1999
McConkey, Kevin M.; Wende, Vanessa; Barnier, Amanda J. (1999). Measuring change in the subjective experience of hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 47 (1), 23-39.
The authors indexed the subjective experience of hypnosis through the use of a continuous behavioral measure of the strength of the participant’s experience at the tie of the suggestion. Specifically, subjects turned a dial to indicate changes in their experience of the suggested effect during that experience. Thirty-three high, 47 medium, and 28 low hypnotizable subjects were asked to use the dial during the suggestion, test, and cancellation phases of three hypnotic items: arm levitation, arm rigidity, and anosmia. The pattern of ratings differed according to the nature of the suggestion. Also, across the items, subjects who passed according to behavioral criteria experienced the suggested effect to a greater degree than those who failed. Notably, whereas the ratings of highs and mediums did not differ for any item, they differed from lows on all three items. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in terms of the potential for this method to provide insight into the experience of hypnosis.
Temes, Roberta (Ed.) (1999). Medical hypnosis: An introduction and clinical guide. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace, W. B. Saunders.
NOTES 1:
Contributors to text include Dabney Ewin, Melvin Gravitz, Elvira Lang, Dorothy Larkin, Al Levitan, Karen Olness.
1998
Eimer, Bruce; Freeman, Arthur (1998). Pain management psychotherapy: A practical guide. New York NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
NOTES
“Pain Management Psychotherapy” (PMP) provides a clear and methodical look at pain management psychotherapy beginning with the initial consultation and work-up of the patient and continuing through termination of treatment. It is a thoughtful and thorough presentation that covers methods for psychologically assessing the chronic pain patient (structured interviews, pain assessment tests and rating scales, instruments for evaluating beliefs, attitudes, pain behavior, disability, depression, anxiety, anger and alienation), treatment planning, cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, and a range of hypnotic approaches to pain management. The book covers both traditional (cognitive and behavior therapy, biofeedback, assessing hypnotizability, choice of inductions, designing an individualized self-hypnosis exercise) as well as newer innovative techniques (e.g., EMDR, pain-relief imagery, hypno-projective methods, hypno-analytic reprocessing of pain-related negative experiences). An extensive appendix reproduces in their entirety numerous forms, rating scale, inventories, assessment instruments, and scripts.
The senior author, Bruce Eimer, states in his online comments on Amazon.com that “most therapists hold the belief that ‘real’ chronic pain patients are quite impossible to help. This book attempts to dispel these misguided beliefs by providing a body of knowledge, theory, and techniques that have proven value in understanding and relieving chronic physical pain.” He also states that “the challenge for the therapist is to persuade the would-ne patient/client that he or she has something to offer that can help take way pain and bring back more pleasure. This challenge is negotiated through the therapeutic relationship. However, the therapist just can’t be ‘warm, accepting, non-judgmental and empathic’. The therapist must also have knowledge and skills relevant to relieving pain. Only then can the therapist impart such knowledge, and in teaching these skills to the pain patient, help the patient become something of a ‘self-therapist’. . . I dedicate this book to everyone who wants to find ways to make living with pain more comfortable, and to the ongoing search for better ways to relieve pain.”
1995
Green, J. P.; Lynn, Steven J. (1995, August). Dissociation, hypnotic amnesia and automatic writing: Is there an association?. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York.
This study examined whether differences in self-reported dissociative experiences (DES, Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) and past performance on hypnotic amnesia (HGSHS: A, Shor & Orne, 1962) influence the frequency of passing an automatic writing suggestion. Participants (N = 112) were divided into high hypnotizable (‘real’) and simulating groups. Results from a log linear analysis indicated that automatic writing was independent of both dissociation status and past performance on an ostensibly dissociative hypnotic suggestion (i.e., amnesia). Simulators were more than six times as likely to pass the automatic writing suggestion than reals. Findings were discussed in light of other research regarding the relation between the DES and hypnotizability. (ABSTRACT from Bulletin of Division 30, Psychological Hypnosis, Fall, 1995, Vol. 4, No. 3.)
1994
Lynn, Steven Jay (1994, October). Toward an integrative theory of hypnosis. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Francisco.
NOTES
This is a re-evaluation of neodissociation and cognitive models of hypnosis, and an attempt to be integrative. This paper focuses more on ideomotor behaviors but we will extend the model to other hypnotic behaviors in the future.
Automaticity of behavior in hypnosis can be accounted for without using a concept of divided consciousness or weakened consciousness. Parapraxes (doing one behavior while intending another) are not instances of decreased control of behavior, but relate to where attention is drawn. This requires a different use of the hierarchy concept from Hilgard’s model (which in turn comes from Hull’s concept of habit hierarchy).
Here hierarchy is a concept drawn from Miller, Galanter, & Pribram: acts are comprised of molecular units, that are comprised of even more molecular units. Behavior only needs to be processed at an executive level when unusual events occur. But one or more hierarchies may be set into motion at the same time. Dissociation is not an infrequent event. Behavior is controlled by subroutines rather than by an executive control structure; subroutines operate in parallel rather than in a hierarchy. Parapraxes are due to an overlap between two subfunctions.
