======================================================================
= Hypnosis =
======================================================================
Introduction
======================================================================
Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the
selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced
peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to
suggestion.
There are competing theories explaining hypnosis and related
phenomena. 'Altered state' theories see hypnosis as an altered state
of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the
ordinary state of consciousness. In contrast, 'non-state' theories see
hypnosis as, variously, a type of placebo effect, a redefinition of an
interaction with a therapist or a form of imaginative role enactment.
During hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and
concentrationOrne, M. T. (1962). On the social psychology of the
psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand
characteristics and their implications. American
Psychologist, 17, 776-783 and an increased response to suggestions.
Hypnosis usually begins with a hypnotic induction involving a series
of preliminary instructions and suggestions. The use of hypnosis for
therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy",Spanos, N. P.,
Spillane, J., & McPeake, J. D. (1976). Cognitive strategies and
response to suggestion in hypnotic
and task-motivated subjects. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,
18, 252-262. while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience
is known as "stage hypnosis", a form of mentalism.
The use of hypnosis as a form of therapy to retrieve and integrate
early trauma is controversial within the scientific mainstream.
Research indicates that hypnotising an individual may aid the
formation of false memories, and that hypnosis "does not help people
recall events more accurately". Medical hypnosis is often considered
pseudoscience or quackery.
Etymology
======================================================================
The words 'hypnosis' and 'hypnotism' both derive from the term
'neuro-hypnotism' (nervous sleep), all of which were coined by Étienne
Félix d'Henin de Cuvillers in the 1820s. The term 'hypnosis' is
derived from the ancient Greek ὑπνος 'hypnos', "sleep", and the suffix
-ωσις -'osis', or from ὑπνόω 'hypnoō', "put to sleep" (stem of aorist
'hypnōs'-) and the suffix -'is'. These words were popularised in
English by the Scottish surgeon James Braid (to whom they are
sometimes wrongly attributed) around 1841. Braid based his practice on
that developed by Franz Mesmer and his followers (which was called
"Mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"), but differed in his theory as to
how the procedure worked.
Definition and classification
======================================================================
A person in a state of hypnosis has focused attention, deeply relaxed
physical and mental state and has increased suggestibility.
It could be said that hypnotic suggestion is explicitly intended to
make use of the placebo effect. For example, in 1994, Irving Kirsch
characterized hypnosis as a "non-deceptive placebo", i.e., a method
that openly makes use of suggestion and employs methods to amplify its
effects.
A definition of hypnosis, derived from academic psychology, was
provided in 2005, when the Society for Psychological Hypnosis,
Division 30 of the American Psychological Association (APA), published
the following formal definition:
{{blockquote|Hypnosis typically involves an introduction to the
procedure during which the subject is told that suggestions for
imaginative experiences will be presented. The hypnotic induction is
an extended initial suggestion for using one's imagination, and may
contain further elaborations of the introduction. A hypnotic procedure
is used to encourage and evaluate responses to suggestions. When using
hypnosis, one person (the subject) is guided by another (the
hypnotist) to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective
experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or
behavior. Persons can also learn self-hypnosis, which is the act of
administering hypnotic procedures on one's own. If the subject
responds to hypnotic suggestions, it is generally inferred that
hypnosis has been induced. Many believe that hypnotic responses and
experiences are characteristic of a hypnotic state. While some think
that it is not necessary to use the word "hypnosis" as part of the
hypnotic induction, others view it as essential.}}
Michael Nash provides a list of eight definitions of hypnosis by
different authors, in addition to his own view that hypnosis is "a
special case of psychological regression":
# Janet, near the turn of the century, and more recently Ernest
Hilgard ..., have defined hypnosis in terms of dissociation.
# Social psychologists Sarbin and Coe ... have described hypnosis in
terms of role theory. Hypnosis is a role that people play; they act
"as if" they were hypnotised.
# T. X. Barber ... defined hypnosis in terms of nonhypnotic
behavioural parameters, such as task motivation and the act of
labeling the situation as hypnosis.
# In his early writings, Weitzenhoffer ... conceptualised hypnosis as
a state of enhanced suggestibility. Most recently ... he has defined
hypnotism as "a form of influence by one person exerted on another
through the medium or agency of suggestion."
# Psychoanalysts Gill and Brenman ... described hypnosis by using the
psychoanalytic concept of "regression in the service of the ego".
# Edmonston ... has assessed hypnosis as being merely a state of
relaxation.
# Spiegel and Spiegel... have implied that hypnosis is a biological
capacity.
# Erickson ... is considered the leading exponent of the position that
hypnosis is a special, inner-directed, altered state of functioning.
Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell (the originators of the human givens
approach) define hypnosis as "any artificial way of accessing the REM
state, the same brain state in which dreaming occurs" and suggest that
this definition, when properly understood, resolves "many of the
mysteries and controversies surrounding hypnosis". They see the REM
state as being vitally important for life itself, for programming in
our instinctive knowledge initially (after Dement and Jouvet) and then
for adding to this throughout life. They attempt to explain this by
asserting that, in a sense, all learning is post-hypnotic, which they
say explains why the number of ways people can be put into a hypnotic
state are so varied: according to them, anything that focuses a
person's attention, inward or outward, puts them into a trance.
