Hypnosis, Placebo, and Suggestion in the Treatment of Warts

N. SPANOS et al.TABLE 2. Number of Subjects Who LostOne or More Warts or Who Did Not LoseAny Warts in Hypnosis, Placebo, and NoTreatment Control ConditionLostDid not loseHypnosis Placebo Controlhypnotic subjects lost a greater percentageof warts than subjects in either the placeboor control group. The latter two groupsfailed to differ significantly in this regard.Table 2 shows the number of subjectsin each condition who lost at least onewart and the number who lost no warts.The three conditions differed significantlyin this respect, (X 2 (2) = 7.35, p < 0.05).Further analysis indicated that significantlymore hypnotic subjects than controlslost warts (X 2 (lj = 6.45, p < 0.01).Hypnotic subjects were also marginallymore likely than placebo subjects to losewarts, (X 2 (l) = 3.43, p = 0.06). However,placebo and control subjects failed to differin this regard, (X 2 (1) = 0.98).Recall that subjects in both the hypnoticand placebo conditions rated the vividnesswith which they imagined the sensationssuggested to them. Hypnotic subjects[M = 20.86; SD = 13.00) rated theirsuggested sensations as significantly morevivid than did placebo subjects (M = 6.42,SD = 7.01, t [44] = 4.75, p < 0.01).Warts at BaselineSubjects in both the hypnotic and placeboconditions were divided into thosewho lost warts and those who did not. Theresultant four groups were compared onnumber of warts at baseline with a 2 x 2hypnosis/placebo x lost/did not lose between-subjectsANOVA. Subjects who lostwarts (M = 12.94, SD = 18.27) had significantlymore warts at baseline than thosewho did not lose warts [M = 3.97,SD = 3.90, F [1.42] = 6.66, p < 0.01). Noother effects achieved significance.Table 3 shows the number of hypnoticand placebo subjects who had either onewart at baseline or more than one wart atbaseline. In both conditions, subjects wholost warts tended to have multiple wartsrather than a single wart at baseline. Whenthe conditions were combined, subjectswho lost warts were significantly morelikely than those who did not to have multiplewarts at baseline (X 2 (1) = 4.98,P < 0.05).Gender EffectsTo examine gender effects, subjects inthe hypnotic and placebo groups were againcombined. Males in the combined treatment(M = 6.68, SD = 11.02) did not differin number of baseline warts from females(M = 7.75, SD = 13.32).Nevertheless, females in the combinedtreatments (M = 34.21, SD = 41.70) losta significantly greater percentage of theirwarts than did males (M = 6.27,SD = 16.19, F [1,44] = 8.86, p < 0.01).Table 4 shows that females in the com-TABLC 3. Number of Subjects with OneBaseline Wart or Multiple Baseline WartsWho Lost or Did Not Lose Warts in theHypnosis and Placebo Conditions1 Baseline wart 1 Baseline wartHypnosisLostDid not losePlaceboLostDid not loseCombinedLostDid not lose2607213956111516250 Psychosomatic Medicine 50:245-260 (1988)