Parapraxes are different from ideomotor responses, where we pay close attention and involuntariness is reported not just post facto but as part of the experience.
1992
Somerville, Wayne R.; Jupp, James J. (1992). Experimental evaluation of a brief ‘ideodynamic’ hypnotherapy applied to phobias. Contemporary Hypnosis, 9, 85-96.
This study used a test-retest design to investigate the effectiveness of a brief ‘ideodynamic’ hypnotherapy which notionally located and reformulated memories in the treatment of simple phobia disorder. Subjects were 19 phobics randomly assigned to treatment (n = 10) and waiting control groups (n = 9). Rapid, significant, and sustained relief from phobic fear and avoidance was reported by 50% of treatment subjects. A number of symptoms and therapy process variables were correlated with treatment outcome. These included a negative association with hypnotizability and a positive association with hypnotic depth estimates. The ramifications of these and other associations are discussed and it is concluded that the ‘ideodynamic approach’ investigated may have contributed a therapeutic effect beyond the operation of treatment non-specific factors. NOTES 1:
NOTES
Treatment consisted of: 1. Hypnotic induction. 2. Establishment of ideomotor signals described to clients as a means of communicating with the ‘inner unconscious mind’. 3. Beyond the first therapy session, a review of work done in previous sessions. 4. Gaining signaled permission from clients to work on their problem and for the ‘inner mind’ to review relevant memories. 5. Location of the ‘earliest critical event’ by the ‘inner mind’. 6. Review of the located memory by the ‘inner mind’. 7. Establishing age at the occurrence of the ‘critical’ event. 8. Ideomotor signaling indicating suitability of a visual imagoic processing of the event.
If visual processing was chosen, the dissociated viewing procedure (step 9A) was used next, otherwise the ego-state procedure (step 9B) was employed.
The authors describe each treatment step in detail. Each subject received at least two sessions of therapy, or a maximum of three sessions if signaling indicated the presence of further unresolved memories after two sessions.
They present a case illustrating that the approach is possible with minimally hypnotizable subjects, in the apparent absence of imagoic experience, ‘desensitization’, catharsis, unpleasant affect, talking through or ‘insight’.
“There was a positive correlation between changes in phobic fear and capacity for mental imagery which suggests that this may be one relevant variable in predicting response to memory reformulating therapy.
“There was a negative correlation between changes in fear and hypnotic responsiveness. So, successful therapeutic outcome was obviously not limited to highly hypnotizable subjects. Hypnotizability was assessed in a careful and standardized manner but testing was conducted 10 weeks following therapy. This meant that subjects had a substantial experience in hypnotherapy at assessment. Furthermore, at the time of assessment subjects were aware of the outcome of therapy and of the kinds of memories located during therapy. it has been suggested that an association between level of hypnotizedness achieved during treatment and outcome rather than an association between degree of hypnotizability possible during therapy and outcome, taps an hypnotic effect (Spiegel & Spiegel, 1978).
“All therapy sessions were of equal duration and, as the inductions were standardized, all subjects had an approximately equal opportunity to engage in memory reformulation. However, there were individual differences in the number of memories located and a strong significant association was found between reduced fear and the number of these critical memories that were dealt with. This result suggests that the therapeutic effect may have derived either from factors specific to the therapy cycle or from differing levels of motivation among subjects to undertake the necessary ‘work’.
“Maximum discomfort experienced during session two of treatment was negatively correlated with relief from phobic fears. This relationship may again reflect the influence of unresolved problematic memories on subjects who had not achieved relief by that time. It is clearly consistent with relief not being associated with painful abreaction.
“The therapy permitted a pervading privacy through the options of non- imaginative processing of recalled material (which was used by a substantial minority of subjects) and conscious withholding of the content of memories from the therapist (which was employed to a large extent by all subjects). Their reports indicated that this ‘privacy’ was seen as attractive by both successfully and unsuccessfully treated subjects. Taken with other results mentioned above these process findings suggest that the treatment studied stood up quite well against other brief but highly stressful exposure treatments for phobia currently in use (e.g. Ost, 1989).
“Further research needs to address the complex question as to what are the necessary and sufficient features of this procedure in producing therapeutic change. Unsolicited comments by subjects about their experience during treatment suggested that some of them were surprised by the ‘involuntary’ nature of their ideomotor signaling while others said that signaling was under their voluntary control. Some expressed surprise at the nature of the memories that came to them ‘suddenly’ during therapy. Some memories were of traumatic childhood experiences that were unexpected and considered to have ‘nothing to do with my phobia'” (pp 93-94).
1991
Madrid, Antonio D.; Barnes, Susan v.d.H. (1991). A hypnotic protocol for eliciting physical changes through suggestions of biochemical responses. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 122-128.
We employed brief hypnotherapy to effect physical changes in patients suffering from medical disorders including allergies, rectal bleeding, systemic lupus, hyperemesis, headache, asthma, and chronic pain. We present, in language appropriate to the individual patient, considerations and suggestions to effect the release of healing biochemicals. Ideomotor signals indicated the patient’s awareness of the healing. We hypothesize that the technique triggered novel state-dependent memory, learning, and behavior. NOTES 1:
NOTES: They hypothesize that the technique they use triggers novel state-dependent memory, learning, and behavior (See for example Rossi, 1987, and Rossi & Cheek, 1988).
