Migraine headaches are one of the most common reasons many people go to the emergency room or doctors’ offices.
Typically Migraine headaches last from 4-72 hours and vary in frequency from daily to fewer than one per year. Migraine headaches affect approximately 15% of the population. Three times as many women as men have migraines. More than 80% of people with migraines (migraineurs) have other members in the family who have them too.
Migraines are due to changes in the brain and surrounding blood vessels. These changes in the brain and surrounding blood vessels are caused by stress due to being overwhelmed; resisting the flow of life; or sexual dissatisfaction/fears.
In a study conducted by J. A. Anderson (1975), migraine headache sufferers treated with hypnosis had a significant reduction in the number of attacks and in their severity compared to a control group treated with traditional medications. The significant difference did not become statistically apparent until the second six-month follow-up period. Furthermore, at the end of one year, the number of migraine sufferers in the hypnosis group who had experienced no headaches for over three months was significantly higher.
Olness (1987), conducted a controlled trial by self-hypnosis. This trial was shown to be significantly more effective than either propranolol or placebo in reducing the frequency of migraine headaches in children between the ages of six and twelve years of age.
In research conducted by L.C. Schlutter (1980), hypnosis was the most effective in the relief of tension headaches.
A. Alladin (1988) reviewed the literature on hypnosis, identifying a dozen different hypnotic techniques that have been used in the treatment of chronic migraine headaches. Of these, hypnotic training emphasizing relaxation, hand warming seems the simplest method of establishing increased voluntary control of the sensitive vasomotor system and direct hypnotic suggestions of symptom removal have all been shown to be effective in reducing the duration, intensity and frequency of migraine headaches during a ten-week treatment course and at thirteen-month follow-up when compared to controls.
