LeCron, Leslie M. (1954). A hypnotic technique for uncovering unconscious material. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 76-79. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 54: 7497)
Summary.
A technique is given whereby unconscious material and information may be learned under hypnosis through automatic movements of the fingers, or of Chevreul’s pendulum. The movements are controlled by the unconscious mind of the patient. Questions are asked which can be answered either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ With most people the movements of the pendulum can even be elicited in the waking state. Essentially, the method is a variation of automatic writing with movements substituted for writing. A brief case history is given wherein knowledge was gained in this way as to the causes for severe menstrual pains” (p. 79).
Rosen, Harold; Erickson, Milton H. (1954). The hypnotic and hypnotherapeutic investigation and determination of symptom-function. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (3), 201-219. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 55: 7017)
“Summary.
1. Symptoms and even syndromes may subserve the repetitive enactment of traumatic events; may reproduce, instead, specific life situations; may satisfy repressed erotic and aggressive impulses; or may at one and the same time constitute defenses against, and punishment for, underlying instinctual drives. They may mask underlying schizophrenic reactions, or hold suicidal depressions in check. They may serve these and other functions concurrently, or none, or any specific one or combination of them.
2. With selected patients under hypnosis, symptom-function may be determined rapidly and in a therapeutic setting. Various techniques can be utilized. Attacks may be precipitated and then blocked, either by direct hypnotic suggestion or by regressing the patient to a period pre-dating the onset of his disease, so that substitutive motor or other activity will be precipitated in a form accessible to therapeutic investigation; attacks may be precipitated in slow motion, so that individual components can be therapeutically investigated in detail; dissociated states may be induced; dream acting-out may be suggested; or symptoms may be suggested away while emotions back of symptoms are concurrently intensified, so that, again, underlying dynamic material will immediately become accessible for therapy. Still other techniques may be utilized.
3. If treatment, as well as evaluation, be through these techniques, and if treatment be successful, it may be that the analogy of a log jam will be of value. The jam can usually be broken by pulling out one or two key logs. The rest then start falling into place — and the whole log jam disappears. This may be what happens, although to a limited extent, during therapy of this type.
4. Various of these techniques have been illustrated throughout this paper. Case histories however, have at times been distorted in order to maintain the anonymity of the patients involved” (pp. 218-219).
Schneck, Jerome M. (1954). An experimental study of hypnotically induced auditory hallucinations. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 163-170.
Summary. An experimental study of hypnotically induced auditory hallucinations was incorporated into therapeutic contact with a patient at a time when an exploratory phase of treatment process seemed appropriate. The study was divided roughly into ten parts, nine of which involved attempts to induce hallucinations on an auditory level following an initial control procedure involving ‘imagined’ conversation. Choice of perons to be hallucinated was made at times by the therapist and at times this was left for spontaneous development by the patient. Some of the episodes involved marked emotional participation by the patient. Others were less intense. ‘Imagined’ conversations were distinct from hallucinated comments. Her own voice when hallucinated emanated from within herself. Other hallucinated voices had external origins. Some were far away. Her aunt’s voice was in the same room. Spacial and temporal elements were divorced from their conventional relationships and distorted in keeping with psychodynamic needs. The patient was able to discuss her experiences and evaluate certain descriptive and dynamic qualities. Certain parts of the total experience served as controls in the evaluation of other parts. The beginning of hallucinatory behavior did not set a pattern for continuous similar activity. Responsive behavior varied from time to time. A hallucinatory episode might be followed by an ‘imagined’ conversation, although instructions remained the same. Deceased persons were hallucinated on an auditory level. This type of episode with her mother had considerable emotional impact. Her aunt died twenty years ago. Her husband was not hallucinated. Responses involving her daughter showed greater complexity.
“Further studies are in order in connection with the neuropsychological and neurophysiological elements in such hypnotic hallucinatory activity. Such elements as they play a role in visual imagery as described here and in visual hallucinations are also to be examined further. Aside from extensions of the type of investigation presented here, inroads may be made into an understanding of spontaneous hallucinatory activity among psychotic patients through the utilization of hypnotic exploratory methods. This would have to be preceded by more extensive studies of hypnosis in relation to psychotic patients than have been attempted thus far. The procedure discussed here and many potential ramifications makes possible a wide variety of investigations which can be planned for the future” (pp. 169-170).
