Krenz, Eric W. (1984). Improving competitive performance with hypnotic suggestions and modified autogenic training: Case reports. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 27, 58-63.
Although traditionally trainers of athletes have emphasized physiological refinements for the optimal performance of complex motor skills, research has revealed that heightened levels of stress and anxiety may adversely affect performance. As a result, many athletic training programs, taking into consideration the complex interrelationship of the mind and the body, include “mental training” in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of excess stress. These programs have incorporated various psychological interventions such as post hypnotic suggestions, sensory conditioning, and mental imagery and rehearsal. Modified Autogenic Training, a teaching model based on Standard Autogenic Training, synthesizes the strengths of hypnotic techniques to achieve optimal athletic performance. Athletes trained in these concepts can manage unexpected incidences during competition. The concepts of Modified Autogenic Training are described and four case studies are reported.
Newton, Bernauer (1984, October). The use of imagery in the treatment of cancer patients. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Antonio, TX.
Several hundred cancer patients were treated with the Simonton visualization method, with the additional factor that they were hypnotized for the visualization. In a long term follow-up study, those patients who were treated for at least 6 months and are still alive had imagery that was vivid, persistent, positive, and passive (“passive” here meaning an underlying sense of calm). Those who died had the opposite kind of images, and retrospective review of clinical notes indicates their aggressive images reflected desperation. Of the patients who were treated less than six months, a few lived. Their images also were vivid, persistent, and positive.
1983
Crawford, Helen J.; Allen, Steven N. (1983). Enhanced visual memory during hypnosis as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 112 (4), 662-685.
To investigate the hypothesis that hypnosis has an enhancing effect on imagery processing, as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies, four experiments compared performance of low and high, or low, medium, and high hypnotically responsive subjects in waking and hypnosis conditions on a successive visual memory discrimination task that required detecting differences between successively presented picture pairs in which one member of the pair was slightly altered. Consistently, hypnotically responsive individuals showed enhanced mean number of correct performance during hypnosis, whereas nonresponsive ones did not. Hypnotic responsiveness correlated .52 (p < .001) with enhanced performance during hypnosis, but it was uncorrelated with waking performance (Experiment 3). Reaction time was not affected by hypnosis, although high hypnotizables were faster than lows in their responses (Experiments 1 and 2). NOTES 1: NOTES Subjects reported enhanced imagery vividness on the self-report Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire during hypnosis. The differential effect between lows and highs was in the anticipated direction but not significant (Experiments 1 and 2). Two cognitive strategies appeared to mediate visual memory performance: (a) detail strategy (memorization and rehearsal of individual details) and (b) holistic strategy (looking at and remembering the whole picture with accompanying imagery). Both lows and highs reported predominantly detail-oriented strategies during waking; however the highs shifted to a more holistic strategy during hypnosis. It appears that high hypnotizables have a greater capacity than lows for cognitive flexibility (Battig, 1979). Results are discussed in terms of Paivio's (1971) dual coding theory and Craik and Tulving's (1975) depth of processing theory. The authors also discuss whether hypnosis involves a shift in cerebral dominance, as reflected by the cognitive strategy changes and enhanced imagery processing. Farthing, G. William; Venturino, Michael; Brown, Scott W. (1983). Relationship between two different types of imagery vividness questionnaire items and three hypnotic susceptibility scale factors: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 31, 8-13. 122 Ss were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962), the Tellegen Absorption Scale (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), and 2 tape-recorded questionnaires on vividness of mental imagery. On 1 imagery questionnaire the items were impersonal, objective visual scenes (MIQ:VS), whereas on the other questionnaire the items involved discrete personal actions which elicited a combination of visual and kinesthetic imagery (MIQ:PA). Imagery vividness scores from both questionnaires correlated significantly with hypnotizability scores. MIQ:VS vividness scores were better than MIQ:PA vividness scores at predicting cognitive factor item scores of HGSHS:A, but not ideomotor or challenge factor items scores. Multiple correlations involving MIQ:VS vividness and the Tellegen predicted cognitive factor scores better than ideomotor or challenge factor scores. Harris, Gina M.; Johnson, Suzanne Bennett (1983). Coping imagery and relaxation instructions in a covert modeling treatment for test anxiety. Behavior Therapy, 14, 144-157. The present study compared the efficacy of instructing test anxious subjects to use personalized coping imagery based on nonacademic experiences of competence with coping imagery based on academic experiences of competence. The effect of relaxation was also examined and the relationship of imagery elaborateness and content to treatment