Kelly, Paul James (1984, December). The relationship between hypnotic ability and hypnotic experience. Newsletter of Division 30, Psychological Hypnosis, of the American Psychological Association, 5.
This study investigated the relationship between four types of hypnotic experience and hypnotic ability. The types of experience were: dissociation, the experience of involuntariness; altered state effects, such as perceptual alterations and diminished reality sense; rapport, transference-like involvement with the hypnotist; and relaxation. A sample of 230 students was given the HGSHS:A, a group version of the SHSS:C, and the Hypnotic Experience Questionnaire (Kelly, 1984), a 47-item multidimensional scale of hypnotic experience. Items were taken from these tests to form 11 hypnotic ability variables (Positive Hallucinations, Dreams and Regressions, Post- Hypnotic Compulsions, Amnesia (HGSHS:A), Amnesia (SHSS:C), Arm Rigidity, Arm Immobilization, Other Motor Inhibitions, Head Falling, Moving Hands Together, and Hand Lowering). Fourteen hypnotic experience variables were also formed (Generalized Dissociative Effects, Dissociative Inhibition, Trance, Unawareness, Transference-like Involvement, Trust, Friendliness, Physical Relaxation, Mental Relaxation, Imagery Presence, Imagery Vividness, Imagery Detail, Self Consciousness, and Analytic Thoughts). The 25 variables were intercorrelated and factored with principal axis factoring. Five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted and rotated to varimax criteria. These factors, which accounted for 54.4 percent of the variance, were called: Imaginative Involvement, Ideomotor Response, Rapport, Cognitive Inhibition, and Relaxation. Hypnotic ability variables loaded significantly on three of the factors (Imaginative Involvement, Ideomotor Response, and Cognitive Inhibition) and these three factors also tapped some aspect of altered state experience and/or dissociative experience. It was concluded therefore that dissociative experience and altered state experience are related to hypnotic ability. The remaining two factors, Rapport and Relaxation, showed significant loadings only for rapport variables and relaxation variables, respectively. Neither of these two factors were related to any of the traditional measures of hypnotic ability or to the experience of dissociative effects or altered state effects. The results of this study suggest that rapport and relaxation may happen in the hypnotic situation but neither experience is related to the condition of being hypnotized in any essential way. The hypnotic condition is characterized by dissociative experience, altered state experience, and by successful performance on hypnotic ability tasks. The results also raise questions about Edmonston’s (1981) theory that relaxation is the essence of hypnotic responsiveness. The finding that the experience of relaxation is unrelated to hypnotic ability is more congruent with Hilgard’s (1977) view that relaxation is a nonhypnotic process.
NOTES 1:
This is an abstract of an unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Waterloo, 1984. It won the American Psychological Association Division 30 award for Best Student Paper at the 1984 APA Convention.
Lynn, Steven Jay; Nash, Michael R.; Rhue, Judith W., Frauman, David C.; Sweeney, Carol A. (1984). Nonvolition, expectancies, and hypnotic rapport. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93 (3), 295-303.
: Prior to hypnosis, subjects were informed either that hypnotizable subjects can resist motoric suggestions or that such control does not characterize good hypnotic subjects. During hypnosis, susceptible and simulating subjects received countering suggestions involving inhibiting suggestion-related movements. Susceptible subjects’ responses were found to be sensitive to prehypnotic normative information. There was a corresponding tendency for reports of involuntariness to be sensitive to the expectancy manipulation. Furthermore, subjects were able to feel deeply hypnotized and to rate themselves as good subjects yet concomitantly experience themselves as in control over their actions when normative information supported this attribution. Reports of suggestion-related sensations but not imaginative involvement were associated with movements in response to countersuggestion. Simulators were unable to fake susceptibles’ reports of sensations and involuntariness. However, for all subjects, movements paralleled expectancies about appropriate response, supporting the hypothesis that involuntary experiences are sensitive to the broad expectational context and are mediated by active cognitive processes. Also, rapport with the hypnotist was found to be a factor. Susceptible subjects with highly positive rapport resolved hypnotic conflict, in part, by achieving a compromise between meeting normative expectations and complying with the hypnotist’s counterdemand.
1983
Diamond, Michael Jay (1983). Therapeutic indications in applying an innovative hypnotherapeutic technique: The client-as-hypnotist. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 25 (4), 242-247.
A novel hypnotic induction technique is described wherein the client reverses roles and serves as hypnotist for the therapist willing to enter trance. Indications and contraindications in employing innovative hypnotherapeutic interventions are considered in terms of the therapeutic goals and context, patient-therapist interaction, and patient as well as therapist characteristics. Benefits provided by the technique to the client, client-therapist interaction, and therapist respectively are briefly discussed. The specific methodology of this technique is described according to seven steps: (1) permission request: (2) client observation: (3) session structure: (4) client confidence: (5) therapist trance: (6) feedback: and (7) subsequent utilization. Relevant clinical examples are provided.
