Marchioro, G., Azzarello, G., Viviani, F., Barbato, F., Pavanetto, M., Rosetti, F., … Vinante, O. (2000). Hypnosis in the treatment of anticipatory nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. Oncology, 59, 100–104.
To evaluate the use of hypnosis in the management of anticipatory nausea and vomiting
Patients received two hours of training in progressive relaxation, followed by a one-hour hypnosis program. No drugs were given in association with the hypnotherapy. After the intervention, patients immediately went to their scheduled chemotherapy.
All patients were from an outpatient setting.
A Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to measure complete response (CR) (mild nausea with no vomiting), major response (moderate to severe nausea and one vomiting episode), or no response (none of the above).
In all of the 16 patients in the study, anticipatory nausea and vomiting disappeared. Major responses (moderate to severe nausea, with one vomiting episode) to chemotherapy-induced emesis control occurred in 14 of the 16 patients.
Caution should be used regarding patient selection; some patients should not be hypnotized.