content.
“The single most important correlation was between exotic beliefs and the interaction term for the Rotton scale; the coefficient was unusually strong (0.54) and highly statistically significant (p<0.001) for females only. Because of the manner in which the interaction term was calculated, this correlation meant that females who reported more exotic beliefs were also more accurate for valid items that contained paranormal content only" (p. 159).
In their Discussion, the authors write, "The significant positive correlations between exotic beliefs and the clusters of CPES items and extreme Wilson-Barber imagining items are expected associations according to Bear's concept of sensory-limbic hyperconnectionism [Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Syndrome of Sensory-Limbic Hyperconnectionism, Cortex, 15, pp. 357-384. It would predict that concepts (or word trains) that are unusual, strange or infrequent would be charged with emotional significance and personal value. Ideas that generate substantial imagery, such as time- travel, reincarnation and alien intelligence, would be particularly prone to this affective infusion from limbic sources.
Induction of such unique or intensified affective states, especially during childhood, would facilitate the development of more frequent or more extreme periods of dissociation in the adult. We have collected (unpublished) clinical evidence to suggest that the emergence of this pattern is found in the propensity for creative thinkers, including writers, poets, musicians, artists and scientists, to have had developmental histories that could have promoted temporal lobe lability without overt seizure activity; clusters of such "promoters" include mild physical abuse, febrile episodes, minor head injuries and likely hypoxic periods during extreme physical exertion (competitive athletics)" (pp. 161-162).
Another conclusion of the study is that males and females do not differ in their accuracy in solving syllogisms, but "the neurocognitive processes, as inferred from inventories of temporal lobesigns or childhood imaginings, by which the two sexes arrive at solutions may be quite different" (p. 162).
1991
Radtke, H. Lorraine; Stam, Henderikus J. (1991). The relationship between absorption, openness to experience, anhedonia, and susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39, 39-56.
Examination of the absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale [TAS] of Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), openness to experience (OTE Inventory of Costa & McCrae, 1978), and anhedonia (ANH Scales of L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, & Raulin, 1976) scales suggested that they might be conceptually related. Given the reliable relationship between TAS and hypnotic susceptibility, the authors were interested in studying OTE and ANH as possible personality correlates of hypnotic susceptibility. 2 studies, 1 involving a community sample and the other a sample of university students, were conducted to assess the relationships between the TAS, OTE, and ANH scales and hypnotic susceptibility. As predicted, in Study 1 (community sample) the TAS and OTE inventories were positively correlated with one another and both were negatively correlated with the ANH scale. This pattern of correlations was replicated in Study 2 (university sample), but only TAS correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility. Factor analyses further confirmed these findings. It was concluded that the conceptual relationship among the TAS and the OTE and ANH scales resides in some dimension other than hypnotic susceptibility.
NOTES 1:
Two studies used Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), Costa & McCrae's (1978) Openness to Experience Inventory (OTE), and Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin's (1976) Anhedonia scales (ANH). One involved a community sample, the other involved university students.
OTE and TAS r = .42 and .62
TAS and HGSHS:A r = .22 (p<.10) in one study "Thus, while there is a significant overlap in variability between TAS and the other person variables, the variance shared between TAS and hypnotic susceptibility is unique to those two measures. Further research is needed to determine the role of expectancies in contributing to this pattern of findings and the extent to which item overlap may be responsible for the observed correlations (Nicholls et al., 1982). Inspection of the items included in the three scales indicated that only TAS assesses involvement in experiences; items on the ANH and OTE instruments focus on interest or willingness to engage in various experiences" (p. 51).
"Notably, the correlations between TAS and the 2 subjective indices of hypnotic susceptibility, SUB and O-I, were slightly stronger than the correlations between TAS and the two indices reflecting overt behavior (OBJ and HGSHS:A scores). This pattern of relationships is consistent with recent arguments that objective indices alone do not fully capture the hypnotic experience (e.g., Spanos et al., 1983).
"Interestingly, the correlations among the three personality scales tended to be stronger in Study 1 where a community sample was assessed in a nonhypnotic context than in Study 2 where a sample of university undergraduates was assessed in a hypnotic context. The two samples differed significantly on all three scales both in terms of mean level and variability, indicating possible ceiling effects and restricted range problems in the university sample. Given that almost all of the research on hypnotic susceptibility and its correlates has been conducted on university students, these findings point to the utility of obtaining research participants from a greater cross-section of the population" (pp. 51- 52).
"Of particular importance, these results indicate that the relationships among TAS and the OTE and ANH scales do not depend upon the hypnotic context and are not the product of expectancies generated by the anticipation of being hypnotized. Nevertheless, the conceptual relationship among the three scales resides in some dimension that is unrelated to hypnotic susceptibility. At this point, we can only speculate as to what this dimension might be. One possibility is that TAS and the OTE and ANH scales reflect an openness to various experiences; what absorption and hypnotic susceptibility uniquely share is the willingness to become involved in imaginal and sensory experiences" (p. 52).
Terr, Lenore C. (1991). Childhood traumas: An outline and overview. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 10-20.
