14 DAY TRIAL // According to the findings of a recent investigation, hypnosis, coupled with cognitive behavioral therapy, can help breast cancer patients who are undergoing radiation therapy feel better rested.
Thus, as detailed in a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, these two types of therapy can help reduce fatigue levels in said category of patients.
Eurek Alert details that, in order to study how hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy influence the overall wellbeing of breast cancer patients, researchers closely monitored a total of 200 individuals.
These patients, of whom only some were subjected to cognitive behavioral therapy plus hypnosis, were kept a close eye on both during radiation treatment and sometime after.
It was thus found that the average patient who underwent said two types of therapy experienced less fatigue than 79% of the people in the control group.
Six months after the last radiation session, their fatigue levels were lower than those of 95% of the people in the control group.
“These results support CBTH as an evidence-based complementary intervention to control fatigue in patients undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer,” explains Dr. Guy Montgomery.
Furthermore, “This study is important because it shows a new intervention that helps to improve patients' quality of life during taxing course of breast cancer radiotherapy and for long after.”