Induction
======================================================================
Hypnosis is normally preceded by a "hypnotic induction" technique.
Traditionally, this was interpreted as a method of putting the subject
into a "hypnotic trance"; however, subsequent "nonstate" theorists
have viewed it differently, seeing it as a means of heightening client
expectation, defining their role, focusing attention, etc. The
induction techniques and methods are dependent on the depth of
hypnotic trance level and for each stage of trance, the number of
which in some sources ranges from 30 stages to 50 stages, there are
different types of inductions. There are several different induction
techniques. One of the most influential methods was Braid's
"eye-fixation" technique, also known as "Braidism". Many variations of
the eye-fixation approach exist, including the induction used in the
Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (SHSS), the most widely used
research tool in the field of hypnotism. Braid's original description
of his induction is as follows:
Braid later acknowledged that the hypnotic induction technique was not
necessary in every case, and subsequent researchers have generally
found that on average it contributes less than previously expected to
the effect of hypnotic suggestions. Variations and alternatives to the
original hypnotic induction techniques were subsequently developed.
However, this method is still considered authoritative. In 1941,
Robert White wrote: "It can be safely stated that nine out of ten
hypnotic techniques call for reclining posture, muscular relaxation,
and optical fixation followed by eye closure."
Suggestion
======================================================================
When James Braid first described hypnotism, he did not use the term
"suggestion" but referred instead to the act of focusing the conscious
mind of the subject upon a single dominant idea. Braid's main
therapeutic strategy involved stimulating or reducing physiological
functioning in different regions of the body. In his later works,
however, Braid placed increasing emphasis upon the use of a variety of
different verbal and non-verbal forms of suggestion, including the use
of "waking suggestion" and self-hypnosis. Subsequently, Hippolyte
Bernheim shifted the emphasis from the physical state of hypnosis on
to the psychological process of verbal suggestion:
Bernheim's conception of the primacy of verbal suggestion in hypnotism
dominated the subject throughout the 20th century, leading some
authorities to declare him the father of modern hypnotism.
Contemporary hypnotism uses a variety of suggestion forms including
direct verbal suggestions, "indirect" verbal suggestions such as
requests or insinuations, metaphors and other rhetorical figures of
speech, and non-verbal suggestion in the form of mental imagery, voice
tonality, and physical manipulation. A distinction is commonly made
between suggestions delivered "permissively" and those delivered in a
more "authoritarian" manner. Harvard hypnotherapist Deirdre Barrett
writes that most modern research suggestions are designed to bring
about immediate responses, whereas hypnotherapeutic suggestions are
usually post-hypnotic ones that are intended to trigger responses
affecting behaviour for periods ranging from days to a lifetime in
duration. The hypnotherapeutic ones are often repeated in multiple
sessions before they achieve peak effectiveness.
Conscious and unconscious mind
================================
Some hypnotists view suggestion as a form of communication that is
directed primarily to the subject's conscious mind, whereas others
view it as a means of communicating with the "unconscious" or
"subconscious" mind. These concepts were introduced into hypnotism at
the end of the 19th century by Sigmund Freud and Pierre Janet. Sigmund
Freud's psychoanalytic theory describes conscious thoughts as being at
the surface of the mind and unconscious processes as being deeper in
the mind. Braid, Bernheim, and other Victorian pioneers of hypnotism
did not refer to the unconscious mind but saw hypnotic suggestions as
being addressed to the subject's 'conscious' mind. Indeed, Braid
actually defines hypnotism as focused (conscious) attention upon a
dominant idea (or suggestion). Different views regarding the nature of
the mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion. Hypnotists
who believe that responses are mediated primarily by an "unconscious
mind", like Milton Erickson, make use of indirect suggestions such as
metaphors or stories whose intended meaning may be concealed from the
subject's conscious mind. The concept of subliminal suggestion depends
upon this view of the mind. By contrast, hypnotists who believe that
responses to suggestion are primarily mediated by the conscious mind,
such as Theodore Barber and Nicholas Spanos, have tended to make more
use of direct verbal suggestions and instructions.
Ideo-dynamic reflex
=====================
The first neuropsychological theory of hypnotic suggestion was
introduced early by James Braid who adopted his friend and colleague
William Carpenter's theory of the ideo-motor reflex response to
account for the phenomenon of hypnotism. Carpenter had observed from
close examination of everyday experience that, under certain
circumstances, the mere idea of a muscular movement could be
sufficient to produce a reflexive, or automatic, contraction or
movement of the muscles involved, albeit in a very small degree. Braid
extended Carpenter's theory to encompass the observation that a wide
variety of bodily responses besides muscular movement can be thus
affected, for example, the idea of sucking a lemon can automatically
stimulate salivation, a secretory response. Braid, therefore, adopted
the term "ideo-dynamic", meaning "by the power of an idea", to explain
a broad range of "psycho-physiological" (mind-body) phenomena. Braid
coined the term "mono-ideodynamic" to refer to the theory that
hypnotism operates by concentrating attention on a single idea in
order to amplify the ideo-dynamic reflex response. Variations of the
basic ideo-motor, or ideo-dynamic, theory of suggestion have continued
to exercise considerable influence over subsequent theories of
hypnosis, including those of Clark L. Hull, Hans Eysenck, and Ernest
Rossi. In Victorian psychology the word "idea" encompasses any mental
representation, including mental imagery, memories, etc.