Suggests 4 characteristics common to most cases of childhood trauma: visualized or otherwise repeatedly perceived memories of the traumatic event; repetitive behaviors; trauma-specific fears; and changed attitudes about people, life, and the future. Childhood trauma is divided into 2 basic types. Type I trauma includes full, detailed memories, "omens," and misperceptions while Type II trauma includes denial and numbing, self-hypnosis and dissociation, and rage. Characteristics of both types of childhood trauma can exist side by side. Such crossover Type I - Type II traumatic conditions of childhood are characterized by perceptual mourning and depression and childhood disfigurement, disability, and pain. Case examples are provided.
1990
Fischer, Donald G.; Elnitsky, Sherry (1990). A factor analytic study of two scales measuring dissociation. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 32, 201-207.
The present study was designed to investigate the construct validity of dissociation. We administered the PAS and the DES to 507 male (48%) and female (52%) undergraduate students. Factor analysis on each scale separately showed that neither the PAS nor the DES adequately measures the three dimensions hypothesized to underlie dissociative experience. For both scales, a single factor emerged as replicable and reliable. Use of the scales, in their present form, therefore, should be limited to a single dimension representing disturbances in affect-control in the case of the PAS and disturbances in cognition-control if the DES is used at least with normal populations. Analysis of the combined items showed that the scales are measuring conceptually different but statistically correlated dimensions of dissociation. Further development of both scales is desirable, and further research should investigate the effect of different response formats on the internal structure of the scales.
NOTES 1:
The stated purpose of this study was to investigate the internal structure of the Perceptual Alterations Scale (PAS) and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) using a large sample from a normal population.
"Sanders (1986) conceived of dissociation as a personality trait that is characterized by modification of connections between affect, cognition, and perception of voluntary control over behavior, as well as modifications in the subjective experience of affect, voluntary control, and perception. She chose items from the MMPI to represent this trait. Bernstein and Putnam (1986), utilizing the DSM-III definition of dissociation, constructed items from information derived from interviews with patients and clinicians to represent a number of different types of dissociative experiences" (0. 202).
The PAS (Sanders, 1986) is a 27-item scale; subjects respond by checking one of the following categories using a 4-point Likert format: never, sometimes, frequently, almost always. The items related to modifications of regulatory control, changes in self- monitoring, concealment from self and others, and modifications of sensory, perceptual, and affective experiences.
"The DES (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) contains 28 items. Subjects indicate the percentage of time they experience the feelings or behavior described by the items on a 10- point scale. The items related to the experience of disturbances in identity, memory, awareness and cognition, and feelings of derealization or depersonalization" (pp. 202- 203).
Results were as follows. The one-factor solution for the PAS accounted for 18.5% of the total variance.; 11 of the 28 items did not load significantly on the factor. The one-factor solution for the DES accounted for 26.3% of the total variance; 7 of the 28 items did not load significantly on the factor.
"The 3-factor solution obtained by Sanders (1986) for the PAS was not replicated. An obvious reason for the different is that principal factor extraction was used in the present study, whereas principal components extraction was utilized by Sanders. ... Even when principal components analysis is performed on the present data, however, there are difficulties with the 3-factor solution" (pp. 204-205).
"All of the criteria suggest that a single factor best represents the latent structure of dissociative experience as measured by the PAS and DES. Although the total amount of variance accounted for is low, the one-factor solutions for both scales are interpretable, replicable, and have high internal consistency. The items for the PAS appear to represent primarily the affect and control dimensions, whereas those for the DES represent the cognitive dimension" (pp. 205-206).
"Overall, both scales contain similar items, although the DES has more items relating to disturbances in memory and altered perception of time (i.e., cognition), whereas the PAS has more items reflecting specific disturbances in identity and control. It appears, therefore, that the scales are measuring conceptually separate but statistically correlated dimensions of dissociation" (p. 206).
Gil, Karen M.; Williams, David A.; Keefe, Francis J.; Beckham, Jean C. (1990). The relationship of negative thoughts to pain and psychological distress. Behavior Therapy, 21 (3), 349-362.
Examined the degree to which negative thoughts during flare-ups of pain are related to pain and psychological distress in 3 pain populations: sickle cell disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic pain. 185 adults completed the Inventory of Negative Thoughts in Response to Pain (INTRP), a pain rating scale, the SCL-90 (revised), and a coping strategies questionnaire. Factor analysis of the INTRP revealed 3 factors: Negative Self-Statements, Negative Social Cognitions, and Self-Blame. High scorers on Negative Self-Statement and Negative Social Cognitions reported more severe pain and psychological distress. Ss with chronic daily pain had more frequent negative thoughts during flare-ups than those having intermittent pain secondary to sickle cell disease or rheumatoid arthritis. The INTRP appears to have adequate internal consistency and construct validity.
Holroyd, Jean (1990). How hypnosis may potentiate psychotherapy. In Fass, Margot L.; Brown, Daniel (Ed.), Creative mastery in hypnosis and hypnoanalysis (pp. 125-130). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
NOTES 1:
This chapter is a reprint of an article published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis in 1987. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding psychotherapy processes in the context of a hypnotic state. Based on empirical and theoretical considerations, the author identified nine changes occurring with hypnosis: changes in attention and awareness, imagery, dissociation, reality orientation, suggestibility, mind-body interactions, initiative or volition, availability of affect, and relationship. "This chapter proposes that hypnotherapy exploits hypnotic phenomena-- takes advantage of them--in the service of standard therapy endeavors" (p. 125).
