Hypnotic suggestion and placebo for the treatment of chronic headache in a university volunteer sample

Following a 3-week baseline, university student volunteers who reported chronic headache were administered ether one or four sessions of imagery-based hypnotic treatment, one or four sessions of a placebo treatment (i.e., subliminal reconditioning), or no treatment (i.e., monitoring controls). Subjects monitored headache activity daily during baseline and followup periods. Monitoring controls reported no significant changes in headache activity from baseline to 8-week followup. Hypnotic and placebo subjects reported significant and equivalent decrements in headache pain between these intervals. Magnitude of headache reduction was unrelated to expectancy of treatment success. Implications are discussed.This research was supported by a grant to the first author from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.