Alleviating Job-Related Burnout in Medical Professionals through Guided Imagery Hypnotherapy

This pilot study examines the impact of guided imagery hypnotherapy (GIH) on symptoms of job-related burnout in medical professionals. Nine adults (eight female) involved in direct medical care in the region of San Diego, California participated in eight consecutive weekly GIH sessions. Subjective measures of burn-out, compassion, and self-compassion were recorded roughly one week before the start of the hypnotherapy series (baseline session zero) and after the first, fourth, and final GIH sessions. Resting state electroencephalographic data (EEG) was also recorded at each of these measurement times. Additionally, EEG was recorded for the duration of the hypnotherapy protocol during sessions one, four, and eight. Two sets of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) scores were computed for each participant. First, for each session, FAA was derived from the cleaned, preprocessed EEG recorded for the full duration of the GIH protocol. Additionally, FAA was computed from segments of EEG centered on eleven key events associated with hypnosis and visualization during the protocol. Linear mixed model analysis revealed a reliable increase in self-compassion and a decrease in emotional exhaustion across the four measurement times. Further, a reliable shift toward left over right hemispheric dominance, indicated by increases in FAA, was observed both across and within sessions, suggesting an evolution toward approach-related self-regulation at short and longer time scales. These outcomes indicate the promising potential of GIH for alleviating symptoms of job-related burnout and improving self-regulation in response to challenging work situations.