effectiveness was assessed. Sixty-three subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatments or a waiting list control group. Test anxiety as measured by a self-report instrument significantly decreased in all treatment groups. Improvement in grade point average occurred for all treatment groups except for academic coping imagery without relaxation which was also the least efficient treatment. The waiting list control group significantly deteriorated in academic performance. Relaxation training did not appear to enhance treatment effectiveness or influence the elaborateness or content of the imagery used. Test anxiety scenes elicited highly response- oriented images by all subjects. However, the stimulus/response content of the subjects' images was not influenced by treatment outcome. In contrast, successful treatment was primarily associated with reduction in negative coping imagery descriptions, although an increase in positive coping statements cured as well. Myles, (1983, April). Cognition, hypnotic susceptibility, and laboratory induced pain (Dissertation, University of Waterloo). Dissertation Abstracts International, 43 (10), 3360-B. Individuals' experiences of pain, and responses to pain treatments vary greatly. This study attempted to relate two areas of research concerned with this variation: (a) cognitions and pain (thoughts, images, etc.), in particular, catastrophizing versus coping; and (b) hypnotic susceptibility and analgesia. "Subjects were preselected for high or low hypnotic susceptibility. Susceptibility assessment was divorced from the laboratory study to minimize the potential bias of expectancies concerning hypnosis. High hypnotic susceptibility was expected to potentiate therapeutic effects of hypnotic-like treatment that did not involve a hypnotic induction. "Ten high and ten low-susceptible subjects were assigned to each of three groups: (a) a cognitive treatment, encouraging subjects to reduce spontaneous catastrophizing and increase self-generated coping cognitions; (b) a dissociative imagery treatment, encouraging subjects to engage in self-generated engrossing images; (c) an attention- placebo manipulation. "Pre and post-treatment assessments involved tolerance and pain-report measures during the cold-pressor task, and interview and questionnaire information concerning cognitions. "No treatment effects were evident on measures of pain. Cognitive data indicated less catastrophizing and more coping during the post-treatment stressor across all groups. Subjects in the dissociative imagery group did report more imagery during the post- treatment assessment than subjects in the other groups, but this increased use of imagery was not associated with a decrease in pain. "Interview and questionnaire data supported prior reports that catastrophizing is related to increased pain. Low catastrophizing was associated with a high sense of control, high use of a variety of coping strategies, and lower pain reports. These relationships were altered following treatment, however, leading to a caution in generalizing about such variables. "High susceptibility did not potentiate therapeutic effects for either experimental treatment. Nor was susceptibility related in any other consistent way to pain, although high susceptibility was associated with more extensive use of post-treatment imagery. "Methodological inconsistencies and problems in laboratory pain research were discussed, and suggestions made for future work in the area" (p. 3360). 1982 Blum, Gerald S.; Nash, John K. (1982). EEG correlates of posthypnotically controlled degrees of cognitive arousal. Memory and Cognition, 10, 475-478. Experimental control over five degrees of cognitive (as opposed to organismic) arousal has been developed by hypnotic programming techniques. Previously these posthypnotic manipulations have been applied to the investigation of diverse topics such as visual discrimination, performance on the Stroop test, selective concentration on color versus form of consonants, and cognitive "reverberation." The present study explored EEG correlates of the five degrees of cognitive arousal in a task requiring participants to visualize objects for one-minute periods while lying on a couch with eyes closed. Analysis of data from the occipital area in left and right hemispheres revealed that the highest degree of arousal was accompanied by larger amplitudes of alpha and beta power and smaller amplitudes of theta. This pattern of results was similar in both hemispheres, although more marked in the left. The findings, which provide an independent source of support for validity of the hypnotic programming, are discussed in relation to EEG literature on cognitive activity. NOTES Hypnosis doesn't enhance imagery. It provides the conditions under which mental alertness may be manipulated, and very clear imagery is associated with the alert condition whereas blurry imagery is associated with the lowest cognitive arousal condition. The other impression comes from clinical work, i.e. that hypnosis enhances imagery. This article is an example of hypnosis used in other research--see last page. Bowers, Patricia G. (1982). The classic suggestion effect: Relationships with scales of hypnotizability, effortless experiencing, and imagery vividness. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 30 (3), 270-279. How well the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales assess what Weitzenhoffer (1978) terms the "classic suggestion effect" is addressed by developing an index of nonvolitional behavior (N-VB) for a group form of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1962) given to 43 Ss. The N- VB index, reflecting the classic suggestion effect's dual criteria of both behavioral responsiveness to suggestion and nonvolition ratings, was correlated highly with the traditional scoring of the group SHSS:C and moderately with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Effortless experiencing of imagination and imagery vividness relate similarly to traditional and N-VB scores of hypnotizability. In addition, the relationship between involuntary ratings and passing and failing an item of the group SHSS:C was examined for each of the 10 items. There was a significant relationship for 7 of the items. Brown, Daniel P.; Forte, Michael; Rich, Philip; Epstein, Gerald (1982-83). Phenomenological differences among self hypnosis, mindfulness meditation, and imaging. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2 (4), 291-309. A survey of 122 subjects was conducted to investigate the differences in the phenomenological quality of the experiences engendered by three types of awareness discipline: self-hypnosis (21 Ss), waking dreaming (49 Ss) and mindfulness meditation (25 Ss from a 2-week retreat, and another group of 27 Ss from a 2-day weekend retreat). A questionnaire, the profile of Trance, Imaging, and Meditation Experience (TIME) was used in the survey. Discriminant analyses were used to construct models of the differences in the phenomenological quality of the experiences among the three groups. A number of phenomenological dimensions, in the major areas of attention, thinking, memory, imagery, body sensations, emotions, time sense, reality sense, and sense of self, were found which could accurately distinguish among the experiences of practitioners of the three types of awareness training. Results show that while self hypnosis involves self-referential thinking, memory changes, and intense emotions, waking dreaming emphasizes the immediate impact of emerging images, which unfold in a thematic manner and have a sense of their own reality. Mindfulness meditators have difficulty managing distractions, but with experience learn greater awareness of bodily processes, and experience changes in the perception of time and self; mental processes seem to slow down, and awareness assumes an impersonal quality. No attributions as to the causes or sources of these phenomenological differences are made, as the survey was not large enough to provide comparison groups, subject matching, or other statistical controls necessary for causal analyses. (Information taken from a pre-publication manuscript.) Crawford, Helen J. (1982). Cognitive processing during hypnosis; much unfinished business. Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, 7, 169-179. Studies of cognitive processing during hypnosis per se are reviewed suggesting that hypnotically responsive individuals not only experience subjective changes during hypnosis that are seen as often being discontinuous from their normal consciousness but also may exhibit measurable cognitive changes. Evidence (ego functioning changes, enhanced creativity, enhanced imagery processing, etc.) is presented to support the hypothesis that hypnosis may involve a shift in cognitive functioning away from a verbal, detail-oriented strategy towards a more imaginal, non-analytic, holistic- oriented strategy. Limitations of present research and potentially valuable research areas are discussed. NOTES 1: NOTES The author reviews evidence for cognitive changes during hypnosis--evident especially in high hypnotizables but also to some degree in moderate hypnotizables. She concludes that there may be changes in ego functioning, imagery functioning, creativity, and strategy preferences and that high hypnotizables are more flexible in cognitive processing . "The question remains whether or not there are accompanying objectively measurable cognitive changes during hypnosis" (p. 170). "In normal waking consciousness, the hypnotically responsive individual is typically found to be more involved in nonhypnotic imaginative activities and experiences (Hilgard, 1979; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), more able to image things (for review, see Sheehan, 1979) and daydream vividly and positively (Crawford, 1982), more able to perceive gestalt closure figures (Crawford, 1981), more able to divert attentional process (e.g., Karlin, 1979), and more creative on certain tasks (e.g., P. Bowers, 1979). Experiential reports indicate that it is these very cognitive processes, amongst others, which are perceived to be enhanced or changed during the hypnotic state" (p. 170). "Levin and Harrison (1976) found that hypnosis ego changes occurred most in those individuals who also demonstrated good capacity for adaptive regression in the waking state" (p. 171). "Dave (1979) compared hypnotically induced dreams with rational-cognitive treatment as to their effects on creative problem solving of the problems or projects. 'Conditional support' was given to the significantly stronger effect form the hypnotically induced dreams" (p. 172). There are many investigations of the effect of hypnosis on imagery, with a number of methodological problems. "Self-reports can be criticized on the grounds that they are easily subject to demand characteristics, subject expectations, and social desirability influences. Coe et al. (1980) found order of condition influenced their findings, while Crawford (1979) found that imagery rating scales suffered from a low ceiling effect among high imagers" (pp. 172-173). "Surprisingly, while the field of cognitive psychology has devoted extensive attention to the study of the enhancing effects of imagery upon memory, few of their paradigms have been applied to the study of hypnotic processing of information. Germaine to the field of hypnosis are three operational approaches to the investigation of imagery: (a) the manipulation of the availability of imagery as a coding device, such