Clinical applications of hypnotherapy

Hypnosis has been used as a therapeutic tool for centuries, but only in the past 50 years have the clinical applications been delineated. As evident in the medical literature, the use of hypnosis by the medical community has increased, partly as a result of a growing awareness of hypnotherapy as an available treatment modality, and also as a result of major improvements in research methodology through strict standardization. Hypnotherapy, once considered to be limited to entertainment, has now proven useful in the treatment of a wide variety of medical illness. Two cases of the use of hypnosis are presented. In the first case, hypnosis is used to alleviate pain in a gravid patient in sickle cell crisis. In the second case, hypnosis is used for desensitization of dental phobia in a 27-year-old women. The historical, theoretical, and clinical applications of hypnosis are reviewed.