'Cool' Imagery Lowers Hot Flashes
Through Hypnotherapy

As approximately 85 percent of women approaching menopause experience hot flashes, researchers are working to find effective treatments that avoid hormonal or other pharmaceutical therapies. A new Baylor University study has shown a dramatic decrease in hot flashes associated with menopause for those women who specifically pictured images associated with coolness during hypnosis.

The results appear in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

While a previous Baylor study has shown that hot flashes can be reduced by up to 68 percent in breast cancer survivors by utilizing hypnotherapy, the specific mental imagery used by women for reduction of hot flashes is a new finding.

"This is an interesting finding because it begins to shed light on what is it, specifically, about hypnotic relaxation therapy that reduces the hot flashes," said Dr. Gary Elkins, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences, who has conducted several studies on hypnotherapy for relaxation. "The finding,” he added, “may indicate that areas of the brain activated by imagery may be identical to those activated by actual perceived events. Consequently, it may be that while a woman suffering hot flashes imagines a cool place, she also feels cool rather than the heat of a hot flash."

Fifty-one breast cancer survivors were surveyed by the Baylor researchers. These survivors had participated in a hypnosis intervention study for the treatment of their hot flashes. Prior to each session, participants were asked to identify their own personal preferences for mental imagery for reduction of hot flashes. Some participants described a generalized imagery they preferred, while others choose actual places they had visited.

The results show:

• None used imagery associated with warmth, but akl participants showed a preference for images associated with coolness. In fact, when a participant used mental imagery associated with a warm fire, she became relaxed; however the hot flashes did not decrease.
• Cool mountains, water, air or wind, snow, trees, leaves and forests were the most common themes utilized by the participants.
• Of the themes, 27 percent of participants visualized water associated with coolness such as a cool waterfall or rain shower. It was also discovered that:
   
  • 17.6 percent pictured cool air or wind and 16.2 percent pictured cool mountains.
  • 11.5 percent visualized a cool forest or leaves and 6.8 percent pictured snow.
  • 20.9 percent pictured other things like a cool movie theater or frost on a winter morning

"These findings really give guidance to what women respond to," Elkins said. "This study supports the idea that the most effective images are those that are generated by the participant themselves, in relation to their own perceptions and life experiences."

Robert Galarowicz ND
Hypnosis Hypnotherapy
For Women & Menopause
Paramus, New Jersey (NJ)
201-728-4831

Source:

Baylor University (2010, July 13). 'Cool' imagery lowers hot flashes through hypnotherapy.