Hypnotic Protocol: “1. Tell the patient that he can heal himself by allowing his body to supply its own biochemicals needed to make him well. If a specific biochemical is known, such as cortisone or endorphins, name it. “2. Hypnotize the patient. Resistant or hard to hypnotize patients need not be deeply hypnotized because the patients, using this protocol, will automatically go into trance while accomplishing the next task of accessing and using ideomotor signals (Erickson, 1980; Rossi & Cheek, 1988). “3. Tell the patient that his index finger will automatically and involuntarily twitch and float when his body releases the biochemicals he needs. This ideomotor response (Rossi & Cheek, 1988) is the sole physical response required of the patient. Rossi hypothesizes that the ideomotor response correlates with biochemical changes (Rossi & Cheek, 1988). “4. Next, ask the patient to consider some things (as described below). Present the considerations one after another until one of them triggers the ideomotor response. “5. In some instances, ask the patient to practice on his own. Many patients who have dramatic emotional reactions during or at the completion of the task may not need to practice on their own” (p. 123).
They present several ‘considerations’ to the patient, one after the other, tailored to the patient’s specific case, until his finger twitches or floats, indicating a biochemical response. For example, the following ‘considerations’ have been used: “1. Psychodynamic: ‘Consider that you are not blamed for anything; that you are in fact perfect just the way you are; that you are loved by those you care about.’ ‘Consider that you can forgive whoever needs forgiving for hurting you.’ ‘Consider that there are no longer any threats; everything is better; everything is as it used to be.’ “2. Autosuggestion: ‘Tell your body to heal. It knows what to do; so ask it to do it.’ ‘Tell your adrenal glands to produce the steroids that your body needs.’ ‘Allow a glowing light to permeate that injured back, filling it with healing energy.’ “3. Incompatible responses: ‘Cover yourself with a cool breeze, cooling the injured leg.’ ‘Imagine your back getting slack and limp and relaxed.’ ‘Imagine your stomach lining becoming smooth and moving with easy, ocean-like waves.’ “4. Emotion calling: ‘Consider yourself feeling very happy with everything, for no reason at all.’ ‘Consider yourself getting angry at someone–your mother, your wife (husband), your boss, your lawyer.’ “5. Bargaining: ‘Tell yourself that you will heal if you agree to stay away from that job.’ ‘Tell yourself you will heal by allowing your right arm to begin to hurt when you are over- exerting yourself.’ ‘Tell yourself that you will heal in exchange for something else, not so serious, to replace this disease and to serve the same function'” (pp. 123-124).
They present seven cases involving, respectively, allergies, rectal bleeding, systemic lupus, hyperemesis of pregnancy, adult onset asthma, chronic pain, and cluster headaches. Two cases were particularly interesting because they represented patients who did not respond initially.
Their procedure involves reframing the state or emotion originally associated with the onset of disease using considerations, and then giving a suggestion that it is within the power of the person, rather than factors outside, to heal the body. First they instruct the patient that the body can heal itself; then they give the list of suggestions for the patient to consider, persisting with different considerations until they get an ideomotor response. Incorporation of the patient’s psychodynamic issues appears to be very important.
The authors regard it as unimportant if the patient cannot by hypnotized; “As Cheek (Cheek & LeCron, 1968; Rossi & Cheek, 1988) points out, the patient’s inability to be hypnotized may be synonymous with his disease. It is actually beneficial if the patient cannot achieve ideomotor responses at first because both he and the therapist then trust the validity of the response when it does occur after the appropriate consideration” (p. 127).
1989
Meyer, H. K.; Diehl, B. J.; Ulrich, P. T.; Meinig, G. (1989). Changes in regional cortical blood flow in hypnosis. Zeitschrift fur Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychoanalyse, 35, 48-58.
NOTES
Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured by means of the 133-Xenon inhalation method in 12 healthy male volunteers who had several months of experience in doing self-hypnosis (autogenic training). During hypnotically suggested right arm levitation, as compared to resting conditions, they found an increase in cortical blood flow and an activation of temporal areas; the latter finding was considered to reflect acoustical attention. In addition, a so-far-unexplained deactivation of inferior temporal areas was observed during successful self hypnosis and hypnosis. While there was a global absolute increase of cortical blood flow bilaterally, they could not observe a relative increase of the right as compared to the left hemisphere during hypnosis. Several subjects successfully performed the levitation of the right arm, despite a relative left hemispheric activation, provided the absolute right hemispheric activation remained dominant.
Jupp, James J.; Collins, John K. (1985). Hypnotic responsiveness and depth in a clinical population. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 13 (1), 37-47.
Two samples of clinical subjects estimated depth during procedures which allowed their estimates to be related to aspects of responsivity. In Sample 1, subjects estimated depth after they scored their responsivities and tested their post-hypnotic recall. In Sample 2 subjects estimated depth before they had completed these tasks. Results suggested that subjects use the range of available information in making depth estimates and that they may be more influenced by the more obvious ideomotor challenge performances than by the cognitive distortion reponses, aspects of amnesia, or impressions of involuntariness.
