Swiss team at Basle University taught 66 people with hay fever the art of hypnosis and found it helped them alleviate symptoms such as runny nose. The volunteers also took their regular drugs, reduced the doses they needed. The Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine conducted study over two years/two hay-fever seasons.
- First year – volunteers were taught to practice hypnosis as well as take their usually meds. Remaining volunteers had no other treatment apart from their allergy meds. After a year volunteers who did self-hypnosis reported fewer symptoms than their fellow volunteers.
- Second year – “untrained” volunteers were taught self-hypnosis and by the end of the year, volunteers reports improvement.
Professor Wolf Langewitz and his team also tested the volunteers in the laboratory to see what effect the hypnosis was having on the body. Using a machine that measured how forcefully a person could exhale through their nose, the researchers found that the hypnosis was helping to improve nasal airflow, even when the volunteers were exposed to things that triggered their hay fever such as pollen and grass. He suspects that hypnosis might work by altering blood flow and helping alleviate congestion in the nose. Wolf Langewitz,Jan Izakovic, Jane Wyler et al. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2005;74:165-172.
Other studies on allergies:
- Addolorato G, Ancona C, Capristo E, Graziosetto R, Di Rienzo L, Maurizi M, Gasbarrini G. State and trait anxiety in women affected by allergic and vasomotor rhinitis. J Psychosom Res. 1999 46(3):283-9.
- Klein GL, Ziering RW, Girsh LS, Miller MF. The allergic irritability syndrome: four case reports and a position statement from the Neuroallergy Committee of the American College of Allergy. Ann Allergy. 1985 Jul;55(1):22-4.
- Lahmann, C, Henningsen P, et al. Effects of functional relaxation and guided imagery on IgE in dust-mite allergic adult asthmatics: a randomized controlled clinical trial. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2010; 198(2): 125-130.
- Langewitz W, Izakovic J, Wyler J, Schindler C, Kiss A, Bircher AJ. Effect of self-hypnosis on hay fever symptoms – a randomized controlled intervention study. Psychother Psychosom. 2005.
- Madrid A, Rostel G, Pennington D, Murphy D. Subjective assessment of allergy relief following group hypnosis and self-hypnosis: a preliminary study. Am J Clin Hypn. 1995 Oct;38(2):80-6.
- Wyler-Harper J, Bircher AJ, Langewitz W, Kiss A. Hypnosis and the allergic response. Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift. Supplementum. 1994, 62:67-76.
