Schneck, Jerome M. (1977). Sleep paralysis and microsomatognosia with special reference to hypnotherapy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25, 72-77.
Sleep paralysis is described in connection with a patient whose episodes incorporated the experience of her entire body feeling extremely small. The psychological implications of the paralysis and her microsomatognosia are discussed. Comparisons are made with other perceptual distortions involving the sense of change in body size. The characteristics of sleep paralysis and associated personality patterns are delineated. This material is discussed with special reference to experiences of patients in hypnosis, especially hypnotherapy and hypnoanalysis.
1963
Slater, Roger C.; Flores, Louis S. (1963). Hypnosis in organic symptom removal: A temporary removal of an organic paralysis by hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 5 (4), 248-255.
“Summary and Conclusions. A detailed case study is reported on the use of hypnosis with beneficial results in an instance of eventually proved organic brain disease. Three other confirmatory case reports of organic disease definitely benefitted by the use of hypnosis are briefly cited.
” The first patient had been adequately studied repeatedly for organic brain disease. Because the studies led to an uncertain indefinite unconfirmed suspicion of psychogenic epilepsy, the patient was returned with a recommendation for continued treatment and observation by the author, a general practitioner. Hence, she was, after still further study for organic disease, treated symptomatically by hypnosis with beneficial results. This led to the erroneous conclusion that the patient’s disability was probably functional. A sudden fatal outcome of the actual but unrecognized brain disease led to a correct but post- mortem diagnosis of astrocytoma of the brain, Grade IV.
“This report and those given to supplement it raise significant questions about the importance and value of hypnosis in organic disease. These include the challenging question of the extent to which the use of hypnosis can potentiate the natural corrective forces of the body; the need to recognize the value of hypnosis in effecting beneficial results in organic disease; the need to qualify the reliability of hypnosis as a differential diagnostic procedure in relation to psychogenic and organic disability; and the possibility and extent of the amelioration or actual correction of known organic illness” (p. 254).
1962
Spankus, Willerd H.; Freeman, Linda G. (1962). Hypnosis in cerebral palsy. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 10 (3), 135-139.
Hypnosis was used with 19 cerebral palsy patients to determine its value in the treatment of this condition. 4 patients demonstrated definite benefit; however, in general, the results were not remarkable. Interpersonal relationships developed during therapy were probably as important in the improvement of the patient as was the hypnotic state itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
PARAPSYCHOLOGY
2002
Gravitz, M.A. (2002). The search for Bridey Murphy: Implications for modern hypnosis.. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 45, 3-10.
The 1956 publication of “The Search for Bridey Murphy” was a noteworthy event in the history of hypnosis. This internationally best selling book, written for lay readers, described several recorded sessions of alleged time-regression to a prior life nearly two centuries before 1956. While subsequent investigations disproved that claim, there were a number of important implications for the science and practice of hypnosis. Although it was concluded that the Bridey Murphy interviews were products of cryptomnesia, the book was a significant factor associated with a resurgence of public and professional intrest in the modality.
The author notes that the hypnotist was a layman who did no mental status evaluation prior to the hypnosis. The author also considers and rejects several alternative hypotheses (reincarnation or regression to past lives; fraud or hoax; monetary motivation on the part of the hypnotist; and development of a dissociated identity, i.e. multiple personality disorder. He concludes, “Tighe”s expectancies, her prior hypnotic experiences with Bernstein, her compliance, transference, acquiescence, and heightened suggestibility, could have set the stage for the subsequent behavior of both the hypnotist and subject in a nonconscious interrelationship in which both parites accepted their beliefs as reality” (p. 7).
1996
Dixon, Mike; Labelle, Louise; Laurence, Jean-Roch (1996). A multivariate approach to the prediction of hypnotic susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 44 (3), 250-264.
The present study examined the relation between various self-report measures and two measures of hypnotizability within a multivariate framework. A group of 748 participants was tested on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A), the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), as well as the Preference for an Imagic Cognitive Style (PICS) questionnaire. One hundred ninety of these participants also completed the Paranormal Experiences Questionnaire (PEQ). Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression equations, and the results of the analyses indicated that both the TAS and PICS accounted for significant amounts of unique variance in each of two 373-member samples of HGSHS:A scores. A further sub-sample of participants (n = 161) was tested on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C) to see if these results would generalize to another measure of hypnotizability. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that although the PEQ predicted significant amounts of unique SHSS:C variance over and above that predicted by the TAS, the PICS failed to do so. This inconsistency in results may be due in part to the generally low intercorrelation between the different hypnotizability scales and points to the need to develop new predictor variables that are orthogonal to each other. – Journal Abstract
1994
Atkinson, Richard P. (1994). Relationships of hypnotic susceptibility to paranormal beliefs and claimed experiences: Implications for hypnotic absorption. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 37, 34-40.