1986
Crabtree, Adam (1984, October/1986). Explanations of dissociation in the first half of the twentieth century. In Quen, Jacques M. (Ed.), Split minds/split brains (pp. 85-108). New York: New York University Press. (Based on symposium in Bear Mt., N.Y., by Section on the History of Psychiatry of Cornell University Medical Center)
NOTES
In 1907 Morton Prince, Editor of Journal of Abnormal Psychology, introduced a symposium by listing 6 meanings of subconscious: 1. that portion of our field of consciousness which is outside the focus of attention 2. (Janet’s idea) – split off ideas which may be isolated sensations like the lost tactile sensation of anesthesia, or maybe aggregated into groups or systems. The author quotes Janet as stating that “they form a consciousness coexisting with the primary consciousness and thereby a doubling of consciousness results” (p. 87). The primary consciousness is usually dominant, but sometimes is reduced under exceptional conditions (e.g. automatic writing). 3. the subconscious _self_ or hidden self — a part of every human, not just seen in psychopathology; this is a personalized entity; every mind has a double, with the unconscious self having powerful effects on feelings, thoughts, and reactions of the conscious self 4. extends #3 to include not only ideas that remain active below surface but also those which are inactive — forgotten or out of mind 5. Frederic Myers’ concept of the ‘subliminal self’ which had 3 functions:
a) inferior – seen in processes of dissociation
b) superior – seen in works of genius, arising from ‘subliminal rush’ of information, feelings, and thoughts which lie below consciousness
c) mythopoeic – the unconscious tendency to create fantasies 6. physiological meaning, e.g. William Carpenter’s ‘unconscious cerebration’ in which unconscious phenomena are interpreted in terms of pure neural processes unaccompanied by mental activity.
Prince suggested some redefinitions to clarify unconscious and subconscious. He would replace Janet’s subconscious with co-conscious and reserve unconscious for physiological processes that lack the attributes of consciousness. Prince noted that co- conscious ideas have been called unconscious (e.g. by Freud) but said that is confusing and to be avoided.
“Coconscious ideas include states we are not aware of because they are not the focus of our attention, and also pathologically split-off and independently active ideas or systems of ideas, such as occur in hysteria and reach their most striking form in co- conscious personalities and automatic writing.
“Prince prefers the term coconscious to Janet’s subconscious for two reasons. First, because it expresses the simultaneous coactivity of a second consciousness. And second, because the coactive ideas or idea systems may not be outside the awareness of the personal consciousness at all. They may be recognized by the personal consciousness as a distinct consciousness existing alongside it.
“Thus, through his redefinition of terms, Prince makes simultaneous activity of two or more systems of consciousness in one individual the key element in dissociation. He thereby moves the issue of amnesia or lack of awareness by one system of another into the background, making it a secondary, nonessential element. Prince was one of the few to provide a theoretical framework for dissociation in which any combination of interawareness among the coconscious systems was possible” (p. 91).
Two researchers at the turn of the century came to opposite conclusions about the nature of the Subconscious Self that every human has. Morris Sidis saw it as “a brutelike consciousness with a tendency toward personalization. Frederic Myers held that it included those functions and much more, being the source of all that is human, including the highest intuitive powers” p. 96.
Bernard Hart, in 1910, did an analysis of Janet and Freud. Janet’s work is essentially descriptive: “he is always talking about a consciousness which manifests itself in a way we can _perceive_, whether by listening to it talk, reading its written communications, or watching its movements” (p. 97). However Janet’s spatial model of dissociation cannot explain the presence of the same material (e.g. memories) in two or more dissociated systems. According to Hart, Freud offered the conceptualization that Janet lacked, in his idea of the Unconscious .
Freud’s Unconscious is not in competition with Janet’s subconscious. “Janet’s subconscious is the arena of dissociated phenomena which manifest in observable form as elements coactive with the personal self. Freud’s unconscious is a conceptual, nonobservable construction put forward to explain certain facts of human experience. In this way Hart equates the unconscious with the atomic theory in physics or the theory of heredity in biology” p. 99. But Hart also thought Freud’s theory did not do justice to dissociative phenomena. Not only do psychoanalysts show little interest in double personality or multiple personality, they also neglected dissociation on the phenomenal level.
In 1915 Freud denied the existence of a second consciousness and wrote, “there is no choice for us but to assert that mental processes are in themselves unconscious, and to liken the perception of them by means of consciousness to the perception of the external world by means of the sense organs” (p. 101). Janet claimed that Freud had simply taken over his own system and given it a new terminology, and in 1924 Freud wrote an angry rebuttal. For him, “dissociated systems are simply separate groups of mental but unconscious elements. As our consciousness turns now to one group, now to another, as a searchlight shines now on one object and now on another, the dissociated groups manifest in conscious life. … There exists no doubling of consciousness” p. 102.
