Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Hypnotherapy on the Reduction of Perceived Pain and Distress in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

Low back pain is one of the commonest and most costly musculoskeletal problems in today's society. As the pain is not merely a sensory experience and is considered an emotional-cognitive experience, the present study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy (CBHT) on the severity of pain and distress in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). The method was a single subject design A-B. The population was adult women with CLBP admitted to Pain Clinic of Labbafinejad Hospital, Tehran, in 2017. The sampling was convenient (purposive) sampling. Four subjects underwent 8 sessions of individual CBHT and baseline, intervention and follow-up evaluations were performed using numerical-grading scale measurement tools to measure pain and distress severity. Visual analysis of the data chart by comparing the changes in the dependent variable levels based on the median and mean, stability and the percentage of overlapping and nonoverlapping data (PND) at the baseline stage, intervention and follow up showed that the intervention was effective in reducing the severity of pain and especially distress in patients with CLBP. CBHT is effective in relieving pain and the distress associated with pain and can be used as a non-invasive therapy without side effects in managing and controlling the different aspects of pain in patients with CLBP.