Worthington, T. S. (1979). The use in court of hypnotically enhanced testimony. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 27 (4), 402-416.
The leading judicial decisions on the use of hypnosis on witnesses are presented. Emphasis is on the increasing use of hypnosis by the police or prosecution with witnesses in criminal cases. Hypnosis has proved to be a valuable tool to learn facts not otherwise available. There is, however, a potential for abuse when the information learned is used directly as evidence in court or when the subjective certainty of the witness is increased to the point where cross-examination becomes ineffective. Safeguards are needed to prevent abuse.
1967
Schneck, Jerome M. (1967). Hypnoanalytic study of a false confession. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 15, 11-18.
INVESTIGATED IN HYPNOANALYSIS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN A CASE OF FALSE CONFESSION. THE PATIENT WAS A COLLEGE STUDENT EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL AFTER HE ADMITTED HIS RESPONSIBILITY FOR STEALING MONEY FROM FRATERNITY BROTHERS. THIS STUDY IN DEPTH IS PERTINENT TO THE INCREASING AWARENESS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND THE PSYCHIATRIC PROFESSION OF THE PROBLEM OF FALSE CONFESSIONS. (GERMAN + SPANISH ABSTRACTS) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1958
Conn, Jacob H. (1958). Meanings and motivations associated with spontaneous hypnotic regression. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 6 (1), 21-44.
NOTES
“Summary
“The motivational influences and meanings associated with spontaneous regression have been discussed. It is postulated that when a patient spontaneously regresses he has the wish to recreate a previous life situation –one in which he was completely helpless. The clinical material indictes that the patient can be brought out of regression without any attempt being made to re-orient him to the present, and during spontaneous regression the patient can discuss topics which are subsequent to the regressed age level. The patient does not revive old memories but ‘memory romances’ which are rationalizations and wish fulfilling fantasies.
“The patient in the hypnotic trance is not passive, but is an active agent, who uses the therapist as a means of restoring the patient’s feeling of mastery and control. A painful, baffling life situation which formerly had been the source of conflict, guilt or self-depreciation is in this manner mastered, so that the patient can start all over again as if he were ‘reborn,’ and can go on to a normal, healthy way of life.
“This is in keeping with Whitehorn’s view (16) that ‘symptoms have meaning in a motivational sense, that morbid patterns of reaction are part of an adaptational struggle, that one of the main tasks in psychiatric work is to conduct an individualized study of each patient to point up the main recurrent theme of dissatisfaction and conflict and to assess the individual’s currently unused potentialities for dealing with this issue …'” (p. 42).
FAMILY
1995
Guyer, Charles G. II; Van Patten, Isaac T. (1995). The treatment of incest offenders — a hypnotic approach: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (3), 266-273.
Incest has become more prominent in public awareness over the past 15 years. The major focus of this interest has been on the incest survivor. The incest offender has received less attention. A hypnotic approach to treating incest offenders is outlined that involves a seven-stage approach. A case example is presented and future research directions suggested.
Levitt, Eugene E.; Pinnell, Cornelia Mare (1995). Some additional light on the childhood sexual abuse-psychopathology axis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 145-162.
This exposition is an attempt to unravel the complexities of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult psychopathology. Four facets of the relationship are examined in some detail: (a) the extent of childhood sexual abuse; (b) the probability that sexual abuse in childhood will result in psychopathology in the adult; (c) the reliability of early life memories in later life; and (d) the role of recovered memory of trauma in the healing process. The conclusions of this logico-empirical analysis are that first, government statistics tend to underestimate the extent of childhood sexual abuse, whereas independent surveys tend to overestimate it. Estimating prevalence is further complicated by variations in the definitions of key terms. Possibly the only safe conclusion is that true prevalence cannot be reliably determined. Second, empirical investigations of childhood sexual abuse conclude that not all victims are emotionally injured. A substantial number of these investigations find that a majority of victims suffer no extensive harm. Other variables such as family dynamics are involved; there may be only a few cases in which emotional harm results from sexual abuse as a single factor. Third, memory research suggests that memory in general is a dynamic, reconstructive process and that recall of childhood events is particularly vulnerable to distortion. Memory cannot dependably produce historical truth. Last, there is some clinical evidence that abreaction of a traumatic event in adulthood may have a remediative effect. Similar evidence for childhood trauma is lacking. The belief in the healing effect of recalling and reliving a childhood trauma depends on the therapist’s orientation.