as varying the degree to which stimuli may evoke imagery, (b) the manipulation of the processing strategy in cognitive performance, such as asking subjects to use imagery in the mediation of stimuli information, and (c) the comparing of information processing strategies and performance in subjects who are low and high in imagery ability (Paivio, 1971)" (p. 173). "Several studies (Nomura, Crawford, & Slater, 1981; Walker, Garrett, & Wallace, 1976; Wallace, 1978) found that a very few high hypnotizables can successfully produce eidetic imagery, using nonfakable stereograms, during hypnosis even though they cannot during waking. Spanos, Ansari, & Stam (1979) were unable to replicate these findings. It was only self-reported childhood eidetikers who exhibited eidetic imagery during hypnosis, and then only a few. This research suggestions that hypnosis permits certain individuals to access the "lost" ability to image eidetically, possibly through a shift in cognitive strategies" (p. 174). "An underlying emphasis of this paper is the need for hypnotic investigators to integrate findings form cognitive psychology into their research, as well as apply the many new approaches to understanding brain functioning which are now being developed, inn their search for a better understanding of what occurs during hypnosis" (p. 176). Crawford, Helen J. (1982). Hypnotizability, daydreaming styles, imagery vividness, and absorption: A multidimensional study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42 (5), 915-926. In 25 male and 31 female university student and staff volunteers, the interrelationships between the following measures were studied: hypnotic susceptibility (SHSS:A and C), imagery vividness (VVIQ), involvement in everyday activities (TAS), and daydreaming styles (28 scales of Singer & Antrobus's Imaginal Processes Inventory). Factor analysis produced a factor characterized as a positively vivid and absorptive imagination style. Hypnotic susceptibility, VVIQ, TAS, and positive-affect daydreaming styles all loaded on this factor. Two other factors were a dysphoric daydreaming style and a lack-of-attentional-control style. Stepwise multiple regressions suggested that males and females, at least within this sample, exhibit different relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and predictor variables. Similar differences were found for the VVIQ and the TAS and their daydreaming-scale predictor variables. Farthing, G. William; Brown, Scott W.; Venturino, Michael (1982). Effects of hypnotizability and mental imagery on signal detection sensitivity and response bias. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 30, 289-305. It was hypothesized that the ability to selectively concentrate attention on mental images would be greater among high hypnotizable Ss than among low hypnotizable Ss, as indicated by a greater interference with visual signal detection by concurrent visual mental imagery in response to specified nouns. This hypothesis was not supported in the overall results, though the finding of a significant interference effect among the high hypnotizable female Ss, but not among other subgroups, indicates that further research with a more refined procedure might be worthwhile. On the control trials without images, the high hypnotizable Ss made more false alarms than lows, and had a significantly different bias index indicating that high hypnotizable Ss were more likely than lows to respond "yes" when uncertain about whether the signal was present; false alarms can be interpreted as a nonhypnotic measure of suggestibility. The high and low hypnotizable Ss did not differ in their times to generate images in response to the specified nouns. 1981 DeForest, F. D.; Johnson, L. S. (1981). Modification of stimulation seeking behavior in psychopaths using hypnotic sensory imagery conditioning. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 23, 184-194. NOTES This is a controlled clinical outcome study of psychotherapy involving the use of hypnosis Dosamantes-Alperson, Erma (1981). Experiencing in movement psychotherapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 4, 33-44. Experiencing is a process variable in psychotherapy which deals with the manner with which individuals use their internal, ongoing bodily-felt flow of experience to gain self-awareness and to communicate about themselves. A consistent finding across research process studies in psychotherapy is that successful clients start, continue, and end therapy at higher experiencing levels than do less successful clients. The implication of this finding for all therapists, irrespective of their theoretical framework, is that they need to help their clients process the content they raise in therapy at a high level of experiencing throughout the course of therapy. This paper discusses and demonstrates several body movement based procedures that enhance clients' experiencing level while working within the context of experiential movement psychotherapy, a form of psychotherapy which emphasizes the acquisition of personal meanings by clients from any of the following three experiential and expressive modalities: body movement, kinetic imagery, or verbal communication. Fromm, Erika; Brown, Daniel P.; Hurt, Stephen W.; Oberlander, Joab Z; Boxer, Andrew M.; Pfeifer, Gary (1981). The phenomena and characteristics of self-hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29 (3), 189-247. Self-hypnosis and hetero-hypnosis were compared, and self-hypnosis was studied longitudinally. Results indicated that absorption and the fading of the general reality orientation are characteristics of both hetero-hypnosis and self-hypnosis. The differentiating characteristics lie in the areas of attention and ego receptivity. Expansive, free-floating