This study examined the relationship of hypnotic susceptibility level to belief in and claimed experience with paranormal phenomena. The Harvard … and the Inventory of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences [developed for this study] were administered on consecutive days to 43 undergraduate students (14 men, 29 women) … . a significant multiple correlation was obtained (r = .55, p<.001). A partial correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and belief in paranormal phenomena was also significant (r = .53, p<.001), while hypnotic susceptibility was not found to be significantly related to claimed paranormal experiences. Implications of these relationships for the role of absorption in hypnosis are discussed. Discusses relationship to Absorption, and the fact that Labelle, Dixon, Laurence, & Nadon (1990) got correlation of hypnotizability with paranormal experience Walsh, Roger (1994, August). Transpersonal psychology--the state of the art. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles. Twenty-five years ago a group formed that was called transpersonal psychology, following after humanistic psychology (e.g. Maslow). Some of the humanistic psychologists came into transpersonal psychology. Maslow was interested in healthy people, and in peak experiences that were transpersonal in nature--experiences encompassing wider aspects of life, including mystical experiences. Peak experiences were thought to be positive, but also overwhelming. When psychologists looked Eastward, they found that there were whole families of these types of experiences, and that they could be induced by will and could be stabilized into not only peak but plateau experiences. There was a reservoir of wisdom in the world's religions that could be drawn upon. This wisdom is being integrated with Western science to create the discipline of transpersonal psychology. There is a broad spectrum of altered states of consciousness. Traditionally, altered states of consciousness were thought to be few in number, and usually pathological. Our society has been resistant toward studying them. For example, Esdaile's use of hypnosis in surgery was not welcomed, even though he was lowering morbidity and mortality because he controlled shock. His paper was turned down for publication. He amputated a leg in front of colleagues in Britain, who commented that he "must have hired a very hard rogue" to have his leg cut off under hypnosis. Our culture is monophasic, deriving its world view almost exclusively from the waking state; other cultures are polyphasic and also draw their world view from dreams, meditative, or yogic contemplative states, etc. Recently we can apply more sophisticated analyses, to compare states of consciousness and map these out, phenomenologically. There are several key dimensions of experience for mapping the states: 1. Control 2. Awareness of Environment 3. Concentration 4. Mental Energy/Arousal 5. Emotion 6. Identity or Self Sense 7. Out-of-Body Experience 8. Content of Experience Using these dimensions, we could compare shamanic, yogic, and Buddhist practices. A Nepalese shaman drums himself into a trance state, demonstrating: 1. Ability to enter and leave an altered state of consciousness and partly control experience 2. Decreased awareness of his environment 3. Increased concentration, fluid attention 4. Increased mental energy/arousal 5. Either pleasurable or not [pleasurable] emotion 6. Separate self sense: may be experienced as a non-physical "spirit" or "soul" 7. Controlled ecstasy (Out of Body experience) A Nepalese shaman drums himself into a trance state, demonstrating: 1. Ability to enter and leave an altered state of consciousness and partly control experience 2. Decreased awareness of his environment 3. Increased concentration, fluid attention 4. Increased mental energy/arousal 5. Either pleasurable or not [pleasurable] emotion 6. Separate self sense: may be experienced as a non-physical "spirit" or "soul" 7. Controlled ecstasy (Out of Body experience) Buddhist meditation is training awareness to examine experience as minutely as possible, in effect a heightened awareness (Vipassana). A yogic practitioner engages in concentration, focusing on a fixed stimulus and holding it unwaveringly, till it dissolves a sense of separation into a unity with the object, ultimately with the Self. [Author showed a slide comparing the three.] All three approaches have increased control and concentration. (The Yogi's is unshakable.) An awareness of the environment is increased for the Buddhist; the Yogi may lose awareness entirely. Others have ecstatic experience; the yogi has enstatic experience. Identity for the shaman is separate (a soul); for the Buddhist awareness is so precise that what was "I" is deconstructed into evanescent flux, into thoughts, images, emotions (like a movie with solitary frames); the yogi dissolves the self sense, but because of fixed concentration the separate self disappears and yogis feel like merging with larger Self. So now for first time in history we can compare and map both similarities and differences. Now we have new possibilities for understanding and contrasting different practices. We can now differentiate the many states of consciousness that are available. But there are an awful lot of states. Can we find an over-arching framework? For the first time, we can say yes--due to the work of Ken Wilber. This is Developmental Structuralism (looking for common deep structures). For example, you can identify millions of different faces, and they are surface structures; but they all have a common deep structure. Likewise, if we see that a Hindu creates images of [devas] and a Christian sees saints, they are seeing archetypal images. Likewise, Buddhists experience nirvana in which all phenomena disappear, and so does another group. This [sense of all phenomena disappearing] is common to both, but different from those who see archetypal images. We may be able to come up with a typology of altered states. Wilber also says that these deep structures and corresponding states may develop in a developmental sequence, with common stages. Three transpersonal stages are subtle, causal, and non-dual. In meditation, first you learn how out of control the mind is, then gradually it quiets and you discover subtle experiences that