Nagy, Thomas F. (1995). Incest memories recalled in hypnosis — a case study: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 118-126.
Accuracy of repressed memories recovered in hypnosis cannot be reliably determined with any greater certainty than non-hypnotically recalled events. Therefore, the practice of therapists’ accepting hypnotically enhanced memories as veridical, absent corroborating evidence, is not advocated. A 52-year-old woman with a 27-year history of panic attacks and sleep disorder inadvertently recovered incest memories in hypnosis. Photographs and remembered events by other family members were thought by the patient to provide general support although they did not constitute actual proof of abuse. Implications are discussed.
1994
Loftus, Elizabeth; Polonsky, Sara; Fullilove, Mindy Thompson (1994). Memories of childhood sexual abuse: Remembering and repressing. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 67-84.
Women involved in out-patient treatment for substance abuse were interviewed to examine their recollections of childhood sexual abuse. Overall, 54% of the 105 women reported a history of childhood sexual abuse. Of these, the majority (81%) remembered all or part of the abuse their whole lives; 19% reported they forgot the abuse for a period of time, and later the memory returned. Women who remembered the abuse their whole lives reported a clearer memory, with a more detailed picture. They also reported greater intensity of feelings at the time the abuse happened. Women who remembered the abuse their whole lives did not differ from others in terms of the violence of the abuse or whether the violence was incestuous. These data bear on current discussions concerning the extent to which repression is a common way of coping with childhood sexual abuse trauma, and also bear on some widely held beliefs about the correlates of repression.
NOTES
In previous research, it was reported that violent or incestuous abuse is particularly susceptible to repression. This study differs from previous investigations in the definition of violence. In the present study, ‘violence’ is defined as any act involving vaginal, oral, or anal sex. Earlier research defined ‘violence’ as involving sexual assault with physical injury or fear of death.
Depending on the definition of repression, a sizeable minority (31% or almost 1/5) of this sample forgot their earlier abuse for a period of time. The authors state that this suggests there is little ‘robust repression’ in this sample. They cannot rule out the possibility that some women who were abused still, to this day, do not recall the experience; or that some who continue to have memory loss based on organic causes, including blackouts.
The authors suggest that future research in this area use more specific questions, including assessing whether Subjects respond to statements like: “There was a time when I would not have been able to remember the abuse, even if I had been directly asked about it,” or “There was a time when I would not have been able to report the abuse because I had no idea that it had even happened to me.” Also, when Subjects report that a memory had emerged after a period in which they had no recall, the Experimenter should enquire about how and when the recovered memory occurred.
The authors conclude that remembering abuse is more common than forgetting it.
Lynn, Steven Jay; Myers, B.; Sivec, H. (1994). Psychotherapists’ beliefs, repressed memories of abuse, and hypnosis: What have we really learned?. [Comment/Discussion] .
NOTES
The authors are responding to an article by Michael D. Yapko in the same issue of AJCH, “Suggestibility and repressed memories of abuse: A survey of psychotherapists’ beliefs.” They are of the opinion that “Yapko’s research and data analysis do not justify the conclusion that many, if not virtually all, therapists are naive, credulous, and out of touch with the scientific literature, although it is evident that certain therapists can be so described” (p. 184). They state that “Yapko’s research is important insofar as it suggests that unfounded stereotypes of hypnosis persist even among Ph.D.- and M.D.-level clinicians” (p. 184).
1990
Rhue, Judith W.; Lynn, Steven Jay; Henry, Stephanie; Buhk, Kerry; Boyd, Patti (1990-91). Child abuse, imagination and hypnotizability. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 10, 53-63.
Research was designed to provide a rigorous test of J. R. Hilgard’s hypothesis that hypnotizability is related to a history of physical punishment and to imaginative involvements. College students who reported a history of physical abuse (N = 21) and sexual abuse (N = 23) were compared with control subjects who either lost a parent by way of death or divorce (N = 20) or who were from intact homes (N = 35), under test conditions that minimized the possibility that context effects would prejudice the findings. No support was found for the hypothesis that increased hypnotizability was associated with a history of physical or sexual abuse: All of the groups ere indistinguishable on measures of objective and subjective response to hypnosis. However, consistent with Hilgard’s hypothesis, physically and sexually abused subjects were found to be more fantasy-prone than subjects in both nonabused control conditions.
