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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 |
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Hypnotic Suggestion Superior To Salicylic Acid
Forget the stump water, too, for hypnosis is better than both when it comes to chasing away warts. If you don't believe this, read the following Abstract.
"Subjects with warts on their hands and/or feet were randomly assigned to a hypnotic suggestion, topical salicylic acid, placebo, or no treatment control condition. Subjects in the three treated groups developed equivalent expectations of treatment success. Nevertheless, at the sixweek follow-up interval only the hypnotic subjects had lost significantly more warts than the no treatment controls."(Spanos, Nicholas P., et al; "Effects of Hypnotic, Placebo, and Salicylic Acid Treatments on Wart Regression," Psychosomatic Medicine, 52:109, 1990.)
Comment. The real import here is not in the vanquishing of these benign tumors caused by papillomaviruses but rather in the potential of altered states of mind for treating more severe afflictions, such as cancer.