Medical hypnosis mitigates laboratory dyspnoea in healthy humans: a randomised, controlled experimental trial.

Dyspnoea persisting despite treatments of underlying causes requires symptomatic approaches. Medical hypnosis could provide relief without the untoward effects of pharmacological approaches. We addressed this question through experimentally induced dyspnoea in healthy humans (inspiratory threshold loading -excessive inspiratory effort- and carbon dioxide stimulation -air hunger-) MATERIAL AND METHODS: 20 volunteers (10 women, 21-40) were studied on 4 separate days. The order of the visits was randomised in two steps, firstly "inspiratory threshold loading first" Medical hypnosis reduced both dimensions of dyspnoea significantly more than visual distraction (inspiratory threshold loading: sensory reduction after 5 min 34% of full VAS Medical hypnosis was more effective than visual distraction at attenuating the sensory and affective dimensions of experimentally induced dyspnoea. This provides a strong rationale for clinical studies of hypnosis in persistent dyspnoea patients.

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