Research Studies on Guided Imagery and other Integrative and Complementary Therapies
Mayo Clinic: Enhance Healing Through Guided Imagery
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Aristotle and Hippocrates believed in the power of images in the brain to enliven the heart and body. Today, research shows they were right. Guided imagery is helping patients use the full range of the body's healing capacity, according to the January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Blue Shield Announces Guided Imagery Program to Help Members Have an Easier
Surgery & Recovery
In a groundbreaking move for a managed care company, Blue Shield of California has begun offering guided imagery recordings to PPO members scheduled for major surgery.
Through words, music and images, guided imagery helps people tap into their natural power to relax and heal. The technique is one of many types of complementary and alternative medicine that have become popular with millions of Americans. Some hospitals have been offering guided imagery to patients facing surgery, but Blue Shield is the first health plan to develop a comprehensive pre-surgical guided imagery program for members.
Music Soothes Distress of Cancer Treatment
Music therapy is an easy, inexpensive way to help cancer patients cope with the emotional upset often caused by high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, according to researchers from New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Patients who were visited by a trained music therapist reported less anxiety and better overall mood than patients who did not receive music therapy. The findings were published in the journal Cancer (Vol. 98, No. 12: 2723-2729).
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Studies Effects of Music Therapy
Music as therapy has been used since ancient times. It emerged as a formal discipline in the United States in the late 1940s. Currently, there are over 5,000 music therapists working in clinical settings throughout the country. Patients listen to or perform music under the guidance of a professionally trained music therapist. Music can promote relaxation and provide distraction from pain. It has been used to reduce postoperative pain and to help alleviate anxiety and stress. According to a recent study, music therapy can reduce mood disturbance in cancer patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation, a procedure known to cause significant psychological distress.
Research on guided imagery in women with breast cancer
In studies of breast cancer patients, guided imagery has been shown to help the immune system and relieve anxiety, depression, and moodiness.
In a small study conducted at Oregon Health and Science University published in 2002, 25 women with Stage 1 and 2 breast cancer were led through individual hypnotic-guided imagery sessions. During the sessions, the women were encouraged to imagine certain kinds of protective immune system cells - called natural killer cells - finding, destroying, and removing cancer cells. The initial session was taped. The women used the tapes to practice at home 3 times a week for 8 weeks.