Susceptibility
======================================================================
Braid made a rough distinction between different stages of hypnosis,
which he termed the first and second conscious stage of hypnotism; he
later replaced this with a distinction between "sub-hypnotic", "full
hypnotic", and "hypnotic coma" stages. Jean-Martin Charcot made a
similar distinction between stages which he named somnambulism,
lethargy, and catalepsy. However, Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and
Hippolyte Bernheim introduced more complex hypnotic "depth" scales
based on a combination of behavioural, physiological, and subjective
responses, some of which were due to direct suggestion and some of
which were not. In the first few decades of the 20th century, these
early clinical "depth" scales were superseded by more sophisticated
"hypnotic susceptibility" scales based on experimental research. The
most influential were the Davis-Husband and Friedlander-Sarbin scales
developed in the 1930s. André Weitzenhoffer and Ernest R. Hilgard
developed the Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility in 1959,
consisting of 12 suggestion test items following a standardised
hypnotic eye-fixation induction script, and this has become one of the
most widely referenced research tools in the field of hypnosis. Soon
after, in 1962, Ronald Shor and Emily Carota Orne developed a similar
group scale called the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility
(HGSHS).
Whereas the older "depth scales" tried to infer the level of "hypnotic
trance" from supposed observable signs such as spontaneous amnesia,
most subsequent scales have measured the degree of observed or
self-evaluated 'responsiveness' to specific suggestion tests such as
direct suggestions of arm rigidity (catalepsy). The Stanford, Harvard,
HIP, and most other susceptibility scales convert numbers into an
assessment of a person's susceptibility as "high", "medium", or "low".
Approximately 80% of the population are medium, 10% are high, and 10%
are low. There is some controversy as to whether this is distributed
on a "normal" bell-shaped curve or whether it is bi-modal with a small
"blip" of people at the high end. Hypnotisability scores are highly
stable over a person's lifetime. Research by Deirdre Barrett has found
that there are two distinct types of highly susceptible subjects,
which she terms fantasisers and dissociaters. Fantasisers score high
on absorption scales, find it easy to block out real-world stimuli
without hypnosis, spend much time daydreaming, report imaginary
companions as a child, and grew up with parents who encouraged
imaginary play. Dissociaters often have a history of childhood abuse
or other trauma, learned to escape into numbness, and to forget
unpleasant events. Their association to "daydreaming" was often going
blank rather than creating vividly recalled fantasies. Both score
equally high on formal scales of hypnotic susceptibility.
Individuals with dissociative identity disorder have the highest
hypnotisability of any clinical group, followed by those with
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Applications
======================================================================
There are numerous applications for hypnosis across multiple fields of
interest, including medical/psychotherapeutic uses, military uses,
self-improvement, and entertainment. The American Medical Association
currently has no official stance on the medical use of hypnosis.
Hypnosis has been used as a supplemental approach to cognitive
behavioral therapy since as early as 1949. Hypnosis was defined in
relation to classical conditioning; where the words of the therapist
were the stimuli and the hypnosis would be the conditioned response.
Some traditional cognitive behavioral therapy methods were based in
classical conditioning. It would include inducing a relaxed state and
introducing a feared stimulus. One way of inducing the relaxed state
was through hypnosis.
Hypnotism has also been used in forensics, sports, education, physical
therapy, and rehabilitation. Hypnotism has also been employed by
artists for creative purposes, most notably the surrealist circle of
André Breton who employed hypnosis, automatic writing, and sketches
for creative purposes. Hypnotic methods have been used to
re-experience drug states and mystical experiences. Self-hypnosis is
popularly used to quit smoking, alleviate stress and anxiety, promote
weight loss, and induce sleep hypnosis. Stage hypnosis can persuade
people to perform unusual public feats.
Some people have drawn analogies between certain aspects of hypnotism
and areas such as crowd psychology, religious hysteria, and ritual
trances in preliterate tribal cultures.
Hypnotherapy
==============
Hypnotherapy is a use of hypnosis in psychotherapy. It is used by
licensed physicians, psychologists, and others. Physicians and
psychologists may use hypnosis to treat depression, anxiety, eating
disorders, sleep disorders, compulsive gambling, phobias and
post-traumatic stress, while certified hypnotherapists who are not
physicians or psychologists often treat smoking and weight management.
Hypnotherapy was historically used in psychiatric and legal settings
to enhance the recall of repressed or degraded memories, but this
application of the technique has declined as scientific evidence
accumulated that hypnotherapy can increase confidence in false
memories.
Hypnotherapy is viewed as a helpful adjunct by proponents, having
additive effects when treating psychological disorders, such as these,
along with scientifically proven cognitive therapies. The
effectiveness of hypnotherapy has not yet been accurately assessed,
and, due to the lack of evidence indicating any level of efficiency,
it is regarded as a type of alternative medicine by numerous reputable
medical organisations, such as the National Health Service.