Jung’s ideas were closer to those of Janet, and like Janet he made dissociation a key concept in his theory. The _complex_ is unconscious, has an archetypal core clothed in personal experience, is like a self-contained psyche within the big psyche, sometimes called a fragmentary personality dwelling inside us. Dissociation for him meant being cut off from the Ego, which is the center of an individual’s field of consciousness. “Dissociated or autonomous complexes are those which have no direct association with the ego” (p. 103). If complexes are charged with enough energy they will become manifest–as a neurotic symptom, as projected into idea of a god or demon, or perhaps as an alternate personality. Therefore Jungian treatment aims at assimilating dissociated complexes into the ego.
1981
Gross, Meir, M. D. (1981). Hypnosis for dissociation — diagnostic and therapeutic. Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, 28 (2), 49-56.
NOTES
Dissociative disorders might be at times very difficult to diagnose and treat, especially since they are very similar to epilepsy in general and to temporal lobe epilepsy in particular. Amnesia, fugue, changing personality and depersonalization are part of both disorders. Patients who suffer from dissociative disorders might be diagnosed and treated for epilepsy with anticonvulsive medications without any beneficial results. These patients are labeled as epileptics and have to face the social stigmata associated with being epileptic. The wrong label could even reinforce the sick role and make it become fixed and chronic.
Hypnosis was used to diagnose the dissociative disorder by using the hand levitation technique for the differential diagnosis. It was found by the author that patients who suffer from dissociative disorders would get into spontaneous hypnotic trance during the hand levitation. Hypnosis was used also for successful therapy of these patients.
Seven cases are presented in which the hand levitation technique was used to diagnose the dissociative disorder. They were also treated by hypnotherapy. Their treatment by hypnosis is discussed. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the hand levitation technique for the differential diagnosis of dissociative disorder and to emphasize the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in the treatment of this disorder. Sorting out the cases of dissociative disorders from the epileptics is very important clinically, since it can save many patients from the anguish of having to take anti-convulsants unnecessarily and having to face the social stigmata of being labeled as epileptic.
1977
Anderson, J. W. (1977). Defensive maneuvers in two incidents involving the Chevreul pendulum: A clinical note. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 4-6.
“Hypnosis frequently facilitates increased access to the unconscious. In both of these cases, the hypnotized subject gained contact with a thought which otherwise would likely have remained out of awareness. Then the ego quickly resorted to defensive maneuvers in order to deny the thought” (p. 6).
1969
Garmize, L. M.; Marcuse, F. L. (1969). Some parameters of body sway. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 189-194.
Investigated the effects of 4 variables on body sway with 160 undergraduates. A 4-dimensional analysis of variance was performed on the body sway scores obtained. None of the main effects were significant. 1 of the interactions was significant, but might have been due to chance. Results are consistent with those of past researchers. (Spanish & German summaries) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1965
Das, J. P. (1965). Relationship between body-sway, hand-levitation, and a questionnaire measure of hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 13 (1), 26-33.
67 randomly selected college students were administered the body-sway test, a questionnaire measure of tranceability, and an induction procedure utilizing hand-levitation to determine hypnotic susceptibility. The 6 Es varied in age, sex; 5 of them had little experience as hypnotists. All reference to “hypnosis” was omitted from the induction procedure. Significant phi-coefficients between body-sway and levitation (.52), levitation and tranceability frequency (.28) and intensity (.25), and body-sway and tranceability intensity (.33) were obtained. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1963
Hoskovec, J.; Svorad, D.; Lanc, O (1963). The comparative effectiveness of spoken and tape-recorded suggestions of body sway. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11, 163-166.
The relative effectiveness of tape-recorded vs. spoken suggestions of body sway was measured. Both types of suggestion produced increased body sway. Spoken suggestions following recorded suggestions were the most effective. The expectation by Ss of a greater effectiveness of live presentation may have produced this result. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
LeCron, Leslie M. (1963). Uncovering early memories by ideomotor responses to questioning. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11, 137-142.
The author argues for the veridicality of birth and prenatal memories elicited by hypnosis, and in any event states they are therapeutically useful fantasies. He also advocates use of ideomotor signalling as a means of access to unconscious material. (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).
ILLUSION
1995
Dywan, Jane (1995). The illusion of familiarity: An alternative to the report-criterion account of hypnotic recall. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 194-211.
Hypnosis increases the likelihood that participants will report incorrect material at higher levels of confidence. One interpretation of such data is that hypnosis induces individuals to lower the criterion they use to make memory reports. A lowered report criterion could account for the increase in items that participants are willing to report as memories but not for the increase in confidence that typically accompanies hypnotic retrieval. Although some participants may indeed lower their report criterion, this alone should not result in the highly confident confabulation so often observed. An alternative perspective is that for some participants, hypnosis alters the experience of retrieval such that items generated during retrieval attempts are more likely to have the qualities (e.g., perceptual fluency, vividness) usually associated with remembering. This illusion of familiarity would account for the higher levels of confidence that are so frequently observed in hypnotic recall, and adopting this perspective should lead to even greater caution in the use of hypnosis as an aid to retrieval.
1994
Lynn, Steven Jay; Pezzo, Mark (1994, August). Close encounters with aliens? Simulated accounts following a hypnotic interview. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
NOTES 1:
A survey of 5900 adults regarding unusual experiences concluded that 1 of 50 Americans may have had UFO experiences.
