Self-guided hypnosis significantly reduces menopausal hot flashes

Contact: Shelby Cefaratti-Bertin, 254-327-8012
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WACO, Texas (Nov. 11, 2025) – Can a simple daily audio hypnosis session help women find relief from one of menopause’s most disruptive symptoms – hot flashes – without medication? A new clinical trial led by Baylor University’s Gary R. Elkins, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory, suggests it can. By decreasing hot flash frequency and intensity by over 50%, self-guided hypnosis offers a nonhormonal option for the millions of women whose hot flashes interfere with sleep, mood and quality of life.

Published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the multicenter randomized clinical trial evaluated the effectiveness of a six-week, self-administered hypnosis program compared to a sham control using white noise. The study enrolled 250 postmenopausal women experiencing frequent hot flashes, including nearly 25% with a history of breast cancer – a group often excluded from hormone-based treatments.

“It is estimated that over 25 million women in the United States have hot flashes, with up to 80% of women in the general population reporting hot flashes during the menopause transition, and 96% of women with breast cancer report hot flashes soon after beginning anti-cancer therapy,” Elkins said. “While hormone replacement therapy is highly effective in reducing hot flashes, it is not a safe choice for everyone, and therefore, women need additional safe and effective alternatives.”

After six weeks of daily self-hypnosis audio recordings, participants reported a 53.4% reduction in both frequency and intensity of hot flashes, and at the 3-month follow-up, hot flashes were reduced by 60.9% compared to a 40.9% reduction for women in the control group. The guided self-hypnosis intervention had an even larger treatment effect on reducing hot flashes in women with a history of breast cancer (64% reduction after six weeks).  

Self-guided hypnosis: A breakthrough approach

The study is the first to compare self-guided hypnosis with an active control condition (i.e. sham white noise control group), allowing researchers to better understand how much of the benefit came from people’s expectations or the placebo effect.

“This was a major breakthrough and innovation, as almost all prior studies of mind-body interventions have only used wait-list, psycho-education or simple relaxation to compare the active hypnotherapy intervention,” Elkins said. “Also, all sessions were self-administered hypnosis, which demonstrated that women could learn how to use hypnosis for hot flashes on their own with support and guidance.

Elkins emphasized that self-hypnosis provides benefits that are easily learned and practiced using audio recordings or app-delivered hypnotherapy.

“It can be practiced at home without needing to travel for doctor visits, and it is relatively inexpensive compared to in-person sessions,” Elkins said. “Once a person learns how to use self-hypnosis to reduce hot flashes and improve sleep, it can be used for other purposes such as managing anxiety, coping with pain and for stress management.”

At the 12-week follow-up, participants in the self-guided hypnosis group showed a 60.9% reduction in hot flashes as well as significantly greater improvements in sleep, mood, concentration and overall quality of life. Nearly 90% of participants in the hypnosis group reported feeling better, compared to 64% in the control group.

“We are very excited about the findings from this important study,” Elkins said. “Our ongoing research aims to further determine how self-hypnosis can significantly improve sleep for breast cancer survivors and women in the peri- to post-menopause transition.”

Through this and other studies, Elkins and his team have been able to determine that hypnotherapy is the only behavioral intervention consistently shown to reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes to a clinically significant amount among both post-menopausal women and breast cancer survivors.

About the authors

In addition to Elkins, the research team included scientists from Baylor University, University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

• Noel Arring, D.N.P., Ph.D., RN, College of Nursing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Grant B. Morgan, Ph.D., Department of Educational Psychology, Baylor University,
• Tierney Lorenz, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Vanessa Muniz, M.A., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University
• Carrie Lafferty, Ph.D., College of Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Katherine Scheffrahn, B.S., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University
• Cameron Alldredge, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University
• Debra Barton, Ph.D., RN, College of Nursing, University of Tennessee Knoxville

Funding

The study was funded by grant 1R01AT009384 from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

ABOUT GARY ELKINS, PH.D.

Gary Elkins, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience, directs the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory at Baylor University, where he conducts research into hypnosis for stress, sleep, trauma, smoking cessation and hot flashes. Based on his research and publications, Elkins is the leading researcher and expert on hypnosis for hot flashes and sleep disturbances as well as other clinical applications. His research into hypnosis interventions has been funded by NIH grants for over 25 years, and he has more than 100 publications, including books, Handbook of Medical and Psychological Hypnosis and Introduction to Clinical Hypnosis: The Basics and Beyond. His latest book, Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: What you Need to Know, provides a research evidence-based understanding of hypnotherapy. In recognition of his research, lkins has received major awards from the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and the Distinguished Contribution to Science Award from Division 30 of the American Psychological Association.

ABOUT THE MIND-BODY MEDICINE RESEARCH LABORATORY

The Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory  is committed to a comprehensive research program that seeks to identify, understand, develop and disseminate complementary and mind-body medical interventions (clinical and experimental hypnosis, relaxation-based interventions and mindfulness) in the integrative health care. The research is conducted in part with funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the internal support of Baylor University.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments in the sciences, humanities, fine arts and social sciences, as well as 11 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. The College’s undergraduate Unified Core Curriculum, which routinely receives top grades in national assessments, emphasizes a liberal education characterized by critical thinking, communication, civic engagement and Christian commitment. Arts & Sciences faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit the College of Arts & Sciences website.