Schneck, Jerome M. (1954). Hypnotherapy in a case of claustrophobia and its implications for psychotherapy in general. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (4), 251-260. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 55: 6064)
Summary.
This report presents the hypnotherapy of a patient with claustrophobia. The crucial event responsible for symptom formation occurred in military service when the patient was trapped in a trench by a tank which stopped over the patient before proceeding, and at which time the sides of the trench began to cave in. Subsequent traumatic events served as reenforcement. It is likely that a low threshold for the development of anxiety predisposed this patient to the development of the claustrophobia, although the major trauma sustained was undoubtedly of tremendous impact and a distinct threat to life. Emotional experiences were sealed and free expression was permitted through hypnotic revivification. The dynamics, further elaborated in the report, suggest that similar occurrences not necessarily in military settings may be approached therapeutically in this way. Aside from the reliving technique, recall stimulation through a dream induction approach was employed. Other hypnotic methods were described and further implications for psychotherapy in general were elaborated. Hypnotherapeutic and hypnoanalytic approaches to phobic reactions have been described at length elsewhere” (p. 260).
Schneck, Jerome M. (1954). The divided personality: A case study aided by hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (3), 220-232.
Summary.
Amnesia as a symptom assumes proportions more complex than would appear on the surface and the role of memory loss with specific reference to hypnotic recovery methods has been presented in several reports. Hypnotherapy would appear to be a preferred technique for resolving the symptom and at times for more extensive investigation of the underlying problems. The case reported now involved an extensive memory loss for past life, including personal identity. This was followed after nearly a year by recall and concurrent amnesia for the intervening time period. The latter amnesia was dispelled by recall at first under hypnosis and then by post-hypnotic extension and elaboration of the nuclear material. The patient’s history was outlined and several facts of apparent importance in relation to the memory loss were revealed. The purposive and motivational features were stressed. Therapy was conducted in a medico-disciplinary setting with limitations based on administrative requirements. Military-legal complications of the patient’s personality disorder and functioning were outlined. The concept of the divided personality was introduced and related to multiple personality and to another type of behavior which is quite similar to the divided personality except that periods of amnesia are not involved. The divided personality involves major cleavages in the continuity of living with amnesia and the establishment of the individual in a setting where he undergoes extensive, significant operations relating to work, general activities, and even courtship and marriage. Unlike the generally accepted attributes of multiple personality involving considerable overt behavior, affect, and attitude alterations, the divided personality continues to function with his accustomed overt attitudes, interests, affect, and method of relating on an interpersonal level. Descriptively and overtly he is not too different if at all, but he seems to begin life anew in terms of setting and personal contacts. Cases of this type should be studied further with care, whenever possible, for further elicidation [sic] of psychodynamics. Hypnosis as a tool in treatment and investigation should prove helpful and is to be considered important.
1953
Horan, John S. (1953). Hypnosis and recorded suggestions in the treatment of migraine: Case report. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1 (4), 7-10. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 54: 6399)
NOTES
Author’s Discussion: “The case above is presented because of its rather bizarre features. It is notable in that in the hypnotic sessions no attempt was made to explore the dynamics of the patient’s resentment or her illness, no insight was given into psychic mechanisms conected with the migraine. This had been done before, in conventional psychiatric interviewing, without much result. Under hypnosis, the only suggestions given were concerned with direct symptomatic relief of headache, insomnia and anorexia. For the patient’s purposes, these were sufficient. Just how the pathological physiological state causing the migraine attacks was altered by direct and recorded suggestion is a mystery to this writer. It may be that hypnotic states can cause a dissociation of the subject from the emotional stress related to the attacks. Or perhaps the strangeness and the mystery of hypnosis was sufficient. It would be absurd to make any claims about the efficacy of hypnosis in migraine patients in general on the basis of this one case. In a disease which causes as much disability and suffering as migraine, however, it is profitable to report any safe means that gives a satisfactory result” (pp. 9-10).
Kline, Milton V. (1953). Delimited hypnotherapy: The acceptance of resistance in the treatment of a long standing neurodermatitis with a sensory imagery technique. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1 (4), 18-22.