attention and ego receptivity to stimuli coming from within are state-specific for self-hypnosis, while concentrative attention and receptivity to stimuli coming from one outside source--the hypnotist on whom the subject concentrates his attention--are state- specific for laboratory defined hetero-hypnosis. Attempts to produce age regression and positive or negative hallucinations are markedly more successful in hetero-hypnosis. Imagery is much richer in self-hypnosis than in hetero-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis requires adaptation to the state: in the beginning of self-hypnosis there is a good deal of anxiety and self-doubt. As the subject feels more comfortable in the self-hypnotic state, he spends less time worrying about failures in self-suggestion, his ability to enter trance quickly and easily increases, as does the fading of the general reality orientation, trance depth, and absorption. An attempt was also made in the present study to find personality characteristics related to the ability to experience self-hypnosis. Houston, Rodney Earl (1981). The effects of autohypnosis, imagery, or single suggestion on pain threshold and tolerance (Dissertation, University of Cincinnati). Dissertation Abstracts International, 42 (5), 1961-A. NOTES Pain threshold, pain tolerance, and subject's subjective opinion of the pain were studied in 94 volunteer subjects (75 female, 19 male), who had been randomly assigned to three treatment groups (self hypnosis, in-vivo imagery, single suggestion) and a control group. (The original randomized sample included 124 Ss, but 30 were lost to the study-- 22 because of initial baseline scores being above maximum, 2 after reading the consent form, and 6 not returning for post-testing.) Mean age was 25; age range was 18-59 years. The pain stimulus was 33 degree F. ice water in which the dominant hand was submerged for as long as the subjects were able. Subjects were told to nod when pain was first felt (threshold), and remove their hand when the pain was more than they could tolerate (tolerance). They were then asked to rate the pain on a 7-point scale, from 'none' to 'extreme.' Thus the three outcome measures were threshold time, tolerance time, and degree of perceived pain. During the week between pretesting and posttesting, the self hypnosis group was to listen to a tape training them in self hypnosis at least twice; the imagery group was to listen to their imagery training tape at least twice; the simple suggestion group received no training. Posttesting was the same as pretesting, except that the simple suggestion group was given the single waking suggestion, "You will be able to withstand the pain much longer this time." The experimental predictions were that treatment groups would increase in threshold levels and tolerance levels more than the control group; and that the treatment groups would decrease more than the control group in reported pain level. Multivariate analysis of variance of difference scores (pre- to posttest) demonstrated significant differences on the three dependent measures when comparing the three treatment groups to the control group. " Significant differences were also found when comparing treatment groups, autohypnosis and imagery to those given the single suggestion. No significant differences were found when comparing the autohypnosis to the imagery treatment. "The results indicate that training in autohypnosis and in-vivo imagery has an effect on threshold, tolerance and pain levels. The results also indicate that the use of a single suggestion may not have an effect on threshold, tolerance, and pain levels" (p. 1961). 1980 Coe, William C.; St. Jean, R. L.; Burger, J. M. (1980). Hypnosis and the enhancement of visual imagery. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 28, 225-234. The enhancing effect of hypnosis on the vividness and the control of imagery was investigated. In 1 experiment, Ss who volunteered to be hypnotized were administered 2 measures of imagery, 1 under hypnotic conditions and 1 under imagination instructions while waking (counter-balanced). In another experiment, the imagery of 2 independent samples of Ss (waking or hypnotized) who volunteered for an imagery experiment was evaluated. Of the samples, hypnosis enhanced the vividness and control of imagery in only 1 -- the sample with Ss who volunteered for hypnosis and were first administered a test of imagination while awake. Between the 2 independent samples, control of imagery was reduced in the hypnotized sample. There were no differences in the findings on vividness and control of imagery across high, medium, and low susceptible Ss. Combining all Ss, the correlation between vividness of visual imagery and hypnotic responsiveness was significant for males (r = .52) and the total sample (r = .33) but not for females (r = .15). Similar correlations for the control of imagery were not significant for males or females alone, but they were for the total sample (r = .18). The implications of the results are discussed in light of their relevance to theory, future research, and clinical practice. 1979 Beers, Thomas M.; Karoly, Paul (1979). Cognitive strategies, expectancy, and coping style in the control of pain. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 179-180. Measures of tolerance, self-reported pain threshold, and overall discomfort of cold-pressor pain were obtained from 114 male subjects in a pretest-training-posttest experiment. Training consisted of brief practice in one of four cognitive strategies: rational thinking, compatible imagery, incompatible imagery, and task-irrelevant cognition. Analyses of covariance indicated (a) that cognitive-imaginal strategies facilitated endurance of pain and raised self-reported threshold, (b) that rational thinking and compatible imagery were generally the most effective treatments, (c) that expectancy alone was not a significant pain-attenuating factor, (d) that treatments did not affect discomfort ratings, and (e) that individual differences in imaginal ability and coping style did not correlation with changes in any of the dependent measures. 