[Hypnosis and self-hypnosis administered and taught by nurses for relief of chronic pain: a controlled clinical trial].

In this controlled clinical trial hypnosis and self-hypnosis were evaluated when used as an adjuvant treatment to instrumental and pharmacological management of chronic pain. The study took place in a hospital specialized in the treatment of outpatients suffering from chronic pain. Hypnosis and self-hypnosis were administered and taught by nurses who had been trained just recently for this very purpose. Under the conditions of the study it was not possible to measure an effect of hypnosis on pain despite some subjective feeling of usefulness. However, it should be taken into account that this form of adjuvant therapy was used for the first time in that hospital for the purpose of the study and, therefore, took place in an artificial setting. It could well be that the same therapy administered in the proper therapeutic environment of a specialized institution could show beneficial effects on pain.