Hypnosis and the Treatment of Huntington's Disease

Abstract

Huntington's Disease is an inherited fatal disorder of the central nervous system. Literature on the hypnotic treatment of this disease is extremely sparse. We treated two patients with Huntington's Disease using a wide variety of hypnotic interventions. One patient was treated for a number of years and the other for 10 consecutive sessions. We discuss the continuously interacting cycle between the primary physical symptoms caused by the disease and the secondary psychological symptoms. Hypnotic techniques and daily self-hypnosis appeared to ameliorate both physical and psychological difficulties, thereby enhancing the quality of life that remained for the patients. Systematic research into the effectiveness of hypnosis with symptoms of Huntington's Disease needs to be undertaken in the future.