Martin, Maryanne (1990). On the induction of mood. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 669-697
NOTES 1:
Increasing interest in the relation between emotion and cognition has led to the development of a range of laboratory methods for inducing temporary mood states. Sixteen such techniques are reviewed and compared on a range of factors including success rate, the possibility of demand effects, the intensity of the induced mood, and the range of different moods that can be induced. Three different cognitive models (self- schema theory, semantic network theory, and fragmentation theory) which have been successfully used to describe long-term mood states, such as clinical depression, are elaborated to describe the process of temporary mood induction. Finally, the use of mood induction is contrasted with alternative methods (such as the study of patients suffering from depression) for investigating emotion.
1989
Bick, C. H. (1989). An EEG-mapping study of 'laughing': Coherence and brain dominances. International Journal of Neuroscience, 47, 31-40.
Laughter is triggered by pleasurable psychoemotional stimuli and may have healing potential. According to split-brain studies, psychoemotional stimuli are bound up with emotional activity in the right side of the brain. This suggested the idea of studying laughter generated by different sources with regard to electrical brain activity in the right and left hemispheres. This study first used subjects in normal consciousness and with laughter under hypnosis to study the neurophysiological processes connected with laughter.
Bryant, Richard A.; McConkey, Kevin M. (1989). Hypnotic emotions and physical sensations: A real-simulating analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 305-319.
Real hypnotizable Ss and simulating unhypnotizable Ss were administered a suggestion for either happiness, emotional neutrality, or sadness. The emotion was assessed through subjective and behavioral measures taken once before, twice during, and once after the emotion. Findings indicated that emotionally congruent changes occurred in both self-report and performance measures. Ss' physical sensations during the emotion were assessed on a 34-item self-report scale. It was demonstrated that Ss in the happy versus sad conditions reported different physical sensations; in particular, they reported different facial sensations. The responses of real hypnotizable subjects, however, were essentially paralleled by those of simulating unhypnotizable subjects. Therefore, the possibility exists that hypnotized subjects may have been responding on the basis of social demands. The findings are discussed in terms of the effects of the emotion suggestions, and the implications of real and simulating Ss displaying similar affective responses.
NOTES 1:
Used the real-simulating model in an attempt to eliminate the possibility that hypnotized Subjects in previous studies may have been responding to the demand characteristics of the situation. Used both subjective and behavioral measures. Self-report happiness and sadness, of emotion intensity; behavioral performance measure of speech rate, indexed by counting speed (which has been shown to distinguish between happiness and sadness). Used 34-item self-report Physical Sensations Scale based on Pennebaker, J. W. The psychology of physical symptoms. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982.
They cite Weiss, et al (1987) who focused on the onset latency, and the fluctuation of muscular contraction associated with facial expression indicated a difference between posthypnotically cued and simulated emotions of anxiety and pleasure.
1989
Cooper, Nancy A.; Clum, George A. (1989). Imaginal flooding as a supplementary treatment for PTSD in combat veterans: A controlled study. Behavior Therapy, 20 (3), 381-391.
14 Vietnam veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were assigned either to standard treatment (control group), or standard treatment plus imaginal flooding (experimental group). The 2 groups were closely matched on medications and combat roles and tours of duty were comparable. Experimental Ss received up to 14 sessions of flooding for a maximum of one and one-half hours per session. Self-report measures were administered at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 3-mo follow-up. These measures included the Behavioral Avoidance Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a Modified Vietnam Experiences Questionnaire. Results indicate that flooding increased the effectiveness of usual treatment, particularly in such areas as re-experiencing symptoms and sleep disturbances. However, flooding had no effect on level of depression, trait anxiety, and violence-proneness.
Friswell, Rena; McConkey, Kevin M. (1989). Hypnotically induced mood. Cognition and Emotion, 3 (1), 1-26.
This article addresses theoretical and methodological issues that are central to an understanding of hypnotically induced mood. Initially, the hypnotic procedures that are typically used to induce moods are examined. Then the empirical research that has employed hypnotic moods is reviewed; specifically, the impact of hypnotic moods on physiological responses, behavioural performance, perceptual and cognitive responses, and personality, and clinical processes is examined. Finally, major theoretical and methodological issues are highlighted, and the research directions that will lead to a greater understanding of hypnotic mood are specified.
Pekala, Ronald J.; Bieber, Stephen L. (1989-90). Operationalizing pattern approaches to consciousness: An analysis of phenomenological patterns of consciousness among individuals of differing susceptibility. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9 (4), 303-320.
Pattern differences in subjective experience, as assessed by a self-report inventory, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), were compared across low, low-medium, high-medium, and high hypnotically susceptible individuals during hypnosis and eyes-closed. A hierarchical factor analytic approach was utilized that allowed for the determination of pattern differences among PCI dimensions as a function of hypnotic susceptibility. The factor analyses found that the four suspectibility (sic) groups were 'pattern equivalent' during eyes-closed, partially pattern dissimilar during hypnosis, and partially pattern dissimilar when comparing hypnosis against eyes-closed. The nature of these results support previous analyses (1) which compared pattern structure differences as a function of correlational matrices. The results suggest the complementarity of Bieber's (2) and Pekala's (3) approaches for assessing pattern differences in consciousness and are congruent with the theorizing of Tart (4), Izard (5), and the PDP researchers on the importance of pattern structure changes in understanding states of consciousness.
