THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HYPNOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF CHINESE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

This is a prospective randomized, controlled study of patients suffering from anxiety, depression, or mixed anxiety-depressive disorder attending a hypnotherapy clinic for 8weeks. Participants were assessed with various clinical scales and randomly assigned to either the study or control group. The study group received 5 to 7 sessions of hypnotherapy through the 8-week period, whereas the control group received conventional psychiatric treatment. All patients' clinical conditions were reassessed at the end of the 8th week. Comparing study and control groups at the end of the 8th week, there was improvement in the study group in the scores of an array of clinical scales. Such satisfactory results illustrate the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in relieving anxiety and depressive symptoms.