Investigators from Mind Matters Research in Anchorage, Alaska summarized their Phase I National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical trial with 34 breast cancer survivors, six weeks to one year post-treatment, who were recruited to participate in a 6-class, 8-week long imagery stress reduction program entitled "Envision the Rhythms of Life."

Patients practiced imagery during and between sessions. Outcomes for quality of life and cortisol rhythm were assessed pre- to post-intervention, in two subsets of survivors (intravenous [IV] chemotherapy, or no IV chemotherapy).

Researchers from the University of Hartford reviewed the findings to see if a high level of hypnotic suggestibility (considered a stable individual trait) is necessary for a hypnotic pain intervention to relieve headache pain.

Higher suggestibility has been found to be associated with greater relief from hypnotic pain interventions, and although individuals in the high suggestibility range show the strongest response to hypnotic analgesia, people of medium suggestibility (who represent approximately one third of the population) also have been found to obtain significant relief from hypnosis.

The researchers conclude that high hypnotic suggestibility is not necessary for successful hypnotic pain intervention for headache – medium suggestibility works too .  But the available evidence does not support the efficacy of hypnotic pain interventions for people who fall in the low hypnotic suggestibility range.  According to some studies, these subjects may benefit from imaginative analgesia suggestions (guided imagery), or suggestions for pain reduction that are delivered while the person is not under hypnosis.

Citation:  Milling LS. Is high hypnotic suggestibility necessary for successful hypnotic pain intervention? Current Pain and Headache Reports. 2008 Apr;12 (2): pages 98-102. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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.

A critical review out of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California, examined the research on guided imagery’s effects on the immune system. The author states that studies suggest that guided imagery can:

1. reduce stress and elevate the immune system;
2. that cell-specific imagery affects corresponding white blood counts (WBCs), neutrophils and/or lymphocytes;
3. that decreases in white blood counts occur in the initial stages of GI and relaxation, due to fluctuations in WBC production or margination;
4. and that changes in WBC count or adherence occur earlier in medical patients.

The study concludes with thoughts about where further investigations should go, including the definition of the ideal white blood count; the effects of long-term practice of guided imagery; and the influence of cell-specific imagery on WBCs.

Citation: Trakhtenberg EC. The effects of guided imagery on the immune system: a critical review. International Journal of Neuroscience. 2008 Jun; 118 (6): pages 839-55.

Phase II research from Page and Levine at the University of Cincinnati shows further evidence of the efficacy of "mental practice" (kinesthetic or body-based guided imagery) for rehabilitation of arm movements after a stroke.

A research team from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine completed a randomized, controlled study that compared the efficacy of a stroke rehabilitation program that incorporated "mental practice" (MP) or guided imagery of certain arm movements to a placebo condition.

Researchers from the Dept of Psychology at York University in Toronto find that imagining future success does indeed enhance people’s motivation to achieve success, and that third-person imagery does this more effectively than first person.

A Canadian survey of coaches and athletes finds that guided imagery is consistently used more for competition than for recreational athletics, and for higher level athletes (international, national & varsity competition) .

Researchers from the School of Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada looked at whether coaches encourage their athletes to use imagery, using a survey given to coaches and another given to athletes. In the first, 317 athletes completed the Coaches'' Encouragement of Athletes'' Imagery Use Questionnaire. In the second, 215 coaches completed a slightly modified version of this questionnaire.