NOTES
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
Shevrin, Howard; Dickman, Scott (1980). The psychological unconscious: A necessary assumption for all psychological theory?. American Psychologist, 35 (5), 421-434.
The notion of complex psychological processes operating outside of awareness has traditionally been associated with the concept of the unconscious used by psychodynamically oriented clinicians; it has never found an equivalent place in the mainstream of American experimental psychology. However, mounting evidence from several rather diverse fields of empirical research (e.g., selective attention, cortical evoked potentials, subliminal perception) provides support for such a concept, and, in fact, explanatory constructs of a similar nature have been embodied in several current models of perceptual processing. While there clearly remains an enormous gap between the clinically based conception and the experimentally based conception of the nature of these unconscious processes, they nevertheless seem to provide an interface between two seemingly disparate approaches to the understanding of personality.
1961
Pearson, R. E. (1961). Response to suggestion given under general anesthesia. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 4, 106-114.
Employed a double-blind design with placebo control. Audio tapes containing therapeutic suggestions were played to 43 experimental patients during anesthesia. The main theme of the suggestions was that the patient would cope better and recover faster if he could become relaxed. Placebo tapes (music or blank tapes) were played to the 38 control patients. Only E, who had no contact with the patients, knew which tape was played to a given patient. Three postoperative variables were studied: (a) number of doses of narcotics in the first 5 postoperative days; (b) a numerical rating by the surgeon of the postoperative course; and (c) number of postoperative days until release. Although no significant differences were found between the suggestion group and placebo group on need for narcotics or rated course of recovery, patients receiving suggestions were discharged an average of 2.42 days sooner (p < .05). SUGGESTABILITY 1995 Eisen, Mitchell L.; Goodman, Gail S.; Qin, Jianjian (1995, November). Child witnesses: Dissociation and memory and suggestibility in abused children. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Antonio, TX. NOTES Our study looked at suggestibility and resistance to suggestion. During 5-day hospitalization for investigation of child abuse. The first day patient gets physical exam; 2nd day a genital exam, heart arousal, stress arousal; a later day had mental status, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning--and gross screen of IQ for age 5 and up and the digit span for 6 and up, plus rating of global functioning and provisional diagnosis. On Day 5 each child was given structured interview that included questions about the anal- genital exam, with some misleading questions included. 35 minutes after the psychological examination they were given questions about the exam, for brief memory. Next exam was forensic examination of memory for abuse. Gave memory for sentences, perceptual alterations scale (PAS), adolescent version of Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES); gave questionnaire to parents. Hypotheses: suggestibility would be negatively related to age (more errors when younger). Sexually and physically abused children would show more dissociation or psychopathology. Dissociation or psychopathology should be inversely related to memory ability. IQ should be related to memory and resistance to misinformation. Wanted to reconcile two models of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): one says they have poorer memory, and the other says they are hypervigilant. Over 100 children in the 200 received the questionnaire on Day 5. 39% were 3-5 years old, 41% 6-10 years old. 76% were African American. 22% had no documented abuse or neglect; 13% had experienced physical abuse; 30% sex abuse; 12% both types of abuse; 15% neglect; 8% parental addiction. Measuring dissociation in kids is problematic. The concept is used to describe a huge range of phenomena. Scores on the DES are more highly correlated with the F Scale on the MMPI than with any other measure (Michael Nash's research). So the DES measures psychopathology. Also, children have healthy kinds of dissociation-- daydreaming, etc. Josephine Hilgard noted that young kids are naturally involved in imagination. Early traumas may lead to this dissociative style. How do we sort out the healthy imaginal involvements of children from the psychopathology? There is not sufficient data at this time. Available measures are not validated well. The CDC indicates behavior problems in children. The C-PAS conceptualizes dissociation as relating to eating disorders; the A- DES is a self report measure that related to psychopathology. CDC scores increase, in 3-5 year olds, as the amount of abuse increases. This looks like general psychopathology, and it is a parental rating. The A-DES and C-PAS were not related to abuse or neglect. In the older groups the CDC related to poor performance on memory tests; but only for the 6-10 year olds. (Poorer memories in younger children could have masked the effect in them.) The main finding for the study was clinician's estimate of Global Adaptive Functioning was significantly related to Resistance to Misleading Information. The effect did not show for the 3-5 yr old group, perhaps because their memory functioning is poor anyway. Also age was related to memory and suggestibility. 1994 Grant, Carolyn (1994). The Computer-Assisted Hypnosis Scale: Standardization and norming of a computer-administered measure of hypnotic ability (Dissertation). Dissertation Abstracts International, 54 (10/B), 5387. "In a counterbalanced, within-subjects, repeated measures design, 130 subjects were administered both the Computerized Assisted Hypnosis Scale (CAHS) and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: C). For each hypnotic procedure responsiveness was assessed along three dimensions: behavioral (CAHS, Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: C), subjective depth (Field Depth Inventory), and relational involvement (Archaic Involvement Measure). Subjects also completed a Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: C self scoring measure and the Tellegen Absorption Scale. The CAHS was shown to be a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring hypnotic ability. The various dimensions of CAHS hypnotic responsiveness were highly positively related, and the CAHS compared favorably with the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: C across the three dimensions assessed. Results are discussed in terms of the theory and practice of clinical assessment, noting directions for future research" (p. 5387). 1993 Balthazard, Claude G. (1993). The hypnosis scales at their centenary: Some fundamental issues still unresolved. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 41, 47-73. Current approaches to the measurement of hypnotic performance can be traced back to the 19th century. In part because of these early origins and in part because of the nature of hypnotic phenomena, the hypnosis scales are unique psychometric instruments. The classic hypnosis scales are based on the notion of a "performance ladder"; items are scored on a pass/fail basis and can be arranged in incrasing order of difficulty. Some of the implications on [sic]this "performance ladder" approach are reviewed. The evidence for two-mechanism models of hypnotic performance is reviewed. It is argued that this kind of formulation is at least as plausible as one that argues that the hypnosis scales measure "one thing" or "mostly one thing." If it were the case that the hypnosis scales were tapping two different and distinct processes, the label "hypnotic susceptibility" could not be unambiguously applied to scores on the hypnosis scales. The hypnosis scales would appear well-suited to the investigation of underlying mechanisms, yet no consistent picture of the mechanisms underlying hypnotic performance on the scales has emerged thus far. No resolution is presented, but some of the reasons why such a resolution is so elusive are discussed. The future of hypnosis scales is discussed with respect to multidimensional assessment and alternatives to the "work sample" approach. NOTES Author discusses the hypnotizability scales' history and psychometric properties, suggesting that they cannot have construct validity if more than one construct is involved. He states that many of the alternative formulations "posit structurally similar two- mechanisms models, where the relative contributions of one and the other mechanism changes gradually with the difficulty of the hypnotic performance--that is, one mechanism is more important for easy items and the other more important in the difficult range. This kind of formulation has been advanced by a number of authors ..... Although these formulations are structurally similar, the nature of the mechanisms has been variously conceptualized: nonability and ability components (Shor, Orne & O'Connell, 1962), primary suggestibility and somnambulism (Weitzenhoffer, 1962), minor and major dissociations (Hilgard, 1977), compliance and true hypnosis (Tellegen, 1978-1979), and cooperativeness and expectation at one end and absorption at the other (Spanos, Mah, Pawlak, D'Eon, & Ritchie, 1980). ... In a formulation such as Hilgard's (1977), where both mechanisms are dissociative, it may be that it makes some sense to understand both mechanisms as aspects of the same complex construct. In other formulations... it would appear more cogent to speak of two constructs. Spanos et al. (1980) found that 'cooperativeness and expectation may be particularly important in responding to ideomotor and challenge suggestions, while the ability to convincingly treat imaginings as real (i.e., absorption) becomes increasingly important for more difficult 'cognitive' items" (p. 21). Balthazard & Woody (1992) presented evidence that the more difficult items on hypnotizability scales are related to absorption more than the easier items. Balthazard & Woody (1989) investigated the proposition that hypnotizability scores are distributed bimodally, and concluded that statistical problems clouded the issue. Furthermore, most analyses previously have been of surface structure, which does not relate directly to the underlying mechanisms of hypnosis, and current psychometric methods cannot address the mechanisms that underlie surface relations. "There are two aspects of hypnotic processes ... that obscure underlying mechanism: synergisms and overdetermination. Synergisms occur when mechanisms potentiate each other in such a way that a combination of processes becomes more than the sum of its parts. Overdetermination occurs when co-occurring mechanisms do not potentiate each other, such that any one of the mechanisms would have been sufficient to produce the observed effect" (p. 63-64). The author suggests there are two options at present: Corrective Scoring (like the Curss.OI, an objective-involuntary score which, although unreliable on test-retest, appears it could be more a measure of "pure" hypnotizability) and not using the typical "work sample" approach. Balthazard and Woody (1992) suggested the Absorption Scale may provide a better measure of "hypnotizability" than the standard hypnosis scales because absorption scores are more strongly related to difficult hypnotic performances. Pekala, Ronald J.; Ersek, Barrett (1993). Firewalking versus hypnosis: A preliminary study concerning consciousness, attention, and fire immunity. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 12, 207-229. This study assessed the subjective effects associated with firewalking, and compared them with the subjective effects associated with hypnosis and a baseline condition (eyes closed sitting quietly). Twenty-seven subjects, who walked over hot coals during a firewalk ceremony, completed questionnaires about what they subjectively experienced during the firewalk. Their experiences were subsequently compared with those of subjects (n - 246) who experienced hypnosis and a baseline condition. The data suggested that firewalking, as assessed across all subjects, is characterized by high levels of volitional control and rationality, and a very absorbed attentional style wherein the mind is one-pointed, and consciousness is characterized by strong feelings of joy and high levels of internal dialogue. Firewalking was also found to be associated with significantly more joy, one-pointedness of thought, absorption, and internal dialogue than hypnosis or the baseline condition. In addition, a cluster analysis suggested two subgroups of firewalkers based on their subjective experiences of the firewalk. Interestingly, analyzing the attentional experiences among these firewalkers who got slightly burned, versus those who did not, revealed significant differences. A one-pointed and absorbed attentional focus may be the critical variable for the fire immunity observed in firewalking. NOTES About 500 people walked across coals, in 3-4 steps. At end of weekend, 71 said they would complete a questionnaire and it was mailed to them. Of those, 27 responded (25 of 26 in an average of 23 days). Hence, 5% of the population who walked responded to the questionnaire, and it was some time later. Three of 24 reported minor blisters. Those who didn't get burned reported less detachment, less of a feeling of being out of their bodies, and more thoughts than the firewalkers who got slightly burned. Pekala has defined an altered state of consciousness as associated with the perception of being in an altered state of awareness (the _subjective sense_ of _altered state_ --SSAS [30]), and a change in the patterning or configuration of the subsystems or dimensions of consciousness. A discrete state of consciousness, as defined by Pekala, is associated with a significant pattern change but no perceived alteration in state of consciousness (no SSAS). An identity state of consciousness, on the other hand, is defined as having neither a significantly perceived alteration in state of awareness nor a perceived