Elkins, G., Marcus, J., Stearns, V., Perfect, M., Rajab, M.H., Ruud, C., … Keith, T. (2008). Randomized trial of a hypnosis intervention for treatment of hot flashes among breast cancer survivors. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 26, 5022–5026.

Researchers compared a hypnosis intervention (five weekly sessions) or no treatment.

Sixty female breast cancer survivors with hot flashes were enrolled.  Eligible patients had to have a history of primary breast cancer without evidence of detectable disease and 14 or more weekly hot flashes for at least one month.

Participants were randomly assigned to treatment with hypnosis or no treatment.

The instrument was the Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale.

Fifty-one randomly assigned women completed the study. By the end of the treatment period, hot flash scores (frequency and average severity) decreased 68% from baseline to end point in the hypnosis arm (p ≤ 001). Significant improvements in self-reported anxiety, depression, interference of hot flashes on daily activities, and sleep were observed for patients who received the hypnosis intervention (p ≤ .005) in comparison to the no treatment control group.

Study limitations included:

• Five weeks duration
• No physiologic monitoring of hot flashes
• No long-term follow-up