Somer, E. (1990). Brief simultaneous couple hypnotherapy with a rape victim and her spouse: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 38 (1), 1-5.
This paper presents a case involving a rape victim and her emotionally affected spouse. Although the assault occurred before the couple met, the husband was too upset to concentrate when the victim wanted to share her rape-related feelings, nor could he provide the much needed empathy and support. This, apparently, was due to his difficulties in handling his own rage. Simultaneous couple hypnotherapy was used to allow the victim to share her experience under conditions safe for both her and her spouse. As he imagined in trance the rape account described by his age-regressed wife, he learned to identify his emotions and experience them in a controlled manner. During subsequent sessions, the husband was encouraged to include himself in his wife’s abreaction and reshape the traumatic scene for both of them. The husband’s rescuing behavior and the expressions of violent anger towards the perpetrator had several positive consequences. Not only did they change the abandonment component of the victim’s traumatic memory, but they also helped the husband deal in better ways with his own feelings of anger. It also provided the couple with a helpful coping mechanism they later effectively applied under different circumstances.
Zeig, Jeffrey K.; Geary, Brent B. (1990). Seeds of strategic and interactional psychotherapies: Seminal contributions of Milton H. Erickson. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 33 (2), 105-112.
NOTES
Describes history of Erickson’s relationship to the Palo Alto group and family therapy practice (both strategic and interactional), and identifies seven philosophical and methodological realms which represent the incorporation of Ericksonian principles into strategic and interactional family therapy models.
1989
Wallace, Benjamin; Persanyi, M.W. (1989). Hypnotic susceptibility and familial handedness. Journal of General Psychology, 116 (4), 345-350.
The possible relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and familial handedness was examined. In a mass testing session of students enrolled in introductory psychology, subjects were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and were also required to complete a questionnaire that ascertained information on their dominant handedness and that of their immediate family relatives. Subjects who had immediate sinistral relatives scored significantly lower in hypnotic susceptibility compared to those who had a history of familial dexterity. When immediate relatives of the original subject pool were tested on hypnotic susceptibility level, sinistral relatives scored lower in susceptibility than dextral relatives. The important implication is that this may indicate the existence of a familial component in hypnotic susceptibility.
1986
Brink, Nicholas E. (1986-87). Three stages of hypno-family therapy for psychosomatic problems. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 6, 263-270.
In dealing with psychosomatic complaints it has been found useful and necessary to bring together three stages or techniques of psychotherapy. First, along with teaching relaxation, the therapist directs the client to define the symptom in a symbolic or figurative way describing size, shape, color, consistency, smell, and sound. These descriptors assess intensity and, over time, change in intensity of the symptom. Second, several hypnotic techniques are used to determine the dynamic pattern that has created the symptom. Such uncovered patterns have been found to invariably involve family dynamics. Third, hypnotic and family therapy techniques assist the client in changing the pattern. Examples are presented.
Miller, Arnold (1986). Hypnotherapy in a case of dissociated incest. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 34 (1), 13-28.
This case study describes hypnotherapy with a young woman who, in the course of treatment, began to remember her incestuous relationship with her alcoholic father. Her presenting symptoms included self-assaultive masturbation, suicidal fantasies, depression, impaired sexual functioning, and inability to resume her education. Different phases of treatment entailed uncovering work, mastering the incest experience with the help of emotionally corrective experiences, the use of part-selves to assist coping, and the integration of several part-selves into a more effective personality. After 4 years of treatment she has successfully resumed her education, has normal sexual functioning, and is no longer incapacitated by depression.
1985
Levitan, Alexander A. (1985). Hypnotic death rehearsal. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 27 (4), 211-215.
Death rehearsal is a technique developed to help terminally ill patients and their families deal with anxieties about death. It has proven useful in demystifying the dying process by answering the question “What is it like to die?” Patients, who are able to hypnotically experience the death process, learn to deal with both grief and anxiety with the help of the hypnotherapist. – Author’s abstract
Nash, Michael R.; Lynn, Steven Jay; Stanley, Scott; Frauman, David; Rhue, Judith (1985). Hypnotic age regression and the importance of assessing interpersonally relevant affect. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 33, 224-235.
