Hypnosis reduces distress and duration of an invasive medical procedure for children

2005

• “VCUG is a commonly performed radiologic procedure in children that can be both painful and frightening. Given the distress that some children experience during the VCUG and the need for children to be alert and cooperative during the procedure, finding a psychological intervention that helps children to manage anxiety, distress, and pain is clearly desirable.”

• “Results indicate significant benefits for the hypnosis group compared with the routine care group in the following four areas: (1) parents of children in the hypnosis group compared with those in the routine care group reported that the procedure was significantly less traumatic for their children compared with their previous VCUG procedure, (2) observational ratings of typical distress levels during the procedure were significantly lower for children in the hypnosis condition compared with those in the routine care condition, (3) medical staff reported a significant difference between groups in the overall difficulty of conducting the procedure, with less difficulty reported for the hypnosis group, and (4) total procedural time was significantly shorterby almost 14 minutes for the hypnosis group.”