you usually overlooked. Going further, all thoughts cease to arise, and there is only pure consciousness. Beyond that, images re-arise but are now recognized as projections of consciousness. Subtle images may be formless (as in pure light, pure sound). The person may pay attention to more and more subtle sounds. Or the images may have form (as in shamanic power animals). At the casual stage, the person may be aware of consciousness itself, only consciousness, with no objects: pure consciousness, void, the Atman of Vedanta, abyss of gnosticism. At the non-dual stage, objects arise again: everything is recognized as expressions of consciousness--e.g., Zen's "one mind." Consciousness now has awoken and sees itself in all things, unbounded by space and time and limits because consciousness is what creates space, time, and limits. This is Moksha, Enlightenment, etc. This is not the final task, because the final task is bringing the awakening to the world (Plato's re-entering the cave, to educate others; Zen oxherder entering the marketplace with help-bestowing hands; Christianity's "fruitfulness of the soul"). For Joseph Campbell, this was the hero's return. Toynbee observed that each great contributor had withdrawn and then returned to the world to offer what they had found. [It is a process of] transforming a peak into plateau experience; an altered state into a trait; stabilized into enduring understanding, and then bringing it back into the world. Is there evidence for enlightenment? There now is analogical and laboratory support for this. Analogical support is lucid dreaming. Until 20 years ago, Western psychology thought lucid dreaming was impossible, but now LaBerge at Stanford University has shown physiological evidence. We know from every night's experience that we can create worlds and bodies on which our lives seem to depend. The claim of spiritual traditions is that there is a state of consciousness that bears a relationship to the ordinary [waking] state as lucid dreaming has to nonlucid dreaming. The Dalai Lama said they train yogis to be aware during dreams, not to lose awareness 24 hours a day; then to be aware of dreaming while in a waking period. A Tibetan dream yoga aim is the "great realization," that everything in existence is like a dream. Laboratory studies have been done on enlightened people The EEG data obtained while they are sleeping is consistent with lucidity during their dreams and between dreams. Rorschach tests have been done on advanced Buddhist meditators; at the penultimate of enlightenment, they show no evidence of conflicts around sexuality and aggression. The 2000 year old Buddhist texts say that at this stage these issues are resolved. The implications for our usual state are that normality is not the peak of human development; normality is arrested development. The link between apes and civilization is us! We experience a consensus trance, a collective psychosis, society's hypnosis. We live in the biggest cult of all: CULTURE. The answer is, "Wake up." A most important question is, if it is true that our conventional state of development is suboptimal, how do we develop other states? The classic answer is: take up a discipline, a practice (e.g., meditation, service, being in nature). One problem is that spiritual traditions are usually couched in archaic language, and have accumulated nonsense around them over the years. It is desirable to abstract out the essential elements. That is a recent thrust of transpersonal research. There are six common elements: 1. Ethics: the moment you sit down to meditate, what emerges is all the unethical stuff you've done and what was done to you. Ethical behavior (not conventional morality) is a tool for mind training. 2. Attentional training: ordinarily we cannot sustain attention. (William James said the maximum is 3 seconds.) The aim is to be able to maintain attention on what one wants. It leads to the stabilization of mind, calming. 3. Emotional training: destroying negative emotions (well developed in Western psychology, maybe better than in the Eastern traditions, because we recognize the problem with repression); cultivating positive emotions (where contemplative practices do well, because they offer tools for unwavering, unconditional, and all-encompassing [positive regard]; what is known as agape in Christianity). 4. Redirection of motivation: changing what you want, etc. 5. Perceptual refinement: we mistake shadows for realities; according to St. Paul we "see through a glass darkly." This enhances sensitivity, accuracy, and subtlety of perception. 6. Wisdom: actually the first element, playing a role all through the path. Initial motivation sees suffering of the world; provides motivation for realizing that there must be another way of living, culminates with deep insight into nature of the world, mind, consciousness, reality (prajna; Christian's gnosis). When the mind is trained, stabilized, and clarified, the mind has a heightened capacity for understanding. So for the first time we can recognize the common elements in religions; we can see that the contemplative core contain practices and road maps. This approach recognizes multi-state psychologies and philosophies. APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world's population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected. For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam. hero's return. Toynbee observed that each great contributor had withdrawn and then returned to the world to offer what they had found. [It is a process of] transforming a peak into plateau experience; an altered state into a trait; stabilized into enduring understanding, and then bringing it back into the world. Is there evidence for enlightenment? There now is analogical and laboratory support for this. Analogical support is lucid dreaming. Until 20 years ago, Western psychology thought lucid dreaming was impossible, but now LaBerge at Stanford University has shown physiological evidence. We know from every night's experience that we can create worlds and bodies on which our lives seem to depend. The claim of spiritual traditions is that there is a state of consciousness that bears a relationship to the ordinary [waking] state as lucid dreaming has to nonlucid dreaming. The Dalai Lama said they train yogis to be aware