This study resembles that of Lawson (1977), in which Ss were asked to imagine UFO experiences; their descriptions were difficult to distinguish from real reports. One problem with Lawson’s research is that he provided the Ss with information (e.g. to imagine they were abducted by aliens).
Our study differs from Lawson’s in that we didn’t actually hypnotize subjects. Our Ss’ task was to ‘simulate hypnosis, in recovered memory research.’ We manipulated cues provided to the Ss.
Ss were told their purpose was to role play an excellent hypnotic subject. Standard simulation instructions were given. Then they were told that hypnosis frequently is used to recover experiences that the Ss cannot remember.
Ss were given a description of a Scene: driving on a road in the country, no traffic, etc. They were told that they couldn’t remember 2 hours of what happened. Then a second Experimenter used a pseudo hypnotic induction, and told them they were going to recall material regarding events that had happened.
Ss completed an Omni Magazine questionnaire developed by Hopkins, who is an advocate of UFO sitings. They received the questionnaire either after the experiment, before the experiment, or with specific cues.
4 of 21 (19%) of the minimal cue condition Ss identified lights in the sky as a UFO; at the end, 52% saw a UFO. Thus, even with minimal information, subjects report interactive behavior. Almost all medium cue Ss reported the UFO. 17% felt a loss of control, being floated or transported to the spaceship. Only one S said the aliens were cruel. Only one of the role players picked up the word “trondant,” a word used by Hopkins to pick up simulators who are hypnotized.
Our findings present a conservative picture. When Ss thought they would be thrown out of the experiment if detected as simulators, they avoided talking about bizarre events. 15% who were told to role play a close encounter failed to do so!
Our findings do not imply that persons who report contacts are simulating; but the basis for such reports are widely available to college students.
Newman, Leonard S.; Baumeister, Roy F. (1994, August). Who would wish for the trauma? Explaining UFO abductions. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
NOTES 1:
UFO abduction reports are more frequent than ever before. 1979 200 1984 500 1988 5000 letters [to a magazine?] 1993 55,000 letters, with 200/wk still being sent Hopkins, Jacobs, & Westrum (1992) took a poll: 3.7 million abductees in U.S. were estimated.
These, I maintain, are motivated in attempt to accept the self; the phenomenon relates to masochism on a psychological level. I think we need a more psychological explanation than other arguments being presented. The other arguments being made are: 1. People are actually being abducted. 2. Abductees are publicity seeking liars. 3. These people cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality (but there is no evidence for that).
The two key questions we should attempt to answer are: 1. Why would people claim to remember things that did not actually happen to them? Most of these reports emerge under hypnosis. They may be creating memories rather than retrieving memories. 2. Why would people claim to remember _this_ in _particular_?
Maybe abductees are people with knowledge about reports of UFO experiences, with therapists who believe in paranormal experiences? Probably this is not the explanation.
In the ’50’s there were reports of space aliens who abducted people, taught them about peace, love, etc. and the need for intergalactic harmony. But stories today are very different.
They want to escape the self because the self is “me.” They may have done something that makes them feel stupid, unlovable; or it is just because of constantly having to maintain a positive self image. This kind of anxiety pertains to people who have an over-inflated presentation of the self. If you can avoid thinking about the implications of your behavior (e.g. through drinking, vigorous exercise, or masochism) you don’t have the anxiety.
Masochism is a bizarre way to obtain pleasure, but it underlines both of these things. It cancels out meaningful aspects of the self (thought, self reflection); and needs of control are denied (bondage); it negates esteem and dignity. People higher paid, in more responsible jobs, are more likely to engage in masochistic activity.
The main features of masochism also apply to abduction stories: 1. Pain 2. Loss of control 3. Humiliation 4. Demographics (abductees seem to come from higher socio-economic classes) 5. International pattern – mostly an American & British phenomenon 6. Concern with “selfhood” 7. Sexual differences. (There are male and female masochists, but the contents are different: females more often talked about humiliation involving display than men did. Abduction cases are the same: alien examination episode (display) are in 50% of male stories but 80% of female stories.)
1993
Atkinson, Richard P. (1993, October). Shifts in Muller-Lyer Illusion difference thresholds: Are high hypnotizables more sensitive than lows in hypnosis?. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington Heights, IL.
NOTES 1:
Refers to Wallace (1979) finding that hypnotizability correlates with afterimage persistence. Atkinson showed highs perform better than lows in perceptual tasks in hypnosis only. Also studies indicate highs are more susceptible to illusions. Our study showed difference in threshold and point of subjective equality for highs and lows.
32 undergraduates had Harvard and Group Stanford Form C, were 9-12 or 0-3 on both scales. Counterbalanced conditions of waking and hypnosis. Used computer monitor to compare length of lines. Waking condition Ss had to close eyes for 15 minutes before the trials, same length of time as for hypnosis condition.
Significant interaction between hypnotizability and sessions was observed: highs had significantly decreased difference thresholds in hypnosis compared to waking, and significantly decreased difference thresholds compared to lows in hypnosis. Thus they had greater sensitivity than lows.