Author’s Summary
A case of experimental hypnotherapy of a chronic neurodermatitis has been presented within which the resistance of the patient was accepted as reasonable. Therapy was structured by the patient’s limitations and the results, at least in this one case, justified the procedure. It is suggested that a more global perception of resistance be recognized apart from its unconscious meaning and that cognitive aspects of resistance be evaluated and utilized in treatment planning. The problem of an artifact neurotic reaction in resistance oriented therapy is discussed.
CATALEPSY
1984
Jensen, Peter S. (1984). Case report of conversion catatonia: Indication for hypnosis. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 38 (4), 566-570.
Describes the successful hypnotic treatment of a 25-yr-old Black male who displayed symptoms of suicidal ideation, insomnia, and feelings of depression alternating with emptiness and boredom that led to an acute catatonic reaction. S met DSM-III criteria for borderline personality disorder. It is contended that since conversion mechanisms may underlie some presentations of catatonia, hypnosis may assist clinicians in the differential diagnosis of acute catatonic conditions.
1982
Reese, William G.; Newton, Joseph E.; Angel, Charles (1982). Induced immobility in nervous and normal pointer dogs. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170 (10), 605-613.
Pointer dogs learn complex hunting tasks such as vigorous aim-directed activity in tracking specific birds and sudden rigid immobility “on point” at appropriate distances from the prey. In the presence of a human, dogs of the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointers show markedly reduced activity. In close quarters, they usually react to humans by freezing. These responses do not extinguish. The breed demonstrates a strong capacity to inhibit motion. In the present study of 9 normal and 10 nervous dogs, this trait was greatly exaggerated in the nervous Ss. It was found that 10 of 10 nervous Ss, in contrast to kennel mates of a normal line, developed tonic immobility (TI) induced by manual inversion into a sling and stroking. This is the 1st systematic demonstration of TI in mature dogs. The TI was accompanied by reduced telemetered heart rate (HR) compared to baseline. Release from the inverted position was accompanied by marked HR increase. In the absence of humans, both before and after the inversion, all nervous Ss showed little or no movement about the testing area. This was in contrast to the 9 normal Ss of comparable age and sex. The 4 normal Ss that righted themselves soon after the inversion showed reduced HR with the resumed activity. Implications for psychiatry and behavioral biology are discussed. (35 ref).
Whishaw, Ian Q.; Flannigan, K.P.; Schallert, T. (1982). An assessment of the state hypothesis of animal ‘hypnosis’ through an analysis of neocortical and hippocampal EEG in spontaneously immobile and hypnotized rabbits. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 54, 365-374.
Hippocampal and neocortical EEG was studied in spontaneously immobile rabbits and in immobilized rabbits, ‘animal hypnosis.’ Neocortical low voltage fast activity (LVFA) and hippocampal rhythmical slow activity (RSA) occurred spontaneously and were elicited by sensory stimulation, eserine and brain stimulation in normally immobile and hypnotized animals. Atropine sulfate blocked the LVFA and RSA that occurred during spontaneous immobility and hypnosis but not the LVFA and RSA that occurred during movement. RSA was also recorded from both CA1 and dentate gyrus generators of the hippocampus during both types of immobility. The results show that hypnotized rabbits have the same type II (atropine-sensitive) EEG that is found in spontaneously immobile rabbits. The presence of type II EEG during hypnosis and its sustained sensitivity to stimulation is compatible with the view that the EEG activity is not uncoupled from its normal behavioral correlates. Perhaps normal EEG during animal hypnosis allows normal sensorimotor functions. This may permit the possibility of escape from predators at opportune moments once the immobility has served its defensive function.
NOTES
State hypotheses of animal hypnosis suggest that “the brain of the hypnotized animal is in a physiological state that is fundamentally different from that of spontaneous immobility … a state in which active EEG patterns are uncoupled from their usual correlate of movement. For example, Lievens (1960) suggested that hypnosis was a state of ‘paroxysmal motor inhibition,’ Klemm (1966) suggested that there was a ‘functional disconnection’ of motor activity and active EEG activity, and Scotti de Carolis et al. (1969) suggested that there was ‘some type of interruption’ between motor and sensory processes” (p. 365).