Fourie, David P. (1983). Width of the hypnotic relationship: An interactional view of hypnotic susceptibility and hypnotic depth. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11 (1), 1-14.
Efforts have been reported in the hypnosis literature to correlate measurements of hypnotic susceptibility with measurements of hypnotic depth. Not only have the findings not been consistent, but recently the whole issue of hypnotic susceptibility and depth and their measurement has become controversial, as evidenced by Weitzenhoffer’s (1980) and Hilgard’s (1981) statements. This paper offers a different perspective on the issue and introduces the concept of the width of the hypnotic relationship as a useful indication of the degree of hypnotic involvement. The width of the hypnotic (paradoxical) relationship refers to the scope of the relationship within which certain involuntary behaviors can occur. The larger the number of such behaviors that are possible within the bounds of the paradoxical relationship, the wider that relationship shall be considered to be. This is an investigation of the relationship between the width of the relationship and the depth of hypnosis experienced. The SHSS: A, as a measurement of the width of the relationship, was applied to 18 volunteer female subjects. A 10-point self-report scale was applied before and after a procedure to widen the relationship. The correlations between the SHSS: A scores and both sets of self-report scores were positive and significant, as expected. The widening procedure had a definite deepening effect, but it seemed possible that this effect was not uniform.
Silverman, Lloyd H.; Lachmann, Frank M.; Milich, Robert H. (1982). The search for oneness. New York: International Universities Press.
NOTES 1:
This book summarizes research on preconscious activation (subliminal psychodynamic activation) of fantasies of oneness, following tachistoscopic presentation of words like, “Mommy and I are one.” It represents an attempt to test and validate, through experimental investigation, psychoanalytic concepts. The authors show how such fantasies can improve psychosocial adaptation for people with varying kinds of psychopathology.
1980
Sheehan, Peter W. (1980). Factors influencing rapport in hypnosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89 (2), 263-281.
The phenomenon of countering expresses the tendency of some highly susceptible subjects to favor the intent of the hypnotist when placed in a conflict situation where social influences of another kind dictate an alternative response. The present research explored the parameters of this objective index of involvement with the hypnotist to investigate the special relevance of rapport processes to the hypnotic setting. Rapport was manipulated in five different experiments, varying either the warmth or genuineness of the hypnotist. It was predicted from transference theorizing that countering would decrease in the negative context and increase in the positive one. Results confirmed predictions for highly susceptible subjects tested in the former context but not the latter. In the negative setting, subjects were inhibited in their rate of countering, but maintained their previous level of response to the hypnotist when rapport was facilitated. Results highlighted the relevance of interpersonal processes to theorizing about hypnosis.
1976
Hodge, J. R. (1976). The contractual aspects of hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 391-399.
No generally accepted theory of the essence of hypnosis is currently available, nor are any specific responses uniquely associated with hypnosis. A necessary, though not sufficient, aspect of hypnosis involves the subject’s preconceived expectations and selective attention to a series of agreements (“contracts”) which are developed between patient and therapist before the induction, during the induction and deepening procedures, and during the operational phase. These contracts may be either implicit or explicit, but they can be identified in all hypnotic interactions. The skillful therapist will make the contracts explicit by defining, at least in general terms, what he expects. If the patient agrees, i.e., “sings the contract,” he is likely to comply with suggestions.
1969
Blatt, Sidney J.; Goodman, John T.; Wallington, Sue Ann (1969). Is the hypnotist also being hypnotized?. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 160-166.
Noted that 2 hypnotists had cognitive and affective experiences similar to those expected in the S as a function of the hypnotic manipulation when they were conducting hypnotic inductions. Though the hypnotists may have been responding to the mood tone of the Ss or responding on the basis of their expectations about the effect of the hypnotic manipulation, it seemed equally possible that the hypnotists may have experienced mild forms of the trance state they had induced in their Ss. These observations seemed consistent with prior notes of such a phenomenon. This phenomenon has important implications for the clinical and experimental use of hypnosis and for concepts such as transference and countertransference, empathy, demand characteristics, and E bias. Suggestions are made for the systematic evaluation and study of this phenomenon. (Spanish & German summaries) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
Small, Maurice M.; Kramer, Ernest (1969). Hypnotic susceptibility as a function of the prestige of the hypnotist. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 17, 251-256.
Administered 40 undergraduates the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. On the basis of the scores, Ss were divided into 20 “better” and 20 “poorer” Ss. A wk. later Ss were rehypnotized by a tape recording of the above induction procedure. On the 2nd induction, 1/2 of the Ss were told that the hypnotist on the tape was an expert; the other 1/2 were told the hypnotist was a novice. Results indicate that only the better Ss given novice instructions showed a change (decrement) in hypnotic susceptibility. (Spanish & German summaries) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1968
Fromm, Erika (1968). Transference and countertransference in hypnoanalysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 16, 77-84.