The point of subjective equality ANOVA did not yield significant effects.
Highs show higher sensitivity to illusion in hypnosis than in waking, and more than the lows.
1992
Atkinson, Richard P.; Crawford, Helen J. (1992). Individual differences in afterimage persistence: Relationships to hypnotic susceptibility and visuospatial skills. American Journal of Psychology, 105 (4), 527-539.
To investigate the moderating role of individual differences in hypnotic susceptibility and visuospatial skills on afterimage persistence, we presented a codable (cross) flash of light to 40 men and 46 women who had been dark adapted for 20 minutes. In an unrelated classroom setting, subjects had previously been given two standardized scales of hypnotic susceptibility (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Shor & Orne, 1962; Group Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, Crawford & Allen, 1982) and the Mental Rotations Test (Vandenberg & Kuse, 1978). The first afterimage interval and the afterimage duration correlated significantly with hypnotic responsiveness, supporting Wallace (1979), but did not show the anticipated relationships with mental rotation visuospatial skills. Individuals in the high hypnotizable group had (a) significantly longer afterimage intervals between its first appearance and first disappearance than did those in low groups, but those in medium groups did not differ significantly from the other groups. Discriminant analysis using the afterimage persistence measures classified correctly 65.2% of high hypnotizables, 37.5% of medium hypnotizables, and 54.8% of low hypnotizables. Hypothesized cognitive skills that assist in the maintenance of afterimages and underlie hypnotic susceptibility include abilities to maintain focused attention and resist distractions over time and to maintain vivid visual images.
NOTES: DISCUSSION
“Because there is no apparent evidence for physiological differences of the visual system between low and high hypnotizables (e.g., Wallace, 1979), cognitive factors are suggested as possible moderators of afterimage persistence.
“Hypnotic susceptibility per se is not the moderator of afterimage duration. Rather, we argue that hypnotic susceptibility represents a constellation of underlying cognitive skills (e.g., for reviews, see Crawford, 1989; Kihlstrom, 1985) that assist an individual to respond to hypnotic suggestions as well as assist in the persistence of afterimages by interacting with more primary casual mechanisms that are physiological in origin. These cognitive skills are thought to include the abilities to focus attention selectively upon both external stimuli and internally generated images, to maintain vivid visual images, to sustain attention over time and remain absorbed in the experience at hand, and to resist distractions. The relationships between these cognitive skills and hypnotic susceptibility are reported in a large body of literature (e.g., Crawford, 1982, 1989; Crawford et al., 1991; Crawford & Grumbles, 1988; Finke & Macdonald, 1978; Grumbles & Crawford, 1981; Mitchell, 1970; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974)….
“Sustained and selective attention without interference from extraneous stimuli plays an important role in hypnosis. Individuals who are responsive to hypnosis demonstrate greater skills in extremely focused and sustained attention (e.g., Crawford et al., 1991; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974). Electrophysiological research had found that high hypnotizables often generate substantially more theta electroencephalogram (EEG) power than do low hypnotizables (e.g., Crawford 1990, 1991; Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992; Sabourin, Cutcomb, Crawford, & Pribam, 1990). Such a relationship may be interpreted as further evidence of greater attentional skills in highs, because certain theta waves have been correlated with enhanced problem solving and attentional task performance (e.g., Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992; Schacter, 1977)….
“Hypnosis is seen often as a condition of amplified attention, where attention can be either more focused or diffuse dependent upon set (e.g., Krippner & Binder, 1974). Increases in vigilant performance during hypnosis have been reported, albeit inconsistently (e.g., Barabasz, 1980; Fehr & Stern, 1967; Kissen, Reifler, & Thaler, 1964; Smyth & Lowy, 1983). Fehr and Stern’s results suggest that hypnotized subjects devote more attention to a primary task with less available attentional resources for a secondary task. Hypnosis has been found to have an enhancing effect on the imaginal processing of information-to-be-remembered that consists of literal or untransformed representations of pictorial or nonverbal information for high but not low hypnotizables (Crawford & Allen, 1983; Crawford, Nomura, & Slater, 1983; Crawford, Wallace, Nomura, & Slater, 1986). This may possibly be the result of increased attention and/or shifts in cognitive strategies. Supportive of the hypothesis that sustained attention can be enhanced during hypnosis, Atkinson (1991) recently found that high but not low hypnotizables report significantly more persistent afterimages in hypnosis than in waking.
“Although we have argued for a cognitive explanation for individual differences in afterimage persistence and their possible relationship to hypnotic susceptibility and sustained attentional abilities, as has Wallace (1979, 1990), we must point out the possibility that high hypnotizables may be more suggestible to imagery instructions or more willing to discuss or experience imagery than low hypnotizables, particularly in the context of hypnosis and hypnotic susceptibility testing (e.g., Zamansky, Scharf, & Brightbill, 1964). A contextual account of the longstanding relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and absorption was raised by Council, Kirsch, and Hafner (1986), but was not supported by two independent, and more methodologically sound, studies reported by Nadon, Hoyt, Register, and Kihlstrom (1991). The context of hypnosis was not an issue in the present study, because none of the subjects was aware of the investigated relationship between afterimage persistence and hypnotic susceptibility at the time of recruitment or participation” (pp. 533-535).