pattern change among dimensions of consciousness in reference to another state of consciousness. Since the PCI can measure both intensity and pattern effects, it can be used to assess for altered, discrete, and identity states of consciousness. Using a cluster analysis they found that one group of 16 subjects reported the firewalk experience to be characterized by a significant alteration in awareness and experience (body image, time sense, etc.), and significant intensities of internal dialogue, positive and negative affect, and arousal, while a second group of six subjects reported little alteration in consciousness or experience, little losses in rationality or control, and less internal dialogue, positive and negative affect or arousal than the larger group. Whereas hypnosis is usually associated with a loss in control (the classic suggestion effect), firewalking was found to be associated with increased control, a more aroused state, and more fear! Firewalking appears to be a more absorbed and one-pointed state than even hypnosis. The nature of attentional experience is similar across firewalkers (DAQ results). Both firewalking and hypnosis meet the criteria for altered states of consciousness (different pattern and different subjective experience), but they are not altered states in reference to each other; they are _discrete states of consciousness_ in reference to each other, because there is a significantly different patterning of PCI dimensions between the two conditions, but no significant SSAS. This suggests that the firewalk state is qualitatively different from the hypnotic state (as induced by the induction procedure to the Harvard Scale) and probably represents a different type of state of consciousness than hypnosis. Firewalkers obtained a lower mean hypnoidal state score than hypnosis subjects, so it does not appear that the fire immunity is due to being in a "hypnotized" state. The fact that there appears to be two groups of successful firewalkers, one of which did not report much alteration in consciousness, calls into question the theorizing concerning the importance of alteration in state of consciousness as being etiologically related to successful firewalking. Since about 25 percent of the firewalkers clustered into what appears to be a nonaltered state of awareness, this suggests a sizable percentage of subjects who did not report any significant alteration in consciousness and experience. Hence, what may be important is not an alteration in consciousness, but rather an alteration in attention. The cluster analysis revealed a relatively unitary attentional state across all subjects suggesting that attention was deployed in a rather similar manner across all subjects, that is, with very high absorption and one-pointedness. it was also the DAQ dimensions, and not the PCI dimensions, that successfully discriminated a trend between the blistered and nonblistered firewalkers. Hence, high levels of one-pointedness and absorption, that is, how attention is deployed during firewalking may be more critical (than an alteration in consciousness in general) for the fire immunity observed during firewalking. 1992 Kirsch, Irving; Mobayed, C. P.; Council, J. R.; Kenny, D. A. (1992). Expert judgments of hypnosis from subjective state reports. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 657-662. Suggestibility was assessed in 60 student subjects after a traditional hypnotic induction, an alert induction, progressive relaxation training, or instruction in goal-directed imagery. Responsiveness to suggestion did not differ between groups. Subjects also generated open-ended reports of their states of awareness and of their experience of three hypnotic suggestions. A sample of these reports from 24 moderately to highly suggestible subjects was evaluated by 18 experts in the field of hypnosis. Expert ratings of subjects' open-ended reports indicated that (a) traditional hypnotic inductions produce a state of consciousness that is indistinguishable from nonhypnotic relaxation training, (b) the subjective experience of hypnotic suggestions after imagination training is indistinguishable from that after hypnotic inductions, and (c) suggestibility is unrelated to state of consciousness as assessed by experts. Spiegel, Herbert; Greenleaf, Marcia (1992). Personality style and hypnotizability: The fix-flex continuum. Psychiatric Medicine, 10, 13-24. Since Mesmer, there has been much confusion about the inter-relationship between an individual's degree of hypnotizability, the personality style of the individual, and the importance of the therapeutic strategy. Empirical and experimental research supports the hypotheses that there are: 1) biopsychosocial components of hypnotizability on a continuum ranging from ecologically insensitive (not modifiable by external stimuli) to ecologically sensitive (very modifiable by external stimuli); 2) biopsychosocial components that can be measured to identify an individual's degree of hypnotic capacity and responsivity; 3) distinct personality styles which correlation with low, mid-range and high hypnotizability on a _fix_ (ecologically insensitive) - _flex_ (ecologically sensitive) continuum; and 4) different clinical syndromes which correlation with these categorical distinctions. We propose that measuring hypnotizability and personality style is a way to clarify diagnosis and choose appropriate treatment strategies to maximize existing biopsychosocial resources of an individual with a specific problem in a particular context. Spiegel, David (1992, October). Dissociation during trauma. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Arlington, VA. NOTES Spiegel & Spiegel's theory of hypnosis involves: 1. absorption 2. suggestion 3. dissociation Traumatic memories may be out of consciousness yet may influence consciousness. Thus, rape victim may not be able to continue to enjoy sex with her husband or may hyperventilate when near the place it occurs. This conceptualization is consistent with Kihlstrom's evidence using priming in verbal learning; and Ken Bowers' research on hypnosis for pain control. Hypnotizability is higher in childhood than in adults, so if children are traumatized they may resort to dissociation more easily. Certain dissociative disorders may be associated with high hypnotizability (forgetting the causal arrow, as association does not imply causation). The diagnosis of post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) in the current diagnostic manual, DSM III-R, parallels the three characteristics of hypnosis, except that the diagnosis also includes a history of trauma. (In the upcoming revision, DSM IV will remove the language of "beyond the range of normal human experience" when characterizing the trauma in patient's history. The traumas referred to will be physical traumas.) 1990 Holroyd, Jean (1990). How hypnosis may potentiate psychotherapy. In Fass, Margot L.; Brown, Daniel (Ed.), Creative mastery in hypnosis and hypnoanalysis (pp. 125-130). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. NOTES This chapter is a reprint of an article published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis in 1987. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding psychotherapy processes in the context of a hypnotic state. Based on empirical and theoretical considerations, the author identified nine changes occurring with hypnosis: changes in attention and awareness, imagery, dissociation, reality orientation, suggestibility, mind-body interactions, initiative or volition, availability of affect, and relationship. "This chapter proposes that hypnotherapy exploits hypnotic phenomena-- takes advantage of them--in the service of standard therapy endeavors" (p. 125). Lynn, Steven Jay (1990). Is hypnotic influence coercive? Invited discussion of Levitt, Baker, and Fish: Some conditions of compliance and resistance among hypnotic subjects. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 32 (4), 239-241. NOTES Unlike Levitt, Baker, & Fish (1990), Lynn, Rhue, & Weekes (Psychological Review, 1990 in press) concluded that nonvoluntary behaviors in hypnosis are similar to other spontaneous social behaviors (like conversational response to social stimuli). "Hypnotized subjects, like nonhypnotized subjects, act in terms of their aims, according to their point of view, and in relation to their interpretation of appropriate behavior and feelings" (p. 239). "Research shows that hypnotizable subjects resist and even oppose suggestions as a function of their expectancies and perceptions about appropriate hypnotic behavior (Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Sweeney, 1984; Lynn, Snodgrass, Rhue, & Hardaway, 1987; Lynn, Weekes, Snodgrass, Abrams, Weiss, & Rhue, 1986; Spanos, Cobb, & Gorassini, 1985). In one study (Spanos et al., 1985), when subjects were informed that deeply hypnotized subjects were capable of becoming involved in suggestions and simultaneously resisting them, subjects resisted 95% of the suggestions. When subjects were told that deeply hypnotized subjects were incapable of resisting suggestions, they passed the majority of suggestions. Thus, knowledge about what constitutes appropriate hypnotic role behavior is a reliable determinant of resistance, apparently more reliable than the monetary lures used by Levitt et al." (P. 240). These studies by Levitt et al. only used behavioral measures of resistance and hypnotizability, and Ss' perceptions of the resistance instructor and hypnotist. "The ratings of global perceptions are, however, no substitute for measures of subjects' perception of the _relationship_. ... The failure to measure important variables relevant to the central dimensions of concern--coercion, compliance, involuntariness, and relational factors--precludes meaningful interpretation of the nonresisters' motivation and behavior" (p. 240). As Orne (1959) has suggested, we should not attribute behavior in the hypnosis context to something unique to hypnosis (such as coercive influence), because other kinds of social context also constrain behavior, e.g. psychotherapy and psychology experiments, with coercive features. Therefore, it seems important in the future to compare the responses of hypnotized subjects with those of subjects in waking-imagination and hypnosis-simulating conditions. In addition to looking at their behavior, it is important to examine their own perceptions of their actions, given the complexity of the social situation entailed in hypnosis. "Finally, there are statistical grounds to be wary of the authors' conclusions. They assert that 'relational factors in the hypnotic dyad influence hypnotic responsiveness,' yet in three of the studies (I, II, and IV), subjects' ratings of the hypnotist failed to discriminate whether they resisted or responded to the suggestion" (p. 241). Even where Study III was compared with Study II, the difference in the percentage of Ss who resisted failed to reach statistical significance. "In fact, across all studies, differences in overall resistance rates were not documented by statistical tests--despite procedural variations and differing monetary incentives. So contrary to authors' assertion, relational factors _in the hypnotic dyad_ generally had little bearing on resistance behavior. If anything, ratings of the resistance instructor had greater weight" (p. 241). Sletvold, H.; Jensen, G. M.; Gotestam, K. G. (1990). The effect of specific hypnotic suggestions on blood pressure in normotensive subjects. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science, 26, 20-24. Twenty normotensive subjects participated in a study of the effects of specific suggestions on blood pressure (BP). After an induction, the experimental group received suggestions presumed to be relatively nonactivating, although capable of lowering or raising BP. A control group was used to record the BP changes over time. All subjects met for one session. Eight subjects from the experimental group met for a second session. Both adaptation and induction resulted in significant BP decreases. A specific suggestion to increase BP gave a significant result when compared to the induction point. There was no significant change from induction to the BP-decrease suggestion. Both systolic and diastolic BP behaved in the same way. A second experimental session resulted in no significant change compared with the first session. Also, no significant difference was found in suggestibility scores from the first to the second session. The results are in line with previously published studies. 1988 Council, James R.; Loge, D. (1988). Suggestibility and confidence in false perceptions: A pilot study. British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, 5, 95-98. Subjects received audiotaped instructions implying that they would perceive increases in odor or heaviness while comparing stimuli in a sensory-judgment task. Stimuli were actually indiscriminable. Subjects pretested as higher or lower in hypnotizability performed the task in either hypnotic or non-hypnotic conditions. In both treatments, greater hypnotizability was associated with more perceived changes in the stimuli and greater confidence in the reality of those perceptions. Results support a general factor underlying suggestibility in hypnotic and nonhypnotic situations. The findings are discussed in relationship to false confidence effects reported in hypermnesia research. Gudjonsson, Gisli (1988). Interrogative suggestibility: Its relationship with assertiveness, social-evaluative anxiety, state anxiety and method of coping. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27 (2), 159-166. Investigated in 30 adults some of the theoretical components related to individual differences thought by the present author and R. Clark (1986) to mediate interrogative suggestibility as measured by a scale developed by the present author (1984). The variables studied were assertiveness, social-evaluative anxiety, state anxiety, and the coping methods generated and implemented during interrogation. Low assertiveness and high evaluative anxiety correlated moderately with suggestibility, but no significant correlations emerged for social avoidance and distress. State anxiety correlated significantly with suggestibility, particularly after negative feedback had been administered. Coping methods (active-cognitive/behavioral vs. avoidance) significantly predicted suggestibility scores. The findings give strong support to the present author's theoretical model. Gudjonsson, Gisli H. (1988). The relationship of intelligence and memory to interrogative suggestibility: The importance of range effects. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 27 (2), 185-187. 60 normal adults and 100 adult psychiatric patients completed a suggestibility scale and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Clear range effects of IQ and memory were evident in their relationship with suggestibility Lynn, Steven Jay; Rhue, Judith W. (1988). Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology. American Psychologist, 43 (1), 35-44. This article presents a summary of the findings of our ongoing research program on the fantasy-prone person. In seven studies, nearly 6,000 college students were screened in order to obtain five samples of 156 fantasy-prone subjects. Fantasy- prone subjects (fantasizers) were selected from the upper 2%-4% of the college population on a measure of imaginative involvement and contrasted with nonfantasizers (lower 2%-4%), and medium fantasy-prone subjects (middle range). General support was secured for Wilson and Barber's construct of fantasy proneness: Fantasizers were found to differ from nonfantasizers, and in many cases also from medium-range subjects, on measures of hypnotizability, imagination, waking suggestibility, hallucinatory ability, creativity, psychopathology, and childhood experiences. Differences in hypnotizability were most reliable when subjects participated in a multisession study and were screened not only with the screening inventory, but also with an interview that substantiated their fantasy-prone status. However, our findings indicated that less correspondence between fantasy proneness and hypnotizability exists than Wilson and Barber suggested. Hypnotic responsiveness is possible even in the absence of well-developed imaginative abilities, and not all fantasizers were highly hypnotizable. Fantasizers recollected being physically abused and punished to a greater degree than other subjects did and reported experiencing greater loneliness and isolation as children. Many fantasizers appeared to be relatively well-adjusted; however, a subset of fantasizers were clearly maladjusted based on self- report, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and Rorschach test data. Because of the diversity inherent in the fantasy-prone population, it is misleading to think of individuals at the extreme end of the fantasy-proneness continuum as conforming to a unitary personality type. 1987 De Sano, Christine F.; Persinger, M. A. (1987). Geophysical variables and behavior: XXXIX. Alterations in imaginings and suggestibility during brief magnetic field exposures. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 968-970. 12 male and 12 female volunteers were evaluated for their suggestibility before and after an approximately 15-min. exposure to either sham, 1-Hz or 4-Hz magnetic fields that were applied across their mid-superior temporal lobes. During the field application subjects were instructed to view a green light that was pulsating at the same frequency as the field and to imagine countering an alien situation. Results were commensurate with the hypothesis that weak brain-frequency fields may influence certain aspects of imaginings and alter suggestibility. NOTES "Subjects who had been exposed to the 4-Hz fields showed a significant decrease ... in heart rate compared to those who had been exposed to either the 1 Hz or sham-field conditions. A significant ... interaction of sex by field ... was noted for the change in HIP [Hypnotic Induction Profile] scales. Whereas both men and women in the sham-field condition tended to show less induction (~ 1 unit) on the second occasion ... women showed much greater (8.4 + 1.1) induction (= 3 units) if they had been exposed to the 1-Hz field while men showed much greater (8.0 + 1.5) induction (= 3 units) if they had been exposed to the 4-Hz fields. On the protocols, women reported significantly more fear responses than men. In addition, subjects who were exposed during the imaginings to the 4-Hz field showed more imaginings ... and more references to vestibular experiences (e.g., self or entity rising or floating) ... than those exposed to the other conditions" (p. 969). "Dissociation scores on the HIP were correlated significantly ... with vestibular (0.44), imagery (0.43), and fear (-0.45) scores from the transcripts. Floating responses on the HIP were correlated with the amount of imagery. (0.46). There was a significant positive Pearson correlation between the compliance measure and the amount of arm levitation during the second induction only. These results suggest that hypnotic susceptibility may be increased following magnetic-field exposure but that the effective frequency is not the same for each sex. In addition, the amount of the imagery (particular vestibular experiences) increased if the person observed a light that was flashing at the same frequency as a 4-Hz applied magnetic field" (p. 969). Holroyd, Jean (1987). How hypnosis may potentiate psychotherapy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 29, 194-200. Hypnotherapy is defined as doing psychotherapy in the hypnotic state. This article reviews cognitive, affective, and motivational changes associated with hypnotic trance, attempting to demonstrate how the hypnotic state might influence ordinary psychotherapy processes. Nine characteristics of trance probably potentiate psychotherapy: (1) changes in attention and awareness, (2) imagery enhancement, (3) increase in dissociation, (4) decrease of reality orientation, (5) increase in suggestibility, (6) increased accessibility of mind-body interactions, (7) diminution of initiative resulting in a sense of nonvoluntariness, (8) increased availability or manipulability of affect, and (9) development of a fusional relationship (rapport). This article touches upon the psychotherapeutic implications of these hypnosis attributes. Makarec, K.; Persinger, M. A. (1987). Electroencephalographic correlates of temporal lobe signs and imaginings. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 1124-1126. Significant correlations (0.50) were observed between scores for the Wilson-Barber Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings and the experiences that are indicative of temporal lobe lability. In addition, positive correlations (0.42) occurred between temporal lobe EEG measures (scalp electrodes) and numbers of temporal lobe signs. The numbers of alpha seconds per minute from the occipital lobes were correlated (0.57) with the Wilson-Barber cluster that indicated interests in 'altered states'. Scores on the childhood imaginings section of the Wilson-Barber Inventory were correlated (0.44) with the numbers of spikes per minute over the temporal lobes when the eyes were closed. "Persinger and DeSano (1986) found that people who display temporal lobe signs were also more likely to have more imaginings (as defined by Wilson and Barber's (1983) Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings) and to be more suggestible as indicated by Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile" (p. 1124). Subjects in this investigation were 12 male and 18 female students, ages 18-39 (M = 25 years) Bipolar measures were taken from just above the ears (approximately T3-T4) and the occipital lobe (01-02). Number of alpha seconds per minute and number of spikes per minute from each lobe was taken for 10 minutes (5 successive pairs of 1 minute eyes- open, 1 minute eyes-closed). "The total Wilson-Barber score was significantly (p <.01) correlated ... with the major (0.46) and minor (0.50) temporal lobe clusters but not with two clusters of control items: normal psychological experiences (0.21) and mundane proprioceptive experiences (0.29). These correlations are similar to those in the Persinger and DeSano study (0.60, 0.50, 0.13, and 0.14, respectively). Like the first study (0.53), the items that were most associated with dissociation (depersonalization) were best correlated with the Wilson- Barber scores (0.60). The Wilson-Barber subcluster: adults' extreme experiences (Items 44 through 52, that indicate physiological changes associated with thinking) was again most strongly correlated with the major (0.55) and minor (0.65) temporal lobe clusters; these values were 0.42 and 0.52 in the first study" (p. 1125). "The only statistically significant (p < .01) correlations between the Wilson-Barber scales and the EEG measures were between the number of alpha seconds from the occipital lobe (with the eyes closed) and the [Wilson-Barber] 'altered state' cluster (r = 0.57; Items 33, 41, 42, 43). A weaker correlation (0.36) occurred between the number of alpha seconds per min. (eyes closed condition) and childhood vestibular experiences (items 1, 2, 3, 10, 24)" (p. 1126). 1986 Chertok, Leon (1986). Psychotherapeutic transference, suggestibility. Psychotherapy, 23 (4), 563-569. Discusses suggestion in psychotherapy and defines it as a body-affective process, an indissociable psychosociobiological entity that acts at an archaic unconscious level far beyond that of transference, mediates the influence of one individual on another, and is capable of producing manifest psychological and physiological changes. Present in all types of therapy, indirect (nondeliberate, nonintentional) suggestion is the element that plays an important role in change and can be observed in hypnotic experimentation. It is further argued that transference and suggestion are phenomena that do not altogether overlap. Suggestion is the condition of transference without which transference could not be established. 1985 Rickard, Henry C.; Crist, Dwayne A.; Barker, Harry (1985). The effects of suggestibility on relaxation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 41 (4), 466-468. Studied the influence of personality characteristics of 32 undergraduates on response to relaxation training. Ss were selected on the basis of scores on the Creative Imagination Scale. Eight of the high-suggestibility Ss were assigned randomly to each training mode, progressive relaxation (PR) and suggestions of relaxation (SR). The 16 low-suggestibility Ss were similarly assigned, which resulted in a 2 x 2 factorial design with 1 repeated measure, a pre-post relaxation scale that yields a total score and 3 subscale scores. A significant pre-post relaxation effect emerged. Main effects were found for both suggestibility and mode of training. High-suggestibility Ss performed significantly better regardless of the training mode. PR yielded significantly higher relaxation scores than did SR. An interaction between suggestibility and training mode occurred on the Cognitive Factor scale; Ss who scored low on suggestibility reported relaxing significantly better when the training mode was PR. (15 ref) Spanos, Nicholas P.; de Groot, Hans P.; Tiller, Dale K.; Weekes, John R.; Bertrand, Lorne D. (1985). 'Trance logic,' duality, and hidden observer responding in hypnotic, imagination control, and simulating subjects: A social psychological analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94 (4), 611-623. Tested the hypothesis that a tolerance for logical incongruity characterizes hypnotic responding and is related to reports of duality experiences during age regression and hidden-observer responding during suggested analgesia. 30 undergraduates (the "reals") with high scores on a responsiveness-to-suggestion scale were randomly assigned to hypnotic or imagination control treatments, while 15 undergraduates with low scores were assigned to a simulation treatment in which they were instructed to fake hypnosis. Ss were assessed on 6 indicators of logical incongruity, given age-regression suggestions and perception tasks, administered a suggestion for analgesia and hidden observer instructions, and interviewed. Results do not support the hypothesis. The differences in responding that did emerge between reals and simulators were accounted for by the different task demands to which Ss were exposed. These behavioral differences, which have been previously interpreted in terms of intrinsic characteristics of hypnosis, may instead reflect a combination of between-treatments differences in demands and between- Ss differences in the interpretation of those demands and in the ability to fulfill them. 1983 Classen, Wilhelm; Feingold, Ernest; Netter, Petra (1983). Influence of sensory suggestibility on treatment outcome in headache patients. Neuropsychobiology, 10, 44-47. In 45 headache patients the relationship between sensory suggestibility and three measures of treatment effect-ratings on (1) intensity of headaches; (2) efficacy of drugs, and (3) physician's competence - was investigated in a double-blind long-term crossover study. Subjects scoring high on sensory suggestibility clearly showed more relief of headaches upon the analgesic as well as upon the placebo. The physician's competence was rated higher by high-suggestible patients, whereas ratings on drug efficacy were low in all patients. The seemingly controversial behavior of high-suggestible patients was interpreted as a call for continuation of the physician's efforts in spite of the relief the patients already achieved. McConkey, Kevin M. (1983). Behaviour, experience, and effort in hypnosis. Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 11, 73-81. Subjects were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A, and were afterwards asked to rate the degree to which they experienced the items; subjects also scored their behavioural performance on the items. Data were analyzed to explore the relationships among behaviour, experience, and effort. Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between behaviour and experience on all of the HGSHS:A items, a significant negative relationship between behaviour and effort on the ideomotor items, and a significant positive relationship between behaviour and effort on the cognitive items. A similar pattern was observed between experience and effort. Also, subjects of varying HGSHS:A responsivity differed in terms of overall experience of the scale but not in terms of the overall amount of effort that they expended. Implications of the data are discussed in terms of the factors influencing subjects' experiential response and behavioural performance as well as the attributions that they make concerning effort during hypnosis. 