A Meta-Analysis for the Efficacy of Hypnotherapy in Alleviating PTSD Symptoms

2015/11/24 by Tudor‐Ștefan Rotaru, Andrei Rusu · 1 citation
Psychology · Neuroscience · Medicine · #Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research #Pain Management and Placebo Effect #Traumatic Brain Injury Research

paper · doi:10.1080/00207144.2015.1099406

openalex publication_date 2015/11/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of hypnotherapy in the treatment of PTSD used literature searches to obtain 47 articles. However, only 6 were experiments testing the efficacy of hypnosis-based treatments. A fixed-effects meta-analysis was applied to postintervention assessment results and 4-week follow-ups. A large effect in favor of hypnosis-based (especially manualized abreactive hypnosis) treatment was found for the studies that reported the posttest results (d = 1.17). The temporal stability of the effect remains strong, as reflected by the 4-week follow-up assessments (d = 1.58) and also by long-term evaluations (e.g., 12 months). Hypnosis appears to be effective in alleviating PTSD symptoms.

Citations

• Introduction to Meta‐Analysis
• The Additive Benefit of Hypnosis and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Treating Acute Stress Disorder.
• Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences
• Effect size estimates: Current use, calculations, and interpretation.
• Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information.
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Cited by

• Hypnotherapy [wikipedia]

Related

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Cognitive Hypnotherapy, Mindfulness, and Acceptance-Based Treatment Approaches
• The Efficacy of Hypnosis as a Treatment for Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis
• An Update on Psychotherapy for the Treatment of PTSD
• Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• What We Can Do with Hypnosis: A Brief Note