Perry, Campbell (1992, October). J. Phillip Sutcliff’s contributions to the field of hypnosis. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington, VA.
NOTES 1:
Sutcliff did research that led him to conclude that the high hypnotizable was deluded rather than truly perceiving things, and he said the high is simply strongly emotionally invested in the suggested belief.
Wallace, Benjamin; Kokoszka, Andrzej (1992). Experience of peripheral temperature change during hypnotic analgesia. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 40, 180-193.
Many Subjects who experience hypnotic analgesia in a portion of their body often report that it is accompanied by sensations of coldness in the affected area. Experiments were conducted to determine if such reports are the result of a physical change in peripheral temperature or are due to psychological factors. When analgesia was induced in a limb or in the back of the neck, a concomitant physical change in temperature was not observed. Subjects did report experiencing coldness, however, in the affected body part. Such experiences were attributed to associations that Subjects developed between numbness or analgesia and a drop in peripheral temperature. As a result, coldness as an associate of hypnotic analgesia is suggested as a manipulation check for the presence of such sensation reduction. NOTES 1:
NOTES
When a limb feels numb, there also appears to be degradation of proprioceptive abilities (Wallace & Garrett, 1973, 1975; Wallace & Hoyenga, 1980). When Ss are asked to touch their nose with finger, either subjects miss the nose or they take longer to do the task. This kind of proprioceptive decrement has also been reported by Spanos, Gorassini, and Petrusic (1981) and Welch (1978, p. 27).
This study used highly hypnotizable Ss (10-12 on Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) and low hypnotizables (0-2) in Experiment 1 which established temperature variability in an arm and sites for measuring temperature during hypnotic analgesia.
In Experiment 2, 40 subjects (20 highs and 20 lows by above standards, with group assignment confirmed by Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, on which highs M = 10.4, lows M = 1.2) were given relaxation imagery (e.g. to imagine a white, fluffy cloud gently moving across a deep, blue sky during a count of 20, while at the same time, listening only to the voice of E describing the scene to them.
The analgesia suggestion was that “their right arm had been injected with massive doses of Novocain, that Novocain had been injected in their shoulder, in their elbow, in their forearm, in their hand, and in their fingers … their arm would become progressively more and more numb as E counted backward from 20 to 1” (p. 185; for more details see Wallace & Hoyenga, 1981). They were asked to perform the nose touch test as confirmation of the analgesia suggestion response.
Highs and lows who served as control subjects had the same treatment except instead of analgesia instructions they were told their arm would become progressively more and more relaxed as E counted backwards from 20 to 1.
The peripheral skin temperature was monitored during the procedures, and following the experimental manipulation Ss completed a questionnaire on their experience of numbness, heaviness, changes in limb temperature (very warm to very cold), and changes in mobility.
Analyses of variance were used to analyze the results. Although there were no objective skin temperature changes, there was a significant interaction effect for pointing error. Highs who received analgesia suggestions were off 4.35 cm; the other 3 groups had mean error of .45 cm or less. There was also an interaction effect for latency of response: highs with analgesia instructions took 3.05 seconds longer than in relaxation condition, while other three groups only took .27 sec longer, on average. Additionally, there was a correlation between receiving analgesia instructions and feeling limb heaviness for the high hypnotizables (r = .68) but not for lows or for any Ss asked to relax their arm during the procedures.
The sensation of coldness was reported by the majority of highs receiving analgesia suggestions (7 of 10), but 2 Ss scoring 12 on the SHSS:C did not report coldness. Cold sensation was not reported by any S in any of the three other groups. The correlations between cold sensation and heaviness (r = .65, p<.05) and cold sensation and immobility (r = .79, p<.05) were found only in the High hypnotizable, analgesia suggestion group.
The authors performed a third experiment to determine whether temperature change could be used to confirm analgesia. This would be useful when one cannot confirm with inability to move the body part, e.g. when the analgesia is being developed in a part of the body that usually doesn't move. The design for Experiment 3 was the same as for Experiment 2.
Analgesia rated on a 7-point scale was reported as 6.1 by high hypnotizables and 1.2 by low hypnotizables. "Reports of a temperature change during the induction were also related to hypnotic analgesia and being classified as high in hypnotizability. Such a relationship was only significant, however, for a feeling of coldness (r = .63, p <.05), and 7 of the 10 high hypnotizable Subjects assigned to the analgesia group reported the aforementioned sensation. A significant experiencing of a temperature change (cold or warm) was not reported by the other three groups of Subjects" (p. 189).
In their Discussion, the authors suggest that expectancy might account for the results, since during post-experiment interviews many Ss said that they expected their arm would become cold when it was numb. That was based on their previous experience, e.g. in placing ice on the skin. Notable, people did not exhibit this association if they were not able to develop the analgesia in response to suggestion.
The authors also take note of the fact that none of the Subjects reported associating cold with pain, though cold and pain often are concurrently experienced. This might be because only extreme cold is painful, and coolness might actually be perceived as pleasant.