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Hypnosis is a procedure involving

cognitive processes (like

imagination) in which a person is

guided to respond to suggestions

to change. The changes can be in sensations,

perceptions, thoughts, feelings,

and behaviors.

Psychologists hold a wide variety

of opinions on how to definehypnosis and on how hypnosis

works.

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Sometimes, people are trained in self-

hypnosis, in which they learn to guide

themselves through a hypnotic procedure.

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It is useful to think of a hypnotic

procedure as consisting of two phases or

components:

Hypnotic Induction

Hypnotic Suggestions

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An introduction to hypnosis in which the person (subject)

is guided through suggestion to relax, concentrate,

and/or to focus his or her attention on some particularthing (ie watch or pencil).

Some hypnotists believe the purpose of the induction is

to induce an altered state of consciousness.

Other hypnotists believe the induction is a social cue that

prompts the subject to engage in hypnotic behaviors.

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The person is guided to undergo changes in experience.

Types of Hypnotic Suggestions:

Ideomotor Suggestionsexperience a motor movement.

Challenge SuggestionsPerson is told they will not be

able to do some particular thing and then is asked to

perform the prohibited behavior.

Cognitive Suggestionsexperience changes in sensations,

perceptions, thoughts or feelings.

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People in hypnosis lose control and can be made to say

or do whatever the hypnotist wants.

People may not be able to come out of hypnosis.

Hypnosis only affects weak-willed or gullible people. Hypnosis reliably enhances the accuracy of memory.

Hypnosis enables people to re-experience a past life.

Hypnosis depends primarily on the skill of the hypnotist.

NONE OF THESE ARE TRUE

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A. Psychoanalytic Approach

B. Neodissociation Approach

C. Socio-Cognitive ApproachD. Transpersonal Approach

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Freud initially utilized hypnosis to help remove psychosomaticsymptoms from patients who suffered from what we would now call

a somatoform disorder (no physical basis). These patients suffered

from medical complaints like seizures, muscular spasms, and

paralysis of their limbs that was transient and/or was not thought to

be the entirely the result of a general medical condition. Freud learned that he could temporarily or permanently reduce

many of these symptoms using direct hypnotic suggestions for the

symptoms to be reversed. (e.g.,: Your arm is calm again and will

no longer spasm.)

Freud also believed that Hypnosis allowed him access to memories

within the patients unconscious mind which had been previouslyrepressed.

Eventually, Freud began using free association instead of hypnosis

as a way of accessing the unconscious.

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A more recent psychoanalytically-oriented theory.

Developed by Ernest Hilgard.

Under hypnosis, part of the mind enters an altered state

of consciousness. A second dissociated part of the mind, later designated

as the Hidden Observer, remains aware of what is

going on during a hypnotic session.

The part of the mind in an altered state of consciousnessis very open to hypnotic suggestions.

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The Hidden Observer Experiments Discovered in highly hypnotizable people during

dissociative tasks such as hypnotic deafness and

hypnotic pain analgesia. If queried, some people could nevertheless giverealistic accounts of the dissociated experience asif a hidden observer was present within theperson.

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Contends that the principles of social psychology explain behavior

during hypnosis.

Not a single theory, but a group of theories.

Examples:

Role Theorypeople naturally adopt the role behaviors of ahypnotized person.

Response Expectancy Theoryhypnotic suggestions alter

expectations for nonvolitional *(out of persons control)outcomes

(e.g., pain). Such expectations , in turn, then contribute to the

experience of those outcomes (Kirsch, 1990).

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Many of humanitys earliest views of hypnoticphenomena are described by various religious andspiritual traditions in the world. (Krippner, 2005).Shamanistic Healing RitualsExorcism and DemonologyAdvanced meditative practices to achieve

Mind/Body Unity within Mystical Christianity,Tibetan Buddhism, Native American, IslamicSufism, Jewish Kabbalah, and Hindu Tantra.

Requires a willingness to explore the possibility thatwithin each one of us is an inner wisdom and intuitionthat can guide us through our life experiences.