THE HYPNOTHERAPIST IS OFTEN LOOKED UPON AS AN OMNISCIENT HEALER AND A PARENT FIGURE WITH MAGIC POWERS. HE MAY EVEN TEND TO THINK OF HIMSELF THIS WAY. THESE AND OTHER UNREALISTIC ATTITUDES STEMMING FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD FEELINGS, CHILDHOOD WISHES, AND FEARS ARE DISCUSSED. (SPANISH + GERMAN SUMMARIES) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1964
Black, Stephen (1964). Mind and body. London: Kimber.
NOTES 1:
Defines psychosomatic disease as one that responds to psychotherapy. Believes only 5% are highly hypnotizable, that hypnosis is learnable in 1/2 hour, that hypnosis is not a useful treatment for psychosomatic disorders because you can’t use interpretation [of unconscious]. The ‘unconscious’ is “… a complex of informational systems derived from such primaeval mechanisms” (p. 133). “Primaeval mind is involved in these mechanisms of genetics and immunology” (p. 133). “There is thus a ‘somatic mind’ which is unconscious and presumably without any means of verbalization of experience–and a ‘cerebral mind’ which is conscious” (p. 133). The dividing line is not clear.
Rapport is discussed on pp. 160, 169 as one of the spontaneous characteristics of hypnosis, in the absence of suggestion. The same for posthypnotic suggestion (rapport and amnesia). Spontaneous _physiological_ changes in hypnosis relate to mind-body relationships (p. 169)
Conditioned reflex is discussed on p. 161
“…the subjective evidence indicates that a perceptual change involving any sensory modality can be produced by DSUH” [direct suggestion under hypnosis] p. 178. Suggestion can selectively affect different parts of the body p. 197.
Research: “Hypnosis is not only the most important and practical way of _proving_ the existence of the unconscious–which is still in doubt in some circles–but is in fact the only way in which unconscious mechanisms can be manipulated under repeatable experimental conditions for purposes of investigation” (p. 152).
Mind-body is “amenability to control” Catatonia, which characterizes both animal and human hypnosis, seen in hypnosis, is induced by constriction (i.e. disorientation). The Cartesian concept of mind and body tends to confuse the issue p. 157.
Rapport is discussed (p. 157).
Suggestion (p. 159) “It was this concept of ‘suggestion’–which so obviously parallels ‘amenability to control’ in animals–that eventually established hypnosis in the French schools of psychiatry as a state of increased suggestibility. … still the standard definition of hypnosis in most medical psychiatric textbooks and in lay dictionaries” (p. 159).
Black (1969) did some biochemical sleuthing to learn how information transmitted by words becomes information encoded somatically, as when psychosomatic allergies flare and recede or disappear. What accounts for suggestion “curing” an allergic skin reaction in one part of the body while another part not included in the suggestion remains reactive? What accounts for the instantaneous skin allergy cure which sometimes occurs with suggestion (in 24 hours)?
Skin sensitivity tests in highly hypnotizable Ss who were also very allergic were inhibited by direct suggestion under hypnosis under highly controlled experimental conditions–and in one subject the effect (inhibition) was relatively permanent–ruling out (he suggests) a neurological mechanism. He did further experiments to examine whether the result was due to an instant neurological mechanism and a long-term endocrinal mechanism.
p. 212 He ruled out peripheral blood flow as the cause of diminished skin sensitivity (there was no change in blood flow with suggestions of heat or cold). Therefore decrease in blood flow couldn’t explain in neurovascular terms the ‘instant’ inhibition of skin sensitivity (allergy) tests. Was it due to systemic–especially adrenal– changes? He demonstrated increases in plasma cortisol under hypnosis with suggestions of fear. On p. 230 he summarizes the facts he established by skin sensitivity tests, plasma- cortisol studies, and histology – endocrinological.
1961
Bowers, Margaretta K. (1961). Theoretical considerations in the use of hypnosis in the treatment of schizophrenia. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 9, 39-46. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts, 62,: 2 II 39B)
The author presents her views on the hypnotic state and its relationship to schizophrenia. She feels that the most effective use of hypnosis in the treatment of schizophrenia is the rapid achievement of rapport with the repressed, healthy self of the patient. Hypnosis is compared with sensory deprivation, with the difference that the hypnotist remains the patient”s only contact with outer reality. Schizophrenia is likened to a perpetual state of auto-hypnosis. Hypnosis is of value in teaching the patient healthy uses of his own skill in autohypnosis. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2II39B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
1955
Meares, Ainslie (1955). A note on the motivation for hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 3 (4), 222-228. (Abstracted in Psychological Abstracts 57: 1129)
NOTES 1:
“Summary. The logical reasons of the patient for desiring hypnosis, and of the therapist in advising it, operate on a background of unconscious mechanims. These mechanisms are important factors in determining whether or not the logical reasons become effective. An understanding of such motivation helps the therapist in the selection of cases and the choice of the particular form of hypnotherapy to be used” (p. 228).