NOTES 1:
This paper is based on the presentation at SCEH in Ashville, 1988.
Pekala, Ronald J.; Kumar, V. K. (1989). Phenomenological patterns of consciousness during hypnosis: Relevance to cognition and individual differences. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17 (1), 1-20.
Relationships among phenomenological subsystems of consciousness associated with a baseline condition and an hypnotic induction condition were compared across individuals of differing hypnotic susceptibility. Phenomenological experience on 12 subsystems of consciousness was quantified by means of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) and the relationships between dimensions were statistically assessed. The results replicated previous findings and suggested that hypnosis has differential effects upon the reported organization of phenomenological structures of consciousness across subjects of differing susceptibility. The data from the previous and present studies were pooled and the combined data were reanalyzed. The results provided further support for the differential pattern structure across low and high susceptibles during hypnosis. Furthermore, differences in pattern structure were augmented when comparing very low versus very high susceptible individuals.
NOTES
This paper is based on a paper presented to Division 30, Psychological Hypnosis, at annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Aug 1987.
Samsom, Deborah; Rachman, S. (1989). The effect of induced mood on fear reduction. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28 (3), 227-238.
Investigated the effect on fear reduction in a laboratory study of fearful people. A musical mood-induction technique was utilized to induce either a happy mood or a sad mood in 84 female undergraduates who were fearful of spiders or snakes. Following the mood induction, Ss' fears were reduced by participant modeling. Measures of subjective fear and self-efficacy were taken before and after mood induction, after modeling, and 4 weeks later. Compared to the induced sad-mood condition, induced happiness was followed by a decrease in subjective fear and greater self-efficacy. No difference was found in the length of time taken to reduce fear for happy and sad Ss. Fear reduction during a sad mood was associated with greater return of fear than fear reduction during a happy mood.
Spiegel, David; Bloom, J. R.; Kraemer, H. C.; Gottheil, E. (1989, October 14). The beneficial effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of metastatic breast cancer patients: A randomized prospective outcome study. Lancet, 888-891.
The effect of psychosocial intervention on time of survival of 86 metastatic breast cancer patients was studied using randomized prospective design. The one-year treatment consisted of weekly supportive group therapy with training in self-hypnosis for pain management, and resulted in significant reductions in mood disturbance and pain. Both the treatment and control groups had routine oncologic care. At ten-year follow-up, only three of the original 86 patients were still alive, and death records were obtained for the other 83. Survival from the time of randomization and onset of intervention was 36.6 (sd = 37.6) months for the treatment group, compared with 18.9 (sd = 10.8) months for the control group, and this difference was highly significant (Z = 3.94, p <.0001) using the Cox life table regression model. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that the divergence in survival began at 20 months after entry into the study, or 8 months after the treatment intervention ended. These unexpected findings suggest that intensive psychosocial support affects the course of the illness, although the mechanism by which it does so is not clear.
Suler, John R. (1989). Mental imagery in psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 6, 343-366.
Mental imagery techniques may facilitate the therapeutic process by stimulating patients' insight into unconscious dynamics, by helping them uncover and master warded-off affect, and by enhancing the clinician's empathic contact and access to countertransference. The history of imagery techniques in the psychoanalytic movement and the effect of these techniques on the traditional psychoanalytic method are reviewed. A conceptual framework based on the theory of primary and secondary process suggests spontaneity, experiential scope, associative elaboration, and object impact as four dimensions for the clinical evaluation of imagery experience.
1988
Borgeat, Francois; Rezanowicz, Thaddeus; Chaloult, Louis (1988). La stimulation preconsciente et consciente de l'imaginaire erotique. Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie, 33, 394-398.
The stimulation of erotic fantasies through the association of relaxation and erotic conscious or preconscious suggestions has been evaluated. This study was attempted following positive results in the stimulation of fantasmatic activity in alexithymic subjects with a similar procedure. Thirty female subjects, allocated into three groups practiced relaxation daily for two weeks including three sessions with psychological measures. During the second week, erotic suggestions, preconscious for one group and conscious for another one were added. The third group (control) received only relaxation throughout. Results have shown an increase of sexual arousal and erotic imagery during the sessions with erotic suggestions. Sexual activities and desire increased in the two experimental groups. There was no difference between the effects of the preconscious and conscious suggestions. Possible clinical applications of such a procedure are discussed.
Brink, Nicholas E. (1988-89). Using imagery as a planning and treatment guide in therapy. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 8, 187-200.
Procedures and case studies of how imagery can provide a means to redefine the problem, an agenda for therapy, information for determining the appropriate interventions, a criteria for evaluating progress, and the appropriate time for termination are presented. Images are evoked using one of several imagery situations. These images may converge on the common dynamic pattern clarifying the problem, represent different aspects of the problem, or represent different problems, depending upon the hypnotic suggestion used in evoking the images. The emerging pattern(s) provide the agenda for therapy. Emotional energy in imagery work is used to determine the appropriate timing and content for the therapeutic interventions. Emotional release provides a means of evaluating progress. When each of the items on the agenda are resolved with an emotional release the time for termination is near at hand. Therapy begins by evoking a minimum of three images using one of several situations, including time regression, seeing behind doors on a hallway, or going down in an elevator. These images may represent different aspects of the problem, different problems, or, by using the affect bridge, may converge on a common dynamic pattern clarifying the nature of a single problem.
