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Intl. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol. 55, No. 2, January 2007: pp. 1–32
I
COGNITIVE HYPNOTHERAPY
FOR DEPRESSION:
An Empirical Investigation
Cognitive Hypnotherapy for Depression
ASSEN ALLADIN AND ALISHA ALIBHAI
A
SSEN
A
LLADIN AND
A
LISHA
A
LIBHAI
1
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Abstract:
To investigate the effectiveness of cognitive hypnotherapy
(CH), hypnosis combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), on
depression, 84 depressives were randomly assigned to 16 weeks of
treatment of either CH or CBT alone. At the end of treatment, patients
from both groups significantly improved compared to baseline scores.
However, the CH group produced significantly larger changes in Beck
Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Hopeless-
ness Scale. Effect size calculations showed that the CH group pro-
duced 6%, 5%, and 8% greater reduction in depression, anxiety, and
hopelessness, respectively, over and above the CBT group. The effect
size was maintained at 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. This study
represents the first controlled comparison of hypnotherapy with a
well-established psychotherapy for depression, meeting the APA cri-
teria for a “probably efficacious” treatment for depression.
In the past 10 years, the field of psychotherapy has been very active in
the identification, development, and promulgation of empirically sup-
ported treatments. The flurry of activities was sparked by the growing
concerns about the future of psychological services in the context of
managed care, an increasing emphasis on accountability and cost con-
tainment, and a desire to emphasize the scientific basis of psychological
treatments (Hunsley, Dobson, Johnston, & Mikail, 1999). Such concerns
led several countries to promote the use of scientific data in determining
optimal services for patients or clients. For example, in 1993 Division 12
(Clinical Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA)
formed a Task Force on the Promotion and Dissemination of Psycholog-
ical Procedures to develop criteria for empirically evaluating psycholog-
ical treatments. The APA Task Force (Chambless & Hollon, 1998) came
up with three categories of criteria to class treatments for specific psy-
chological disorders as
well-established,
probably
efficacious
, or
efficacious
and specific
. In 1998, the Task Force listed 16 well-established treatments
Manuscript submitted March 24, 2006; final revision accepted September 29, 2006.
1
Address correspondence to Assen Alladin, Ph.D., R.Psych., Department of Psychology,
Foothills Medical Centre, 1403 29th Street NW, Calgary, AB T2N 2T9, Canada.
E-mail: assen.alladin@calgaryhealthregion.ca
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