during dreams, not to lose awareness 24 hours a day; then to be aware of dreaming while in a waking period. A Tibetan dream yoga aim is the "great realization," that everything in existence is like a dream. Laboratory studies have been done on enlightened people The EEG data obtained while they are sleeping is consistent with lucidity during their dreams and between dreams. Rorschach tests have been done on advanced Buddhist meditators; at the penultimate of enlightenment, they show no evidence of conflicts around sexuality and aggression. The 2000 year old Buddhist texts say that at this stage these issues are resolved. The implications for our usual state are that normality is not the peak of human development; normality is arrested development. The link between apes and civilization is us! We experience a consensus trance, a collective psychosis, society's hypnosis. We live in the biggest cult of all: CULTURE. The answer is, "Wake up." A most important question is, if it is true that our conventional state of development is suboptimal, how do we develop other states? The classic answer is: take up a discipline, a practice (e.g., meditation, service, being in nature). One problem is that spiritual traditions are usually couched in archaic language, and have accumulated nonsense around them over the years. It is desirable to abstract out the essential elements. That is a recent thrust of transpersonal research. There are six common elements: 1. Ethics: the moment you sit down to meditate, what emerges is all the unethical stuff you've done and what was done to you. Ethical behavior (not conventional morality) is a tool for mind training. 2. Attentional training: ordinarily we cannot sustain attention. (William James said the maximum is 3 seconds.) The aim is to be able to maintain attention on what one wants. It leads to the stabilization of mind, calming. 3. Emotional training: destroying negative emotions (well developed in Western psychology, maybe better than in the Eastern traditions, because we recognize the problem with repression); cultivating positive emotions (where contemplative practices do well, because they offer tools for unwavering, unconditional, and all-encompassing [positive regard]; what is known as agape in Christianity). 4. Redirection of motivation: changing what you want, etc. 5. Perceptual refinement: we mistake shadows for realities; according to St. Paul we "see through a glass darkly." This enhances sensitivity, accuracy, and subtlety of perception. 6. Wisdom: actually the first element, playing a role all through the path. Initial motivation sees suffering of the world; provides motivation for realizing that there must be another way of living, culminates with deep insight into nature of the world, mind, consciousness, reality (prajna; Christian's gnosis). When the mind is trained, stabilized, and clarified, the mind has a heightened capacity for understanding. So for the first time we can recognize the common elements in religions; we can see that the contemplative core contain practices and road maps. This approach recognizes multi-state psychologies and philosophies. APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world's population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected. For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam. APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world's population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected. For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam. 1992 Pekala, R. J.; Kumar, V. K.; Cummings, J. (1992). Types of high hypnotically susceptible individuals and reported attitudes and experiences of the paranormal and the anomalous. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 86, 135-150. A total of 575 subjects were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and completed two self-report questionnaires that assessed the frequency of paranormal and unusual experiences and attitudes and beliefs towards such experiences. Subjects highly susceptible to hypnosis endorsed a significantly greater number of the psi- related items and anomalous and unusual beliefs and experiences than did subjects who were not highly susceptible to hypnosis. Subsequent cluster analyses of the responses of the highly-susceptible subjects suggested that about 10% of the high susceptibles (about 1% of the total subject population) were especially likely to report psi-related and unusual experiences. The implications of using such individuals in parapsychological research to increase the effect size associated with paranormal events are discussed. Richeport, Madeleine M. (1992). The interface between multiple personality, spirit mediumship, and hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 34, 168-177. The author draws parallels between multiple personality disorder (dissociative identity disorder), spirit mediumship, and hypnosis. She uses historical, anthropological, and clinical perspectives. According to the author, Milton Erickson's view of multiple personality disorder was that it was not necessarily pathological, and he employed hypnosis to gain access to personalities and to transform their behavior from involuntary to voluntary actions. "Natural trance therapies in other cultures offer a new perspective for viewing the normalcy or pathology of "other selves"" (p. 168). 1991 Nelson, Peter L. (1991-92). Personality attributes as discriminating factors in distinguishing religio-mystical from paranormal experients. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 11, 389-406. In the first section of this article, an operationalized notion of preternatural experience is described which includes two general classes of experience: religio-mystical (Ontic) and paranormal (Perceptual). The exploratory study which follows uses the personality measures of the complete Tellegen Differential Personality Questionnaire taken from 120 subjects who reported having had spontaneous religio- mystical and/or paranormal experiences at some time in the past. The scores on all eleven primary dimensions, three higher order affect factors, and two validity scales were used individually, in univariate ANOVAs, and together, in a Direct Discriminant Function Analysis, to successfully separate two classes of preternatural experients from non- experients and from each other. in the past. The scores on all eleven primary dimensions, three higher order affect factors, and two validity scales were used individually, in univariate ANOVAs, and together, in a Direct Discriminant Function Analysis, to successfully separate two classes of preternatural experients from non- experients and from each other. Persinger, M. A.; Makarec, Katherine (1991-92). Interactions between temporal lobe signs, imaginings, beliefs and gender: Their effect upon logical inference. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 11, 149-166 Rotton's Paralogic Test, Wilson-Barber's Inventory of Childhood memories and Imaginings (ICMI) and the PPI (Personal Philosophy Inventory) were administered to 100 male and 100 female university students. Both sexes displayed moderately strong (0.50) correlations between content-selected and factor analyzed clusters of possible temporal lobe signs, exotic beliefs and the numbers of childhood imaginings. Although there were no sex differences between the accuracy of logical statements that contained paranormal or neutral content, males who displayed more temporal lobe signs were more accurate for logical items that contained paranormal content. Females who displayed more imaginings were more accurate for valid than for invalid items. Accuracy for items with paranormal content increased with exotic beliefs but not with conservative religious beliefs for both sexes. The relationship between exotic beliefs and accuracy for items with paranormal content was especially strong for females. These results suggest: 1) gender differences in the neurocognitive processes that contribute to logical problem solving and 2) accuracy may depend upon the degree to which the subject matter is commensurate with the person's history of enhanced temporal lobe signs, capacity for fantasy and imaginings and beliefs in exotic concepts. Review of related literature indicates that Personal Philosophy Inventory (PPI) temporal lobe signs are correlated with temporal lobe EEG alpha but not occipital lobe alpha (Makarec & Persinger, 1990), with increased suggestibility (Persinger & DeSano, 1986; Ross & Persinger, 1987), with creativity and proneness towards fantasy (Persinger & DeSano, 1986; Ross & Persinger, 1987; Makarec & Persinger, 1987), and with reports of psi experiences and beliefs in such things as reincarnation and aliens in UFOs ('exotic themes') (Persinger & Makarec, 1987; Persinger & Makarec, 1990). This experiment was designed to answer four questions: " 1) Do imagery and temporal lobe signs emerge from the same source of variance?; 2) Do males and females differ significantly in their incidence of imaginings and temporal lobe signs?; 3) Do males and females differ in their ability to solve logical problems?; and 4) Is the accuracy of problem solving affected by the subject matter of the problem and the problem solver's temporal lobe signs and capacity for imagery?" (p. 151). The PPI consists of 140 true-false items that were selected with a goal of discerning temporal lobe signs within a normal population. One 30-item subscale has items that are similar to experiences reported by patients with verified electrical foci in the temporal lobes, albeit milder (the TLS or temporal lobe sign scale). Of these 30 items, 16 refer to ictal-like experiences (the CPES, or complex partial epileptic signs), and 14 refer to interictal-like behaviors (ILB). CPES items are items like "Sometimes an event will occur that has special significance for me only,' and 'While sitting quietly, I have had uplifting sensations as if I were driving over a rolling road." ILB items are items like "People tell me I blank out sometimes when people are talking,' and 'When I lose an argument I spend a lot of time thinking about what I should have said." road." ILB items are items like "People tell me I blank out sometimes when people are talking,' and 'When I lose an argument I spend a lot of time thinking about what I should have said." Wilson and Barber's Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (ICMI) has 52 true-false items that include reports of paranormal experiences (5 items), moderate imaginings (18 items) such as 'When I was a child I enjoyed fairytales,' and extreme imaginings (15 items) such as 'When I was a child or teenager, at times I was afraid my imagining would become so real to me that I would be unable to stop it.' Rotton's Paralogic Test [unpublished, at Florida International University, Miami] has 16 syllogisms, each with major premise, minor premise, and conclusion. "The person must decide if the argument is valid (n = 8) or invalid (n = 8). Half of each of the valid and invalid arguments refer to mundane material while the other half of the arguments refer to paranormal-related material. An example of the former is 'If a president is a crook, he would be impeached; Congress did not impeach Nixon. Therefore Nixon is not a crook' and 'If flying saucers really existed, somebody would have photographed one. Nobody has ever photographed a flying saucer. Therefore, flying saucers do not exist'" (p. 153). Correlations were computed separately for males and females. Both groups increased in accuracy for paranormal items as their belief in things like reincarnation and UFOs ('exotic concepts') increased. Males with a higher number of temporal lobe signs demonstrated more accuracy for logic test items with paranormal (psi) content than logic test items with mundane content. "The single most important correlation was between exotic beliefs and the interaction term for the Rotton scale; the coefficient was unusually strong (0.54) and highly statistically significant (p<0.001) for females only. Because of the manner in which the interaction term was calculated, this correlation meant that females who reported more exotic beliefs were also more accurate for valid items that contained paranormal content only" (p. 159). In their Discussion, the authors write, "The significant positive correlations between exotic beliefs and the clusters of CPES items and extreme Wilson-Barber imagining items are expected associations according to Bear's concept of sensory-limbic hyperconnectionism [Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Syndrome of Sensory-Limbic Hyperconnectionism, Cortex, 15, pp. 357-384. It would predict