Hypnosis Reduced This Person’s Hot Flashes By 94%

One man with terrible hot flashes—about 160 a week—found relief through hypnosis.

In a Baylor University case study recently published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, a 69-year-old man referred to as Mr. W underwent seven weeks of hypnotic relaxation therapy for hot flashes, and had positive results.

Although it’s less common, men indeed can get hot flashes, though they are typically less inclined to seek treatment for them. Unlike women, whose hot flashes are usually related to changes in estrogen, prostate cancer survivors can develop hot flashes as well. Hot flashes due to prostate cancer can actually be more severe and last longer than hot flashes among women.

“If a guy has hot flashes, you can’t say, ‘Well, why don’t we put you on estrogen?’ But it’s a pressing problem,” said study author Gary Elkins, director of Baylor’s Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory in a statement.

Mr. W, who was a prostate cancer survivor, went under both hypnosis with a therapist, and self-hypnosis. During the hypnosis, Mr.W imagined he was at his favorite fishing spot, sitting on a bucket between two trees on a long shore of grass, watching the water early in the morning. The hypnosis transcript would tell he would experience comfort and coolness, and that he would feel a cool breeze coming across the lake and would feel it on his face. Mr. W reported that he learned how to stop his hot flashes with self-hypnosis, and by the end of the sessions, he had a 94% decrease in hot flashes and a 87% increase in sleep quality.

The findings support earlier studies from the researchers on postmenopausal women and breast cancer survivors. People have varying responses to being hypnotized, but the researchers are hopeful, since it could be a cost effective way for people to deal with their symptoms themselves, without drugs.