Kumar, V. K.; Pekala, Ronald J. (1988). Hypnotizability, absorption, and individual differences in phenomenological experience. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 80-88.
The phenomenological effects associated with a baseline condition of eyes- closed and a hypnotic induction condition were compared across individuals of differing absorption capacity and hypnotizability. The results indicated that individuals of differing absorption capacity and hypnotizability reported different intensities of phenomenological experience during the baseline eyes-closed condition. The induction further augmented intensity differences for low, medium, and high absorption and hypnotizable Ss, but more so for high (and medium) than low hypnotizable Ss. The results support both a trait and state interpretation of hypnotizability, and highlight the importance of the interaction between these factors on the resulting hypnotic experience of S.
NOTES 1:
Based on a review of relevant literature, the authors predicted that (1) during hypnosis and a baseline condition (eyes-closed), high absorption and high hypnotizable Ss will report the phenomenological effects at greater intensity relative to low absorption and low hypnotizable Ss, respectively; (2) hypnotic induction will be associated with increased absorption; greater alterations in awareness and experience; and decreased volitional control, rationality, and memory; (3) phenomenological intensity differences (hypnosis compared to eyes-closed) will be significantly greater for high than for low hypnotizable Ss.
They used the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) developed by Pekala (1982), which is a 53 item self-report instrument that is completed retrospectively in reference to a preceding stimulus condition. The PCI measures the following dimensions and subdimensions: internal dialogue; self-awareness; state of awareness; imagery (amount, vividness); positive affect (joy, sexual excitement, love); negative affect (anger, fear, sadness); altered experience (time sense, body image, perception, unusual meanings); attention (absorption, direction); memory; rationality; volitional control; and arousal.
The 217 Ss were administered the Tellegen Absorption Scale, then sat quietly with eyes closed for four minutes, then completed the PCI, Form 1, relative to that 4-minute period. They were administered a slightly shortened version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A); before the posthypnotic suggestion and amnesia suggestion they experienced another 4-minute silent period during which they were told to 'continue to experience the state you are in right now.' After the HGSHS:A they completed PCI, Form 2, in reference to the silent period during the HGSHS:A, before they completed the 11-point questionnaire on the HGSHS:A.
Subjects who did not have reliable PCI response forms were removed from the sample, leaving 173 Ss who were divided into high, medium, and low Absorption groups, and high, medium, and low hypnotizability groups. The statistical analysis employed MANOVA on intensity scores for first the major PCI dimensions and then the 14 subdimensions using Conditions (eyes closed, hypnosis) and Groups. There were significant main and interaction effects. Subsequent ANOVAs for each (sub)dimension, Conditions by Hypnotizability Groups (2 x 3) were then performed.
Hypnosis "was associated with significantly less positive affect (joy, sexual excitement, love); negative affect (anger, sadness); visual imagery (amount, vividness); self-awareness, internal dialogue, rationality, volitional control, and memory; and significantly more altered experience (time sense, perception) and altered state of awareness.
"Significant main effects for Hypnotizability Groups were found for positive affect (joy, love); altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); attention (direction, absorption); self-awareness; altered state of awareness; rationality; volitional control; and memory.
"Post-hoc comparisons for the eyes-closed condition revealed that high relative to low, hypnotizables reported significantly greater alterations in body image, time sense, meaning, and altered state of awareness. Medium hypnotizable Ss, compared to low hypnotizables, reported significantly increased alterations in body image and state of awareness.
"Post-hoc comparisons for the hypnotic induction condition revealed that high, viz-a-viz low, hypnotizables reported significantly increased absorbed attention; greater altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); and increased alterations in state of awareness. High hypnotizables also reported significantly less imagery vividness, self-awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. Medium hypnotizable Ss, vis-a-vis low hypnotizables, reported significantly more altered experience (body image, time sense, perception, meaning); absorbed attention; and altered state of awareness; and significantly less imagery vividness, self-awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. High hypnotizable Ss, relative to medium hypnotizables, reported significantly more altered experience (perception, meaning) and absorption, and significantly less rationality, volitional control, and memory.
"Concerning the significant interactions (alpha = .01), graphs of the means indicated significant ordinal interactions between Conditions and Hypnotizability Groups for altered experience (perception), imagery (vividness), self-awareness, altered state of awareness, rationality, volitional control, and memory. For all of the PCI (sub)dimensions, the hypnotic induction condition (compared to eyes-closed) was associated with a significantly greater increase in altered experience (perception), and altered state of awareness; and a significantly greater decrease in imagery (vividness), rationality, volitional control, and memory for the high (and medium) hypnotizable groups relative to the low hypnotizable group.
"Significant disordinal interactions were found for absorption and unusual meanings. Whereas high hypnotizable Ss reported a more absorbed attentional focus and more unusual meaning during hypnosis, low hypnotizable Ss reported being less absorbed (or more distracted) during the induction than eyes-closed. Low hypnotizables reported more unusual meanings in reference to eyes closed" (pp. 84-85).