that concepts (or word trains) that are unusual, strange or infrequent would be charged with emotional significance and personal value. Ideas that generate substantial imagery, such as time- travel, reincarnation and alien intelligence, would be particularly prone to this affective infusion from limbic sources. Induction of such unique or intensified affective states, especially during childhood, would facilitate the development of more frequent or more extreme periods of dissociation in the adult. We have collected (unpublished) clinical evidence to suggest that the emergence of this pattern is found in the propensity for creative thinkers, including writers, poets, musicians, artists and scientists, to have had developmental histories that could have promoted temporal lobe lability without overt seizure activity; clusters of such "promoters" include mild physical abuse, febrile episodes, minor head injuries and likely hypoxic periods during extreme physical exertion (competitive athletics)" (pp. 161-162). Another conclusion of the study is that males and females do not differ in their accuracy in solving syllogisms, but "the neurocognitive processes, as inferred from inventories of temporal lobe signs or childhood imaginings, by which the two sexes arrive at solutions may be quite different" (p. 162). Richards, D. G. (1991). A study of the correlations between subjective psychic experiences and dissociative experiences. Dissociation, 19, 83-91. Subjective psychic experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and out-of- body experiences, are often reported in conjunction with dissociative experiences. This study examined the relationship between the Dissociative Experiences Scale and a variety of psychic experiences in a nonclinical population with a high level of psychic experiences. The DES correlated moderately (.3 to .4) with most but not all of the experiences. The mean DES score was 17.2 (SD = 12.5), substantially above adult norms. Although psychic experiences are correlated with dissociation, they are not necessarily associated with pathology. 1990 Adityanjee (1990). 'Multiple personality disorder in India': Reply. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147 (9), 1260-1261. Replies to comments by J. Downs et al (see PA, Vol 78:4589) concerning the article on multiple personality and possession syndrome in India by Adityanjee et al (see PA, Vol 77:12344). Both syndromes reflect parallel dissociative disorder with similar etiologies. The present diagnostic classification for multiple identity phenomena is in need of revision. Council, James R.; Huff, Kenneth D. (1990). Hypnosis, fantasy activity, and reports of paranormal experiences in high, medium and low fantasizers. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 7 (3), 9-15. The personality construct "fantasy-proneness" (Wilson and Barber, 1983a) has important implications for theories of hypnosis, imagination, and paranormal phenomena. The present study compared characteristics of persons who received high, medium or low scores on a self-report measure of fantasy-proneness. Results revealed that the three groups differed significantly on measures of absorption, daydreaming styles, and reports of paranormal experiences. However, although high fantasizers were significantly more hypnotizable than low fantasizers, they did not differ from the middle group. These results are used to further characterize fantasy-prone persons, and implications of extremely low fantasy-proneness are discussed. Hughes, Dureen J.; Melville, Norbert T. (1990). Changes in brainwave activity during trance channeling: A pilot study. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 22, 175-189. Authors studied 10 people known trance channels--all had been channeling for more than one year. Used an anthropological field method. Electrode was placed only on left occipital (O1) area, referenced to left ear. Calculated difference between each S's pre- trance and trance EEG beta percentages, for alpha and theta percentages also. Basically, the pre-trance versus trance sums of differences scores were greater than the post-trance versus trance sums of different scores for each of the three frequency bands--indicating a residual of the trance state. There were large, statistically significant increases in amount and percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity, and some suggestion of a pattern. The large amount of beta differentiates these Ss from what has been observed with meditators (increases in alpha and theta). Among the Subjects, large amounts of beta activity were recorded continuously throughout the trance period and were coupled with large amounts of high amplitude alpha and theta (relative to the pre- and post-trance states). The authors compare these results to older hypnosis literature. They conclude that the trance channeling state may be a distinctive state characterized by a particular EEG profile that differs from that found in certain meditative states, hypnotic states, various pathological states, or the waking states of the trance channel Subjects who participated in the study. Authors also liken the differences seen between trance and non-trance states of these Subjects to the differences seen for different alter personalities among people diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. DISCUSSION. The foregoing research suggests that the trance channeling state, as measured in the current study, is characterized by large, statistically significant increases in amount and percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity. There appear to be definite neurophysiological correlates to the trance channeling state, and furthermore there is some evidence that these correlates may be patterned. This pattern might be provisionally compared to those associated with other altered states of consciousness. -corded continuously throughout the trance period and were coupled with large amounts of high amplitude alpha and theta (relative to the pre- and post-trance states). The authors compare these results to older hypnosis literature. They conclude that the trance channeling state may be a distinctive state characterized by a particular EEG profile that differs from that found in certain meditative states, hypnotic states, various pathological states, or