At the heart of Transpersonal Hypnosis is the beliefthat as we connect with this higher awareness we dotransform and as we transform, we are emboldenedto create the life we envision for ourselves

This is an important diversity issue since many peoplearound the world hold these beliefs.

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A. The State Controversy

B. The Trait Controversy

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Do people enter an altered state of

consciousness during hypnosis ?

The essence of the dispute between theNeodissociation and Sociocognitive

approaches.

This remains a hotly debated issue.

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Is there a trait that accounts for how much or

how little people respond to hypnosis ?

Ones position on the Trait Controversy is

unrelated to ones position on the State

Controversy. They are NOT opposite poles of a

single dimension or question.

The research evidence strongly suggests thatthere is a trait that explains how much people

respond to hypnosis.

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Hypnotic suggestibility is the general tendency to respond to

hypnotic suggestions.

It can be measured by using hypnotic induction and a series of

behavioral test suggestions.

It is a trait-like, individual difference variablepeople differ in terms

of how high or low they fall on suggestibility.

Suggestibility tends to be very stable over timesome researchers

found that scores taken 25 years apart fairly highly correlated

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Hypnosis is generally used in two ways

as a clinical tool:

A. Making Direct Suggestions for Symptom

Reduction

B. Using hypnosis in conjuction with other

forms of psychotherapy (ie Cognitive-

Behavioural Therapy or CBT).

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ExampleA hypnotist suggests to a patient

undergoing a painful medical procedure (e.g.,

surgery, a lumbar puncture, spinal tap) that the

affected body part (i.e., the back) is numb andinsensitive to pain.

This is a classic use of hypnosis.

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Hypnosis can alter and eliminate thepsychological experience of pain and also the

brains neurophysiological processing of pain.

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Research suggests that using a combination of hypnosis and CBT

improves outcomes for about 70% of patients relative to using CBT

alone (Kirsch et al., 1995).

Additionally, standard CBT techniques can be presented in a hypnotic

context by preceding the CBT technique with a hypnotic induction,

Examples:

Progressive Muscle Relaxation becomes hypnotic relaxation.

Guided Imagery becomes hypnotic imagery.

Systematic Desensitization becomes hypnotic desensitization.

Coping self-statements become coping self-suggestions.

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Acute and Chronic Pain

Phobias

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress

Disorder Performance Anxiety

Depression

Eating Disorders

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Smoking

Obesity

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Once associated with fringe psychology and thesupernatural, hypnosis is now accepted as the validsubject of scientific research and as a useful clinicaltool.

Psychologists hold a wide variety of opinions on how

to define hypnosis and on how hypnosis works. Research strongly suggests that hypnotic

suggestibility is a trait that accounts for a portion ofhow much or how little people respond to hypnosis.However, research strongly indicates that the vastmajority of people can benefit from hypnosisinterventions.

Research indicates that hypnosis is very effective fortreating a wide range of clinical problems andsymptoms, including pain, anxiety, depression,obesity, and smoking.

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Chevreul Pendulum

http://www.youtube.com/watc

h?v=zrOF-VA2nwc

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1. Obtain scissors, string, and inch washers.2. At the beginning of the presentation, distribute these materials to theclass. Have students cut a 6-inch length of string and tie it to thewasher.

3. Explain that you will be doing a demonstration in which students willhave an opportunity to experience an imaginative suggestion.

4. Have students place their right elbow on their right thigh and hold thestring between their right thumb and index finger so the washer issuspended beneath.

5. Have students hold their hand as still as possible.6. Ask students to imagine that the washer is beginning to move from

left to right. Continue repeating the suggestion until some washersbegin to move. There will be a range of responses. Some studentswill show no response at all. Others will find that their washer movesquite a bit.

7. Cancel the suggestion by telling students their hands are back tonormal.

8. Ask students what this has to do with what you were just discussing.9. This should lead naturally to the next topichypnotic suggestibility.

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