Patient motivations for hypnosis include magical expectations, paranoid belief that one is under the control of a malevolent influence, a (paradoxical) belief that hypnosis will be ineffective with neurotic symptoms and therefore justify continuation of the symptoms, latent aggression (“hypnotize me if you can” attitude) or an excess of passivity (“humiliate me”), erotic motivation or a wish for a more intimate relationship with the therapist, search for new or unusual experiences in life, a last ditch effort to cope with chronic pain and illness, etc.
Patient motivations against hypnosis include fear of being overpowered or the threat of authority, aggressive feelings that would be motivated if the hypnotist seems to be an authority, or association of hypnosis with the erotic. The author has observed “a surprising number of people” with the latter association. “With these people, it is more of an attitude of mind in which any close or intimate relationship is regarded as erotic. They see in hypnosis an intimate relationship with the therapist, and they avoid it without being aware of their reasons for doing so” (p. 226).
Therapist motivations for hypnosis include unconscious mechanisms as well, such as a drive for power (sometimes manifested in desire to demonstrate the technique to a wider audience than simply colleagues in a workshop). When tinged with eroticism the drive can become sadistic. Also, erotic drives can find vicarious expression as “The intensity of the rapport between patient and psychotherapist in waking psychotherapy, is increased many times in hypnosis” (p. 227).
Therapist motivations against hypnosis include fear of failure (which is more obvious when a patient doesn’t follow a suggestion than in lack of response to medicine), fear of erotic involvement, fear of one’s own aggression, etc.
1954
Meares, Ainslie (1954). History-taking and physical examination in relation to subsequent hypnosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (4), 291-295.
NOTES 1:
“Summary. The history-taking and physical examination of the initial interview can be so structured as to facilitate the subsequent induction of hypnosis. Rapport is established, and negative transference feelings are not allowed to develop. There must be no holding back or hiding of the real complaint with screen symptoms. Physical examination is a symbolic surrender and paves the way for the real surrender of passive hypnosis. If induction by an active method is anticipated, authoritative attitudes are introduced into the history-taking and physical examination” (p. 295).
Watkins, John G. (1954). Trance and transference. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2 (4), 284-290.
NOTES 1:
The author proposes that [hypnotic] trance and transference are essentially the same phenomena. “Yet while the hypnotherapist is often unaware he is dealing with transference, the psychoanalyst is often equally oblivious to the fact that he is interacting with his patient in a light trance ego state. … Perhaps a re-examination of the entire problem of ego states and hypnotic trance is due” (p. 290).
READING
1970
Donk LJ. Vingoe FJ. Hall RA. Doty R. The comparison of three suggestion techniques for increasing reading efficiency utilizing a counterbalanced research paradigm. International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis 1970;18(2):126-133. Reports an experiment in which both Barber-type and alert-trance procedures significantly increased reading speed while maintaining comprehension when compared to a control group; a traditional hypnotic procedure followed by the specific suggestions failed to obtain these results. 32 volunteer undergraduates were randomly assigned to 4 groups in terms of a counterbalanced design. 2 groups were administered trance inductions (traditional and alert) followed by specific suggestions, a 3rd simply the suggestions, while the 4th served as control. Reading suggestions were to eliminate specific problems, increase speed, and increase or maintain comprehension. (Spanish & German summaries)
RECEPTIVITY & OPENNESS
2000
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.
1998
Eimer, Bruce; Freeman, Arthur (1998). Pain management psychotherapy: A practical guide. New York NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..
NOTES 1:
“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.”
1997
Patterson, David R.; Adcock, Rebecca J.; Bombardier, Charles H. (1997). Factors predicting hypnotic analgesia in clinical burn pain. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 45 (4), 377-395.
The use of hypnosis for treating pain from severe burn injuries has received strong anecdotal support from case reports. Controlled studies provide less dramatic but empirically sound support for the use of hypnosis with this problem. The mechanisms behind hypnotic analgesia for burn pain are poorly understood with this patient population, as they are with pain in general. It is likely that, whatever the mechanisms are behind hypnotic pain analgesia, patients with burn injuries are more receptive to hypnosis than the general population. This article postulates some variables that may account for this enhanced receptivity, including motivation, hypnotizability, dissociation, and regression.
1995
Malinoski, Peter; Martin, Daniel F.; Aronoff, Jodi; Lynn, Steven Jay; Gedeon, Scott (1995, November). Hypnotizability, individual differences, and interpersonal pressure to report early childhood memories. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Antonio, TX.
