Hypnosis for Headaches

Tension headaches are caused by the involuntary sustained contraction of the muscles surrounding your skull and face. Migraine headaches primarily affect women, whereas cluster headaches are often experienced by smokers and heavy drinkers. If you're suffering from recurrent headaches and your GP hasn't been able to find out why, hypnotherapy may well be able to help. By determining whether there's a psychological reason for your getting them and teaching you pain-control methods and de-stressing relaxation techniques, hypnosis can reduce their severity and frequency.

THE EVIDENCE?
The Channel Four Complementary Health website says that 'hypnotherapy is said to be particularly useful for stress-related or psychosomatic conditions like... migraine'.

In a 1992 study reported in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry conducted on 56 patients in the Netherlands, researchers concluded that hypnosis and autogenic training may offer hope for patients who regularly suffer from tension headaches. The study compared autogenic training to a form of hypnotherapy known as 'future oriented hypnotic imagery'. The results revealed that both treatments were equally effective. The patients experienced a reduction in both the severity of the headache and the associated psychological stress, and after a six-month follow-up period, the therapeutic improvement was maintained.

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