Relief from Hot Flashes: The Natural, Drug-Free Program To Reduce Hot Flashes, Improve Sleep, and Ease Stress

Baylor University professor Elkins (director, the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory) is a clinical health psychologist with expertise in hypnotic relaxation therapy. Here he describes his innovative five-week program that teaches women the techniques of relaxation, mental imagery, and self-hypnosis to treat the hot flashes that often accompany menopause and breast cancer treatment. He claims that hot flashes are often associated with fatigue, irritability, and depression, causing about 20 percent of women to experience symptoms that are severe enough to interfere with daily activities. Elkins describes the current traditional hormonal and nonhormonal therapies and outlines their drawbacks. Research conducted at the Baylor laboratory demonstrated that women who used his hypnotic relaxation therapy program, which employs audio files and which he carefully outlines in the book, were able to reduce their hot flashes by up to 80 percent on average. The author includes forms for daily diary-keeping, as well as for recording individual triggers and sleep ratings.