Preliminary research has expressed brief hypnosis interventions as
possibly being a useful tool for managing painful HIV-DSP because of
its history of usefulness in pain management, its long-term
effectiveness of brief interventions, the ability to teach
self-hypnosis to patients, the cost-effectiveness of the intervention,
and the advantage of using such an intervention as opposed to the use
of pharmaceutical drugs.
Modern hypnotherapy has been used, with varying success, in a variety
of forms, such as:
* Addictions
* Age regression hypnotherapy (or "hypnoanalysis")
* Cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapy, or clinical hypnosis combined
with elements of cognitive behavioural therapy
* Ericksonian hypnotherapy
* Fears and phobia
* Habit control
* Pain management
* Psychotherapy
* Relaxation
* Reduce patient behavior (e.g., scratching) that hinders the
treatment of skin disease
* Soothing anxious surgical patients
* Sports performance
* Weight loss
In a January 2001 article in 'Psychology Today', Harvard psychologist
Deirdre Barrett wrote:
Barrett described specific ways this is operationalised for habit
change and amelioration of phobias. In her 1998 book of hypnotherapy
case studies, she reviews the clinical research on hypnosis with
dissociative disorders, smoking cessation, and insomnia, and describes
successful treatments of these complaints.
In a July 2001 article for 'Scientific American' titled "The Truth and
the Hype of Hypnosis", Michael Nash wrote that, "using hypnosis,
scientists have temporarily created hallucinations, compulsions,
certain types of memory loss, false memories, and delusions in the
laboratory so that these phenomena can be studied in a controlled
environment."
Menopause
===========
There is evidence supporting the use of hypnotherapy in the treatment
of menopause related symptoms, including hot flashes. The North
American Menopause Society recommends hypnotherapy for the nonhormonal
management of menopause-associated vasomotor symptoms, giving it the
highest level of evidence.
Irritable bowel syndrome
==========================
Hypnotherapy has been studied for the treatment of irritable bowel
syndrome. Hypnosis for IBS has received moderate support in the
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance
published for UK health services. It has been used as an aid or
alternative to chemical anesthesia, and it has been studied as a way
to soothe skin ailments.
Pain management
=================
A number of studies show that hypnosis can reduce the pain experienced
during burn-wound debridement, bone marrow aspirations, and
childbirth. The 'International Journal of Clinical and Experimental
Hypnosis' found that hypnosis relieved the pain of 75% of 933 subjects
participating in 27 different experiments.
Hypnosis is effective in decreasing the fear of cancer treatment
reducing pain from and coping with cancer and other chronic
conditions. Nausea and other symptoms related to incurable diseases
may also be managed with hypnosis. Some practitioners have claimed
hypnosis might help boost the immune system of people with cancer.
However, according to the American Cancer Society, "available
scientific evidence does not support the idea that hypnosis can
influence the development or progression of cancer."
Hypnosis has been used as a pain relieving technique during dental
surgery, and related pain management regimens as well. Researchers
like Jerjes and his team have reported that hypnosis can help even
those patients who have acute to severe orodental pain. Additionally,
Meyerson and Uziel have suggested that hypnotic methods have been
found to be highly fruitful for alleviating anxiety in patients with
severe dental phobia.
For some psychologists who uphold the altered state theory of
hypnosis, pain relief in response to hypnosis is said to be the result
of the brain's dual-processing functionality. This effect is obtained
either through the process of selective attention or dissociation, in
which both theories involve the presence of activity in pain receptive
regions of the brain, and a difference in the processing of the
stimuli by the hypnotised subject.
The American Psychological Association published a study comparing the
effects of hypnosis, ordinary suggestion, and placebo in reducing
pain. The study found that highly suggestible individuals experienced
a greater reduction in pain from hypnosis compared with placebo,
whereas less suggestible subjects experienced no pain reduction from
hypnosis when compared with placebo. Ordinary non-hypnotic suggestion
also caused reduction in pain compared to placebo, but was able to
reduce pain in a wider range of subjects (both high and low
suggestible) than hypnosis. The results showed that it is primarily
the subject's responsiveness to suggestion, whether within the context
of hypnosis or not, that is the main determinant of causing reduction
in pain.
Other uses of hypnotherapy
============================
In 2019, a Cochrane review was unable to find evidence of benefit of
hypnosis in smoking cessation, and suggested if there is, it is small
at best.
Hypnosis may be useful as an adjunct therapy for weight loss. A 1996
meta-analysis studying hypnosis combined with cognitive behavioural
therapy found that people using both treatments lost more weight than
people using cognitive behavioural therapy alone.
American psychiatric nurses, in most medical facilities, are allowed
to administer hypnosis to patients in order to relieve symptoms such
as anxiety, arousal, negative behaviours, uncontrollable behaviour,
and to improve self-esteem and confidence. This is permitted only when
they have been completely trained about their clinical side effects
and while under supervision when administering it.
Forensic hypnosis
===================
The use of hypnosis to exhume information thought to be buried within
the mind in the investigative process and as evidence in court became
increasingly popular from the 1950s to the early 1980s with its use
being debated into the 1990s when its popular use mostly diminished.