Correlations among the major PCI dimensions, absorption, and hypnotizability differ between the two conditions. In hypnosis, the hypnotizability correlations that reached the .001 level were: --Self Awareness -.55 --State of Awareness .60 --Altered Experience .56 --Inward Absorbed Attention .44 --Rationality -.41 --Volitional control -.65 --Memory -.41 --Arousal -.28
In the eyes closed condition, the only PCI variables that Hypnotizability correlated with, at the .001 level, were: --Positive Affect .26 --Altered Experience .32
MANOVAs and ANOVAs were computed for Absorption groups in a similar fashion. Main effects but not interaction effects were significant. Results are not abstracted here.
In their Discussion, the authors note that "The three hypotheses were supported by the results. Several of the absorption group comparisons obtained in previous research (Pekala et al., 1985) involving alterations in subjective experience (body image, perception, meaning); state of awareness; and volitional control were replicated in the present research" (p. 85).
Malone, M.; Strube, M. (1988). Meta-analysis of non-medical treatment for chronic pain. Pain, 34, 231-234.
Conducted a meta-analysis of 109 published studies which assessed the outcome of various nonmedical treatments for chronic pain, 48 of which had sufficient information to calculate effect sizes. The remainder were examined according to proportion of patients rated as improved. Mood and number of subjective symptoms consistently showed greater responses to treatment than did pain intensity, pain duration, or frequency of pain, indicating the importance of using a multidimensional framework for pain assessment. Effect sizes for treatments were 2.74 for autogenic training, 2.67 for hypnosis, 2.23 for pill placebo, 1.33 for package treatments that allowed patients to choose from diverse pain management strategies, .95 for biofeedback, .76 for cognitive therapy, .67 for relaxation, .55 for operant conditioning, and .46 for TENS units. However, the largest numbers of studies were in the area of biofeedback, a treatment package, and relaxation, and we must be cautious in interpreting the effect sizes due to the small number of studies in the sample.
Nash, Michael R. (1988). Hypnosis as a window on regression. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 52, 383-403.
Examines the empirical evidence for temporal and topographic regression during hypnosis--which Freud explicitly defined as regressive. A review of more than 100 studies spanning 60 years of research found no convincing evidence that developmentally previous psychological structures are reinstated during hypnosis (temporal regression). In contrast, there is evidence that hypnosis enables subjects to elicit more imagistic, primary process, and affect-laden material (topographic regression). The author recommends a careful reexamination of two core assumptions underlying the concept of temporal regression: (1) that early structures in human development are imperishable, and (2) that regression necessarily involves reinstatement of infantile psychological structures.
Nathanson, Donald L. (1988). Affect, affective resonance and a new theory for hypnosis. Psychopathology, 21, 126-137.
Suggests new theory of hypnosis based on recent experimental and theoretical work on emotion that shows neurological systems (including structural effectors and chemical mediators affecting specific sites of action). Tomkins' nine innate affects are organizers of the other moieties, genetically determined prewritten subcortical programs that convert quantitative stimuli into qualitative experience. Emotion in the adult involves subtle and complex combinations of innate affect with associations to previous experiences of affect provided by neocortical mechanisms. The infant initially expresses affect in an all-or-none fashion, while the caregiver, usually mother, acts as an external modulator of infantile affect display. All the techniques by which the mother learns to achieve affect mutualization and interaffectivity are analogues of what later may be seen as the techniques of hypnotic induction. Hypnosis may be viewed as the intentional alteration of neocortical cognition made possible by the state of primitive interaffectivity achieved when the hypnotic operator enters the central assembly system of the adult by techniques reminiscent of maternal modulation of infantile affect display.
Robins, Clive J. (1988). Development of experimental mood induction procedures for testing personality-event interaction models of depression. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44 (6), 958-963.
Developed 2 mood induction procedures for use in testing personality- event interaction hypotheses with regard to the onset of depressed mood of clinical depression. In these inductions, Ss listened to audiotapes depicting either a series of social rejections or achievement failures and were instructed to imagine themselves as the main character. Both tapes were found to produce a strong increase in reported depressed affect in 119 normal undergraduates. These effects were large in comparison to those elicited by commonly used mood induction procedures. Women reported greater mood shifts than men in response to both tapes. It is concluded that the present procedures have the advantage of content specificity, which permits test of personality-event interaction hypotheses.
Singer, Jefferson A.; Salovey, Peter (1988). Mood and memory: Evaluating the network theory of affect. Clinical Psychology Review, 8 (2), 211-251.
Discusses G. H. Bower's (see PA, Vol 66:11724) Network Theory of Affect, which specified 4 ways in which mood can have an observable effect on memory: (a) Memory is facilitated when mood state at learning matches mood state at recall; (b) material with affective tone that is congruent with current mood is most easily retrieved from memory: (c) material with affective tone that is congruent with current mood is most easily learned; and (d) affectively intense material is learned best. Empirical literature that addresses each of these predictions by looking at studies that manipulate mood in the laboratory as well as those that utilize occurring moods is discussed. Each prediction was supported, although congruency during learning (Prediction "c") yielded the most consistent findings.
Van Der Hart, O. (1988). An imaginary leave-taking ritual in mourning therapy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36 (2), 63-69.
