Hypnosis in the Management of Sleep Disorders.

Hypnosis has been used to manage insomnia and disorders of arousal. The alteration in the state of consciousness produced during hypnotic trance is more similar to relaxed reverie than sleep. Hypnosis typically occurs in a state of repose and the accomplished subject may have no recollection of the experience during a trance, 2 commonalities with sleep. Because hypnosis allows for relaxation, increased suggestibility, posthypnotic suggestion, imagery rehearsal, access to preconscious cognitions and emotions, and cognitive restructuring, disorders of sleep such as the insomnias, parasomnias, and related mood or anxiety disorders can be amenable to this therapeutic intervention.