The Influence of Hypnosis and Suggestion

Hypnosis has been used in the treatment of cancer patients for almost 200 years. It has been used to reduce pain at times when anesthetics were not available, to reduce cancer risk behaviors (e.g., smoking), during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to reduce pain and anxiety, and to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. However, the use of hypnosis to improve the prognosis of cancer patients was only partially investigated (Montgomery et al. 2013).