The present study was undertaken to replicate an earlier experiment and to clarify which factors in this previous experiment (Nash, Johnson, & Tipton, 1979) were responsible for the obtained child-like behaviors of hypnotically regressed Ss. As in the previous study, 3 characteristics of the transitional object relationship (spontaneity, specificity, and intensity) were used as the primary criteria to investigate the effects of hypnotic age regression when Ss were regressed to age 3 and placed in 3 home situations. While in the previous study E suggested separation anxiety and isolation during the 3 home situations (mother-absent condition), the present study deleted all references to anxiety and isolation, and replaced them with suggestions of security and maternal proximity (mother-present condition). As expected, the mother-present versus mother-absent conditions led to similar hypnotized- simulating differences. In further accord with predictions, hypnotized Ss and simulating Ss requested a transitional object infrequently in the presence of mother. The importance of using dependent measures which index affective processes germane to interpersonal affect-laden experience is discussed.
1983
Fung, E. H.; Lazar, B. S. (1983). Hypnosis as an adjunct in the treatment of von Willebrand’s disease. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31 (4), 256-265.
Hypnosis ahs been used to control bleeding, both in normals and hemophiliacs. Case material is presented to demonstrate how hypnosis was used as an adjunct to standard medical treatment of a boy and his mother with von Willebrand’s disease, initially to reduce anxiety and improve self-esteem and the parent-child relationship, and later, to reduce bleeding. This use of hypnosis illustrates the relationship between hemostatic control and psychological adaptation.
1982
Oliver, George W. (1982-83). A cancer patient and her family: A case study. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 25 (2-3), 156-160.
In recent years, increasing numbers of mental health workers have been attempting to use techniques of psychotherapy to influence the course of malignant disease. This paper reviews in detail the course of treatment of one female patient with an inoperable malignancy and conveys a sense of the clinical experience of working intensively with a cancer patient and her family. It shows the complex levels of interaction within the patient herself, between the patient and her family, and between the therapist and her family and within the therapist himself during different phases of the therapeutic journey.
1981
Query, W. T. (1981). Family size, birth order and hypnotizability: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29 (2), 107-109.
In 2 separate studies (N = 47 and 143), birth order and family size were found not to be associated with group-tested hypnotic susceptibility using the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). The value of cross validation was demonstrated in the failure to verify the association that appeared between susceptibility and larger families for men in the initial study. Discussion focused on the developmental approach to hypnotizability, including birth order and family size as increasing hypnotic susceptibility in the family milieu. Family interaction influencing hypnotizability is immensely complicated and further studies are suggested.
1976
Call, Justin D. (1976). Children, parents, and hypnosis: A discussion. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 149-155.
Ease of hypnotic induction in children depends on the setting, expectancies and nature of the relationship between the child, parent, and hypnotist. The capacity to center attention seems to be reflected in an increased alpha base rate. The capacity to suspend reality testing and to become subject to the authority of the hypnotist has its counterpart in the child’s relationship with idealized authoritarian parents. Hypnotic induction utilizes the child’s readiness for regressive object relations in which union of self and idealized parent imago is reactivated leading to high degrees of both suggestibility and feelings of omnipotence in the child. It is hypothesized that the child shares reality testing with the hypnotist as the infant did earlier with the all-powerful parent.
The fact that children can easily be hypnotized by the experienced hypnotist tells us nothing about indication for, dangers of, or potential success of treatment. Brief symptomatic improvement of single symptoms means little and proves nothing. Success of hypnotic treatment with children depends on appropriate articulation of hypnotic procedures with total need-systems of child and family.
Cooper, Leslie M.; London, Perry (1976). Children’s hypnotic susceptibility, personality, and EEG patterns. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 140-148.
19 boys and 16 girls, aged 7 to 16, were given the EEG and then the Children’s Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, while a parent watched. About 1 week later, after some separate tests and interviews, each child was given a puzzle to solve in the parent’s presence, while Es recorded offers and requests for help. Hypnotic susceptibility was positively correlated with the alpha duration with eyes open, but not with eyes closed. Both susceptibility and alpha duratino tended to be negatively correlated with age. Highly susceptible children tended to wait longer than low susceptibles before asking parents for help with the puzzle, and their parents tended to be more strict, anxious, and impatient than did the parents of low susceptible children.
Gardner, G. G. (1976). Childhood, death, and human dignity: Hypnotherapy for David. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 122-139.