One form of mourning therapy is the therapeutic leave-taking ritual, the essence of which is that by parting with symbols connected with the deceased, patients take their leave of the deceased and can start a new life of their own. In the case described in the present paper, the patient performed such a ritual in her imagination while under hypnosis. Her extreme grief response is explained in terms of Janet's theory of emotions. It is emphasized that successfully performing the ritual necessarily involved a change in attitude towards the deceased, and it is argued that the specific characteristics of hypnosis--involuntariness and effortlessness--add an extra dimension to guided imagery approaches to unresolved mourning.
1987
Boswell, Louis K. (1987). Abstract imaging: Abstract imaging as a mode of personality analysis and adjustment. Medical Hypnoanalysis Journal, 2, 175-179.
Describes the use of abstract imaging during hypnosis to circumvent defense mechanisms and arrive at the initial sensitizing event behind a patient's emotional problems. Case examples illustrate how abstract imaging is also used to explore how the patient relates to the world on a conscious level and forms an idealized self-image to work toward.
De Pascalis, Vilfredo; Marucci, Francesco; Penna, Pietronilla M.; Pessa, Eliano (1987). Hemispheric activity of 40 Hz EEG during recall of emotional events: Differences between low and high hypnotizables. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 5, 167-180.
This study evaluates individual differences in hypnotizability as reflected in waking-state hemispheric engagement during recollection of 3 positively and 3 negatively valenced personal life events. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Maudsley Personality Inventory, Tellegen Absorption Scale and Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Form A) were administered. Electromyogram (EMG) and bilateral electroencephalogram (EEG) activities within the 40-Hz band were recorded during rest and task conditions in 22 high and 21 low hypnotizable women. Self-report rating scores for vividness of visual imagery and emotional feeling of the material recalled were evaluated. The 40-Hz EMG amplitude and both hemisphere 40-Hz EEG densities were obtained. A 40-Hz EEG ratio, as a measure of hemispheric asymmetry, and a hemispheric specificity index were also computed. High hypnotizables showed significantly lower 40-Hz EEG density than low hypnotizables in all experimental conditions. The relationship between lateralization of 40-Hz EEG and emotional processing was moderated by hypnotizability. High hypnotizables, with respect to rest condition, showed an increase of density over both left and right hemispheres during two of the three positive emotional tasks, while they showed a depressed activity over the left and an increased activity over the right during negative emotional tasks. Low hypnotizables, on the other hand, did not exhibit differential hemispheric patterns that could be attributed to different emotional valences. The high group showed greater hemispheric specificity in the predicted direction than the low group. High subjects exhibited greater ratings of absorptive ability and emotional feeling than low subjects. Anxiety and EMG levels did not differ between groups. EMG was dependent on the type of emotion which showed greater activity in the negative emotion condition compared with the positive one.
Holroyd, Jean (1987). How hypnosis may potentiate psychotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 29, 194-200.
Hypnotherapy is defined as doing psychotherapy in the hypnotic state. This article reviews cognitive, affective, and motivational changes associated with hypnotic trance, attempting to demonstrate how the hypnotic state might influence ordinary psychotherapy processes. Nine characteristics of trance probably potentiate psychotherapy: (1) changes in attention and awareness, (2) imagery enhancement, (3) increase in dissociation, (4) decrease of reality orientation, (5) increase in suggestibility, (6) increased accessibility of mind-body interactions, (7) diminution of initiative resulting in a sense of nonvoluntariness, (8) increased availability or manipulability of affect, and (9) development of a fusional relationship (rapport). This article touches upon the psychotherapeutic implications of these hypnosis attributes.
Makarec, K.; Persinger, M. A. (1987). Electroencephalographic correlates of temporal lobe signs and imaginings. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 1124-1126.
Significant correlations (0.50) were observed between scores for the Wilson-Barber Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings and the experiences that are indicative of temporal lobe lability. In addition, positive correlations (0.42) occurred between temporal lobe EEG measures (scalp electrodes) and numbers of temporal lobe signs. The numbers of alpha seconds per minute from the occipital lobes were correlated (0.57) with the Wilson-Barber cluster that indicated interests in 'altered states'. Scores on the childhood imaginings section of the Wilson-Barber Inventory were correlated (0.44) with the numbers of spikes per minute over the temporal lobes when the eyes were closed.
NOTES 1:
Persinger and DeSano (1986) found that people who display temporal lobe signs were also more likely to have more imaginings (as defined by Wilson and Barber's (1983) Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings) and to be more suggestible as indicated by Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile" (p. 1124).
Subjects in this investigation were 12 male and 18 female students, ages 18-39 (M = 25 years) Bipolar measures were taken from just above the ears (approximately T3-T4) and the occipital lobe (01-02). Number of alpha seconds per minute and number of spikes per minute from each lobe was taken for 10 minutes (5 successive pairs of 1 minute eyes- open, 1 minute eyes-closed).
"The total Wilson-Barber score was significantly (p <.01) correlated ... with the major (0.46) and minor (0.50) temporal lobe clusters but not with two clusters of control items: normal psychological experiences (0.21) and mundane proprioceptive experiences (0.29). These correlations are similar to those in the Persinger and DeSano study (0.60, 0.50, 0.13, and 0.14, respectively). Like the first study (0.53), the items that were most associated with dissociation (depersonalization) were best correlated with the Wilson- Barber scores (0.60). The Wilson-Barber subcluster: adults' extreme experiences (Items 44 through 52, that indicate physiological changes associated with thinking) was again most strongly correlated with the major (0.55) and minor (0.65) temporal lobe clusters; these values were 0.42 and 0.52 in the first study" (p. 1125).