Forensic hypnosis's uses are hindered by concerns with its reliability
and accuracy. Controversy surrounds the use of hypnotherapy to
retrieve memories, especially those from early childhood. The American
Medical Association and the American Psychological Association caution
against recovered-memory therapy in cases of alleged childhood trauma,
stating that "it is impossible, without corroborative evidence, to
distinguish a true memory from a false one." Past life regression is
regarded as pseudoscience.
Military
==========
A 2006 declassified 1966 document obtained by the US Freedom of
Information Act archive shows that hypnosis was investigated for
military applications. The full paper explores the potentials of
operational uses. The overall conclusion of the study was that there
was no evidence that hypnosis could be used for military applications,
and no clear evidence whether "hypnosis" is a definable phenomenon
outside ordinary suggestion, motivation, and subject expectancy.
According to the document:
Furthermore, the document states that:
The study concluded that there are no reliable accounts of its
effective use by an intelligence service in history.
Research into hypnosis in military applications is further verified by
the Project MKUltra experiments, also conducted by the CIA. According
to Congressional testimony, the CIA experimented with utilising LSD
and hypnosis for mind control. Many of these programs were done
domestically and on participants who were not informed of the study's
purposes or that they would be given drugs.
Self-hypnosis
===============
Self-hypnosis happens when a person hypnotises oneself, commonly
involving the use of autosuggestion. The technique is often used to
increase motivation for a diet, to quit smoking, or to reduce stress.
People who practise self-hypnosis sometimes require assistance; some
people use devices known as mind machines to assist in the process,
whereas others use hypnotic recordings.
Self-hypnosis is claimed to help with stage fright, relaxation, and
physical well-being.
Stage hypnosis
================
Stage hypnosis is a form of entertainment, traditionally employed in a
club or theatre before an audience. Due to stage hypnotists'
showmanship, many people believe that hypnosis is a form of mind
control. Stage hypnotists typically attempt to hypnotise the entire
audience and then select individuals who are "under" to come up on
stage and perform embarrassing acts, while the audience watches.
However, the effects of stage hypnosis are probably due to a
combination of psychological factors, participant selection,
suggestibility, physical manipulation, stagecraft, and trickery. The
desire to be the centre of attention, having an excuse to violate
their own fear suppressors, and the pressure to please are thought to
convince subjects to "play along". Books by stage hypnotists sometimes
explicitly describe the use of deception in their acts; for example,
Ormond McGill's 'New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism' describes an
entire "fake hypnosis" act that depends upon the use of private
whispers throughout.
Music
=======
The idea of music as hypnosis developed from the work of Franz Mesmer.
Instruments such as pianos, violins, harps and, especially, the 'glass
harmonica' often featured in Mesmer's treatments; and were considered
to contribute to Mesmer's success.
Hypnotic music became an important part in the development of a
'physiological psychology' that regarded the hypnotic state as an
'automatic' phenomenon that links to physical reflex. In their
experiments with sound hypnosis, Jean-Martin Charcot used gongs and
tuning forks, and Ivan Pavlov used bells. The intention behind their
experiments was to prove that physiological response to sound could be
automatic, bypassing the conscious mind.
Satanic brainwashing
======================
In the 1980s and 1990s, a moral panic took place in the US fearing
Satanic ritual abuse. As part of this, certain books such as 'The
Devil's Disciples' claimed that some bands, particularly in the
musical genre of heavy metal, brainwashed American teenagers with
subliminal messages to lure them into the worship of the devil, sexual
immorality, murder, and especially suicide.
Crime
=======
Various people have been suspected of or convicted for
hypnosis-related crimes, including robbery and sexual abuse.
In 1951, Palle Hardrup shot and killed two people during a botched
robbery in Copenhagen - see Hypnosis murders. Hardrup claimed that his
friend and former cellmate Bjørn Schouw Nielsen had hypnotised him to
commit the robbery, inadvertently causing the deaths. Both were
sentenced to jail time.
In 2013, the then-40-year-old amateur hypnotist Timothy Porter
attempted to sexually abuse his female weight-loss client. She
reported awaking from a trance and finding him behind her with his
pants down, telling her to touch herself. He was subsequently called
to court and included on the sex offender list. In 2015, Gary Naraido,
then 52, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for several
hypnosis-related sexual abuse charges. Besides the primary charge by a
22-year-old woman who he sexually abused in a hotel under the guise of
a free therapy session, he also admitted to having sexually assaulted
a 14-year-old girl. In December 2018, a Brazilian medium named João
Teixeira de Faria (also known as "João de Deus"), famous for
performing Spiritual Surgeries through hypnosis techniques, was
accused of sexual abuse by 12 women. In 2016 an Ohio lawyer was
sentenced to 12 years of prison after hypnotizing a dozen different
clients into committing sexual acts under the guise of a mindfulness
exercise.
State vs. non-state
======================================================================
The central theoretical disagreement regarding hypnosis is known as
the "state versus non-state" debate. When Braid introduced the concept
of hypnotism, he equivocated over the nature of the "state", sometimes
describing it as a specific sleep-like neurological state comparable
to animal hibernation or yogic meditation, while at other times he
emphasized that hypnotism encompasses a number of different stages or
states that are an extension of ordinary psychological and
physiological processes. Overall, Braid appears to have moved from a
more "special state" understanding of hypnotism toward a more complex
"non-state" orientation.
