Contemporary Hypnosis (2004) Vol. 21, No. 4, 2004 pp. 153–160 IMPACT ON HEALTH STATUS OF A HYPNOSIS CLINIC IN GENERAL PRACTICE Alastair Dobbin 1 , Steve Faulkner 1 , David Heaney 2 , Sivasubramaniam Selvaraj 2 and John Gruzelier 3 1 Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust, Edinburgh, UK, 2 Highlands and Islands Health Research Institute, University of Aberdeen, UK, 3 Imperial College London, UK Abstract The impact on health status of hypnosis was investigated in a primary care NHS GP surgery clinic, with referrals from a Local Health Care Cooperative (LHCC) with 85,000 patients. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Sur vey (SF36) pre and post treatment was completed by patients referred with mental health problems, medical problems and for smoking cessation. One hundred and fifteen patients successfully completed SF36 questionnaires before and sixweeks after the intervention. Categories of treatment were smoking cessation, mental health, and medical. In the case of referrals for smoking cessation there were no significant changes in mental, social or physical function sixweeks after the intervention. In the case of mental health referrals, which were predominantly anxiety related, there was a large and significant effect on the SF-36 in emotional role and mental role and a moderate effect on social role and mental health. Self-hypnosis was in widespread use after treatment, even in those whose perceived problem appeared not to have improved. The res ults s uggest that simple hypnosis techniques could have a significant impact on mental health. This could have implica- tions for promoting mental health as well as for treating mental illness, and needs to be tested further by a randomized, controlled trial. Key words: general practice, hypnosis, hypnotherapy , mental health, smoking Introduction Hypnosis is a treatment complex of induction and deepening, producing an altered mental state with probable neurophysiological correlates (Gruzelier, 1998). It may then additionally consist of a selection of techniques such as: 1) general raising of self-esteem and confidence using suggestions of inner strength and coping (‘ego strengthening’); 2) a post hypnotic suggestion using a conditioned reflex to improve mental state by a positive visualization of a safe place, or a coping style, or both, which can be accessed by simple cues (‘self-hypnosis’); 3) psychodynamic tools for the specific problem (see hypnosis techniques). 153