1982 Sheehan, Eugene P.; Smith, Howard V.; Forrest, Derek W. (1982). A signal detection study of the effects of suggested improvement on the monocular visual acuity of myopes. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 30, 138-146. 2 groups of 8 Ss each, matched for suggestibility and degree of myopia, were assessed by a signal detection method in their ability to make a monocular spatial discrimination, both before and after 15 minutes of listening either to music or to taped suggestions that vision would improve. There was a significantly greater improvement in sensitivity on the part of the group of Ss listening to suggestions, and within this group, but not within the group of Ss listening to music, there was a significant negative correlation (r = -.67) between S's initial sensitivity and the amount by which it increased. There was no significant difference between the amounts by which the criterion changed in the 2 groups. In contrast with the results reported by Graham and Leibowitz (1972), there was no evidence in the present study to indicate that the amount of improvement shown by Ss depended upon either their suggestibility as measured by BSS or their refractive error. Spiegel, David; Detrick, Douglas; Frischholz, Edward (1982). Hypnotizability and psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 431-437. Compared hypnotic responsivity of 115 chronically ill psychiatric patients (mean age 44.6 years) with that of 83 nonpatient volunteers (mean age 28.5 years). The Hypnotic Induction Profile was administered, and diagnoses ere established for patients according to Research Diagnostic Criteria. Results show that all of the diagnosed Ss (those with thought disorder, affective disorder, generalized anxiety, and miscellaneous disorders) were significantly less hypnotizable than the nonpatient comparison group. This effect was unrelated to age or medication differences. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to a new model of hypnotic responsivity that takes into account the moderating effects of severe psychopathology. 55 refs. 1977 Albornoz-Ruiz, Jose M. (1977). Suggestibility as a factor in medical treatment. Maryland State Medical Journal, 26, 66-68. NOTES This paper presents the view that a physician must be aware of the great influence, direct and indirect, s/he has with the patient as a result of their relationship. "Here it should be remembered that the power of a suggestion, without the benefit of formalized hypnosis, is directly related to the intensity and nature of the emotional bond between the patient and the doctor, often colored by a marked transferential unconscious component, where the doctor stands 'in loco parentis' vis-a-vis the patient, regardless of the age, education or intellectual sophistication of the latter. Whatever the nature of the perception that is eventually presented by the patient as a symptom or identified by the doctor as a sign of illness, such perception will be elaborated upon by the patient's fancy, in lonely reveries where he defines for himself causes, nature and possible course of his disorder, not always in keeping with those established by the doctor as he exposes the same set of phenomena to his learned medical judgment" (p. 68). Berk, Stephen N.; Moore, Mary E.; Resnick, Jerome H. (1977). Psychosocial factors as mediators of acupuncture therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45 (4), 612-619. This study investigated a number of psychosocial variables that have been suggested as possible mediating factors in acupuncture therapy. Forty-two volunteers with bursitis and/or tendonitis of the shoulder served as subjects. All were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: acupuncture - positive milieu, acupuncture - negative milieu, placebo acupuncture - positive milieu, and placebo acupuncture - negative milieu. Pretreatment and posttreatment subjective pain reports and shoulder motion studies, as well as pretreatment assessments of hypnotic susceptibility and suggestibility, were determined for each subject. Results indicated that (a) acupuncture and placebo acupuncture were equally effective in producing highly significant (p <.001) reductions in subjective pain reports; (b) neither treatment effectively improved objective shoulder motion; (c) subjects treated in the positive milieu reported more improvement than those in the negative milieu (p <.053); and (d) hypnotic susceptibility, suggestibility, belief in the treatment, and the satisfaction of expectations showed no relationship to treatment outcome. It is concluded that acupuncture therapy provides a powerful placebo. Treatment milieu variables warrant future study in the attempt to understand the acupuncture phenomena. Connors, J.; Sheehan, P. W. (1976). Analysis of the cue characteristics of task motivational instructions. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 24, 287-299. This study investigated the assumption of Barber's model of hypnosis that its set of task motivational instructions is thoroughly "nonhypnotic" in character. If this assumption is correct, then the cues associated naturally with task motivational instructions should be more compatible with a suggestibility test situation explicitly defined as nonhypnotic than with one defined as hypnotic, and this affinity should be reflected in both Ss' objective and subjective suggestibility test scores. Barber's (1965) Suggestibility Scale data collected from 90 Ss did not confirm the main prediction under test, but results failed to provide unequivocal support for the model; subjective evidence, in particular, supported least well the assumptions of the paradigm. Naylor, Lynda P. (1976). The relationship of waking pain parameters and suggestibility in hypnosis (Dissertation). Dissertation Abstracts International, 36, 4209. "Two pain sources, electric shock and ischemic muscle pain, were used with college men to explore the possibility that there is a relationship between waking pain parameters and level of suggestibility in hypnosis. Speculations about the presence of such a pain parameters - suggestibility relationship had arisen from incidental findings of two studies of hypno-analgesia. In one study threshold for ischemic muscle pain was higher in highly suggestible subjects than in unsuggestible subjects. In the other study unsuggestible subjects were found to have a higher "tolerance" level for electric shock pain than highly suggestible subjects. "In the current study subjects served as their own controls; that is, each subject was subjected to pain from both sources and was later hypnotized to measure hypnotic suggestibility. Threshold and two tolerance measures were obtained for electric shock. Times to reach "mild", "moderate", "severe", and "intolerable" levels of pain were obtained for ischemic pain. Hypnotic suggestibility was measured by taped