Hypnotherapy can be a significant part of the treatment of a dying child. A detailed clinical report illustrates how hypnotherapy was integrated with other treatment modalities to help a terminally ill child and his family cope effectively with problems and enhance their ability to use their own resources for personal growth and mastery throughout the dying process.
1969
Duke, J. D. (1969). Relatedness and waking suggestibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 242-250.
Volunteering pairs of Ss took 9 waking tests (WT) of hypnotic susceptibility. Pairs included siblings, friends, and strangers. Concordance correlations from 20 sibling pairs were positive for 7 of the 9 WT, 2 significantly so. For 19 pairs of strangers, correlations were insignificant, 5 positive, 4 negative. Data reopen nature-nurture questions about the origins of individual differences in hypnotic aptitude. For 20 pairs of cross-sex friends, 7 of 9 correlations were negative, 1 significant, and 2 approaching significance. 6 of 9 concordance correlations from 16 spouse pairs were also negative, but none was significant. (Spanish & German summaries) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Nowlis, D. P. (1969). The child-rearing antecedents of hypnotic susceptibility and of naturally occurring hypnotic-like experience. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 109-120.
Data pertaining to early and mid-childhood socialization experiences available from a sample of children and their mothers as studied earlier by R. R. Sears, E. E. Maccoby, H. Levin, and others were related to hypnotizability scores and scores of susceptibility to naturally occurring hypnotic-like experiences for a part of the same sample when the children reached late adolescence. As hypothesized by J. R. Hilgard and E. R. Hilgard (see 37:3) after retrospective interviewing with college-age hypnotic Ss, the present study, using a longitudinal method of investigation, indicated some relationship between firm parental discipline in childhood and subsequent susceptibility to hypnosis and hypnotic-like experiences in adolescence. Correlations, however, were low and the overall yield of significant data was judged to be meager. This was particularly true of hypnotizability scores in relation to the other variables available for analysis. (Spanish & German summaries) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1968
Long, T. E. (1968). Some early-life stimulus correlates of hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 16, 61-67.
34 MALE COLLEGE SS WERE PLACED INTO 3 HYPNOTIZABILITY GROUPINGS WITH THE USE OF THE PASCAL TECHNIQUE OF HYPNOSIS. THE PASCAL-JENKINS BEHAVIORAL SCALES WERE USED TO INVESTIGATE STIMULUS SITUATIONS PRESENTED BY MOTHER AND FATHER DURING THE 1ST 10 YR. OF SS” LIVES. THE SPECIFICALLY DEFINED BEHAVIORAL VARIABLES OF ACTIVITIES WITH S AND DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION FOR THE FATHER STIMULUS CATEGORY AND THE VARIABLE VERBAL PUNISHMENT FOR MOTHER SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENTIATED THE HIGH HYPNOTIZABLE SS FROM THE COMBINED MIDDLE-LOW HYPNOTIZABLE SS. THE OTHER PHYSICAL CONTACT VARIABLES, WHICH INVOLVE INTIMATE CONTACT BETWEEN S AND THE PARENT, SHOWED CONSISTENT TRENDS IN THE SAME DIRECTION. THUS, EARLY LIFE FAMILY EXPERIENCES OF A MORE POSITIVE AND LESS DEVIANT NATURE SEEM TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH HIGHER SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS. (SPANISH + GERMAN ABSTRACTS) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1962
Mellenbruch, P. L. (1962). The validity of a personality inventory tested by hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 5 (2), 111-114. (In Psychological Abstracts: 63, 5234)
NOTES
The authors found that administration of the California Test of Personality in the waking and hypnotized state resulted in subjects describing themselves in a better light in the waking state than in the hypnosis condition. The differences were especially noted on the following scales: Self Reliance, Feeling of Belonging, Family Relations, and Occupation Relations. The scales least subject to distortion (in sense of presenting a good image) in waking state are Sense of Personal Worth and Freedom from Anti-Social Tendencies. J. Holroyd
1960
Schneck, Jerome M. (1960). Incest experience during hypnoanalysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 8 (3), 147-150.
NOTES
Author”s Summary: “Whereas incest fantasies are not unusual and are mentioned during treatment along with more infrequent reference to actual past incest experience, the occurrence of an incestuous relationship while a patient is in treatment appears to be worth recording. Some of the pertinent facts regarding a sexual contact between brother and sister have been described in connection with the hypnoanalysis of the latter, and the manner in which the patient imparted information during hypnosis has been revealed by direct quotation” (p. 149).
