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MARK P. JENSEN ET AL.
Case reports also suggest that hypnosis might benefit persons with
amputation and chronic pain. More than 25 years ago, for example,
Siegel (1979) described a patient who was able to obtain increased control
over phantom-limb pain through the use of hypnosis-induced glove
anesthesia. Similarly, Muraoka and colleagues (Muraoka, Komiyama,
Hosoi, Mine, & Kuba, 1996) reported on a patient with phantom-limb
pain and posttraumatic stress disorder whose experience of the phantom
limb and associated phantom-limb pain decreased dramatically in fre-
quency and severity following the application of hypnosis and medica-
tion management. Similarly, Rickard, Barabasz, and Barabasz (2004)
found that hypnotic dissociation was highly successful in reducing or
eliminating phantom-limb pain in a group of rural Virginia patients.
We are aware of only a few case studies of hypnotic treatment for pain
in persons with MS. For example, Dane (1996) described a patient with
MS who was able to maintain stable pain control and some neuromus-
cular rehabilitation gains for 3 months after hypnotic treatment via the
use of regular self-hypnosis practice. The portion of treatment that tar-
geted pain included suggestions for putting pain into the background
and for numbing any painful areas. Similarly, Sutcher (1997) reported
benefits from hypnotic treatment in three patients with MS, one of whom
received treatment specifically targeting pain. Although we are not
aware of any case studies that support the potential of hypnotic treat-
ment for providing relief from chronic pain in persons with NMD or
PPS, a large number of investigators report significant improvement in
patients with chronic pain associated with a variety of other diagnoses
(e.g., James, Large, & Beale, 1989; Lewis, 1992; Spinhoven & ter Kuile,
2000; ter Kuile, Spinhoven, & Linssen, 1995; see also review by Patterson
& Jensen, 2003). Overall, this anecdotal evidence supports the potential
for hypnosis to benefit persons with chronic pain and disability and indi-
cates the need for controlled research in this area. Such research could
also be useful in addressing a number of unanswered questions concern-
ing the predictors and effects of hypnotic analgesia for chronic pain.
One primary unanswered question concerns the number (percent)
and characteristics of patients with chronic pain who might benefit
from hypnotic-analgesia treatment. Although case reports describe
significant treatment gains and benefits following hypnosis for many
of the patients treated, it is unclear if the patients in these reports are
typical. For example, in some studies, the results are limited to patients
with at least moderate levels of hypnotizability (e.g., James et al., 1989;
Jensen and Barber, 2000). In addition, case reports do not help us deter-
mine the number or percent of patients with chronic pain, including
chronic pain in persons with disabilities, who might benefit from
hypnotic-analgesia treatment; it could be a small minority, a large
majority, or somewhere in between these extremes. The answer to this
question has an impact on whether there should be increased efforts to