Hypnotherapy as Experienced by Older and Younger Patients
Josephine R. Hilgard, Samuel Lebaron, Fred H. Frankel in Hypnotherapy of Pain in Children with Cancer, 2019
Sometimes people wonder what would happen if the hypnotist had to leave, or suddenly became ill. The therapeutic practices have rested on the assumption that the older patient was sufficiently hypnotizable for the hypnotic condition to be relied upon in therapy. Individual differences in hypnotizability need to be recognized and accounted for in the design of treatment so that the full range of patients from highly hypnotizable to barely hypnotizable can profit from treatment by hypnotic procedures. The initial steps the therapist undertakes with any patient are based on the assumption that some hypnotic talent is present. When the standard procedures for inducing hypnosis in older children were tried with younger ones, differences soon became evident. A distinction can be made between a capable hypnotist and a capable hypnotherapist. A hypnotist is skilled in adapting induction procedures to achieve as extensive a hypnotic involvement as a subject is capable of.
Distraction Techniques in the Relief of Pain
Josephine R. Hilgard, Samuel Lebaron, Fred H. Frankel in Hypnotherapy of Pain in Children with Cancer, 2019
This chapter presents patients who are typical of those whose methods were clear. It describes two other patients who contributed to an understanding of the nonhypnotic coping methods. The use of distraction techniques in one form or another is a familiar method of coping with pain. The type of distraction that the young patients used which bore the least relationship to hypnosis included activities such as gripping the treatment table or a nurse’s hand, taking deep breaths, and, in a few cases, screaming. The various distraction methods must be prepared to meet challenges posed by pains of varying intensities and durations. In a comparison of the ability of the nonhypnotic and hypnotic distractions to relieve clinical pain, hypnosis presents some advantages. Its major component, imaginative activity, is inherently interesting to almost all children and to many adults, a characteristic that promotes deep involvement.
Structured Techniques of Hypnotic Induction
Michael D. Yapko in Trancework, 2018
This chapter considers the hypnotic induction and the intensifying (“deepening”) of the client’s hypnotic experience. The formal, structured inductions included in the remainder of this chapter represent the more traditional approaches to doing hypnosis. In beginning an induction, there are certain minimal responses will likely want from the client. None of these are essential, since people can even experience hypnosis and generate hypnotic phenomena while active and alert, but they are basic to clinical contexts where putting the client at ease and building receptivity are crucial. Relaxation reduces stress, anxiety, fear of change, and defensiveness, and provides a sense of empowerment to the client. Things can simply seem more manageable and less overwhelming when more relaxed. Hypnosis is much, much more than just relaxation, of course, but relaxation is commonly used as a therapeutic stepping-stone for all of these reasons.
Hypnotic Dreams as a Lens Into Hypnotic Dynamics
Published in International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 2009
Amir Raz, Heather Schweizer, Hongtu Zhu, Elizabeth Bowles
The hypnotic relationship is an important parameter for both experimental and therapeutic contexts. Hypnotic dreams may serve as a lens to examine the hypnotic relationship. By answering 5 questions per item, 70 judges rated 12 accounts of brief hypnotic dreams conducted as part of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. The data show that the judges were able to correctly discern highly from less hypnotizable individuals. Interestingly, highly hypnotizable females coached by a male hypnotic operator had more sexually charged dreams than either less hypnotizable females or males regardless of hypnotizability. These findings contextualize for further research and therapy transference issues related to the hypnotic relationship and the use of hypnotic dreams.
Barber's Task-Motivational Theory and Post-Hypnotic Amnesia
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 1973
Barber's (1969) task-motivational theory was compared to traditional hypnotic state theory using post-hypnotic amnesia as the dependent variable. 33 Ss were selected on the basis of a standard hypnotic susceptibility scale, matched and divided equally between three groups; a hypnotic permissive-motivational, a non-hypnotic permissive-motivational, and a control no-suggestions group. The results were as follows: (a) permissive-motivational suggestions of amnesia appeared to be as effective for non-hypnotic Ss as they were for hypnotic Ss; (b) post-hypnotic amnesia as defined in the study was not produced for any of the three groups; (c) low hypnotic susceptible Ss demonstrated, in some cases, a significant difference in performance on the index of experimentally produced amnesia as compared to higher susceptible Ss. These results were considered as further validation of Barber's (1969) task-motivational theory of hypnosis.
The delusion of hypnotic influence and the hypnotic state
Published in International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1966
Patients who report that their mind is being influenced, sometimes also suffer the delusion of being under hypnotic influence. Several case studies are discussed briefly, illustrating the main aspects of delusions of hypnotic influence and how the delusional system differs from the hypnotic state. The delusion of hypnotic influence is a symptom of (usually paranoid) schizophrenia, often appearing among the earliest symptoms in the course of the illness. These feelings usually arise when the patient experiences a weakening of ego functions, or a breakthrough of libidinous or aggressive impulses. While there is a tendency to rationalize aspects of hypnotic behavior, delusions of hypnotic influence are deeply rooted in the dynamics of the patient's psychopathology. While an actual hypnotic state is transitory and reversible, delusions of hypnotic influence usually remain as a permanent symptom, and prognosis is poor.
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