Research Supporting the Effectiveness of Guided Imagery on Immune System Stimulation
Howard
Hall, measuring the effects of healthy people imagining their White blood cells
as strong as powerful sharks, found a number of subjects could demonstrate an
increase in the number of lymphocytes as well as an increased responsiveness of
the immune system after the session as compared to before [Hall H R1983 Hypnosis and the immune system. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 25:92-103].
K.
Kolcaba and C. Fox measured the effectiveness of customized guided imagery for
increasing comfort in early stage cancer. They found that listening to a guided
imagery audiotape once a day for the duration of the study indicated a
significant overall increase in comfort over time, and was especially salient
in the first three weeks of therapy. [Oncol Nurs Forum 1999Jan-Feb; 26(1): 67-72].
L.
Baider, et al. examined the long-term effects of relaxation and guided imagery
on patients recently diagnosed with cancer at Hadassah University Hospital.
Results showed a decrease in psychological distress and an increase in the
patient's sense of internal control [Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2001Sep-Oct; 23(5): 272-7].
Dr. Alan Watkins states that
every idea, thought and belief has a neurochemical consequence, which is what
makes imagery such a significant mind-body bridge. He writes that the flow of
neuropeptides from the CNS, which enhances or inhibits one’s immunology through
two major neuro immuno modulatory pathways; neuroendocrine and autonomic, are
critically important in maintaining health and fighting disease [Mind-bodymedicine: a clinician's guide to psychoneuroimmunology, Watkins, A. 1997Churchill Livingstone, NY].
D.
L. Tusek and R. E. Cwynar of Ohio observed that patients often describe the
experience in a hospital as overwhelming, evoking fear, anger, helplessness,
and isolation. Tusek and Cwynar identify guided imagery as one of the most
well-studied complementary therapies useful in improving patients’ experiences
as they prepare for a procedure or manage the stresses of a hospital stay [AACNClin Issues 2000 Feb; 11(1): 68-76].
V.
W. Donaldson in NC at the Center for Stress Management examined the effects of
mental imagery on the immune system response, and specifically, on depressed
white blood cell (WBC) counts. Results indicated significant increases in WBC
count for all patients over a 90-day period, even when possessing disease and illnesses
that would have predicted a decrease in WBC count [ApplPsychophysiol Biofeedback 2000 Jun; 25(2): 117-28].
D.
S. Burns at the Group/Walther Cancer Institute found that individuals who
participated in guided imagery sessions scored better on both mood scores and
quality of life scores than those who did not. Interestingly, these scores
continued to improve in the experimental group, even after sessions were
complete, indicating that guided imagery is effective in improving mood and
quality of life in cancer patients [J. Music Ther. 2001 spring;
38(1) :51-65].
Gaston-Johansson
et al. of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland
showed significant benefits from the use of information, cognitive
restructuring, and relaxation with guided imagery in those patients with breast
cancer who underwent autologous bone marrow/peripheral blood stem cell
transplantation. This strategy was found to be effective in significantly
reducing anxiety, nausea, and nausea combined with fatigue 7 days after surgery
when the side effects of treatment are usually the most severe [Cancer Nurs 2000 Aug;
23(4):277-85].
D.A.
Rapkin, M. Straubing, and J.C. Holroyd from the University of California, Los
Angeles explored the value of imagery-hypnosis on recovery from head and neck
cancer surgery and found there were fewer surgical complications and less blood
loss during surgery [Int J Clin Exp Hypn 1991 Oct;
39(4): 215-26].
L.
LeShan found that psychological conditions had an enormous influence not only
on the production of cancer, but also on the disease’s evolution and even on
the person’s response to a particular treatment LeShan L, Worthington R 1956
Personality as a factor in the pathogenesis of cancer: a review of the
literature. [British
Journal of Medical Psychology 29:49-56].
A
study by J. A. Royle, et al. of Ontario, found that guided imagery was the
intervention best used by nurses to decrease patient anxiety [Can Oncol Nurs J 1996 Feb;
6(1): 20-5].
A June, 2008 critical
review in the International Journal of Neuroscience by Ephraim C. Trakhtenberg
from the Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology
and Stanford
University
in Palo Alto, California, looked at the research on the effect that guided
imagery has on immune system functioning and proposed direction for future
research.
Trakhtenberg found
that the studies suggest that guided imagery can reduce stress and up-regulate
the immune system; that cell-specific imagery affects corresponding white blood
cells (WBC’s)- neutrophils, or lymphocytes; that decreases in WBC count occur
in the initial stages of GI and relaxation, due to fluctuations in WBC
production or margination; and that changes in WBC count or adherence occur
earlier in medical patients. The investigator suggests that future
articles define the ideal WBC count; investigate the effects of long-term
practice of GI; and clarify the influence of cell-specific imagery on white
blood cells.
