May 2007, VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1, Abstract 4
Just in Case: Gaining a Sense of Control Over Detrusor Instability Through Hypnotherapy
Tara B. Economakis, Private Practice, United Kingdom
The aim of this study was to investigate whether hypnotherapy could be used successfully in the treatment of detrusor instability (DI) in which, as far as possible, organic, infective or structural causes had been excluded. Five incontinent women with detrusor instability completed 10 to 12 sessions of hypnotherapy over six months. Direct suggestion for symptom removal and indirect suggestion for ego-strengthening and improved coping strategies were both employed. Two or three of the sessions were recorded to provide audiocassettes which the patients could use to continue their treatment at home. At the end of the treatment, all five patients reported improved overall wellbeing. Three patients were free of DI symptoms, one had periods of improvement in her urinary frequency, and one remained very much the same as originally. The results of this study contribute to the hypothesis that hypnotherapy can be an effective treatment when the unstable bladder is of psychosomatic origin and the patient’s symptoms have evolved as a result of an emotive or psychological disturbance.