"The only statistically significant (p < .01) correlations between the Wilson-Barber scales and the EEG measures were between the number of alpha seconds from the occipital lobe (with the eyes closed) and the [Wilson-Barber] 'altered state' cluster (r = 0.57; Items 33, 41, 42, 43). A weaker correlation (0.36) occurred between the number of alpha seconds per min. (eyes closed condition) and childhood vestibular experiences (items 1, 2, 3, 10, 24)" (p. 1126).
1986
Cerny, M. (1986). Hypnosuggestive interventions in emotional stress and in stress disorders. Activitas Nervosa Superior, 2, 141-143.
This paper represents a review of results using the PSA technique (Posthypnotic Suggestion evoked by Autostimulation) as a means of protection against stress. The best results were obtained in Ss with high susceptibility. This fact limits the practical use of the PSA method. However, this method can serve as a model approach in another more exact study of psychophysiological self-regulatory mechanisms in relation to coping with stress.
Holroyd, Jean (1986). Hypnosis applications in psychological research. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 5, 103-115.
It is proposed that hypnosis leads to altered cognition, affect, or motivation as reflected by changes in 1) reality orientation, 2) attention and awareness, 3) imagery, 4) dissociation, 5) suggestibility, and 6) mind-body interaction. Hypnosis may be used as an experimental method to effect such cognitive, affective and motivational changes in order to pursue research in learning, personality, physiological, and social psychology. Examples of possible applications of hypnosis are provided. The influence of individual differences in hypnotic responsivity on
research also is discussed.
NOTES 1:
The author concludes, "Contributions of hypnosis to research in psychology may have been diminished by the confusion inherent in searching for main effects while giving insufficient attention to interaction effects between personality variables and experimental manipulations. As psychology becomes more cognitive in orientation, the phenomena of hypnosis may seem less bizarreand more amenable to inclusion in psychological research. However great care must be taken not to confuse the contributions of hypnosis with the contributions of the hypnotically responsive personality" (p. 109).
Madigan, R. J.; Bollenbach, A. K. (1986). The effects of induced mood on irrational thoughts and views of the world. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10 (5), 547-562.
Sixty college students participated in an experiment concerning the influence of somatic mood induction statements on measurements of irrationality as defined by Ellis. Subjects were randomly assigned to depression, elation, and neutral mood induction groups. There were significant differences between groups on mood and irrationality. Results are discussed in terms of the Ellis and Beck cognitive models of depression, the Isen cognitive loop model, and the relationship between irrationality and depression. This study added irrational thinking as defined by Ellis to the growing list of cognitions that have been manipulated by mood, and it supports a body of findings that demonstrate the reciprocal influence of cognition and mood in depression. The study also has implications for the Beck and Ellis hypothesis that cognitions are the dominant causes of depression.
Pereira, Robert Peter (1986, July). The role of organismic involvement in hypnotic emotional behavior (Dissertation, Wayne State University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47 (1), 385-B. (Order No. DA8605027)
Two hundred college undergraduates were pretested via the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A. Fifty subjects scoring in the range 7-12 were designated as Reals, while 25 subjects scoring in the range 0-4 were designated as Simulators. Reals and Simulators were given differential instructions before the administration of a second hypnotic induction procedure, which was accompanied by a task in which subjects were asked to relive each of three emotional experiences, i.e., fear, anger, and happiness. Reals were given instructions encouraging cooperation, while Simulators were instructed to try to convince a group of experienced hypnotists that they were deeply hypnotized, when, in fact, they would not be. "Physiological, overt-behavioral, and cognitive measures taken either during or following the relived-emotions task served as indices of Sarbin's organismic involvement construct. A post-experimental measure of the realness of subjects' relived emotional experience was regressed on these organismic indices in order to test Sarbin's assumption of a positive linear relationship between organismic involvement and belief-in imaginings, using data from the Real group only. Results indicated that, across all three emotions, the linear composite of organismic indices shared statistically significant amounts of variance with the criterion of experiential realness. Obtained amounts of shared variance ranged from 22% (during anger) to 55% (during happiness). These findings were interpreted as offering clear and robust support for Sarbin's theory of hypnosis. Suggestions for further research were offered. "The question of Real-Simulator differences was explored through several multivariate analyses of variance and covariance, using the organismic indices as dependent variables. These analyses were performed on the original sample of Reals and Simulators, and on two subsamples of Reals/Highs and Simulators/Lows which were created through the use of pre- and/or post-experimental exclusion criteria. Reals/Highs showed statistically higher levels of effort than did Simulators/Lows during all three emotions, as well as higher levels of skin conductance and finger temperature during anger. These findings were interpreted as being of theoretical and practical significance. Multiple replications of the physiological findings were recommended in order to assess the extent to which the skin conductance and finger temperature variables might be used in practical, i.e., forensic contexts" (p. 385-B).
Strosahl, K. D. (1986). Imagery assessment by self report: A multidimensional analysis of clinicalimagery. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 187-199.
