abnormally high levels of stress in the general population, the testing of such an intervention in this study may come at a critical time.