NOTES 1:
Infantile amnesia is attributed to developmental issues before 24 months. This study indicates non-hypnotic influences can shape early memories that cross the amnesia barrier.
227 Ss completed Harvard Scale and personality measures in Session 1. In Session 2 182 completed a suggestibility scale. In Session 3 they were selected, as if independent of earlier sessions – 143 [may have misheard number] Ss.
Interviewers told the selected Ss that they were experiencing something like psychotherapy, and they were asked to recall their earliest memory (independent of photos, what people had told them, etc.) Then Experimenters probed for earlier memories; that continued until Ss denied any more memories after 2 consecutive probes. Then Ss were asked to close their eyes and get in touch with more memories. Then they were told most Ss can remember more, including sometimes their second birthday party. After 1 minute, Ss were asked about memories of their second birthday. Then they were asked to focus on even earlier memories, implying it was expected and receiving complements for reporting earlier memories. Finally, Ss completed a post-study questionnaire.
Memory report was a verbal description of an event, person, or object. Initial memory mean age was 3.7; it correlated with Openness to Experience Scale and with Fantasy Proneness. Mean age of the last earliest memory report before the close eyes instruction was 3.2 years. After receiving visualization instructions, 59% reported a memory of their second birthday. Compliance correlated .33 with this. Subjective response, nonvoluntariness, and [missed words] also correlated.
Compliance scores correlated .28 with at least one memory at or before age 24 months. Yielding to leading questions correlated also with memory for an event at or before 24 months.
Clarity of memories decreased between conditions of initial memory, earliest query, birthday, and earliest memory. Mean confidence rating on 5 point scale for second birthday memory was 3.3; mean confidence rating for earliest memory was 3.6. Mean accuracy rating was 4.0, and 94% said their memory reports were accurate to at least a moderate degree.
The post study questionnaire, totally anonymous, indicated Ss did not feel much pressure to recall (2.9 on scale of 1-5). Only 9.8% indicated they felt a lot of pressure. Subjects also usually denied that they made up memories to satisfy the experimenter. On average, the reports of memory under visualization conditions occurred two years earlier than their first reported memories.
1993
Glisky, Martha L.; Kihlstrom, John F. (1993). Hypnotizability and facets of openness. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 41 (2), 112-123.
Absorption, a correlate of hypnotizability, is related to a broader dimension of openness to experience, one construal of the “Big Five” structure of personality. But openness itself is very heterogeneous, and some of its facets may be unrelated to hypnotizability. A total of 651 subjects completed a questionnaire measuring three different aspects of openness — absorption, intellectance, and liberalism — before receiving the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. The three dimensions were only modestly related to each other, and only absorption was significantly related to hypnotizability. Adding intellectance and liberalism to absorption did not enhance the prediction of hypnotizability. The results indicate that the various facets of openness are rather different from each other and that the “Big Five” structure may need to be expanded. Absorption and hypnosis share a kind of imaginative involvement that is not necessarily part of other kinds of openness, such as intellectance and liberalism.
1992
Goodman, Linda; Holroyd, Jean (1992). Ego receptivity and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 40 (2), 63-67.
Ego receptivity has been described as important for the psychotherapy process and as a characteristic of hypnosis (Deikman, 1974; Dosamantes-Alperson, 1979; Fromm, 1979). Receptivity also has been associated with a measure of absorption (Tellegen, 1981). In the first pilot study with 6 dance/movement therapy students, higher observer ratings of receptivity were associated with greater hypnotizability (r = .79, df = 4, p<.05, 2-tailed test). In the second pilot study, the correlation was replicated (r = .51, df = 12, p = .06, 2-tailed test) with 14 dance/movement therapy students. In the second pilot study, receptivity did not correlate with absorption. Receptivity and absorption, however, accounted for 54% of hypnotizability population variance in a step-wise multiple regression. Receptivity accounted for a unique part of the variance after the effects of absorption were removed. It was concluded that receptivity should be explored as a potential predictor of hypnotizability, and that a reliable scaled measure of receptivity should be developed. NOTES 1: Receptivity was rated by dance instructor on the following scale. "TABLE 1 Criteria for Ranking Ss on Receptivity A. Individuals were rated high if they could consistently do the following most of the time: 1. If they moved with emotional involvement. 2. If they could readily verbally describe their movement experience in terms of sensations or feelings. 3. If they were able to image while moving. That is, their movement experience could be transformed into representational visual images. 4. In their describing their movement experience verbally, if they readily alluded to the images which were generated from their body movement. 5. If they could relate their movement experiences to other contexts outside of the therapeutic one. 6. If they could develop a working alliance with the therapist (based on students' capacity to risk experiencing self with increased emotional depth). B. Individuals were rated low, if they were not able to do the above most of the time. C. Individuals were rated in the mid-range if they were able to do the above some of the time" (p. 65). 