Vanessa Muñiz discusses benefits of clinical hypnosis against hot flashes

In an interview with Contemporary OB/GYN, Vanessa Muñiz, a third-year doctoral student at Baylor University with a master's degree in psychology, discussed new data about the treatment of hot flashes in postmenopausal women and breast cancer survivors. According to Muñiz, the work is part of a broader lab project that focuses on the use of clinical hypnosis for managing hot flashes in these populations.

Additionally, she conducted a scoping review that examined the effectiveness of both clinical hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating hot flashes, which was presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society.

Muñiz described how the scoping review was conducted in collaboration with 3 other lab members, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The team performed a comprehensive search of the PubMed, PsychInfo, and Web of Science databases to gather all relevant studies on the treatment of hot flashes using clinical hypnosis and CBT. Their goal was to gain an overall understanding of where the research currently stands and identify gaps that need to be addressed in future studies.

Studies measuring hot flashes as a secondary outcome were also included to provide a broader picture of the available literature. Results indicated that clinical hypnosis was significantly effective in reducing the frequency of hot flashes, with a 50% reduction in frequency reported. It also led to significant improvements in daily interference caused by hot flashes, as well as improvements in quality of life and sleep quality. However, CBT was only effective in reducing daily interference and improving quality of life, without significantly reducing the frequency of hot flashes.

Muñiz emphasized that clinical hypnosis was the only method that consistently reduced both the frequency and the physiological measurement of hot flashes. Based on these findings, she encouraged health care providers to consider referring patients experiences hot flashes to clinical hypnosis, given its proven efficacy in improving both the frequency and the daily impact of hot flashes on patients' lives.

If you are interested to learn more about hypnosis and clinical hypnosis certifications, visit The Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis website.