State theorists interpret the effects of hypnotism as due primarily to
a specific, abnormal, and uniform psychological or physiological state
of some description, often referred to as "hypnotic trance" or an
"altered state of consciousness". Non-state theorists rejected the
idea of hypnotic trance and interpret the effects of hypnotism as due
to a combination of multiple task-specific factors derived from normal
cognitive, behavioural, and social psychology, such as social
role-perception and favorable motivation (Sarbin), active imagination
and positive cognitive set (Barber), response expectancy (Kirsch), and
the active use of task-specific subjective strategies (Spanos). The
personality psychologist Robert White is often cited as providing one
of the first non-state definitions of hypnosis in a 1941 article:
Put simply, it is often claimed that, whereas the older "special
state" interpretation emphasizes the difference between hypnosis and
ordinary psychological processes, the "non-state" interpretation
emphasizes their similarity.
Comparisons between hypnotised and non-hypnotised subjects suggest
that, if a "hypnotic trance" does exist, it only accounts for a small
proportion of the effects attributed to hypnotic suggestion, most of
which can be replicated without hypnotic induction.
Hyper-suggestibility
======================
Braid can be taken to imply, in later writings, that hypnosis is
largely a state of heightened suggestibility induced by expectation
and focused attention. In particular, Hippolyte Bernheim became known
as the leading proponent of the "suggestion theory" of hypnosis, at
one point going so far as to declare that there is no hypnotic state,
only heightened suggestibility. There is a general consensus that
heightened suggestibility is an essential characteristic of hypnosis.
In 1933, Clark L. Hull wrote:
Conditioned inhibition
========================
Ivan Pavlov stated that hypnotic suggestion provided the best example
of a conditioned reflex response in human beings; i.e., that responses
to suggestions were learned associations triggered by the words used:
He also believed that hypnosis was a "partial sleep", meaning that a
generalised inhibition of cortical functioning could be encouraged to
spread throughout regions of the brain. He observed that the various
degrees of hypnosis did not significantly differ physiologically from
the waking state and hypnosis depended on insignificant changes of
environmental stimuli. Pavlov also suggested that lower-brain-stem
mechanisms were involved in hypnotic conditioning.
Pavlov's ideas combined with those of his rival Vladimir Bekhterev and
became the basis of hypnotic psychotherapy in the Soviet Union, as
documented in the writings of his follower K.I. Platonov. Soviet
theories of hypnotism subsequently influenced the writings of Western
behaviourally oriented hypnotherapists such as Andrew Salter.
Neuropsychology
=================
Changes in brain activity have been found in some studies of highly
responsive hypnotic subjects. These changes vary depending upon the
type of suggestions being given. The state of light to medium
hypnosis, where the body undergoes physical and mental relaxation, is
associated with a pattern mostly of alpha waves. However, what these
results indicate is unclear. They may indicate that suggestions
genuinely produce changes in perception or experience that are not
simply a result of imagination. However, in normal circumstances
without hypnosis, the brain regions associated with motion detection
are activated both when motion is seen and when motion is imagined,
without any changes in the subjects' perception or experience. This
may therefore indicate that highly suggestible hypnotic subjects are
simply activating to a greater extent the areas of the brain used in
imagination, without real perceptual changes. It is, however,
premature to claim that hypnosis and meditation are mediated by
similar brain systems and neural mechanisms.
Another study has demonstrated that a colour hallucination suggestion
given to subjects in hypnosis activated colour-processing regions of
the occipital cortex. A 2004 review of research examining the EEG
laboratory work in this area concludes:
Studies have shown an association of hypnosis with stronger
theta-frequency activity as well as with changes to the
gamma-frequency activity. Neuroimaging techniques have been used to
investigate neural correlates of hypnosis.
The induction phase of hypnosis may also affect the activity in brain
regions that control intention and process conflict. Anna Gosline
claims:
Dissociation
==============
Pierre Janet originally developed the idea of 'dissociation of
consciousness' from his work with hysterical patients. He believed
that hypnosis was an example of dissociation, whereby areas of an
individual's behavioural control separate from ordinary awareness.
Hypnosis would remove some control from the conscious mind, and the
individual would respond with autonomic, reflexive behaviour.
Weitzenhoffer describes hypnosis via this theory as "dissociation of
awareness from the majority of sensory and even strictly neural events
taking place."
Neodissociation
=================
Ernest Hilgard, who developed the "neodissociation" theory of
hypnotism, hypothesised that hypnosis causes the subjects to divide
their consciousness voluntarily. One part responds to the hypnotist
while the other retains awareness of reality. Hilgard made subjects
take an ice water bath. None mentioned the water being cold or feeling
pain. Hilgard then asked the subjects to lift their index finger if
they felt pain and 70% of the subjects lifted their index finger. This
showed that, even though the subjects were listening to the suggestive
hypnotist, they still sensed the water's temperature.
