Researchers from the Unidad de Investigació Médica in Merida, Mexico, explored the efficacy of Ericksonian Hypnosis for managing the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
 
Forty-three female fibromyalgia patients were randomly assigned to receive either six months of Ericksonian hypnosis (n = 20) or a sham-hypnosis protocol (n = 23).  Each month, measures were taken using the Patient and Physician Global Disease Assessment, a count of tender points,  and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ).

Researchers from the University of Sheffield in the UK evaluated the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment for reducing the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 

Using a triple-blind design, 103 patients were randomly assigned to homeopathic medicine or an identical placebo condition. Patients had monthly consultations with a professional homeopath for 6 months. Outcomes were measured on the MFI - Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory.  Secondary outcome measures were the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) and the Functional Limitations Profile (FLP).

Ninety-two patients completed treatment in the trial (47 homeopathic treatment, 45 placebo). Eighty-six patients returned fully or partially completed posttreatment outcome measures (41 homeopathic treatment group who completed treatment, 2 homeopathic treatment group who did not complete treatment, 38 placebo group who completed treatment, and 5 placebo group who did not complete treatment). Seventeen of 103 patients withdrew from treatment or were lost to follow-up.
 

Investigators from the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle looked at patterns of alternative medicine use among twins where one twin of the pair had CFS and the other did not.  They also looked at the perceived helpfulness of these methods, and how often these therapies were discussed with physicians.

Researchers from the School of Nursing,Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA investigated the effects of a 10-week mind-body intervention (guided imagery with relaxation) on symptom management for Hispanics suffering from Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder of unknown origin which affects 2% of the population in the United States. Another 16 million Hispanics suffer from generically identified rheumatic diseases that likely include FM. The pilot study used a repeated-measures pretest-posttest design.

Researchers from Florida International University’s School of Nursing in Miami investigated the effects of a 6-week intervention of guided imagery on pain level, functional status, and self-efficacy in people with fibromyalgia (FM) in a two-group, randomized, controlled clinical trial with 48 subjects.

Participants randomized to the Guided Imagery (GI) plus Usual Care intervention group received a set of three audiotaped guided imagery scripts and were instructed to use at least one tape daily for 6 weeks and report the weekly frequency of their use (dosage) of the intervention. Participants assigned to the Usual Care alone group submitted weekly report forms on usual care.

All participants completed the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), Arthritis Self- Efficacy Scale (ASES), and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), at baseline, 6, and 10 weeks, and submitted frequency of use report forms.

Dr. Fred Friedberg of SUNY at Stony Brook, found 2 sessions of EMDR to be helpful for most fibromyalgia patients suffering from anxiety, depression, fatigue and distress in a small pilot study.

Dr. Fred Friedberg from the Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at State University of New York at Stony Brook investigated the effectiveness of EMDR (eye movement desensitization & reprocessing) for relieving the symptoms and side effects of fibromyalgia in a pilot study with 6 female patients (mean age of 43).

Subjects were given two treatment sessions of EMDR, and were assessed with the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Fatigue Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. In addition, thermal biofeedback monitoring and subjective units of discomfort ratings of pain, stress, and fatigue were measured during the sessions.

Somewhat surprisingly, a study out of The California Pacific Medical Center that compared mindfulness meditation and qigong with an education-support group intervention for fibromyalgia showed that they were about equally effective.

Researchers from the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco randomly assigned a total of 128 people with fibromyalgia (FM) to either an 8-week mind-body training program consisting of mindfulness meditation plus qigong movement therapy, or an education-support group.

Betsy Singh, Brian Berman, Victoria Hadhazy & Paul Creamer of the Complementary Medicine Program at the U of Maryland School of Medicine showed in a pilot study of 28 patients with fibromyalgia that a combination of patient education, meditation and qigong movement therapy significantly reduced pain, fatigue and sleeplessness. The eight weekly, 2.5 hr sessions also improved mood state, function and general health. (Alternative Therapies, March 1998, Vol 4, no. 2, pp. 67-70.)

Citation: Singh BB, Berman BM, Hadhazy VA, Creamer P. A pilot of cognitive behavioral therapy in fibromyalgia. Alternative Therapies Health Med. 1998 Mar; 4(2): 67-70.

The effect of guided imagery and amitriptyline on daily fibromyalgia pain: a prospective, randomized, controlled trial.

A Norwegian research team compared the effects of attention distracting imagery, attention focusing imagery and amitriptyline (elavil and similar anti-depressants) on fibromyalgia pain in 55 women. They monitored them daily for pain in a randomized, controlled clinical trial. One group (n=17) received relaxation training and “pleasant” guided imagery designed to distract them from their pain. Another group (n=21) received relaxation training and attention imagery that focused on the "active workings of the internal pain control systems”. The control group received treatment as usual (n=17). Patients were also randomly assigned to 50-mg amitriptyline/day or placebo. The slopes of diary pain ratings over a 4-week period were used as the outcome measures. The team found significant differences of the pain-slopes between the three psychological conditions (P=0.0001). The pleasant imagery declined significantly (P<0.005) when compared with the control group (P>0.05). The attention imagery group''s slope did not. Neither was there a difference between the amitriptyline and placebo slopes (main effects, P=0.98). The study concludes that pleasant imagery is an effective intervention in reducing fibromyalgic pain during the 28-day study period. Amitriptyline had no significant advantage over placebo during the study period.

Citation: Fors EA, Sexton H, Gotestam KG. The effect of guided imagery and amitriptyline on daily fibromyalgia pain: a prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatry Research 2002 May-Jun;36(3):179-87