Guest Editorial: Designing Effective Research Protocols for Medical Applications of Hypnosis

Abstract

This issue of the Journal focuses on medical applications of hypnosis. The contributed articles describe a spectrum of clinical hypnosis in the primary care fields of obstetrics (VandeVusse, Irland, Berner, Fuller, & Adams, 2007) and pediatrics (Berberich, 2007), as well as the specialty fields of dermatology (Shenefelt, 2007), immunology (Torem, 2007), and pediatric pulmonology (Anbar, 2007). Additionally, two articles describe intriguing advances in our understanding of the neurological mechanisms of hypnotic effects and their potential impact on selection of appropriate treatment for specific patients (Raz, Lamar, Buhle, Kane, & Peterson, 2007; Raz & Michels, 2007).