Social role-taking theory
===========================
The main theorist who pioneered the influential role-taking theory of
hypnotism was Theodore Sarbin. Sarbin argued that hypnotic responses
were motivated attempts to fulfill the socially constructed roles of
hypnotic subjects. This has led to the misconception that hypnotic
subjects are simply "faking". However, Sarbin emphasised the
difference between faking, in which there is little subjective
identification with the role in question, and role-taking, in which
the subject not only acts externally in accord with the role but also
subjectively identifies with it to some degree, acting, thinking, and
feeling "as if" they are hypnotised. Sarbin drew analogies between
role-taking in hypnosis and role-taking in other areas such as method
acting, mental illness, and shamanic possession, etc. This
interpretation of hypnosis is particularly relevant to understanding
stage hypnosis, in which there is clearly strong peer pressure to
comply with a socially constructed role by performing accordingly on a
theatrical stage.
Hence, the 'social constructionism and role-taking theory' of hypnosis
suggests that individuals are enacting (as opposed to merely
'playing') a role and that really there is no such thing as a hypnotic
trance. A socially constructed relationship is built depending on how
much rapport has been established between the "hypnotist" and the
subject (see Hawthorne effect, Pygmalion effect, and placebo effect).
Psychologists such as Robert Baker and Graham Wagstaff claim that what
we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned social behaviour, a
complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation, and suggestibility
that can account for many esoteric behavioural manifestations.
Cognitive-behavioural theory
==============================
Barber, Spanos, and Chaves (1974) proposed a nonstate
"cognitive-behavioural" theory of hypnosis, similar in some respects
to Sarbin's social role-taking theory and building upon the earlier
research of Barber. On this model, hypnosis is explained as an
extension of ordinary psychological processes like imagination,
relaxation, expectation, social compliance, etc. In particular, Barber
argued that responses to hypnotic suggestions were mediated by a
"positive cognitive set" consisting of positive expectations,
attitudes, and motivation. Daniel Araoz subsequently coined the
acronym "TEAM" to symbolise the subject's orientation to hypnosis in
terms of "trust", "expectation", "attitude", and "motivation".
Barber et al. noted that similar factors appeared to mediate the
response both to hypnotism and to cognitive behavioural therapy, in
particular systematic desensitisation. Hence, research and clinical
practice inspired by their interpretation has led to growing interest
in the relationship between hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural
therapy.
Information theory
====================
An approach loosely based on information theory uses a
brain-as-computer model. In adaptive systems, feedback increases the
signal-to-noise ratio, which may converge towards a steady state.
Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio enables messages to be more
clearly received. The hypnotist's object is to use techniques to
reduce interference and increase the receptability of specific
messages (suggestions).
Systems theory
================
Systems theory, in this context, may be regarded as an extension of
Braid's original conceptualisation of hypnosis as involving "the brain
and nervous system generally". Systems theory considers the nervous
system's organisation into interacting subsystems. Hypnotic phenomena
thus involve not only increased or decreased activity of particular
subsystems, but also their interaction. A central phenomenon in this
regard is that of feedback loops, which suggest a mechanism for
creating hypnotic phenomena.
Societies
===========
There is a huge range of societies in England who train individuals in
hypnosis; however, one of the longest-standing organisations is the
British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH). It origins
date back to 1952 when a group of dentists set up the 'British Society
of Dental Hypnosis'. Shortly after, a group of sympathetic medical
practitioners merged with this fast-evolving organisation to form 'The
Dental and Medical Society for the Study of Hypnosis'; and, in 1968,
after various statutory amendments had taken place, the 'British
Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis' (BSMDH) was formed. This
society always had close links with the Royal Society of Medicine and
many of its members were involved in setting up a hypnosis section at
this centre of medical research in London. And, in 1978, under the
presidency of David Waxman, the Section of Medical and Dental Hypnosis
was formed. A second society, the British Society of Experimental and
Clinical Hypnosis (BSECH), was also set up a year before, in 1977, and
this consisted of psychologists, doctors and dentists with an interest
in hypnosis theory and practice. In 2007, the two societies merged to
form the 'British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis' (BSCAH).
This society only trains health professionals and is interested in
furthering research into clinical hypnosis.
The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) is unique among
organisations for professionals using hypnosis because members must be
licensed healthcare workers with graduate degrees. As an
interdisciplinary organisation, ASCH not only provides a classroom to
teach professionals how to use hypnosis as a tool in their practice,
it provides professionals with a community of experts from different
disciplines. The ASCH's missions statement is to provide and encourage
education programs to further, in every ethical way, the knowledge,
understanding, and application of hypnosis in health care; to
encourage research and scientific publication in the field of
hypnosis; to promote the further recognition and acceptance of
hypnosis as an important tool in clinical health care and focus for
scientific research; to cooperate with other professional societies
that share mutual goals, ethics and interests; and to provide a
professional community for those clinicians and researchers who use
hypnosis in their work. The ASCH also publishes the 'American Journal
of Clinical Hypnosis'.