In their Discussion, the authors write, “The findings argue that the activated EEG that occurs during animal hypnosis need not be considered a dissociated physiological event since the normal correlate of type II EEG is immobility, regardless of whether the immobility occurs spontaneously, during anesthesia, … during paradoxical sleep, … or even following forebrain isolation. Of course, this conclusion does not deny the possibility that there are other physiological or behavioral events that are peculiar to hypnosis and that are dissociated from some of their normal physiological or behavioral correlates. Examples may be electrographic seizure activity that occurs in the absence of movement and the presence of inhibited spinal reflexes. Nor do these results deny that the mechanisms involved in type II EEG have a different relation to motor mechanisms in normal rabbits as compared with hypnotized rabbits. Since type II EEG is normally a correlate of immobility, its relation to movement producing neural systems even in normal animals is unknown.
“Although the function of type II EEG is not known, given its close relation with sensory events, its presence during hypnosis may mean that the animals have the same ability to process sensory information as do normal animals. This would be adaptive. … But, since type II EEG can occur in states of anesthesia or after forebrain isolation (see above) its presence alone is no guarantee that the hypnotized animal is capable of the full range of responses available to a normal animal” (p. 372).
1981
Wallace, Benjamin; Hoyenga, Katharine Blick (1981). Performance of fine motor coordination activities with an hypnotically anesthetized limb. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29, 54-65.
3 experiments were conducted to determine the effects of induced hypnotic anesthesia in S’s dominant arm upon the performance of various motor coordination tasks. Experiment 1 assessed the ability of Ss to tap a pencil within a 20 mm diameter circle while the limb performing the task was or was not anesthetized. Experiment 2 determined the effect of hypnotic anesthesia upon the ability to perform a hand-turn task. Experience 3 considered the effects of hypnotic anesthesia on the ability to draw and duplicate a sine- wave pattern. IN all 3 experiments, hypnotic anesthesia adversely affected task performance. Their results were interpreted as indicating a possible relationship between induced hypnotic anesthesia and mimicked cerebellar dysfunction.
NOTES
Although the induction of hypnotic anesthesia in a limb appears to mimic cerebellar dysfunction or damage, the present authors are not implying that this is actually happening. In fact, there are few physiological correlates of hypnosis or hypnotic anesthesia (Evans, 1979; Sarbin & Slagle, 1979) and, to date at least, cerebellar involvement does not appear to be one of them. There appears to be a curious relationship, however, between performance on a motor task as a function of induced hypnotic anesthesia in a limb and as a function of cerebellar damage. This relationship may simply be coincidental at best but before it can be dismissed as such, further experimentation should take place to study this interesting phenomenon” (p. 61).
1976
Spanos, Nicholas P.; Spillane, Jeanne; McPeake, John (1976). Cognitive strategies and response to suggestion in hypnotic and task-motivated subjects. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18, 254-262.
Thirty-two male and 32 female subjects, exposed to an hypnotic induction or task-motivational instruction, were administered either three suggestions which provided a cognitive strategy (i.e., a goal-directed fantasy, GDF) for experiencing suggested effects, or three suggestions that did not provide such a strategy. Subjects provided with GDF strategies were more responsive overtly and subjectively to two out of the three suggestions. Subjects in the No GDF Strategy treatment who spontaneously devised their own goal-directed fantasies were more responsive to suggestions than subjects who failed to devise such a strategy. These results support the contention that goal-directed fantasy helps both hypnotic and non-hypnotic subjects experience suggested effects.
1975
Carli, G. (1975). Some evidence of analgesia during animal hypnosis [Abstract]. Experimental Brain Research, 23, 35
The purpose of this study was to investigate the response to painful stimuli during animal hypnosis. The experiments were performed on unanesthetized, free-moving rabbits carrying implanted electrodes for recording the EEG and EMG activity and nerve stimulation. Injection of formaline into the dorsal region of the foot produced long lasting EEG desynchronization and motor pain reactions. In some rabbits a procedure of habituation was used to reduce hypnosis duration below 45 sec. Hypnosis was induced by inversion. The following results were obtained: 1) Polysynaptic reflexes eliced [sic] by electrical stimulation of cutaneous and muscle afferents were depressed during hypnosis. 2) Hypnosis transitorily suppressed all the painful manifestations due to formaline injection and was characterized by hygh [sic] voltage slow wave activity in the EEG, 3) In habituated rabbits, a significant increase in hypnotic duration and EEG synchronization was observed when hypnosis was preceded by formaline injection. Hypnosis duration was not potentiated by painful stimuli when Naloxone (5mg/Kg i.v.) was injected before hypnosis induction. 4) In habituated rabbits a recovery in hypnotic duration coupled to EEG synchronization was obtained, in absence of painful stimuli, following subanalgesic injection of Morphine (1mg/Kg). It has been previously shown that in the rabbit administration of 5-20 mg/Kg of Morphine produces EEG synchronization and strong reduction of pain reactions. It is suggested that, during animal hypnosis in a condition of continuous nociceptive stimulation, the pain response is blocked by a mechanism which exibit [sic] similar effects of Morphine both at spinal cord (polysynaptic reflexes) and at cortical levels (EEG synchronization).