1991 Glisky, M. L.; Tataryn, D. J.; Tobias, B. A.; Kihlstrom, J. F.; McConkey, K. M. (1991). Absorption, openness to experience, and hypnotizability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 263-272. NOTES 1: Balthazard (1993) states that the research suggests that absorption might splinter into a number of subconstructs. Also, different components of "absorption" may be differentially related to different components of hypnotic performance. Radtke, H. Lorraine; Stam, Henderikus J. (1991). The relationship between absorption, openness to experience, anhedonia, and susceptibility. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 39, 39-56. Examination of the absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale [TAS] of Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), openness to experience (OTE Inventory of Costa & McCrae, 1978), and anhedonia (ANH Scales of L. J. Chapman, J. P. Chapman, & Raulin, 1976) scales suggested that they might be conceptually related. Given the reliable relationship between TAS and hypnotic susceptibility, the authors were interested in studying OTE and ANH as possible personality correlates of hypnotic susceptibility. 2 studies, 1 involving a community sample and the other a sample of university students, were conducted to assess the relationships between the TAS, OTE, and ANH scales and hypnotic susceptibility. As predicted, in Study 1 (community sample) the TAS and OTE inventories were positively correlated with one another and both were negatively correlated with the ANH scale. This pattern of correlations was replicated in Study 2 (university sample), but only TAS correlated significantly with hypnotic susceptibility. Factor analyses further confirmed these findings. It was concluded that the conceptual relationship among the TAS and the OTE and ANH scales resides in some dimension other than hypnotic susceptibility. NOTES 1: Two studies used Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), Costa & McCrae's (1978) Openness to Experience Inventory (OTE), and Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin's (1976) Anhedonia scales (ANH). One involved a community sample, the other involved university students. OTE and TAS r = .42 and .62 TAS and HGSHS:A r = .22 (p<.10) in one study "Thus, while there is a significant overlap in variability between TAS and the other person variables, the variance shared between TAS and hypnotic susceptibility is unique to those two measures. Further research is needed to determine the role of expectancies in contributing to this pattern of findings and the extent to which item overlap may be responsible for the observed correlations (Nicholls et al., 1982). Inspection of the items included in the three scales indicated that only TAS assesses involvement in experiences; items on the ANH and OTE instruments focus on interest or willingness to engage in various experiences" (p. 51). "Notably, the correlations between TAS and the 2 subjective indices of hypnotic susceptibility, SUB and O-I, were slightly stronger than the correlations between TAS and the two indices reflecting overt behavior (OBJ and HGSHS:A scores). This pattern of relationships is consistent with recent arguments that objective indices alone do not fully capture the hypnotic experience (e.g., Spanos et al., 1983). "Interestingly, the correlations among the three personality scales tended to be stronger in Study 1 where a community sample was assessed in a nonhypnotic context than in Study 2 where a sample of university undergraduates was assessed in a hypnotic context. The two samples differed significantly on all three scales both in terms of mean level and variability, indicating possible ceiling effects and restricted range problems in the university sample. Given that almost all of the research on hypnotic susceptibility and its correlates has been conducted on university students, these findings point to the utility of obtaining research participants from a greater cross-section of the population" (pp. 51- 52). "Of particular importance, these results indicate that the relationships among TAS and the OTE and ANH scales do not depend upon the hypnotic context and are not the product of expectancies generated by the anticipation of being hypnotized. Nevertheless, the conceptual relationship among the three scales resides in some dimension that is unrelated to hypnotic susceptibility. At this point, we can only speculate as to what this dimension might be. One possibility is that TAS and the OTE and ANH scales reflect an openness to various experiences; what absorption and hypnotic susceptibility uniquely share is the willingness to become involved in imaginal and sensory experiences" (p. 52). 1990 Barber, Theodore Xenophon (1990, August). Some things I've learned about hypnosis after 37 years. [Audiotape] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston. NOTES 1: "We are a unity of cells. Every cell is a citizen with it's own jobs, communicating all the time; cells send messages; the way we communicate with them is by suggestions. Each _cell_ is a mind-body.... When I do it now [hypnotic inductions], I say, 'We're going to go into hypnosis, we're _both_ going to go into hypnosis. I'm going to close my eyes (etc.)' - modeling hypnosis for them." Hoyt, Irene P.; Nadon, Robert; Register, Patricia A.; Chorny, Joseph; Fleeson, William; Grigorian, Ellen M.; Otto, Laura; Kihlstrom, John F. (1989). Daydreaming, absorption and hypnotizability. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 332-342. NOTES 1: It appears that the consistent correlation between hypnotizability and positive-constructive daydreaming is carried largely by three subscales--Acceptance of Daydreaming, Positive Reactions to Daydreaming, and Problem-Solving. Number other subscales consistently correlated with hypnotizability. When absorption was taken into account, daydreaming activity made no independent contribution to the prediction of hypnotizability. "The present results differ from Crawford's (1982) somewhat, however, in terms of the specific aspects of daydreaming activity that are associated with hypnosis. Crawford found that hypnotizability correlated consistently (i.e., in both men and women) with three subscales tapping imagery variables: the presence of visual and auditory imagery in daydreams and the hallucinatory vividness of daydream imagery. In the present study, the imagery subscale, including both visual and auditory items, did not correlate significantly with hypnotizability; unfortunately, the hallucinatory vividness subscale is not represented on the short form (SIPI) of the daydreaming questionnaire used in this study. Crawford (1982) did not find consistent correlations between hypnotizability and scales measuring acceptance, positive reactions, and problem solving--the subscales that consistently yielded significant correlations in the present study. Not too much interpretive weight should be given to any of the correlations between hypnotizability and daydreaming subscales, until a full replication with reliable subscale measurements (such as those provided by the long, original IPI) has been completed. The important point made by Crawford (1982), and confirmed in the present study, is that hypnotizability is related to positive-constructive rather than guilty-dysphoric daydreaming" (p. 338). The two studies agree that absorption and hypnosis are not correlated with daydreaming scales reflecting poor attentional control. Given the theoretical emphasis in both domains on the narrowing of attention and exclusion of potentially distracting input, negative correlations with this aspect of daydreaming might have been expected. 1988-1989 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 1: 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. Kirmayer, Laurence J. (1988). Word magic and the rhetoric of common sense: Erickson's metaphors for mind. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 36 (3), 157-172. Milton Erickson did not produce a systematic theory of psychotherapy. His talent was as a storyteller, inventing metaphors and more extended healing fictions for his patients. A great many of Erickson's cases did not involve hypnosis in any conventional sense of the term. He used a wide range of persuasive rhetorical forms to encourage behavioral change in his patients. Nevertheless, taken together his work represents a significant shift in paradigm from prevailing schools of psychotherapy. Erickson captured the power of word magic in the language of common sense. This coupling of magical power with folk psychology accounts for much of his current popularity. Attempts to experimentally test his techniques are likely to be unsuccessful because these techniques were unique inventions tailored to the individual idiosyncrasies of patient and context. Although regularities in his work can be found, Erickson's most important contributions are not techniques but changes in the values or ethos under which psychotherapy is conducted. NOTES 1: This paper focuses Erickson's implicit models of mind and the values they carry. "It is here that Erickson made his most significant contribution to the general practice of psychotherapy . Erickson avoided systematization. His writing is unusually anecdotal, even for psychotherapy (Erickson, 1980; Vol IV, passim). Erickson's writing format consists of 'thin' case descriptions, freely recycled in parable or homiletic form to serve his immediate rhetorical purpose. ... For Erickson, flexibility and eclecticism were not signs of a lack of coherence but a spirited rejection of rigid dogma that needlessly limited therapeutic possibilities" (pp. 158-59). Erickson used language of the common man rather than a technical vocabulary, even when speaking of 'hypnosis' or 'trance' or 'the unconscious.' He called his approach 'naturalistic' and viewed hypnotic phenomena as an extension of normal experience and behavior. His common sense descriptions of events and techniques are easily understood in general terms. "Erickson took magic and dressed it in the familiar clothes of common sense. Some of his less critical followers, however, seem intent on taking common sense and dressing it in the cloak of magic" (p. 163). Erickson used metaphors as a way of actively involving the patient in conceptual, affective, and sensory qualities of experiences, i.e. as a "tool for thought" (p. 164). In attempting to understand Erickson's psychotherapy, one must note his "elastic use of the word 'hypnosis.' Sometimes Erickson uses the term narrowly with a focus on the elicitation of trance or dissociative phenomena, but more often he uses it broadly to mean any state of absorption" (p. 165). For him, this was "_a state of special awareness characterized by a receptiveness to ideas_" [Erickson, 1985, p. 223, emphasis in original]. By this he does not mean exclusively the classic suggestion effect where motor acts are experienced as involuntary (Evans, 1967). ... The hypnotic subject exhibits a "_special willingness to examine ideas for their inherent values_ [p. 224, emphasis in original]. ... For Erickson, any move in the direction of increased absorption is an instance of hypnosis. Dissociation accounts for a great deal but not all of hypnotic behavior" (p. 165). That is why he used the word hypnosis to describe heightened attention that might occur when someone is surprised. But in fact, his published cases include many other kinds of interventions, such as reframing, symptom prescription, etc.