MedWire News: Hypnosis may help reduce inflammation levels in people with the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis, researchers have found.

"Hypnotherapy has been used successfully for many years as a treatment for psychological disorders," explain David Rampton, from the Royal London Hospital in the UK, and colleagues. "It has also been used to treat a variety of medical diseases that are believed to have a psychosomatic component and to be worsened by psychological stress; these include hypertension, asthma, and eczema and psoriasis."

Furthermore, they add: "There are anecdotal reports, but little formal data, of the benefit of hypnotherapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease."

To investigate further, the team studied 25 patients with active ulcerative colitis who were aged between 23 and 63 years.

Seventeen of the patients were assigned to undergo a 50-minute session of hypnosis that focused on general relaxation and relief of gastrointestinal symptoms, while the remaining patients were asked to listen to relaxing music of their choice for 50 minutes.

Before and after these sessions, the researchers measured each patient's pulse, blood markers of inflammation, such as interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha, and levels of inflammation in the rectum, as indicated by concentrations of substance P, histamine, interleukin-13 and blood flow.

The researchers found that hypnosis was associated with an average reduction in pulse of seven beats per minute and a 53% reduction in blood concentrations of interleukin-6. It was also associated with a significant reduction in rectal inflammation, as indicated by a 81% fall in levels of substance P, a 35% reduction in histamine levels, a 53% reduction in levels of interleukin-13 and a 18% reduction in rectal blood flow.

Patients who listened to relaxing music experienced no such benefits.

Writing in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Dr Rampton and team conclude: "We have found that a single session of hypnosis reduced several, but not all, of a range of inflammatory variables... and restored some toward the values found in [inactive] ulcerative colitis."

They add: "Some of these effects may contribute to the anecdotally reported benefits of hypnotherapy and provide a rationale for controlled trials of hypnotherapy in ulcerative colitis."