Thursday, January 22, 2009

Hypnosis may slow onset of dementia

Jul 29 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

A SCIENTIST at the University of Liverpool has found hypnosis can slow down the effects of dementia and improve quality of life for people living with the condition.

Forensic psychologist Dr Simon Duff looked at how hypnosis compared to a type of group therapy in which participants were encouraged to discuss news and current affairs.

They found that people living with dementia who had received hypnosis therapy showed an improvement in concentration, memory and socialisation compared to two other groups. Relaxation, motivation and daily activities also improved with hypnosis.

Dr Duff said: “Over a nine-month period of weekly sessions, it became clear that the participants attending the discussion group remained the same throughout. The group who received treatment ‘as usual’ showed a small decline over the assessment period, yet those having regular hypnosis sessions showed real improvement across all the areas we looked at.

“Participants who are aware of the onset of dementia may become depressed and anxious at their gradual loss of cognitive ability and so hypnosis, which is a tool for relaxation, can really help.”

Further research will establish whether hypnosis maintains its effects.

1 comment:

Marks99 said...

Thanks for the informative post David. This is really interesting information about Hypnosis.

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