Current Theories of Hypnosis
Assen Alladin, Michael Heap, Claire Frederick in Hypnotherapy Explained, 2018
This chapter reviews the neodissociation theory of hypnosis because it is the most widely accepted theory of hypnosis in the clinical domain. It highlights the strengths and limitations of hypnotherapy to provide the reader with a realistic view of the clinical potential of hypnotherapy. The chapter aims to describe the neodissociation theory of hypnosis, which is one of the most dominant contemporary theories of hypnosis. From the review of the brain-mapping studies of hypnosis and consciousness, it is apparent that it is unrealistic to expect a single physiological signature of hypnosis. The neodissociation theory proposes that an individual possesses a number of cognitive systems, hierarchically arranged, with a central control structure and multiple superordinate and subordinate structures, each with its own input and output connections with the world. Hypnosis provides a vehicle for direct entry into cognitive processing, such as accessing and organizing emotional and experiential information, largely served by the right cerebral hemisphere.
Hypnosis
Eli Ilana in Oral Psychophysiology, 2020
A common sign of hypnotic induction is the effect of hypnosis on the function of voluntary muscles. A typical induction method includes initiation of muscular relaxation. As relaxation frequently plays a major role in the process of systematic desensitization, this by itself serves as a therapeutic mode and is utilized to reduce stress and anxiety in patients. This chapter covers the many aspects of the nature of hypnosis, techniques of induction, and the utilization of hypnotic phenomena in hypnotherapy, medicine, and dentistry. It summarizes the common phenomena of hypnosis and possible clinical applications in dentistry. Many bodily functions and activities are controlled and regulated involuntarily, by action through the thalamus and the autonomic nervous system. Some of these actions can be successfully affected under hypnosis, a phenomenon which is often used as a therapeutic mode in various fields of medicine.
Preparation for Surgery
Rubin Battino in Using Guided Imagery and Hypnosis in Brief Therapy and Palliative Care, 2020
Hypnosis can be used to prepare people for surgery. Details are given as to how this is done as a post-hypnotic suggestion for the patient to be able go through the entire experience in a comfortable and healing manner. A letter about this goes to the surgeon who directly passes on healing messages during the surgery, or has someone else do this. (There is much evidence that patients can hear what is said in the operating room.) A script of what is said to the patient during the hypnotic preparation time is presented. Remen’s circle of healing for preparation for surgery is presented in detail. There are many useful variants for this method, which are briefly discussed here and in more detail in chapter 25. The use of rituals and ceremonies for psychotherapy are discussed. These are all related to the Navajo talking circle.
Placebo versus “Standard” Hypnosis Rationale: Attitudes, Expectancies, Hypnotic Responses, and Experiences
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2013
Michelle Accardi, Colleen Cleere, Steven Lynn, Irving Kirsch
In this study participants were provided with either the standard rationale that accompanies the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: A (Shor & Orne, 1962) or a rationale that presented hypnosis as a nondeceptive placebo, consistent with Kirsch's (1994) sociocognitive perspective of hypnosis. The effects of the placebo and standard rationales were highly comparable with respect to hypnotic attitudes; prehypnotic expectancies; objective, subjective, and involuntariness measures of hypnotic responding; as well as a variety of subjective experiences during hypnosis, as measured by the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (Pekala, 1982). Differences among correlations were not evident when measures were compared across groups. However, indices of hypnotic responding were correlated with attitudes in the hypnosis but not the placebo condition, and, generally speaking, the link between subjective experiences during hypnosis and measures of hypnotic responding were more reliable in the placebo than the hypnosis group. Researcher findings are neutral with respect to providing support for altered state versus sociocognitive models of hypnosis.
The Hypnotic Induction in the Broad Scheme of Hypnosis: A Sociocognitive Perspective
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2017
Steven Jay Lynn, Reed Maxwell, Joseph P. Green
Researchers and clinicians typically divide hypnosis into two distinct parts: the induction and the suggestions that follow. We suggest that this distinction is arbitrary and artificial. Different definitions of hypnosis ascribe different roles to the hypnotic induction, yet none clearly specifies the mechanisms that mediate or moderate subjective and behavioral responses to hypnotic suggestions. Researchers have identified few if any differences in responding across diverse hypnotic inductions, and surprisingly little research has focused on the specific ingredients that optimize responsiveness. From a sociocognitive perspective, we consider the role of inductions in the broader scheme of hypnosis and suggest that there is no clear line of demarcation between prehypnotic information, the induction, suggestions, and other constituents of the hypnotic context. We describe research efforts to maximize responses to hypnotic suggestions, which encompass the induction and other aspects of the broader hypnotic framework, and conclude with a call for more research on inductions and suggestions to better understand their role within hypnotic interventions in research and clinical contexts.
Effects of Hypnotic Analgesia and Virtual Reality on the Reduction of Experimental Pain Among High and Low Hypnotizables
Published in International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2014
Violeta Enea, Ion Dafinoiu, David Opriş, Daniel David
This research compared a no-treatment control condition and 3 experimentally induced pain treatment conditions: (a) virtual reality distraction (VRD), (b) hypnotic analgesia (HA), and (c) HA + VRD in relieving finger-pressure pain. After receiving baseline pain stimulus, each participant received hypnosis or no hypnosis, followed by VRD or no VRD during another pain stimulus. The data analysis indicated that, overall, all 3 treatments were more effective compared to the control group, irrespective of whether it involved hypnotic analgesia, virtual reality distraction, or both (hypnosis and virtual reality). Nevertheless, the participants responded differently to the pain treatment, depending on the hypnotizability level. High hypnotizables reported hypnotic analgesia, but low hypnotizables did not show hypnotic analgesia. VR distraction reduced pain regardless of hypnotizability.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Amnesia
- Hibernation
- Psychotherapy
- Unconscious
- Mind-Body Therapies
- Hypnotherapy
- Placebo