1978 Bowers, Patricia G. (1978). Hypnotizability, creativity and the role of effortless experiencing. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 26, 184-202. Creative people and highly hypnotizable people describe their experience of finding creative solutions or responding to hypnotic suggestions as "effortless." It is suggested that receptiveness to subconscious work accounts for the experience of effortlessness in both tasks. An experiment using 32 high and low hypnotizable men and women was designed to explore the hypothesis that the aptitude for such effortless experiencing accounts for the relationship found between creativity and hypnotizability. Analyses of variance indicate highly significant effects of level of hypnotizability on composite scores reflecting effortless experiencing of several tasks and creativity. Intercorrelations of these indices are about .60. As predicted, effortless experiencing accounts for much of the relationship between high versus low hypnotizability and composite creativity. The role of imagery vividness and of absorption in both hypnotizability and creativity were also explored. Dyckman, John M.; Cowan, Philip A. (1978). Imaging vividness and the outcome of in vivo and imagined scene desensitization. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46 (5), 1155-1156. This study reexamined the role of imaging vividness in desensitization success. Scores on the Betts Questionnaire on Mental Imagery were used to divide 48 snake-phobic subjects into high, medium, and low vivid groups, who were assigned to imagined scene or in vivo desensitization treatments. Imaging vividness was assessed at scheduled points during therapy. Significant decreases in behavioral and self-reported fear were observed after both treatments, though in vivo desensitization produced significantly greater fear reduction. In therapy imaging vividness scores were significantly correlated with therapeutic success and were superior to pretherapy ratings as predictors of outcome. Hiscock, Merrill (1978). Imagery assessment through self-report: What do imagery questionnaires measure?. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 223-229. Four studies examined imagery questionnaires and addressed issues of reliability, agreement among different questionnaires, social desirability, and construct validity. The Betts, Paivio, and Gordon scales were examined. In two studies the Betts and Paivio correlated .45-.50, but correlations involving the Gordon were inconsistent from one study to the next. Imagery measures generally were not influenced by social desirability. Factor analysis indicated that subjective and objective measures of visualization are independent. Concludes that imagery is not a unitary construct and that criteria other than visuospatial tests may be appropriate for validating imagery questionnaires. Buckner, Linda G.; Coe, William C. (1977). Imaginative skill, wording of suggestions and hypnotic-susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 27-36. 3 groups of 20 s based on preselected imaginative capacity were administered either a hypnotic susceptibility scale containing item wording that suggested a goal-directed fantasy or one that did not. Preselected imaginative ability did not predict hypnotic susceptibility or the production of goal-directed fantasies during hypnosis. However, Ss who received the hypnotic scale containing item wording that suggested goal-directed fantasies reported more goal-directed fantasies than Ss who received the other scale. Limitations of the study are discussed and the causal role of goal-directed fantasy in hypnotic responsiveness is questioned. 1976 Dugan, Michelle; Sheridan, Charles (1976). Effects of instructed imagery on temperature of hands. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 42, 14. Sixteen college student volunteers were involved in the research. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, either to warm or to cool their hands. All 10 subjects attempting to cool their hands were able to cool at least one hand, and six people cooled both hands. For those trying to warm their hands, five warmed at least one hand and one was able to warm both hands. Four people were able to cool their hands without hypnosis, conditioning, or feedback. Gur, R. C.; Reyher, J. (1976). Enhancement of creativity via free-imagery and hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18, 237-249. Thirty-six male, highly susceptible subjects, divided into hypnosis, simulation and waking groups, were given the Torrance Test of Creativity with modified instructions requiring them to wait passively for visual images in response to the test stimuli. Twelve waking subjects received the same test under standard instructions. The hypnotized group scored higher than all control groups on over-all creativity and on Figural creativity, but not on Verbal creativity. The results seem to support the application of the ego-analytic concept of 'adaptive regression' to both hypnosis and creativity. They also seem to confirm the association found between hypnosis and the activation of the non-verbal cerebral hemisphere. 1972 Greene, R. J.; Reyher, J. (1972). Pain tolerance on hypnotic analgesic and imagination states. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 79 (1), 29-38. Found that a hypnotic-analgesic-plus-pleasant-imagery condition was not as effective as was an analgesia suggestion only, in modifying tolerance. 