--forms of influence and persuasion used by many therapists who do not consider themselves working with hypnosis. Erickson also emphasized that hypnosis enables one to work with 'the unconscious.' "Ordinarily, we view our consciousness as the causal agent of doing while our unconscious is the place where things just 'happen to us.' Erickson reversed this attribution, emphasizing the unconscious as the agent of active control working for the benefit of the patient while consciousness adopts the attitude of 'wait and see.' This leads consciousness into reverie--the state where images and events move of their own accord, animated by emotion, before the 'passive audience' of consciousness" (p. 167). So Erickson viewed hypnosis as liberating the unconscious. There was healing potential in helping the ego to relinquish "rigid control over the creative and benevolent processes of the unconscious" (p. 168). From this theoretical position, the patient and therapist are seen as allies and psychotherapy is a collaboration; there is no need for the Freudian concepts of resistance and defense. "Erickson's metaphors for hypnotherapy link it with normal processes of learning and imagining. His image of the unconscious as a storehouse of creative potential supports a non-pathologized view of man amid all his troubles and craziness. In contrast to psychiatry's current preoccupation with nosology, and the emphasis of psychoanalysis on the dimensions of human frailty, Erickson adopted a non-pathologizing attitude. He did not deny his patient's difficulties but neither was he excessively fascinated by them. He recognized that healing depends not on cataloguing deficiency but on fully mobilizing the person's intelligence, imagination, and integrity. This message of therapeutic optimism was balanced by his own example of the benefits and limitations of hypnotherapeutic practice" (p. 170). 1981 Dosamantes-Alperson, Erma (1981). Experiencing in movement psychotherapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 4, 33-44. Experiencing is a process variable in psychotherapy which deals with the manner with which individuals use their internal, ongoing bodily-felt flow of experience to gain self-awareness and to communicate about themselves. A consistent finding across research process studies in psychotherapy is that successful clients start, continue, and end therapy at higher experiencing levels than do less successful clients. The implication of this finding for all therapists, irrespective of their theoretical framework, is that they need to help their clients process the content they raise in therapy at a high level of experiencing throughout the course of therapy. This paper discusses and demonstrates several body movement based procedures that enhance clients' experiencing level while working within the context of experiential movement psychotherapy, a form of psychotherapy which emphasizes the acquisition of personal meanings by clients from any of the following three experiential and expressive modalities: body movement, kinetic imagery, or verbal communication. Fromm, Erika; Brown, Daniel P.; Hurt, Stephen W.; Oberlander, Joab Z; Boxer, Andrew M.; Pfeifer, Gary (1981). The phenomena and characteristics of self-hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 29 (3), 189-247. Self-hypnosis and hetero-hypnosis were compared, and self-hypnosis was studied longitudinally. Results indicated that absorption and the fading of the general reality orientation are characteristics of both hetero-hypnosis and self-hypnosis. The differentiating characteristics lie in the areas of attention and ego receptivity. Expansive, free-floating attention and ego receptivity to stimuli coming from within are state-specific for self-hypnosis, while concentrative attention and receptivity to stimuli coming from one outside source--the hypnotist on whom the subject concentrates his attention--are state- specific for laboratory defined hetero-hypnosis. Attempts to produce age regression and positive or negative hallucinations are markedly more successful in hetero-hypnosis. Imagery is much richer in self-hypnosis than in hetero-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis requires adaptation to the state: in the beginning of self-hypnosis there is a good deal of anxiety and self-doubt. As the subject feels more comfortable in the self-hypnotic state, he spends less time worrying about failures in self-suggestion, his ability to enter trance quickly and easily increases, as does the fading of the general reality orientation, trance depth, and absorption. An attempt was also made in the present study to find personality characteristics related to the ability to experience self-hypnosis. 1980 Weitzenhoffer, Andre M. (1980). What did he (Bernheim) say? A postscript and an addendum. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 28 (3), 252-260. When Bernheim (1917) made his pronouncement, "There is no hypnotism, there is only suggestibility" at a scientific congress in London in 1892, he shocked the scientific community, which turned against him for what amounted to heresy. Clearly, his colleagues understood him to deny existence to hypnosis as a state. That he only meant to shock them into viewing suggestion as being the primary agent and hypnosis as being one of its products rather than the other way around, as then held, was made fully clear by him in 1917 in one of his last writings. Recognizing there had been a misunderstanding, Bernheim made this very point and explained further that although hypnosis is sleep, it is only so in an incomplete form, one allowing the subject to be responsive and suggestibility to be elicited. From there he went on to develop the thesis that hypnotic behavior is the result of an integration of elicited automatisms (nonvoluntary acts) and conscious voluntary behavior, and not entirely a pure, non-conscious, nonvoluntary automatism. Bernheim also proposed in this later work that suggested behavior results from automatisms rendered possible by the "credivity," that is, the implicit belief of suggestible persons in the reality of whatevr the suggestor states, a belief which is limited to the suggestor. (In contrast, the credulous person believes everyone.) Credivity is a particular outgrowth of the hypnotist-subject relationship. In his final writings, Bernheim thus called attention to the importance of interpersonal factors in hypnotism.