the waking states of the trance channel Subjects who participated in the study. Authors also liken the differences seen between trance and non-trance states of these Subjects to the differences seen for different alter personalities among people diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. DISCUSSION. The foregoing research suggests that the trance channeling state, as measured in the current study, is characterized by large, statistically significant increases in amount and percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity. There appear to be definite neurophysiological correlates to the trance channeling state, and furthermore there is some evidence that these correlates may be patterned. This pattern might be provisionally compared to those associated with other altered states of consciousness. Richards, D. G. (1990). Hypnotic susceptibility and subjective psychic experiences. Journal of Parapsychology, 54, 35-51. (Abstracted in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 34, 145-146) Some studies have shown a correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and self-reports of psychic experiences. This study used a population reporting a very high level of psychic experiences and correlated the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility with psychic experiences as measured by two scales. The mean Harvard score (6.31) was approximately the same as published norms, suggesting that the population was not unusual in terms of hypnotic susceptibility. Studies of people with large numbers of psychic experiences who have low hypnotic susceptibility may aid in understanding other factors that are involved. 1989 Zamore, Neal; Barrett, Deirdre (1989). Hypnotic susceptibility and dream characteristics. Psychiatry Journal of the University of Ottawa, 14 (4). This study examined the relationship of hypnotic susceptibility to a variety of dream characteristics and types of dream content. A Dream Questionnaire was constructed synthesizing Gibson's dream inventory and Hilgard's theoretical conceptions of hypnosis. Several dream dimensions correlated significantly with hypnotizability as measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and the Field Inventory. For Ss as a whole, the strongest correlates were the frequency of dreams which they believed to be precognitive and out-of-body dreams. Ability to dream on a chosen topic also correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility for both genders. For females only, there was a negative correlation of hypnotizability to flying dreams. Absorption correlated positively with dream recall, ability to dream on a chosen topic, reports of conflict resolution in dreams, creative ideas occurring in dreams, amount of color in dreams, pleasantness of dreams, bizarreness of dreams, flying dreams, and precognitive dreams. 1988 Azuma, Nagato; Stevenson, Ian (1988). 'Psychic surgery' in the Philippines as a form of group hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 31, 61-67. Psychic surgeons and their patients were observed in the Philippines during a variety of procedures of 'minor surgery.' In six cases, subcutaneous tissues (cysts and benign tumors) were removed. Histological examination confirmed the gross diagnoses and left no doubt that the skin had been penetrated. Although the psychic surgeons used no analgesics or anesthetics, the patients appeared to experience little or no pain and only slight bleeding. The authors believe that a supportive group 'atmosphere' enables the patients to enter a quasi-hypnotic state that reduces pain and facilitates healing 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. Tobacyk, Jerome; Milford, Gary; Springer, Thomas; Tobacyk, Zofia (1988). Paranormal beliefs and the Barnum effect. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52 (4), 737-739. Examined in 128 college students the hypothesis that paranormal beliefs emphasizing divinatory procedures that produce personalized feedback are associated with greater susceptibility to the Barnum effect, which is acceptance of bogus personality feedback consisting of relatively trivial statements with a high base rate. 76% of the Ss rated the accuracy of their personality descriptions favorably, showing a robust Barnum effect. 1987 Nadon, Robert; Laurence, Jean-Roch; Perry, Campbell (1987). Multiple predictors of hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 948-960. Report two experiments in which various measures thought to be related to hypnotizability were analyzed by stepwise discriminant analysis. Absorption and preference for an imagic style of thinking predicted hypnotizability. Addition of 2 other variables in Experiment 2--a Sleep-Dream score derived from Evans's Cognitive Control of Sleep Mentation subscale and Gibson's Dream Questionnaire, and the Belief in the Supernatural subscale of the Taft Experience Questionnaire--increased the correct classification of the medium-hypnotizable subjects from chance levels to 74%. Argue for a confirmatory and hierarchical approach in future studies to explore correlates of hypnotizability more fully. The following notes were made at an SCEH presentation: [Robert Nadon, Hypnotizability: A Correlational Study Involving Experiential, Imagery, and Selective Attention Variables.] Author used a number of variables that have related to hypnotizability in single measure studies to predict with a multiple r. 30 male and 30 female Ss, given Harvard (?) then screened on Form A, and finally on Form C. Classed as Low (0-2), Medium (5-10 without amnesia), and High (11-12 with amnesia). Independent Variable Triserial r % Correctly Classified Sheehan (1967) short Betts -.69** 57 Preference for Imagery Mode of Thought (Isaacs 1982) .64** 57 Tellegen's Absorption .58** Personal Experience Questionnaire .51** 80 (Evans 1982) Concordia Fantasy Questionnaire Pavio Stroop Random Number Generation Task Modified Van Nuys Meditation Task 8 Auditory attention tasks 1983 Flatt, Jennifer R. (1983). What makes therapy work? Thoughts provoked by a case study. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11 (2), 63-72. The case described is offered as illustrating the doubt common to introspective therapists: what _did_ cure the patient? "Francesca's" presenting problem and the object of the short-term psychological intervention described here, was a fairly circumscribed set of fears related to enclosed spaces. The therapeutic approach adopted was primarily hypnobehavioural, with hypnotically-assisted systematic desensitization and "in vivo" exposure being the main components of the planned programme. However, at the client's suggestion, one hypnotic session with content planned by the therapist as age regression produced rather dramatic and unexpected results claimed by the patient to effect complete cure. The therapist suggested that "her mind would take her back to a time that was important in understanding her fears and that she would be able to stay calm and relaxed while this past event was revealed to her" (p. 69. She subsequently imagined being in a cave, peaceful and calm. "On being roused from hypnosis, Francesca eagerly described her cave image. She was enthusiastic about the significance of this experience, claiming that it was evidence that in a _previous life_ she had died from being locked into a cave as some sort of punishment and that this pexperience made her fear of enclosed places rational and comprehensible to her" (p. 69). 1965 Vasilev, L. (1965). Mysterious phenomena of the human psyche. New York: University Books. (Abstracted in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 1965, 8:2, 146-147) The review of this book by Leo Wollman (American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 1965, vol. 8, pp. 146-147) states, "Many interesting theories about hypnosis are aired in this book. The opinions Pavlov propounded many years ago, about cortical inhibition are assiduously asserted, yet some statements made bear investigation. The mere sight of the experimenter in B. N. Birman's experiments with dogs put the dog into a hypnotic state. The appearance in the room of other people, who had not participated in the experiments, had no sleep inducing effect. For the experimental animal, therefore, the experimenter himself had been transformed into a conditioned hypnogenous stimulus. Similarly, in group hypnotherapy, the entrance of the physician-hypnotist into the room often effects a hypnotic state in some of the subjects. The doctor has become the stimulus for the conditioned response, that of hypnotic trance state induction. " An interesting and perhaps little known fact elicited from Chapter III (Hypnotism and Suggestion) is the high percentage (12%) of those replies to questionnaires during the First International Congress on Experimental Psychology held in Paris in 1899, which indicated that 3,000 respondents had hallucinations while in a normal state of health. The majority were visual; auditory and tactile hallucinations were less frequent" (pp. 146-147). hypnotist into the room often effects a hypnotic state in some of the subjects. The doctor has become the stimulus for the conditioned response, that of hypnotic trance state induction. " An interesting and perhaps little known fact elicited from Chapter III (Hypnotism and Suggestion) is the high percentage (12%) of those replies to questionnaires during the First International Congress on Experimental Psychology held in Paris in 1899, which indicated that 3,000 respondents had hallucinations while in a normal state of health. The majority were visual; auditory and tactile hallucinations were less frequent" (pp. 146-147). Vasiliev, L. (1965). Mysterious phenomena of the human psyche. New York NY: University Books. (Reviewed by Leo Wollman in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 1965, 8 (2), 146-147) AJCH Abstract by Leo Wollman: Many interesting theories about hypnosis are aired in this book. The opinions Pavlov propounded many years ago, about cortical inhibition are assiduously asserted, yet some statements made bear investigation. The mere sight of the experimenter in B.N. Birman's experiments with dogs put the dog into a hypnotic state. The appearance in the room of other people, who had not participated in the experiments, had no sleep-inducing effect. For the experimental animal, therefore, the experimenter himself had been transformed into a conditioned hypnogenous stimulus. Similarly, in group hypnotherapy, the entrance of the physician-hypnotist into the room often effects a hypnotic state in some of the subjects. The doctor has become the stimulus for the conditioned response, that of hypnotic trance state induction. An interesting and perhaps little known fact elicited from Chapter III (Hypnotism and Suggestion) is the high percentage (12%) of those replies to questionnaires during the First International Congress on Experimental Psychology held in Paris in 1899, which indicated that 3,000 respondents had hallucinations while in a normal state of health. The majority were visual; auditory and tactile hallucinations were less frequent. Dr. P. P. Podyapolsky, in 1905, wrote 'I tried unsuccessfully to induce in a peasant a reddening of the skin from a mock mustard plaster not only was there no reddening, there wasn't even any appropriate sensation of burning or smarting. I surmised that this simple man had probably never experienced a mustard plaster; therefore, his mind lacked the corresponding images and the ability to reproduce them with all their consequences... And so it turned out--he had never experienced a mustard plaster. It happened that he later had occasion to put a mustard plaster on his chest, and when I hypnotized him thereafter, suggestion quickly created not only the appropriate burning sensation but also reddening of the skin where the mock mustard plaster was applied.' This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the connection between the skin and cerebral cortex by means of neural conductors may, under certain circumstances, alter the activity of different organs. The alteration operates, apparently, in the category of conditioned-reflex formation. This book is interesting reading and from a historic point of view is worth having in one's library 1956 Guze, Henry (1956). Kline, M. V. A scientific report on 'The Search for Bridey Murphy' [Review]. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 4 (3), 127-130. This book contains chapters by scientists who are critical of the book on Bridey Murphy written by Morey Bernstein. The critiques discuss the following phenomena in relationship to reports of 'past lives':