1964
Karmanova, I. G. (1964). Fotogennaia katalepsiia [Photogenic catalepsy). Moscow, USSR: Leningrad Izd. Naule. (Reviewed in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 1966, 3, 228)
NOTES
The author analyses the phenomenon of photogenic catalepsy from the evolutional phylogenetic approach, including the phenomenon as demonstrated in the cock, frog, guinea-pig and dog. The following points of view are discussed: the physiological changes, electroencephalography and electromyography in animals, and clinical narcolepsy in man. (Review in AJCH.)
3 student nurses in whom eyelid catalepsy could not be induced during a group hypnotic session were kept for 4 hours in sensory deprivation at the end of which time another attempt at hypnotic induction of eyelid catalepsy was made and again failed. An interview revealed hallucinatory or delusional experiences in 1 and suspicions concerning the implications of the experiment in the other 2 Ss. Sensory restriction does not seem sufficient to overcome all resistances to hypnotic induction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
NOTES:
Found that 3 student nurses, 4 hours in sensory deprivation, did not become more suggestible as measured by eye catalepsy.
1954
Koster, S. (1954). Experimental investigation of the character of hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 42-54.
NOTES
In waking, hypnosis, and sleep states 6 subjects were tested for knee-jerk height, key pressing to metronome signal, doing sums, recalling a story, etc. The Summary states:
“1. The height of the knee-jerk of all 6 subjects both in T and in “S” was much lower than in (W), the average height of all knee-jerks computed of the 6 subjects was both in T and in “S” only 39% of the average height in (W).
2. The [arm] catalepsy in T and in “S” continually existed.
3. The subjects in T and in “S” could hear well and perform active movements, though they reacted somewhat more slowly, and less forcibly than in (W) and sometimes only after some provocations.
4. The subjects both in T and in “S” could not only hear well, but could also present more or less complicated psychic impressions, reproducing them later again in “S” and also after the end of the experiment” (p. 50).
The author concluded, “Hypnosis is a sleeping-condition, but a special one. The specific difference consists of the fact that the subject’s many impressions, which he would observe in a waking-condition, he does not observe now, and does not react to, aside from impressions coming to him through the hypnotist. It can then be said that there is not an absence but a decrease of the active relation with the outer world. This is exactly the same state as the one during sleepwalking and the writer must repeat after all his investigations, what has already been stated: Essentially there is no difference between the condition of a hypnotized person and that of a sleepwalker” (p. 51).
1953
Guze, Henry (1953). The phylogeny of hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1 (3), 41-46.
NOTES
“The continuity of hypnotic phenomena from infrahuman through human organisms has created an array of problems in interpretation” (p. 41). “Unfortunately, most investigators in animal hypnosis have concerned themselves mainly with states of immobility. Because of this, they have neglected to recognize that hierarchical and group reactions of animals are just as fit in the category of hypnotic behavior” (pp. 41-42). “It is postulated in this paper that hypnosis or hypnotizability is a phylogenetically derived characteristic strongly akin to emotional readiness. It differs in expression from organism to organism within a species and from species to species” (p. 45).
CHILDBIRTH
1998
Schauble, Paul G.; Werner, William E. F.; Rai, Surekha H.; Martin, Alice (1998). Childbirth preparation through hypnosis: The hypnoreflexogenous protocol. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 40 (4), 273-283.
A verbatim protocol for the “hypnoreflexogenous” method of preparation for childbirth is presented wherein the patient is taught to enter a hypnotic state and then prepared for labor and delivery. The method provides a “conditioned reflex” effect conducive to a positive outcome for labor and delivery by enhancing the patient’s sense of readiness and control. Previous applications of the method demonstrate patients have fewer complications, higher frequency of normal and full-term deliveries, and more positive postpartum adjustment. The benefit and ultimate cost effectiveness of the method are discussed.
