Skills or Pills: Randomized Trial Comparing Hypnotherapy to Medical Treatment in Children With Functional Nausea

The potential effectiveness of gut-directed hypnotherapy (HT) is unknown for pediatric chronic nausea. This randomized controlled trial compared HT with standard medical treatment (SMT).

One hundred children (ages, 8-18 y) with chronic nausea and fulfilling functional nausea (FN) or functional dyspepsia (FD) criteria were allocated randomly (1:1) to HT or SMT, with a 3-month intervention period. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, at the halfway point, after treatment, and at the 6- and 12-month follow-up evaluation. Children scored nausea symptoms in a 7-day diary. The primary outcome was treatment success, defined as a reduction in nausea of 50% or more, at the 12-month follow-up evaluation. Secondary outcomes included adequate relief of nausea.

After treatment and at the 6-month follow-up evaluation, there was a trend toward higher treatment success in the HT group compared with the SMT group (45% vs 26%, P = .052; and 57% vs 40%, P = .099, respectively). At 12 months, treatment success was similar in both groups (60% in the HT group and 55% in the SMT group; P = .667). In the FN group, significantly higher success rates were found for HT, but no differences were found in patients with FD. Adequate relief was significantly higher in the HT group than in the SMT group at the 6-month follow-up evaluation (children: 81% vs 55%, P = .014; parents: 79% vs 53%; P = .016), but not at the 12-month follow-up evaluation.

HT and SMT were effective in reducing nausea symptoms in children with FN and FD. In children with FN, HT was more effective than SMT during and after the first 6 months of treatment. Therefore, HT and SMT, applied separately or in combination, should be offered to children with FN as a treatment option (Clinical trials registration number: NTR5814).