1970 Davis, Daniel; McLemore, Clinton W.; London, Perry (1970). The role of visual imagery in desensitization. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 8 (1), 11-13. NOTES Summary: a measure of visual imagery ability was obtained for 33 females who and participated in desensitization therapy for snake phobia. Visual imagery was positively related to pretherapy performance (closeness of approach to a live snake), but not to improvement. On the basis of these results and the results of two other studies, it was hypothesized that the fear of good imagers tends to be based on imagination while that of poor imagers tends to be based on sensory experience. Most psychologists now recognize behavior therapy as effective in alleviating a wide variety of fears, but the nature of the processes underlying the various methods remains an open issue. Imagery has been of particular interest as a possible common denominator among various desensitization techniques. Lazarus (1961), for example, asserts that a "prerequisite for effective application of desensitization is the ability to conjure up reasonably vivid images," and Wolpe (1961) claims, "it is essential for visualizing to be at least moderately clear." London suggests that theoretically opposed treatments such as reciprocal inhibition (Wolpe, 1958) and implosion (Stampfl and Levis, 1967) may both be facilitated by repeated imagery which "produces a discrimination set such that the patient learns to distinguish between the imaginative, cognitive, affective aspects of experience, and the sensory and overt muscular aspects" (1964, p. 130). However, no systematic studies linking visual imagery to desensitization have been reported. This study examined the relationship between visual imagery and success in desensitization therapy. Fromm, Erika; Oberlander, Mark I.; Gruenewald, Doris (1970). Perceptual and cognitive processes in different states of consciousness: The waking state and hypnosis. Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment, 34, 375-387. Hypnosis was assumed to influence perceptual and cognitive functioning in the direction of increased primary process ideation and adaptive regression. The Rorschach test was administered to 32 Ss in the waking state and under hypnosis in counterbalanced order. Hypnosis was induced by a standardized procedure. Ss received identical instructions for the Rorschach in both conditions. Protocols were scored according to Holt's system for manifestations and control of primary process. Hypnotic Rorschachs showed an increase in primary process manifestations, but no changes in defensive and coping functioning, and no overall changes in the Adaptive Regression Score. However, the nature of the data was found to be influenced by Ss' sex and level of adjustment. NOTES The authors used High hypnotizables (SHSS>9) in this investigation.
1962
Klemperer, Edith (1962). Projective phenomena in hypnoanalysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 10 (3), 127-133. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 63: 5228)
During hypnoanalysis patients who have been age-regressed may perceive themselves as experiencing childhood experiences and also as simultaneously watching these experiences from a distance. This 2nd projected personality may be in the guise of an adult, adolescent, child, or even an incorporeal being. In some patients it may occur with regularity, in others not at all. Representative case histories and possible dynamic mechanisms are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1961
Halpern, Seymour (1961). On the similarity between hypnotic and mescaline hallucinations. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 139-149.
The hypnotically-induced visual percepts of one subject are presented and discussed. These percepts reputedly bore a close resemblance to mescaline hallucinations. It is argued that no essential qualitative difference exists between psychogenic and toxicogenic hallucinations. It was hypothesized that all perceptions including dreaming, hallucinating, imagining and hypnotic perceiving are explainable in terms of perceptual-conceptual reciprocity understood as a neuropsychological function of consciousness. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3II39H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Klemperer, Edith (1961). Shortest distance therapy in hypnoanalysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 63-77. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 62: 2 II 63K)
A desymbolization process is described. The method involves “the simple technic of letting a visualization change to what it actually represents.” It is reputed to be more direct and less time-consuming than conventional verbal free association. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2II63K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Moss, C. Scott (1961). Experimental paradigms for the hypnotic investigation of dream symbolism. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 105-117. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 62: 3 II 05M)
Objectified study of dream phenomenon attempted through employment of Osgood”s Semantic Differential with hypnotically induced dreams. Several innovations in technique outlined. Results are discussed in terms of the principle of congruity, illuminating some aspects of the psychological laws underlying the acquisition and modification of sign significance involved in dream symbol production. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3II05M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1960
Naruse, Gosaku (1960). The abstract image in the post hypnotic state. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 8, 213-229.