1993
Jenkins, M. W.; Pritchard, M. H. (1993). Hypnosis: Practical applications and theoretical considerations in normal labour. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 100, 221-226.
This important, well controlled and large N study assessed effects of hypnotherapy on the first and second stages of labor in 126 primigravid women with 300 age-matched controls, and 136 parous women having their second baby with 300 age- matched controls. Only women undergoing spontaneous deliveries were included. Six sessions of hypnosis were used. The mean length of first stage labor in primigravid women was 6.4 hours after hypnosis and 9.3 hours in the control group (p <.0001), and the mean length of the second stage was 37 minutes and 50 minutes, respectively (p <.001). In the parous women, the corresponding times were 5.3 hours and 6.2 hours (p <.01), and 24 and 22 minutes (not significant). The use of analgesic agents was significantly less (p <.001) in both hypnotized groups compared with their controls. 1990 Edelmann, R. J. (1990). The treatment of infertility by hypnosis: A note of caution. [Comment/Discussion] . A case report recently published in this journal by Maden (1989) appeared to suggest that six weekly sessions of hypnosis were responsible for facilitating conception in a woman with unexplained infertility. The present paper argues that Maden's report presented no evidence for this claim and no rationale for why hypnosis might be effective as a treatment for unexplained infertility. Both deserve a far more thoughtful and systematic investigation" (p. 184). Harmon, Teresa M.; Hynan, Michael T.; Tyre, Timothy E. (1990). Improved obstetric outcomes using hypnotic analgesia and skill mastery combined with childbirth education. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 525-530. Studied the benefits of hypnotic analgesia as an adjunct to childbirth in 60 nulliparous women. Subjects were divided into high- and low-susceptibility groups before receiving six sessions of childbirth education and skill mastery using an ischemic pain task. Half of the subjects in each group received a hypnotic induction at the beginning of each session; the remaining control subjects received relaxation and breathing exercises typically used in childbirth education. Both hypnotic subjects and highly susceptible subjects reported reduced pain. Hypnotically prepared births had shorter Stage 1 labors, less medication, higher Apgar scores, and more frequent spontaneous deliveries than control subjects' births. Highly susceptible, hypnotically treated women had lower depression scores after birth than women in the other three groups. The authors believe that repeated skill mastery facilitated the effectiveness of hypnosis in the study. McLintock, T. T.; Aitken, H.; Downie, C. F.; Kenny, G. N. (1990). Postoperative analgesic requirements in patients exposed to positive intraoperative suggestions. British Medical Journal, 301 (6755), 788-790. Sixty-three women undergoing elective abdominal hysterectomy were randomly assigned to a tape of positive suggestions or a blank tape during the operation. Anesthesia was standardized for all of the women. Postoperative analgesia was provided through a patient-controlled analgesia system for the first 24 hours. Pain scores were recorded every 6 hours. The outcome measures were morphine consumption in the first 24 hours and pain scores. Mean morphine requirements were 51.0 mg in women who were played positive suggestions, and 65.7 mg in those played a blank tape (p = 0.028). Pain scores were similar in the two groups. It was concluded that intraoperative suggestions seem to have a positive effect in reducing patients' morphine requirements in the early postoperative period. Tiba, Janos (1990). Clinical, research and organizational aspects of preparation for childbirth and the psychological diminution of pain during labour and delivery. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 7 (1), 61-64. NOTES Studied patients in Hungary and arrived at the following conclusions: 1.Hypnotizability of women coming for hypnosis preparation for birth is higher than non-pregnant women. 2. Primagravidas score higher than women having second child. 3. High hypnotizables have virtually painless delivery "if they are prepared for birth" and can maintain medium depth during birth. 4. Even highly hypnotizable women require sensory imaginative techniques and anaesthesia suggestions to maintain hypnosis throughout the process. 5. "Continuous hypnosis throughout delivery for analgesic reasons is questionable." 6. Benefits of hypnosis include "favourable effect on the course of birth, on reducing pain during birth, on the subjective judgement of birth and on developing positive experiences." 7. Imaginative ability is higher than in a non-pregnant group, and increases with progression of pregnancy. 8. Author developed "a complex psychophysical preparation for birth integrating the imaginative capacity, hypnosis and the preparation of husbands together with their wives has been developed." The author recommends that followup studies investigate whether hypnotizability and imaginative capacity really increase during pregnancy. 