Self-hypnosis may help people combat the negative effects that stress has on the immune system, say researchers from Ohio State University. A study of medical students experiencing exam-time stress revealed that the immune system of given “hypnotic-relaxation training” was stronger than that of untrained students. Researchers took blood samples from both groups of students at the start of the study and just before exams got underway, and exposed the samples to foreign substances in order to monitor the activity of key immune system components. Results showed that samples taken from the self-hypnosis trained students launched stronger attacks against the substances. Furthermore, the immune response got stronger the more the students practiced the techniques. Previous studies have found that self-hypnosis may reduce pain following surgery as well as speed wound-healing and post-operative recovery.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2001; 69: 674-682
