A new pilot medical study has been published that has found the use of hypnosis can help to make physical changes in inflammation levels caused by stress.

The study showed that a specially created hypnosis CD listened to by the subjects on a regular basis significantly decreased levels of the inflammation and also boosted the resilience of the participants.

It has been shown that stress and anxiety can be associated with inflammatory changes in the body, and in many cases high levels of inflammation have been linked to a number of acute and chronic conditions.  

Eleven subjects took part in the study conducted by M Schoen and K Nowack. They were all healthy and suffering from no other medical issues.  Each of them was given a hypnosis CD to help them reduce their stress levels.

The CD contained two different hypnosis tracks. The first one was listened to before going to bed and lasted twenty five minutes, and the other shorter one was played in the morning. They were asked to listen to it for at least five days a week for twelve weeks.

By listening repeatedly to the CD the individual could recondition their stress response, by minimizing the subjects’ ‘excessive emotional and physical reaction to perceived work and life stressors, while facilitating their coping skills and resilience’.  Blood tests and self-reported measures were taken both before and after the period spent listening to the CD.

As well as the reducing inflammation the participants in the study also reported that they had less negative thinking and were responding in a more positive way in their day to day lives.

Of course this is just a small study and the group is not large. The authors of the study do say that this needs to be undertaken with a larger group. It does help to show that even listening to a CD alone can help to make very real changes to the stress levels of the participants. Just imagine what you could do by having a tailor made solution to your stress? When I work with clients I also provide them with CDs of our work and I constantly see great changes in people’s ability to manage their stressful lives. Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to ask further questions.

The study details: Schoen M and Nowack K (2013). Reconditioning the stress response with hypnosis CD reduces the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and influences resilience: a pilot study, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 2013; 19: 83-88.

The aim of this investigation was to measure the impact of a self-administered hypnosis intervention on resilience and the inflammatory cytokine IL-6.