1988 Omer, H.; Darnel, A.; Silberman, N.; Shuval, D.; Palti, T. (1988). The use of hypnotic-relaxation cassettes in a gynecologic-obstetric ward. In Lankton, S. R.; Zeig, J. K. (Ed.), Research, comparisons and medical applications of Ericksonian techniques (pp. 28-36). New York: Brunner-Mazel. NOTES They did three studies in which they gave women having gynecologic procedures tapes with a Rapid Induction Analgesia hypnosis experience. STUDY 1. Women heard tapes before a painful Fallopian tube procedure (salpingography). The patients reported less pain, tension, anxiety, and fear than control patients. (N.B. Physicians' ratings did not show that difference.) STUDY 2. Women practiced with the tapes at home before labor and delivery. One day after delivery, there was no difference in pain report or experience report between treated and control patients. STUDY 3. Women used the tapes during labor. They reported worse pain and labor experiences than the control patients. The authors conclude that their research does not support the hypothesis that Rapid Induction Analgesia is useful for acute pain. 1987 Venn, Jonathan (1987). Hypnosis and Lamaze method--an exploratory study. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 35, 79-82. Literature on obstetrical hypnosis includes the hypotheses (a) that the ideal form of childbirth preparation would combine hypnosis with didactic education and (b) that Lamaze and natural childbirth methods are essentially the same thing as hypnosis. In the present study, 122 parturient women self-selected into three groups: Lamaze-only, hypnosis-only, and Lamaze-plus-hypnosis. Amount of medication, duration of labor, self- ratings, and nurses' ratings were used as dependent measures of pain and satisfaction. Treatment groups were compared by analysis of variance, and correlation coefficients were obtained between the dependent variables and scores on the SHCS. Neither hypnosis, Lamaze, nor a combination of the 2 emerged as a superior form of treatment. The SHCS scores were moderately correlated (r - .55) with self-ratings that Lamaze had lessened pain during delivery. This may suggest a functional similarity between hypnosis and Lamaze, but the present study suffered a number of methodological problems and alternative explanations are discussed. Omer, Haim; Friedlander, Dov; Palti, Zvi (1986). Hypnotic relaxation in the treatment of premature labor. Psychosomatic Medicine, 48, 351-361. Hypnotic relaxation was used as an adjunct to pharmacologic treatment with 39 women hospitalized for premature contractions in pregnancy. The control group received medication alone and consisted of 70 women. Treatment was started at the time of hospitalization and lasted for 3 hr on the average. patients were also given cassettes with a hypnotic - relaxation exercise for daily practice. The rate of pregnancy prolongation was significantly higher for the hypnotic - relaxation than for the medication- alone group. Infant weight also showed the advantage of the hypnotic - relaxation treatment. Background variables of the two groups were compared and it was shown that they could not have explained the treatment effect obtained. Wideman, Margaret V.; Singer, Jerome E. (1984). The role of psychological mechanisms in preparation for childbirth. American Psychologist, 39, 1357-1371. Psychoprophylactic (Lamaze) preparation for childbirth consists of six to eight classes held during the last trimester of pregnancy. These classes include instruction in the anatomy and physiology of gestation and parturition, respiration techniques, controlled neuromuscular relaxation, visual focusing, and the training of a labor coach. Although the techniques are based upon psychological principles, they have remained largely unstudied by either psychologists or physicians. This article presents a brief history of the development of the training regimen and critically examines the few empirical studies that have been conducted. Because explanations for the efficacy of the preparation, if it exists, are equivocable, literature on the explicit components of the training--that is, information, respiration techniques, conditioned relaxation, cognitive restructuring, and social support--in situations other than child delivery are reviewed and their implications for the Lamaze method discussed. However, because there exist several, more implicit factors that may affect the type of child delivery a prepared woman experiences, the literature concerning social comparison, the effects of commitment and conformity, perceived control, and endorphin secretion are also discussed as they may apply to psychoprophylactic preparation. Problems associated with the study of childbirth preparation are presented, and suggestions for the direction of future research are made. 1982 Werner, William E. F.; Schauble, Paul G.; Knudson, Marshall S. (1982). An argument for the revival of hypnosis in obstetrics. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 24, 149-171. Available research, clinical reports, and extensive personal experience demonstrate that hypnosis, and especially the hypnoreflexogenous technique, facilitates the mother's comfort in pregnancy, labor, and delivery; is superior to the use of chemicals or other psychophysical methods as the primary aid in childbirth; and results in lasting benefit for the mother, the child, and the family as a whole. Prior to delivery, with the patient in hypnotic trance, a verbal conditioning technique is used that (1) neutralizes the fear of delivery with a positive emotion that exalts maternity as a sublime experience, (2) substitutes the uterine contraction concept for the pain concept, and (3) presumably lowers the excitability of the cortex by psychological sedation. While hypnosis experienced a temporary decrease in popularity due to a number of misconceptions, there has been renewed and promising application of hypnosis to obstetrics and other areas of medicine. 1980 Fuchs, K.; Paldi, E.; Abramovici, H.; Peretz, B. A. (1980). Treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum by hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 28 (4), 313-323. Nausea and vomiting are the most common complaints in the first trimester of pregnancy. Hyperemesis gravidarum presents a unique challenge to the obstetrician trained in medical hypnosis. Between the years 1965-1977, 138 women suffering from extremely severe vomiting in the first trimester of pregnancy were successfully treated by medical hypnosis. 87 patients were treated in groups and 51 received individual therapy. The results with patients in group hypnotherapy were markedly better than those with patients in individual hypnotherapy. With group hypnotherapy, hospitalization was not necessary; treatement [sic] was given to a number of patients simultaneously and the women felt safer and less lonely. The common motivation of the patients consolidated the psychotherapeutic effect. This made treatment easier and more efficient. 1975 Samko, Michael R.; Schoenfeld, Lawrence S. (1975). Hypnotic susceptibility and the Lamaze childbirth experience. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 121, 631-6. This study explored the relationship between childbirth training and hypnotic susceptibility. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed on the various medical and attitudinal variables related to the subjects' Lamaze childbirth experience and these were tested against hypnotic susceptibility. The results of the analysis indicate that hypnotic susceptibility is not significantly related to Lamaze training, nor is it significantly related to the type of childbirth experience that a Lamaze trained woman has. NOTES Subjects used in this experiment (N = 55) were women who had received Lamaze training within the last two years, and had delivered only one child. The HIP was administered to find a score of hypnotizability and the women were given two questionnaires. The first of the questionnaires sought demographic and medical information, the second was an attitude questionnaire about her childbirth. A third questionnaire was given to the attending physician. "The correlations between hypnotic susceptibility and the physician's rating of how successful he felt the subject's use of the Lamaze technique (r = 0.12) and the physician's rating of how helpful he found the mother's use of the Lamaze technique was to delivery (r = 0.17) were both nonsignificant" p. 634). 1969 Rock, Nicholas; Shipley, Thomas; Campbell, Colin (1969). Hypnosis with untrained, nonvolunteer patients in labor. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 25-36. 20 nonvolunteer, untrained Ss were individually hypnotized during active labor and compared with 18 controls selected by the same criteria and receiving the same obstetrical treatment. Hypnotized Ss required less medication and obtained greater relief of pain than the controls. The time involved in induction of hypnosis was only 20 min., and the total time added by hypnotic procedures was only 45 min. longer than the regular care of the control group. It was concluded that hypnosis can be used easily on nonvolunteer, untrained patients in active labor, even in a noisy environment, without any serious sequelae. (Spanish & German summaries) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved) 1961 Cheek, David B. (1961). Value of ideomotor sex-determination technique of LeCron for uncovering subconscious fear in obstetric patients. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 249-259. Author''s Summary Unrecognized subconscious fears can be uncovered while using ideomotor questioning with a Chevreul pendulum or with finger signals. The technique described by LeCron for evaluating knowledge regarding the sex of an unborn child is a most helpful way of approaching subconscious fears. The frightened patient refuses to indicate knowledge of the sex of her unborn child. Uncovered fears can be resolved by appealing to conscious-level understanding with adroit questioning" (p. 258). 1955 Kline, Milton V.; Guze, Henry (1955). Self-hypnosis in childbirth: A clinical evaluation of a patient conditioning program. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 3 (3), 142-147.