individual administration of the Harvard Group Scale and the Classical administration of the Harvard Group Scale and the Classical Suggestion Test. The findings were that there was no linear relationship between any pain measure and the Harvard Scale. There was some evidence that a curvilinear relationship may exist. Subjects who were high on the various pain measures were found to fall into the third quartile of hypnotic suggestibility; that is, they had Harvard Scale scores of 6 to 8. "The presence of a pain parameters-suggestibility relationship would have raised questions about the suitability of experimental designs in which unsuggestible subjects are used as controls in studies of hypnoanalgesia. While the pain parameters-level of suggestibility data from this study do not raise questions about the suitability of the unsuggestible subject control group as it is now used, other data does. Extremely large variability was found in all the pain data and it is clear that with any small groups, randomly selected, one could easily choose two groups who differ widely in baseline pain parameters. This danger is present in all studies, not just hypnoanalgesia studies. Selection of groups matched on baseline pain parameters, along with the use of large groups, was recommended" (p. 4209). Slade, P. D. (1976). An investigation of psychological factors involved in the predisposition to auditory hallucinations. Psychological Medicine, 6 (1), 123-132. Previous research by the author (Slade, 1972, 1973) and others has suggested that psychological stress plays an important role in triggering off the experience of auditory hallucinations. Clearly, however, predispositional factors are involved as well. The present study is an attempt to investigate some of the psychological factors which may predispose the individual to such experiences. A battery of tests involving cognitive, personality and mental imagery variables and the verbal transformation effect was administered to two small groups of psychotic patients differing only in respect of a history of auditory hallucinations and a normal control group. The main conclusion was that the results lend direct support to the proposition of Mintz & Alpert (1972) that a combination of vivid mental imagery and poor reality-testing in the auditory modality provides the basic predisposition for the experience of auditory hallucinations. 1975 Berk, S. N. (1975). The mediating effects of hypnosis, suggestibility and placebo in acupuncture therapy (Dissertation). Dissertation Abstracts International, 36, 3020-3021. "Results strongly support the contention that variables other than physiological mechanisms are involved in acupuncture therapy. It appears as if patient motivation, models, expectations of relief and the quality of the doctor-patient relationship can influence the outcomes of this ancient therapy. However, additional research is needed to confirm these findings. At present, the data seem to suggest that acupuncture therapy may be largely a placebo phenomenon" (p. 3021). Tebecis, A. K.; Provins, K. A.; Farnbach, R. W.; Pentony, P. (1975). Hypnosis and the EEG: A quantitative investigation. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 161, 1-17. A quantitative investigation of the EEG during hypnosis was made by analyzing the analogue power frequency spectrum of one group of subjects in the awake and hypnotized conditions, and another group (random sample) in the awake condition. Individuals of the first group were thoroughly experienced in self-hypnosis and highly hypnotizable, whereas those of the second group had never been hypnotized and were low in waking suggestibility. There were no statistically significant differences in mean power of the whole EEG spectrum between the awake and hypnotized conditions of the experimental group, although a trend toward increased theta (4 to 8 Hz) density during hypnosis was apparent. This group, however, exhibited significantly more theta activity during both the hypnotized and the awake conditions than the random sample of controls in the awake condition, irrespective of whether the eyes were closed or open. We suggest that this increased theta density in the EEG is related to frequent experience of self- hypnosis, high hypnotizability, or both. Spiegel, Herbert (1974). The grade 5 syndrome: The highly hypnotizable person. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 22 (4), 303-319. On a 0-5 hypnotizability range, as measured by the Hypnotic Induction Profile, the grades 4-5 are identified as highly hypnotizable persons. This group tends to exhibit a clinically identifiable configuration of personality traits. Knowledge of the nature and interplay of these traits can help us to formulate appropriate treatment strategies. The features which together identify the grade 5 syndrome are: the high eye-roll sign; the high intact Hypnotic Induction Profile score; readiness to trust; a relative suspension of critical judgment; an ease of affiliation with new experiences; a telescoped time sense; and easy acceptance of logical incongruities; an excellent memory; a capacity for intense concentration; an overall tractability, and, paradoxically, a rigid core of private beliefs. Role-confusion and a subtle sense of inferiority are often evident. For these persons, treatment strategy requires clarification of central versus peripheral beliefs; increasing sensitivity to positive and negative field-forces; awareness of secondary gain-loss issues; aid in establishing guidelines to implement with action the integrity of their own beliefs, especially their perception of alternatives and their right to use them. Under duress, the grade 5 becomes the so-called hysterical patient. Differential diagnosis is critical because, during acute stress, introspective inquiring therapy can compound their confusion harmfully. "What" therapies are more effective than "why" therapies. If secondary gain is not formidable under appropriate therapy, these patients have a very good health potential. Shor, Ronald E.; Easton, Randolph (1973). A preliminary report on research comparing self- and hetero-hypnosis. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 16, 37-44. A method is described for the study of the relationship between self- and hetero-hypnosis and initial findings are presented. A new instrument is described, the Inventory of Self-Hypnosis (ISH) which is a self-hypnosis adaptation of the hetero- hypnotic Harvard Group Scale, Form A (HGS). The new scale permits the making of precise item-by-item quantitative comparisons between the effects of these two scales. Preliminary research with 29 non-motivated college student subjects suggests that mean levels of responsiveness to the two scales are about the same, that item difficulty levels have much in common, but that whatever it is that the ISH measures is largely different form what the HGS measures. The findings help to formulate the need to study what it is that contributes to the similarities and differences. Further studies are in progress. NOTES Total Score Intercorrelations were reported as follows: HGS ISHb ISHt HGS 1.00 ISHb .39 1.00 ISHt .33 .67 1.00