(Author”s Summary)
In the present paper, the experimental production of abstract image in PHHS was examined by the image conditioning method in a hypnotic trance. The comparison of conditioning procedure was made between the buzzer sound or verbal sign as CS, and circle, numeral letter, or alphabetical letter as UCS. The main results of the study are as follows:
(1) To evoke at will the abstract image, it is necessary to establish a corresponding relationship between the context of Cs and that of UCS by a conditioning method.
(2) To establish the corresponding relationship, it is necessary to use the context conditioning procedure and not the single or differentiated conditioning.
(3) In establishing the context conditioning, the more meaningful the stimulus used, the easier the relationship, and vice versa. The context conditioning is more easily accomplished by verbal signs than by buzzer sounds in CS and by numeral or alphabetical letters than by circles in USC [sic].
(4) When the trance is too light, it is difficult for the post hypnotic image to appear. On the other hand, when the trance is too deep, while the image is clear and like the originals, the production of abstract image is difficult. The abstract image is, threfore, most easily produced in a middle or somnambulistic trance state between the lighter and the deeper trance.
(5) The greater the number, the less certain or the more difficult the subconscious operates, especially in counting, for the hypnotic subject. It is assumed that the accuracy of subconscious, spontaneous counting is generally lower than that in consciousness.
(6) All of the relative workings in order to produce the abstract image, were made in the subject”s subconscious and even though the abstract image was achieved correctly, the subjects in normal consicousness or in the post hypnotic hallucinatory state were not generally aware of how or why it was formed, or what meaning it had.
1955
Klemperer, Edith (1955). The spontaneous self-portrait in hypnoanalysis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 3 (1), 28-33. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 55: 8621)
NOTES
Author presents descriptions patients gave of themselves in hypnoanalysis and compares them with material obtained with Dr. Walter Boernstein’s Verbal Self-Portrait Test. On that test, the patient is asked, ‘If you were an accomplished artist, how would you paint yourself?’ The author concludes, “In summarizing I wanted to show that patients in hypnoanalysis can use the symbolical representation of their body as a means of bringing to the fore psychic traits, conflicts, and unconscious forces motivating them. They can even picture through it the complications of their life histories. In other words, the personality projection as it is revealed in the Spontaneous Self-Portrait here serves as a tool for the recognition and understanding of the neurotic structure” (p. 33).
Naruse, Gosaku; Obonai, Torao (1955). Decomposition and fusion of mental images in the post-hypnotic hallucinatory state. II: Mechanism of image composing activity. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 3 (1), 2-23.
NOTES
Summary
This is a report of the studies continued from the previous work, as regards the mode and law of modification of images, by experiments on the image-fusion which is observed in a post-hypnotic hallucinatory state. The writers investigated the configuration law of the Gestalt school, also whether there was nothing other than the overlapping of images. Various experiments were performed using accorded figures (Fig.1), discorded figures (Fig. 3), the composed image partly changed in size (Fig. 4), the incomplete figures with concrete meaning (Fig. 5,A) and the figures in which the perception and meaning were discorded with each other (Fig. 6). The results were as follows:
(1) There were some subjects whose images were clear, and others whose images were vague. In general, the images were clear in deep hypnotic trance, and vague in the medium trance.
(2) In the case of the clear images, they were prominently overlapping while in the case of the vague images, they overlapped one another and were disjointed or integrated.
(3) After conditioning two kinds of figures with two kinds of sounds, a composed image could be aroused by the two stimuli; in this case, by changing the tempo of one kind, a part of the composed image was changed. This fact would prove that the composed images were combinations of elements.
(4) In the case of the integrated images, the modification of both clear and vague images could be explained satisfactorily not by the Gestalt theory but by the intervention of the meaning. Moreover, the hypothesis of the integration or hierarchy of cerebral functions corresponding to these phenomena was possible.
(5) Modification through meaning was more frequent in the vague images than in the clear ones.
(6) The spontaaneous effect of meaning of the image was dependent on the depth of trance. This effect was comparatively weak in deep trance and strong in medium trance. It was assumed that in medium trance which reproduced the integrated images, meaning activity still remained.
(7) Having presented incomplete figures with concrete meanings to examine the effect of meaning, it was clear that the modification of images by meaning took place distinctly under the influence of suggestion.
(8) If perception and meaning of the figure were made to be in discord with each other, the meaning suggested at the time of conditioning produced more effect on the modification of the image than that at the time of recall” (p. 22).
1953
Naruse, Gosaku; Obonai, Torao (1953). Decomposition and fusion of mental images in the drowsy and post-hypnotic hallucinatory state. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1 (4), 23-41.
Summary of Part I