1959
Wilcox, Warren; Faw, Volney (1959). Social and environmental perceptions of susceptible and unsusceptible hypnotic subjects. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 7 (3), 151-160.
Summary
1. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that hypnotic susceptibility was positively related to the perception of fundamental aspects of the social and environmental milieu and, further, to consider the nature of hypnosis itself.
2. Ss for this study, 44 women and 36 men, were employed from a previous study (Faw and Wilcox, 1958). A mass hypnotic technique was used and susceptibility was operationally defined by the use of rating scales. The susceptible were found to have better personality adjustment than the unsusceptible.
3. New for this study were self-rating scales of the Ss’ perception of parents, personal worries and problems, social activities as group or individually oriented, social activities in school, and physical care. The rating scales were administered several months prior to and independently of the hypnotic induction.
4. Interpretation of results support the hypothesis that the susceptible perceived their social and environmental milieu in more positive terms than did the unsusceptible. The susceptible perceived their parents in significantly stronger affectional and supportive relationships than did the unsusceptible. The susceptible were less concerned about adjustment to the opposite sex, not as worried about personal appearance, were more group oriented and more likely to engage in social activities than were the unsusceptible. Susceptible males were less frequently hospitalized than were unsusceptible males while susceptible females were more frequently hospitalized than were unsusceptible females.
5. Hypnosis was defined as a tendency to accept suggestions and to actualize, maintain and affirm them in the form of perceptual experiences activated by the stimulus situation as interpreted by the S and formulated by the hypnotist. The suggestions arouse expectancies or personal hypotheses which become a gauge to test the efficacy of the suggestions. Perceptualization is shaped by motives and past stimulation of the social and environmental milieu” (p. 158).
1956
Solovey, Galina; Milechnin, Anatol (1956). Concerning some points about the nature of hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 4 (2), 83-88.
NOTES
Two experiments with young children explored the similarity between mothers’ sleep inducing speech and hypnotic induction. The first group were six normal children ranging in age from 25 to 37 months. Author interviewed their mothers for details on their sleep inducing behavior. Then “we followed a procedure that as a rule consisted in leaning over the little one, dedicating all our attention to him, repeating the mother’s own series of soothing diminutives in a softly-modulated voice, and stroking gently the child’r hair, forehead, or arm. In four to thirty-five minutes, the children relaxed, stopped moving, let their eyelids droop, and showed a particularly placid facial expression. Their appearance was completely similar to that of a hypnotized person” (p. 83). Signs of catalepsy (e.g. following suggestions of holding a teddy bear more and more tightly) and concentration of attention to the exclusion of outside stimuli were taken to indicate the hypnotic state.
The second experiment involved infants 3 to 24 months old, lulling them into a state of quiet relaxation. “The difficulty does not consist in producing this special state, but in demonstrating that it is really hypnosis. However, if we consider the identity of the means employed in bringing it about, and the similarity of the results to those occurring at a slightly later age, it would be unreasonable to think that there is a certain reaction up to a certain age and a fundamentally different one from that age on” (p. 85).
The author relates her findings to those of investigators who studied populations of infants and children who, lacking “psychological mothering” failed to thrive or even died. She concludes that the “psychological motehring” in normal families “produces hypnotic states in the infant daily, from the moment of birth” (p. 88).
Erickson, Milton H. (1954). A clinical note on indirect hypnotic therapy. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2, 171-174. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 55: 4292)
NOTES
Author describes treatment of a young married couple who presented with the problem of life-long enuresis. The treatment involved a prescription: “Each evening you are to take fluids freely. Two hours before you go to bed, lock the bathroom door after drinking a glass of water. At bedtime, get into your pajamas, and then kneel side by side on the bed, facing your pillows and deliberately, intentionally and jointly wet the bed” (p. 172). (Hypnotic induction was not used.)
The author opines that the procedure was based upon an indirect use of hypnosis. “The instructions were so worded as to compel without demanding the inntent attention of the unconscious” (p. 173).
1053
Beigel, Hugo G. (1953). Prevarication under hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1 (3), 32-40.