See also
======================================================================
* List of hypnotists and list of fictional hypnotists
Historical figures
====================
* Alfred Binet
* James Braid
* John Milne Bramwell
* William Joseph Bryan
* Emile Dantinne
* John Elliotson
* George Estabrooks
* Abbé Faria
* Ainslie Meares
* Franz Anton Mesmer
* Mahmoud K. Muftić
* Julian Ochorowicz
* Charles Lloyd Tuckey
* Otto Georg Wetterstrand
Modern researchers
====================
* Etzel Cardeña
* Alan Gauld
* Jack Stanley Gibson
* Ernest Hilgard
* Albert Abraham Mason
* Ainslie Meares
* Dylan Morgan
* David Spiegel
* Michel Weber
* Michael D. Yapko
* Gary R. Elkins
Related subjects
==================
* Covert hypnosis
* Guided meditation
* Highway hypnosis
* Hypnagogia
* Hypnoid state
* Hypnosis in popular culture
* Hypnosurgery
* Hypnotherapy
* Hypnotic Ego-Strengthening Procedure
* Ideomotor phenomenon
* List of ineffective cancer treatments
* Psychonautics
* Recreational hypnosis
* Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism
* Scientology and hypnosis
* Sedative (also known as sedative-hypnotic drug)
* 'The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and
Their Applications to Human Welfare'
Bibliography
======================================================================
* [
https://archive.org/details/suggestionandau00baudgoog Baudouin, C.
(Paul, E & Paul, C. trans.), 'Suggestion and Autosuggestion: A
Psychological and Pedagogical Study Based on the Investigations made
by the New Nancy School', George Allen & Unwin, (London), 1920.]
*
* [
https://archive.org/details/observationsont01braigoog Braid, J.
(1850), 'Observations on Trance; or, Human Hybernation', London: John
Churchill.]
* [
https://books.google.com/books?id=-1hYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA848 Braid,
J. (1855), "On the Nature and Treatment of Certain Forms of
Paralysis", 'Association Medical Journal', Vol.3, No.141, (14
September 1855), pp. 848-855.]
* Brann, L., Owens J. Williamson, A. (eds.) (2015), 'The Handbook of
Contemporary Clinical Hypnosis: Theory and Practice', Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell.
* Brown, T. (1851),
[
https://archive.org/details/lecturesonphilos00browuoft 'Lectures on
the Philosophy of the Human Mind (Nineteenth Edition)', Edinburgh:
Adam & Charles Black.]
* [
https://archive.org/download/b28099734/b28099734.pdf Coates, James
(1904), 'Human Magnetism; or, How to Hypnotise: A Practical Handbook
for Students of Mesmerism', London: Nichols & Co.]
*
* Glueck, B., "New Nancy School", 'The Psychoanalytic Review', Vol.
10, (January 1923), pp. 109-12.
* [
https://archive.org/details/b24872210_0002 Harte, R., 'Hypnotism
and the Doctors, Volume I: Animal Magnetism: Mesmer/De Puysegur', L.N.
Fowler & Co., (London), 1902].
* [
https://archive.org/details/hypnotismanddoc00hartgoog Harte, R.,
'Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume II: The Second Commission; Dupotet
And Lafontaine; The English School; Braid's Hypnotism; Statuvolism;
Pathetism; Electro-Biology', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1903].
*
*
[
https://archive.org/details/an-account-of-thomas-browns-philosophy-of-the-human-mind
Yeates, Lindsay B. (2005), 'An Account of Thomas Brown’s Philosophy of
the Human Mind', (unpublished manuscript), School of the History and
Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University
of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia.]
*
[
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:11299/SOURCE01?view=true
Yeates, L.B. (2013), 'James Braid: Surgeon, Gentleman Scientist, and
Hypnotist', Ph.D. Dissertation, School of History and Philosophy of
Science, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of New
South Wales, January 2013.]
* [
https://archive.org/details/hartlands-legacy-ii-yeates-2014 Yeates,
L.B. (2014), "Hartland’s Legacy (II): The Ego-Strengthening
Monologue", 'Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy &
Hypnosis', '36'(1), pp. 19-36.]
*
[
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:47777/bin55efd6f6-374a-478d-8f8d-cf96f616d62f?view=true&xy=01
Yeates, Lindsay B. (2016a), "Émile Coué and his 'Method' (I): The
Chemist of Thought and Human Action", 'Australian Journal of Clinical
Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis', Volume 38, No. 1, (Autumn 2016), pp.
3-27.]
*
[
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:47760/bin73f48d52-f4cb-443f-a9c2-a5c23331c372?view=true&xy=01
Yeates, Lindsay B. (2016b), "Émile Coué and his 'Method' (II):
Hypnotism, Suggestion, Ego-Strengthening, and Autosuggestion",
'Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis', Volume
38, No.1, (Autumn 2016), pp. 28-54.]
*
[
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:47938/bin566a3d8c-5812-4b3a-8b19-37dffb21ecfc?view=true&xy=01
Yeates, Lindsay B. (2016c), "Émile Coué and his 'Method' (III): Every
Day in Every Way", 'Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy &
Hypnosis', Volume 38, No. 1, (Autumn 2016), pp. 55-79.]
*
[
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/datastream/unsworks:62996/bin2b21dab5-836e-4118-9120-c1fa25532e00?view=true&xy=01
Yeates, L.B. (2018), "James Braid (II): Mesmerism, Braid’s Crucial
Experiment, and Braid’s Discovery of Neuro-Hypnotism", 'Australian
Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis', Vol. 40, No. 1,
(Autumn 2018), pp. 40-92.]
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis
