The Best Me Technique is a procedure for constructing suggestions which incorporates many different dimensions of experience — beliefs, emotions, sensations, thoughts, motives, and expectations — for maximum involvement and effectiveness. Best Me suggestions may be used with either hyperempiria, an alert induction based on suggestions of mind expansion and increased alertness and sensitivity, or with more traditional forms of hypnotic induction.
Eimer, Bruce. N. (2000). Clinical applications of hypnosis for brief and efficient pain management psychotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 43 (1), 17-40. (July)
This paper describes four specific clinical applications of hypnosis that can make psychotherapy for pain management briefer, more goal-oriented, and more efficient: (1) the assessment of hypnotizability; (2) the induction of hypnotic analgesia and development of individualized pain coping strategies; (3) direct suggestion, cognitive reframing, hypnotic metaphors, and pain relief imagery; and (4) brief psychodynamic reprocessing during the trance state of emtoional factors in the patient”s experience of chonic pain. Important theoretical and clinical issues regarding the relationship between hypnotizability to the induction of hypnotic analgesia are presented, and attempts to individualize pain treatment strategies on the basis of assessed differences in hypnotizability and patients” preferred coping strategies are described. Some ways are also presented of integrating direct hypnotic suggestion, COGNITIVE-EVALUATIVE reframing, hypnotic metaphors, and imagery for alleviating the SENSORY and AFFECTIVE-MOTIVATIONAL components of pain, with an exploratory, insight-oriented, and brief psychodynamic reprocessing approach during trance for resolving unconscious sources of resistance to treatment, and reducing the emotional overlay associated with chronic pain. Some basic assumptions underlying the use of this approach are discussed, and a brief step-by-step protocol is outlined.
Gibbons, Don (2000). Applied hypnosis and hyperempiria. New York NY: Plenum Press. ([available online:] http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore)
The book features both traditional hypnotic procedures and hyperempiric inductions based on suggestions of increased awareness, mind expansion, and increased alertness and sensitivity. It contains sections on the use of suggestion as an instrument of personal growth in areas such as improving study skills, taking examinations, achievement motivation, artistic expression, emotional enrichment, aesthetic appreciation and enjoyment, interpersonal effectiveness, musical performance, problem solving, public speaking, salesmanship, sports performance, theatrical performance, and writing ability.
1999
Faymonville, M. E.; Meurisse, M.; Fissette, J. (1999). Hypnosedation: A valuable alternative to traditional anaesthetic techniques. Acta Chirurgica Belgica, 99 (4), 141-146.
Hypnosis has become routine practice in our plastic and endocrine surgery services. Revivication of pleasant life experiences has served as the hypnotic substratum in a series of over 1650 patients since 1992. In retrospective studies, followed by randomised prospective studies, we have confirmed the usefulness of hypnosedation (hypnosis in combination with conscious IV sedation) and local anaesthesia as a valuable alternative to traditional anaesthetic techniques. The credibility of hypnotic techniques and their acceptance by the scientific community will depend on independently-confirmed and reproducible criteria of assessing the hypnotic state. Based on the clinical success of this technique, we were interested in confirming this phenomenon in healthy volunteers. The revivication of pleasant life experiences thus served as the cornerstone of a basic research program developed to objectify the neurophysiological attributes of the hypnotic state. We compared hypnosis to normal alertness with similar thought content. In our experience, the activation profile obtained during the hypnotic state was completely different from simple re-memoration of the same subject matter during normal alertness. This represents an objective and independent criteria by which to assess the hypnotic state.
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
Bryant, Richard A. (1995). Fantasy proneness, reported childhood abuse, and the relevance of reported abuse onset. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (2), 184-193
This study investigated the relationship between fantasy proneness and the age at which reported childhood sexual abuse occurs. Seventeen adult females who reported having been sexually abused before the age of 7 years, 20 females who reported having been abused after the age of 7 years, and 20 females who reported having never been abused were administered two measures of imaginative involvement (Tellegen Absorption Scale [TAS] and Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings [ICMI]). Participants who were reportedly abused early in childhood obtained higher scores on the TAS and ICMI than participants who were reportedly abused later in childhood, who in turn obtained higher scores than the control participants. Findings are discussed in terms of factors that mediate fantasy proneness and reports of childhood abuse.
Zamansky, Harold S.; Ruehle, Beth L. (1995). Making hypnosis happen: The involuntariness of the hypnotic experience. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 43 (4), 386-398.
The authors tested the hypothesis that hypnotized individuals do not truly experience their responses to suggestions as occurring involuntarily, but instead absorb themselves in imagery that is congruent with the suggestions while avoiding critical thoughts, or even simply comply with suggestions without genuinely experiencing their responses as nonvolitional. Participants were instructed to engage in thoughts and imagery that conflicted with the suggestions given, were urged to pay attention to their behavior, and were questioned regarding the perceived involuntariness of their responses. Simultaneously, electrodermal skin conductance responses provided a measure of the truthfulness of their reports. It was found that responses to all hypnotic suggestions were reported as being involuntary, in spite of the conflicting imagery and increased saliency, and that these reports were truthful. These findings provide disconfirming evidence for the sociocognitive theories of hypnosis.
Malinoski, Peter; Aronoff, Jodi; Lynn, Steven J.; Moretsky, Michael (1994, August). Hypnosis and early memories. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
NOTES
We studied autobiographical memory in the college population, as manifested in the therapy situation, as a way of investigating an individual difference variable. Most people do not have recall before age 3 or 4 (and probably infantile amnesia begins before age 2).
Administered Autobiographical Memory Scale (AMS), and later in context of a hypnosis scale. 247 students were in phase 1, conducted as two separate experiments so that Ss wouldn’t link the AMS to measures used in the second study.
First study was presented as a study of personal memories. Asked Ss to distinguish first five birthdays, circumstances around loss of first tooth, first day of high school. Also, they were asked about their earliest memory events, rated according to 3 scales (detail, vividness, accuracy of recall). Authors summed Ss’ responses on these 3 ratings for the 8 item scale.
Part II. Administered various scales: Life Experiences, Fantasy Proneness, Wilson & Barber’s scale, Imagery Control Scale, Global Psychopathology, 25 item scale of physical and sexual abuse, Brier’s list of symptoms of abuse, and DES (Dissociative Experiences Scale). Imbedded were 12 items to test carelessness in responding (e.g. “I have never said Hello to anyone who wore eyeglasses.”)
RESULTS
Phase 1. Two people indicated they had memories dating to before their first birthday; an additional 5% of Ss gave memories between 12-24 months. This would probably be impossible. Another 14.4% described events between 24-36 months; 37.4% said their earliest memory was at age 3. Mean age for earliest memory was 3.4 years (which agrees with other surveys.) Only l subject stated his earliest memory was as late as the tenth year of life.
High intercorrelation was obtained, ranging .79 to .89, between ratings on any of the memory event ratings (as detailed, vivid, or accurate). There was a negative correlation of these ratings with age of recall. Ss who report more detail, vividness, and competence, were also likely to report earlier first memories.
Authors divided Ss into three groups based on age of first memory: 12 with first memory earlier than first year; those whose first memory was between 1-7 years; and those with a later first memory. The earlier memory group were more fantasy prone; and rated their memories as more reliable, vivid. This suggests there are persons who report memories that are covered by infantile amnesia, report them with greater detail, and are more fantasy prone than those who report memory events beginning later in life. This is consistent with Wilson & Barber’s finding that fantasy prone people have vivid recall of early childhood events.
None of the memory reports correlated with psychopathology or dissociation. Dissociation (DES) was correlated with abuse indicators, however. Compared top and lowest 10% and middle range on DES on their memory scores and found no relationship. There was no support for the idea that report of early life events in dissociative people is compromised. Failure to recall early memories shouldn’t suggest that people are dissociative (which some therapists tend to do).
All three memory measures were associated with Harvard Scale scores. The AMS was administered at the same time as the Harvard. Objective responding on the Harvard correlated with detail, vividness, and accuracy of recall. Also, involuntariness of response correlated with all 3 measures of the AMS. Finally, subjective involvement correlated with all three measures of AMS. At least when hypnosis is measured first, and explicit connection is suggested, there is a connection. Further research is needed to see if the relationship holds when measured in independent contexts. This may explain why High Hypnotizables are more prone to pseudo memories and leading questions. They may come to confuse them with historical reality.
The results suggest caution for early memory reports. They may be vulnerable to confusing fantasy and reality, as well as to biasing effects.
Smith, Julien T. (1994). Hypnosis and distraction in the relief of medical pains in an ethnically diverse population of young children (Dissertation, Washington State University, Pullman). Bulletin of Division 30, Psychological Hypnosis, APA, 4 (3), 11.
An ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 36) and their parents volunteered for the study and were trained, with the expectation of equal effects, to use both distraction and imaginative involvement to reduce pain and anxiety. Standardized measures of pain, anxiety and hypnotizability were obtained. Skin conductance response confirmed pain stimulation. Half the subjects used imaginative involvement first and the other half used distraction first. All procedures were video taped. Blind raters judged subjects’ responses and subjects reported pain on a standardized scale. Data were collected at baseline, during two intervention sessions and at follow-up. Supporting Hilgard’s neodissociation theory, hypnotizable subjects significantly reduced both subjective and objective pain and anxiety scores in response to hypnotic imagination involvement in contrast to low hypnotizable Ss. No significant effects were found for the distraction condition. (ABSTRACT from Bulletin of Division 30, Psychological Hypnosis, Fall, 1995, Vol. 4, No. 3.)
1992
Bowers, Kenneth S. (1992). Imagination and dissociation in hypnotic responding. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 40 (4), 253-275.
A neodissociative model of mind is better equipped than a social-psychological model to deal with the complexities of hypnosis, and of human behavior generally. It recognizes, as Coe’s (1992) model does not, that behavior can be more automatically activated than strategically enacted. In particular, Coe’s emphasis on human behavior as purposeful and goal directed does not distinguish between goal-directed behavior that serves a purpose, and goal-directed behavior that is performed on purpose. It is this distinction that permits goal-directed behavior to be dissociated from a person’s conscious plans and intentions. In addition to offering a critique of Coe’s “limited process” view of hypnosis, 4 main points are made in the interest of developing a slightly modified, neodissociation view of hypnosis. First, it is argued that goal-directed fantasies are more limited in their ability to mediate hypnotic responding than is commonly appreciated; as well, they do not seem to account for the nonvolitional quality of hypnotic responding. Second, it is argued that hypnotic ability is not unidimensional, with compliance and social influence more apt to account for the low than for the high hypnotizable’s responsiveness to suggestion. Third, compared to low hypnotizables, the hypnotic responsiveness of high hypnotizables seems more likely to result from dissociated control. In other words, for high hypnotizables, hypnotic suggestions may often directly activate subsystems of cognitive control. Consequently, the need for executive initiative and effort to produce hypnotically suggested behavior is minimized, and such responses are therefore experienced as nonvolitional. Fourth and finally, while goal-directed fantasies typically accompany hypnotically suggested responses, they are in many cases more a marker of dissociated control than a mediator of suggested effects.
Kirmayer, Laurence J. (1992). Social constructions of hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 40 (4), 276-300.
Both clinical and experimental views of hypnosis are social constructions that reflect the biases and interests of practitioners and scientists. Each perspective offers useful metaphors for hypnosis. Underlying clinical uses of the term hypnosis are states of mind associated with imaginative reverie and automatic behavior based on procedural knowledge. Social discourse and narratives shape hypnotic experience, but they are themselves influenced by mechanisms of attention and automaticity. Study of hypnosis must proceed on both social and psychological fronts to account for the experience and clinical efficacy of hypnosis. NOTES 1:
“In accord with Coe, Sarbin, and other social-psychological theorists, I will argue that hypnosis, like all higher mental phenomena, is fundamentally social in nature. To accept this, however, does not obviate the role of distinctive processes of attention, imagery, and imagination. Hypnosis is a socially constructed context and ritual for evoking imaginative enactment and involuntary of “automatic” modes of experience and behavior. Contemporary social-psychological theorists have failed to sufficiently explore the nature of enactment. A satisfactory account of hypnosis must go much deeper into the cognitive and social construction of experience; only then can involuntary behavior be properly distinguished from self-deception and self-authorship from cultural construction” (p. 277).
Lynn, Steven Jay; Sivec, Harry (1992). The hypnotizable subject as creative problem-solving agent. In Fromm, Erika; Nash, Michael R. (Ed.), Contemporary hypnosis research (pp. 292-333). Guilford Press.
NOTES
These notes are taken only from the section of this chapter that deals with Hypnotic Responding, Imaginative Activity, and Expectancies, and they treat of the concept of nonvoluntary responding (pp 315-316). Other topics covered in the chapter include: Imagination, Fantasy, and Hypnosis Theories; The Hypnotizable Subject as Creative Problem-Solving Agent; Hypnosis and Subjects’ Capability for Imaginative Activity; Goal-Directed Fantasy: Patterns of Imaginative Activity during Hypnosis; Hypnosis and Creativity; and a Conclusion.
Several studies manipulated expectancies re the relationship between imagination and involuntariness. When Ss were told that “good” hypnotic subjects could (or could not) resist suggestions, “this information affected their ability to resist the hypnotist and tended to affect subjects’ report of suggestion-related involuntariness … [Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Sweeney, 1984]. Furthermore, subjects who successfully resisted suggestions and subjects who failed to do so reported comparable levels of hypnotic depth and imaginative involvement in suggestions.
“Spanos, Cobb, and Gorassini (1985) conducted a similar experiment in which they found that hypnotizable subjects who were instructed that they could become deeply involved in suggestions and yet resist them successfully resisted 95% of the suggestions and rated themselves as maintaining voluntary control over their behavior. Thus, subjects are able to resist nearly all of the suggestions when resistance is facilitated by situational demands. It is worth noting that subjects in this research who resisted hypnotic suggestions rated themselves as just as deeply involved in the suggestions as Ss who failed to resist suggestions after being informed that deeply hypnotized subjects were incapable of resisting suggestions” (pp. 315-316).
Lynn, Snodgrass, et al. (1987). showed that hypnotizable Ss who were just “imagining” along with suggestions but instructed to resist responding to motoric suggestions acted the way hypnotized Ss did in their earlier countersuggestion research: imagining subjects tended to move in response to suggestion (that “good” Ss responded in certain ways), despite being instructed to resist. In this study, with instructions designed to increase the use of goal directed fantasies (GDFs), low and high hypnotizable subjects reported equivalent GDF absorption and frequency of GDFs. However, highs responded more and reported greater involuntariness than lows, even when their GDFs were equivalent.
“A number of other studies have examined the effects of expectancies on imaginings and hypnotic behavior. Spanos, Weekes, and de Groh (1984) informed subjects that deeply hypnotized individuals could imagine an arm movement in one direction while their unconscious caused the arm to move in the opposite direction. Even though subjects so informed moved in the opposite direction, they imagined suggested effects and described their countersuggestion behavior as involuntary” (p. 317).
Spanos, Nicholas P.; Brice, Peter; Gabora, Natalie J. (1992). Suggested imagery and salivation in hypnotic and non-hypnotic subjects. Contemporary Hypnosis, 9, 105-111.
Salivation was measured in 100 subjects on both a baseline and post-test trial. Subjects in hypnotic, relaxation, and suggestion alone treatments were asked to imagine tasting a lemon during the post-test trial. Subjects in the suggestion alone and relaxation treatments exhibited significant baseline to post-test increments in salivation and, on the post-test trial suggestion alone subjects exhibited greater salivation than either hypnotic subjects or no treatment controls. Neither hypnotizability nor imagery vividness correlated significantly with suggestion-induced increments in salivation.
NOTES
“Our findings, like those of numerous earlier studies (reviewed by White, 1978) indicate that instruction to imagine food substances enhance salivation. The fact that imagery-alone instructions were more effective in this regard than hypnotic imagery instructions was unexpected, but this finding is certainly consistent with the large body of evidence which indicates that hypnotic procedures are no more effective than non- hypnotic procedures at enhancing responsiveness to suggestions. Moreover, the present findings, along with those concerning wart regression (Spanos et al., 1988), contradict the hypothesis that hypnotic procedures are particularly effective at enhancing responsiveness to suggestion when the target response is not under direct voluntary control.
“The reasons for the superiority of the imagery-alone treatment to the hypnotic treatment at inducing saliva production remain unclear. Subjects in the three treated groups reported equivalent levels of suggested imagery vividness and, therefore, differences on that variable could not have mediated treatment differences in the amount salivated. On the post-test trial the two treatments that received relaxation instructions (hypnosis and relaxation groups) failed to differ significantly from controls in amount salivated, whereas imagery alone subjects did differ from controls in this respect. Perhaps high levels of relaxation produce a slight inhibition of salivation which at least partly offsets the enhancement produced by suggested imagery. This hypothesis is, of course, highly tentative, and the finding of somewhat less salivation in groups administered relaxation instructions requires replication before further speculation is warranted.
“The finding that controls exhibited a significant decrease in salivation was also unexpected, and the reason for this finding remains unclear.
“Neither the Betts QMI nor any of the hypnotizability indexes correlated significantly with the suggestion induced increments in salivation. On the one hand, these findings are consistent with those of previous studies, which reported no relationship between imagery and/or hypnotizability and suggestion-induced changes in target responses that were not under subjects ‘ direct control (e.g. Surman et al., 1973; Swirsky- Sacchetti & Margolis, 1986; Spanos et al., 1988). On the other hand, our results failed to replicate White’s (1978) finding of a significant correlation between suggestion-induced salivation and Betts QMI scores. Our study differed from that of White (1978) in several important respects. White asked subjects to imagine several foods which they preferred to differing degrees. Significant differences in salivation for subjects classified as high, medium or low on the QMI were found only when subjects imagined preferred foods. Furthermore, subjects classified as high and medium on the QMI tended to salivate to similar degrees when imagining preferred foods, but salivated more under these conditions than low QMI scorers. In the present study all subjects imagined the same food stimulus regardless of preference, and subjects were not selected for extreme scores on the QMI. These differences between our study and that of White (1978) may account for our failure to obtain a significant relationship between QMI scores and imagery-induced salivation” (p. 109).
1991
Crowson, J. Jeffrey, Jr.; Conroy Aileen M.; Chester, Traci D. (1991). Hypnotizability as related to visually induced affective reactivity: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39 (3), 140-144.
Numerous studies have explored the relationship between hypnotizability and individual differences in imaginative involvement and creativity. Most have assessed imaginative or affective involvement by involving Ss in a variety of imaging tasks. Unlike these earlier studies, however, the present study made no attempt to actively involve Ss in the film viewing task. Rather, individuals assessed as high, medium, or low in hypnotizability were exposed to either a violent film, a neutral film, or no film. Results provided tentative evidence to indicate that the level of negative affect reported was significantly greater for highly hypnotizable Ss. Results were discussed in terms of the limitations of the present study and implications for future studies.
Glicksohn, Joseph; Mourad, Boaz; Pavell, Eyal (1991-92). Imagination, absorption and subjective time estimation. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 167-176.
We report an exploratory study that investigated the interaction of trait and task in determining duration judgment. High and low absorption subjects (determined by median split along the Absorption Scale) viewed a series of paired slides, and were required to relate to each pair in one of two tasks: A metaphor-production task, and a story-production one. These tasks were carried out for an objective interval of fifteen minutes, following which the subject was required to verbally estimate this duration, retrospectively. In addition, from the individual protocols we measured the average time till response and the average time of response. A significant interaction between absorption and task was obtained for the latter two variables. In addition, a main effect for task was found for the duration estimation. These and other results are assessed in terms of both a cognitive-timer model for time estimation and a contextualistic approach to temporal processing.
NOTES
The authors used a model for subjective time estimation (STE) that involves a cognitive timer (or internal clock) that encodes temporal information. STE purportedly may be correlated with the amount of attention directed at the passage of time, and negatively correlated with attention paid to other kinds of tasks.
They used tasks that aroused Subjects’ imagination–a series of pairs of slides. One group was to produce a metaphor relating the two slides, while the other group was to produce a short story relating the two–theoretically an easier task.
The authors hypothesized that high absorption Ss would be more engrossed in the task than low absorption Ss, and therefore would underestimate the amount of time used for the task irrespective of task difficulty. For the low absorption Ss they predicted that time estimates for the more difficult metaphor task should be longer, because the task itself demanded more attention than the other task. (High absorption Ss would not exhibit such a difference.)
As another measure, Subjects were required to produce four short time intervals (4, 8, 16, and 32 seconds) to assess whether there might be a different rate of the cognitive timer for the two types of Ss, irrespective of nontemporal task involvement.
26 Ss were randomly allocated to one of two conditions (metaphor task or story task). Since this number of Ss is too small for an adequate evaluation of the interaction effect (absorption x task) of particular interest, the authors regard the experiment as exploratory only.
The results suggest that high absorption Ss view the tasks as easy and pleasant relative to the lows, and have larger STE values. Shorter time estimates are associated with the metaphor task than the story task, for both highs and lows–an unexpected finding. While highs take the same amount of time for metaphor production as for story production, lows take longer to produce a metaphor than a story (and of course, the metaphor is shorter in length!)
The high absorption Ss provided larger estimations of time for the task in which they produced a required number of seconds (4, 8, etc.), indicating a slower baseline rate of functioning of the cognitive timer.
The authors in their discussion find the results supportive of the cognitive timer model. They cite the finding that duration estimate was predicted from STE, task, and interaction of absorption with average time to response. (1) remembered duration was positively correlated with baseline functioning of the cognitive timer (STE) (2) remembered duration was negatively correlated with task difficulty (3) remembered duration was an interactive function of absorption and average time to response.
Rhue, Judith W.; Lynn, Steven Jay (1991). Storytelling, hypnosis and the treatment of sexually abused children. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39 (4), 198-214.
The present article describes an assessment and therapy program for sexually abused children using hypnotherapeutic techniques which center on storytelling. Storytelling presents the therapist with an opportunity to use comforting suggestions, symbolism, and metaphor to provide the emotional distance necessary to deal with the trauma of abuse. Hypnotherapy proceeds in a stepwise fashion from the building of a sense of safety and security; to imaginativge sharing; to the introduction of reality events; to the final step of addressing complex emotional issues of loss, trust, love, and guilt brought about by the abuse.
Ross, Colin A.; Joshi, S.; Currie, R. (1991). Dissociative experiences in the general population: A factor analysis. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 42, 297-301.
The 28-item Dissociative Experiences Scale was administered to a stratified cluster sample of 1055 respondents in a general population of Winnipeg. Dissociative experiences were common in the sample and were not related to socioeconomic status, sex, education, religion, or place of birth, although they declined with age in both sexes. A principal components analysis identified three factors accounting for 47.1% of the combined variance of scores. The first factor, absorption-imaginative involvement, is composed of common, benign experiences such as missing part of a conversation, being able to ignore pain, staring into space, absorption in a television program or movie, not being sure if you did something or only thought about it, and remembering things so vividly one seems to be reliving it. The other two factors, activities of dissociated states and depersonalization-derealization, composed of less common experiences such as not recognizing friends or family members and not recognizing one’s own reflection in a mirror, may be powerful predictors of DSM-III-R dissociative disorders.
Strauss, Billie S. (1991). The use of a multimodal image, the apple technique, to facilitate clinical hypnosis: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39, 1-5.
A 1- to 3-minute exercise involving imagination (of an apple) and ideomotor ideation (hand levitation) is a simple, benign technique that is useful for illustrating to patients the nature of imagery and hypnosis. It avoids power struggles and allows a reasonable approximation of the patient’s capacity for imagery and hypnotic responsiveness, without emphasizing the use of a hypnotic procedure. When administered to 35 college students, the hand levitation component of this exercise correlated with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Weitzenhoffer & E. R. Hilgard, 1963) (r = .66, p <.001) and with the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale: Adult (Morgan & J. R. Hilgard, 1975, 1978/79) (r = .60, p<.001). NOTES 1: NOTES: Hypnosis is explained as involving imagination and concentration. Then the patient is asked to participate as the clinician checks their imagination. The patient is asked to close their eyes and hold out their hand, after which the clinician says "I'm going to put an apple in your hand; describe the apple to me." The patient is prompted to report multiple sensory modalities with questions Like, "Does the apple have weight? Does it have a smell? Would you Like to take a bite out of the apple? How does it sound as you chew it?" The clinician can obtain useful information about the patient's preferred sensory modalities, the amount of structure required to engage in imaginal activities, etc. If the patient becomes very involved with the image and would Like to continue the experience on into hypnosis, the clinician can ask them to concentrate on the apple's weight, then tell the patient that s/he will take the apple from the patient's hand and the patient will notice that the hand feels light. As this imagery progresses, the clinician can move into suggesting a sense of lightness, and ultimately an arm levitation procedure Like that of Chiasson, i.e. that "when the hand reaches the patient's face, the patient will find himself or herself in a comfortable state of hypnosis" (p. 2). "At any point where the patient does not appear to respond to suggestions or remain involved with the imagery, techniques are shifted. For example, if the patient indicates that the apple does not appear to have weight or the hand does not feel light, I suggest simply that the patient continue to listen to my voice, to breath deeply, and to continue to enjoy this comfortable state, perhaps using imagery commensurate with the skills shown by the patient when he or she first imagined the apple. Finally, patients are roused, with posthypnotic suggestions for alertness, comfort, and control" (p. 2). The author administered this Apple Technique to 12 patients, following the administration with an interview to learn about their subjective responses. Of the 12, 6 showed at least some hand levitation and scored 3-5 on SHCS:A; 6 had no levitation and scored 0-1 on SHCS:A. When administered to 35 college students, only 3 did not experience a sensation of weight when imagining an apple in their hand. A three-point rating (1 = no hand movement; 2 = some hand movement, but not to the face; 3 = hand movement to the face) correlated .66 with SHSS:C and .60 with SHCS:A. The author has found that good Ss can go into hypnosis within 2-3 minutes using the Apple Technique, while poor Ss conversely may reveal limited imaginative involvement or ideomotor skill within the same amount of time. Drake, Stephen D.; Nash, Michael R.; Cawood, Glenn N. (1990-91). Imaginative involvement and hypnotic susceptibility: A re-examination of the relationship. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 10, 141-155. Several researchers have reported that significant correlations between hypnotic susceptibility and absorption result from the reactive effects of administering scales immediately before measurement of hypnotizability. The present study was conducted to determine whether interview measures of imaginative involvement are similarly reactive. Three groups of 48, 43, and 43 Ss each were first administered 3 scales of absorption/imaginativeness. This was followed by administration of a hypnotizability scale. Ss in Group 1 who were administered the 3 scales immediately prior to hypnosis evidenced the usual significant positive correlation between each of the 3 scales and hypnotizability. Ss in Groups 2 and 3 were administered the 3 scales 24 to 36 hours prior to hypnosis. Group 2 Ss were informed that administration of these scales was part of a hypnosis experiment. Group 3 Ss were not aware that the scales were part of a hypnosis experiment. No significant correlation between hypnotizability and the 3 measures of imagination/absorption was evidenced for either Group 2 or Group 3. Our findings suggest that any relationship between these two constructs may be quite dependent on how and when the measures are administered. Fellows, Brian J. (1990). Current theories of hypnosis: A critical overview. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 7, 81-92. The present state of theory in hypnosis is reviewed and observations are made concerning future prospects. The state- non-state issue continues to dominate theoretical debate, although no satisfactory reply has yet been made to T. X. Barber's criticisms of the 'hypnotic trance' concept. The impact of social-psychological theory has been considerable and the results of Spanos's hypnotic training programme could have significant implications for our understanding of hypnosis. Future theorizing should see a move towards a more integrated sociocognitive approach. Neodissociation theory has generally not fulfilled its early promise and is encumbered with the 'hidden observer' concept. The role of imaginative processes continues to be a dominant theme in hypnosis theory, although the relatively small correlation between imaginative and hypnotic abilities remains a problem. The links between hypnosis, sleep and relaxation deserve further research, although, as theories of hypnosis, their scope seems limited. Suggestibility and role enactment theories have shown few signs of development in recent years. Theoretical problems over the interpretation of hypnosis need to be more widely recognized and the use of question-begging terminology curtailed. One advantage of the imagination hypothesis is that it provides a bridge, or a point of convergence, between state and non-state approaches (Spanos & Barber, 1974). It also handles certain hypnotic phenomena very well. For example, the known facts of age regression can be readily interpreted, together with the oddities of age progression and past life regression, as imaginative reconstructions (Barber, 1979). However, other phenomena, such as amnesia and analgesia, are less easily explained. Stewart, Malcolm W.; Marks, David F. (1990). Actual and expected hypnotizability in hypnotic analgesia. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 7, 47-56. The effects of actual hypnotizability, assessed by the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS), and expected hypnotizability on hypnotic analgesia were assessed in a design in which a high hypnotizability group and a low hypnotizability group were given incorrect information about their true levels of hypnotizability whilst other groups of highs and lows were correctly informed. Both actual and expected hypnotizability significantly affected self-reports of cold-pressor pain. Post hoc testing showed that the high CIS/high expectancy group reported significantly less pain than the other three groups and, in fact, was the only group to show significant analgesia. The research shows expected hypnotic ability to be an important factor in hypnotic analgesia. Direct verbal suggestion about a subject's hypnotizability prior to the hypnotic induction significantly enhances reported hypnotic analgesia. This finding could have important clinical applications and indicates the special role of favourable expectancies in hypnotic phenomena. N NOTES The authors provide a good description of analgesia testing that could be used in training patients to control pain. Pain rating: the subject used a 10-point numerical pain rating scale (as used by Spanos et al., 1979) where 0 was described as 'no pain,' 5 as 'moderate pain' and 10 as 'excruciating pain.' Apparatus: plastic tank with crushed ice and water to depth of 11 cm; digital thermometer to record hand temperature when Subject clasped it tightly; digital stop watch; tape recorder to present instructions; cassette tape recorder to record Subjects' pain ratings. Procedure for pain tests: After recording skin temperature, the Subject was told to put right hand in the water and leave it there until either 90 seconds elapsed or they felt pain was no longer tolerable; Subject was asked to call out each level of pain as it was reached. After removing arm from tank and sitting quietly for 5 minutes, Subject read a letter informing them about their level of hypnotizability. Then they were hypnotized with tape recorded induction (approximately 8 1/2 minutes long), followed by an analgesic suggestion. "Just relax and breathe deeply. You become more and more sleepy, more and more drowsy, deeper and deeper asleep. Deeper and deeper asleep. You are feeling very, very relaxed. This time when your hand is in the water ... it will continue to become more and more numb, insensitive and unfeeling. Just relax and breathe deeply, you will become more and more sleepy, more and more drowsy, deeper and deeper asleep, deeper and deeper asleep, you are feeling very, very relaxed. Now open your eyes. This time when your hand is in the water ... it will continue to become more and more numb, insensitive and unfeeling. This time when your hand is in the water ... it will become more and more numb, insensitive and unfeeling." Then the Subject was instructed to do the cold water immersion (using the other hand this time). Finally, Subjects completed a post-experiment questionnaire. 1989 Snodgrass, M.; Lynn, Steven Jay (1989). Music absorption and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 41-54. The present study investigated differences between high (N = 15), medium (N = 20), and low (N = 16) hypnotizable Ss' involvement in imaginative versus nonimaginative music. Ss were first screened for hypnotizability with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). In a second session presented as a study of music appreciation, Ss listened to classical music of high- and low-rated music imaginativeness. Ss' involvement was indexed by absorption, imagery elaboration reported in open-ended essays, and reaction time to a pure tone. High hypnotizable Ss reported more absorption than low hypnotizable Ss, regardless of the imaginativeness level of the music. Ss reported more imagery elaboration in the imaginative than in the low-imaginative passages. High hypnotizable Ss tended to differ in their imagery elaboration in response to the imaginative passages but not in response to the nonimaginative passages. Reaction time results were nonsignificant. No sex differences were found. Medium hypnotizable Ss were indistinguishable from both high- and low-hypnotizable Ss. The findings are generally compatible with J. R. Hilgard's (1970, 1974) construct of imaginative involvement. Spanos, Nicholas P.; Flynn, Deborah M. (1989). Compliance, imaginal correlates and skill training. [Comment/Discussion] . NOTES The authors defend the Carlton skill training program against accusation that the trained Ss are simply complying in the context of social pressure. They also discuss characteristics of high hypnotizables (absorption and imagery), noting that the majority of lows do not have low absorption/imagery scores (citing de Groh, 1988, and noting the research on context dependency for absorption). "Despite all of this, it is worth noting that the results of our modification studies are not inconsistent with the hypothesis that high hypnotizability requires imaginative skills that some subjects do not possess in sufficient degrees. For example, two recent studies (Spanos et al., 1987; Cross and Spanos, 1988) found that the extent to which low hypnotizables showed gains following administration of the CSTP was predicted by their pre-tested levels of imagery vividness. Lows with good imagery benefitted substantially more from the CSTP than did lows with poor imagery ability. When it is kept in mind that most low hypnotizables do not score low on measures of imagery/absorption (de Groh, 1988), then the findings that substantial numbers of low hypnotizables can be taught to attain high hypnotizability is not at all inconsistent with the notion that high hypnotizability requires at least moderate levels of imagery/absorption ability" (p. 14). de Groh, Margaret (1989). Correlates of hypnotic susceptibility. In Spanos, Nicholas P.; Chaves, John F. (Ed.), Hypnosis: The cognitive-behavioral perspective (pp. 32-63). Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. NOTES The author describes a non-linear relationship between imagery and hypnotizability and between absorption and hypnotizability. People good at imagery may be high or low on hypnotizability scales; the same is true for people high on absorption trait. However, people low on those traits generally are low on measured hypnotizability. Council, James R.; Greyson, Bruce; Huff, Kenneth D. (1988, November). Reports of paranormal experiences as a function of imaginative and hypnotic ability. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Asheville, NC. Wilson and Barber (1983) have suggested that some excellent hypnotic subjects ("fantasy prone" persons) may be more likely to report paranormal experiences than the rest of the population. Council and Greyson (1985), studying a sample of subjects who had reported near-death experiences (NDEs), found a significant relationship between fantasy-proneness and NDEs, and a much stronger relationship between fantasy- proneness and reports of paranormal experiences in general. This paper presents new data from the study of NDE reporters and a replication and extension of those findings with a sample not selected for NDEs. These data indicate a strong association between fantasy- proneness and reports of paranormal experiences. Hypnotic susceptibility bears a weaker relationship with such reports that appears dependent upon variance shared with measures of fantasy-proneness. Other data from these studies suggests that both imaginative ability and reports of paranormal experiences may be related to a history of stressful or traumatic childhood experiences. Cross, W. P.; Spanos, Nicholas P. (1988-89). The effects of imagery vividness and receptivity on skill training induced enhancements in hypnotic susceptibility. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 8, 89-103. NOTES This article is cited by Spanos & Flynn (1989) as indicating that high hypnotizability requires imaginative skills that some people do not possess in sufficient degrees. Gorassini, Donald R.; Hooper, Cynthia L.; Kitching, Kathleen J. (1988). The active participation of highly susceptible hypnotic subjects in generating their hypnotic experiences. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 7 (3), 215-226. Hypnotized individuals have traditionally been considered to be detached from the control of their own suggested behavior. We tested this and the alternative notion that hypnotized subjects attempt to self-generate the experiences (i.e., mainly of involuntariness) as well as produce the behaviors thought to be prototypical of high hypnotic ability. In an experimental investigation, highly susceptible hypnotic subjects were found to engage in the kind of imaginative activity that would be expected of individuals who were attempting deliberately to generate their experiences of involuntariness; they engaged as actively in imagery-generation as did subjects who were specifically instructed to imagine during suggested responding, and they experienced as much involuntariness as subjects in whom suggested movements were produced by an external physical force. The implications of these findings for the neodissociation and social psychological theories of hypnotic responding are discussed. 1988 LeBaron, Samuel; Zeltzer, Lonnie K. (1988). Imaginative involvement and hypnotizability in childhood. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36, 284-295. 2 pilot studies assessed the relationship between hypnotizability in children and extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities during early childhood. The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children and a structured interview questionnaire regarding fantasy activities based on previous work by Singer (1973) were given to 30 medical patients aged 6-18 years in the first study and to 37 healthy children aged 6-12 years from a school population in the second study. In both studies, hypnotizability correlated moderately (.42 and .39, respectively) with extent of involvement in fantasy- related activities. Results support Hilgard's (1979) findings that hypnotizability is related in part to the development of imaginative involvement in childhood. Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1988). Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology. American Psychologist, 43 (1), 35-44. 2 pilot studies assessed the relationship between hypnotizability in children and extent of involvement in fantasy-related activities during early childhood. The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Children and a structured interview questionnaire regarding fantasy activities based on previous work by Singer (1973) were given to 30 medical patients aged 6-18 years in the first study and to 37 healthy children aged 6-12 years from a school population in the second study. In both studies, hypnotizability correlated moderately (.42 and .39, respectively) with extent of involvement in fantasy- related activities. Results support Hilgard's (1979) findings that hypnotizability is related in part to the development of imaginative involvement in childhood. Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1988). Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology. American Psychologist, 43 (1), 35-44. This article presents a summary of the findings of our ongoing research program on the fantasy-prone person. In seven studies, nearly 6,000 college students were screened in order to obtain five samples of 156 fantasy-prone subjects. Fantasy- prone subjects (fantasizers) were selected from the upper 2%-4% of the college population on a measure of imaginative involvement and contrasted with nonfantasizers (lower 2%-4%), and medium fantasy-prone subjects (middle range). General support was secured for Wilson and Barber's construct of fantasy proneness: Fantasizers were found to differ from nonfantasizers, and in many cases also from medium-range subjects, on measures of hypnotizability, imagination, waking suggestibility, hallucinatory ability, creativity, psychopathology, and childhood experiences. Differences in hypnotizability were most reliable when subjects participated in a multisession study and were screened not only with the screening inventory, but also with an interview that substantiated their fantasy-prone status. However, our findings indicated that less correspondence between fantasy proneness and hypnotizability exists than Wilson and Barber suggested. Hypnotic responsiveness is possible even in the absence of well-developed imaginative abilities, and not all fantasizers were highly hypnotizable. Fantasizers recollected being physically abused and punished to a greater degree than other subjects did and reported experiencing greater loneliness and isolation as children. Many fantasizers appeared to be relatively well-adjusted; however, a subset of fantasizers were clearly maladjusted based on self- report, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Rorschach test data. Because of the diversity inherent in the fantasy-prone population, it is misleading to think of individuals at the extreme end of the fantasy-proneness continuum as conforming to a unitary personality type. Ross, Colin A.; Norton, G. R.; Anderson, Geri (1988). The dissociative experiences scale: A replication study. Dissociation, 1 (3), 21-22. The authors administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale to medical student controls and patients with multiple, personality disorder, schizophrenia panic disorder, and chemical dependency. Patients with multiple personality disorder scored significantly better than the other clinical groups and the medical student controls. Spanos, Nicholas P.; Stenstrom, Robert J.; Johnston, Joseph C. (1988). Hypnosis, placebo, and suggestion in the treatment of warts. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 245-260. Two experiments assessed the effects of psychological variables on wart regression. In Experiment 1, subjects given hypnotic suggestion exhibited more wart regression than those given either a placebo treatment or no treatment. In Experiment 2, hypnotic and nonhypnotic subjects given the same suggestions were equally likely to exhibit wart regression and more likely to show this effect than no treatment controls. In both experiments, treated subjects who lost warts reported more vivid suggested imagery than treated subjects who did not lose warts. However, hypnotizability and attribute measures of imagery propensity were unrelated to wart loss. Subjects given the suggestion that they would lose warts on only one side of the body did not show evidence of a side-specific treatment effect. Van Der Hart, O. (1988). An imaginary leave-taking ritual in mourning therapy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36 (2), 63-69. One form of mourning therapy is the therapeutic leave-taking ritual, the essence of which is that by parting with symbols connected with the deceased, patients take their leave of the deceased and can start a new life of their own. In the case described in the present paper, the patient performed such a ritual in her imagination while under hypnosis. Her extreme grief response is explained in terms of Janet's theory of emotions. It is emphasized that successfully performing the ritual necessarily involved a change in attitude towards the deceased, and it is argued that the specific characteristics of hypnosis--involuntariness and effortlessness--add an extra dimension to guided imagery approaches to unresolved mourning. 1987 Crist, Dwayne Anderson (1987). The effect of suggestibility on the efficacy of relaxation training instruction: A multisession evaluation (Dissertation, University of Alabama). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47 (n9-B), 3950. Progressive relaxation is a well established procedure used in the treatment of anxiety related disorders. Research has suggested that the muscle tension-release component of progressive relaxation is the critical variable in producing relaxation effects. However, other techniques which do not employ muscle-tension release have proven effective. It has been suggested that treatment type may interact with personality characteristics to produce greater effects. Suggestibility was selected as a personality characteristic that may facilitate or inhibit relaxation effects. Fifty high and 50 low suggestible individuals were selected to participate based on scores from the Creative Imagination Scale. Half of each group as randomly assigned to either a progressive relaxation or imagery relaxation treatment. Subjects received four weekly sessions of relaxation training. The Relaxation Scale was administered before and after each session to assess effects of training. The results indicated that high suggestible individuals had significantly greater increases in relaxation within session on each of the three scales of the Relaxation Scale, but this appeared to be a result of lower pre-test scores. Only the Physical Assessment scale also demonstrated higher post-test scores for the high suggestible participants. A ceiling effect appeared to be operating for both the Physiological Tension and Cognitive Tension scales. There were no significant differences between the progressive relaxation and imagery relaxation treatments. It appears that muscle tension release may not be a critical variable in relaxation effects" (p. ). Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1987). Hypnosis, imagination, and fantasy. Journal of Mental Imagery, 11, 101-112. Considers three questions pertaining to the relationship between hypnotic responsiveness and imaginative processes: Are subjects' nonhypnotic imaginative involvements related to hypnotic susceptibility? Do some fantasy prone subjects share a unique constellation of personality attributes and experiences, including an ability to respond to hypnotic suggestions? What are the childhood developmental antecedents of persons who score at the extremes of hypnotic ability and measures of fantasy and imagination? Reviews literature. Makarec, K.; Persinger, M. A. (1987). Electroencephalographic correlates of temporal lobe signs and imaginings. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 1124-1126. Significant correlations (0.50) were observed between scores for the Wilson-Barber Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings and the experiences that are indicative of temporal lobe lability. In addition, positive correlations (0.42) occurred between temporal lobe EEG measures (scalp electrodes) and numbers of temporal lobe signs. The numbers of alpha seconds per minute from the occipital lobes were correlated (0.57) with the Wilson-Barber cluster that indicated interests in 'altered states'. Scores on the childhood imaginings section of the Wilson-Barber Inventory were correlated (0.44) with the numbers of spikes per minute over the temporal lobes when the eyes were closed. Persinger and DeSano (1986) found that people who display temporal lobe signs were also more likely to have more imaginings (as defined by Wilson and Barber's (1983) Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings) and to be more suggestible as indicated by Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile" (p. 1124). Subjects in this investigation were 12 male and 18 female students, ages 18-39 (M = 25 years) Bipolar measures were taken from just above the ears (approximately T3-T4) and the occipital lobe (01-02). Number of alpha seconds per minute and number of spikes per minute from each lobe was taken for 10 minutes (5 successive pairs of 1 minute eyes- open, 1 minute eyes-closed). "The total Wilson-Barber score was significantly (p <.01) correlated ... with the major (0.46) and minor (0.50) temporal lobe clusters but not with two clusters of control items: normal psychological experiences (0.21) and mundane proprioceptive experiences (0.29). These correlations are similar to those in the Persinger and DeSano study (0.60, 0.50, 0.13, and 0.14, respectively). Like the first study (0.53), the items that were most associated with dissociation (depersonalization) were best correlated with the Wilson- Barber scores (0.60). The Wilson-Barber subcluster: adults' extreme experiences (Items 44 through 52, that indicate physiological changes associated with thinking) was again most strongly correlated with the major (0.55) and minor (0.65) temporal lobe clusters; these values were 0.42 and 0.52 in the first study" (p. 1125). "The only statistically significant (p < .01) correlations between the Wilson-Barber scales and the EEG measures were between the number of alpha seconds from the occipital lobe (with the eyes closed) and the [Wilson-Barber] 'altered state' cluster (r = 0.57; Items 33, 41, 42, 43). A weaker correlation (0.36) occurred between the number of alpha seconds per min. (eyes closed condition) and childhood vestibular experiences (items 1, 2, 3, 10, 24)" (p. 1126).