NOTES
Author describes three cases in which hypnosis was used to confirm or disconfirm information provided in the waking state. All three cases involved marital relationships and mistrust. “It is interesting that, awakened from the hypnotic state, none of the subjects made the slightest attempt to deny any of the admissions made” (p. 39).
FANTASY/ FANTASY PRONENESS
2003
Holroyd, Jean (2003). The science of meditation and the state of hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 46 (2), 109-128.
Two aspects of Buddhist meditation — concentration and mindfulness — are discussed in relationship to hypnosis. Mindfulness training facilitates the investigation of subjective responses to hypnosis. Concentration practice leads to altered states similar to those in hypnosis, both phenomenologically and neurologically. The similarities and differences between hypnosis and meditation are used to shed light on perennial questions: (1) Does hypnosis involve an altered state of consciousness? (2) Does a hypnotic induction increase suggestibility? It is concluded that a model for hypnosis should include altered states as well as capacity for imaginative involvement and expectations.
2002
Linden, Julie H. (2002). Playful metaphors. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 45 (3), 245-250.
The inner world of the child is a community of archetypes potentially available for the child”s healthy ego development. Many forces limit and prohibit their utility. Play therapy in the context of a hypnotic relationship can potentiate these archetypes into becoming “playful metaphors” for healing and strengthening ego development, In this article, the author describes her use of playful metaphors in her therapeutic work with two children and explores how metaphor in play therapy is able to connect the child with healing archetypal imagery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)
Sapp, Marty (2002). Implications of Barber’s Three Dimensional Theory of Hypnosis [Abstract]. Sleep and Hypnosis, 4 (2), 70-76.
Recently, Barber has presented a three dimensional paradigm of hypnosis. He proposed that there are three types of hypnosis clients- the fantasy-prone, amnesic-prone, and positively-set. This paper discusses the major theoretical implications of this new paradigm, and, if Barber is correct, his new theory should bridge a gap between the special process (state) and nonstate theorists. Finally, only research will determine if Barber”s new theory will actually unify the previous disagreements between the state and nonstate theorists.
1988
Gibbons, Don (1998). Suggestion as an art form: Alternative paradigm for hypnosis?. [Paper] Presented at annual meeting of American
Psychological Association, San Francisco. ([available online:] ftp://members.aol.com/gibbonsdon/artform.txt)
This paper proposes a change in the manner in which we think about suggestion-induced phenomena, moving from primary reliance upon a medical/counseling model to a concurrent view of suggestion as an art form and hypnosis as an artistic medium. the rationale for such an alternative paradigm is discussed, and a procedure for scripting suggestions within the new paradigm — the Best Me technique — is presented, along with a specific illustration of its application, possible implications for current clinical practice, and suggestions for transition to the new paradigm.
1995
Bryant, Richard A. (1995). Fantasy proneness, reported childhood abuse, and the relevance of reported abuse onset. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 184-193.
This study investigated the relationship between fantasy proneness and the age at which reported childhood sexual abuse occurs. Seventeen adult females who reported having been sexually abused before the age of 7 years, 20 females who reported having been abused after the age of 7 years, and 20 females who reported having never been abused were administered two measures of imaginative involvement (Tellegen Absorption Scale [TAS] and Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings [ICMI]). Participants who were reportedly abused early in childhood obtained higher scores on the TAS and ICMI than participants who were reportedly abused later in childhood, who in turn obtained higher scores than the control participants. Findings are discussed in terms of factors that mediate fantasy proneness and reports of childhood abuse.
Gearan, Paul; Schoenberger, Nancy E.; Kirsch, Irving (1995). Modifying hypnotizability: A new component analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (1), 70-89.
The effects of the Carleton Skills Training Program (CSTP) on hypnotizability were compared to those of a modified training program in which instructions for physical enactment of the response were omitted. After training, subjects in the original CSTP reported an increase in the extent to which they intentionally enacted suggested behaviors. In contrast, subjects in the modified training program reported increased fantasy without voluntary physical enactment. Nevertheless, both training programs increased behavioral and subjective responsiveness to suggestion, and there were no significant differences in response enhancement between the two programs. Across conditions, increases in behavioral and subjective responses to suggestion were correlated with increased use of fantasy. In contrast, increases in enactment were correlated only with compliance. The modified training program is recommended as a means of enhancing suggestibility with less likelihood than the original CSTP of engendering compliance.