American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis最新文献

When it comes to antidepressant medications - popular, backbone drugs of modern psychiatry - even learned scholars and savvy clinicians find it difficult to separate honest, rigorous research from that which thrives on hidden agendas and ulterior motives. Fortunately, a mounting corpus of data-based studies, mostly meta-analyses, casts new and critical light on the clinical efficacy, side effects, and therapeutic outcomes of antidepressants. Spearheading these efforts over the past few decades, Irving Kirsch and colleagues have challenged the hegemonic view of antidepressants as an effective therapeutic intervention. Notably, Kirsch illuminates the small difference between antidepressants and placebos in mitigating depression-a difference that may be statistically significant yet fails to reach clinical significance. This piece sketches the important contributions Kirsch has made to the scientific understanding of antidepressant medications.

Irving Kirsch is a leading figure in the field of psychological science who has advanced our understanding of hypnosis in key respects that have withstood the tests of time and replication. We honor his prodigious contributions over his distinguished career and extend his response expectancy theory in an integrative model that encompasses predictive coding. We review the construct of expectancies that he articulated and championed for decades and extended in response set theory. We propose novel hypotheses to align his innovative contributions with the most current findings in psychological science and to acknowledge the heuristic value of his work. We especially focus on (I) how the response set theory can be conceptualized in terms of the predictive coding model and (II) psycho-social constructs that need to be considered to better understand the effects of expectancies on hypnotic phenomena in an open and evidence-based integrative model of hypnosis.

This study compares the effects of two trance texts using different language patterns, i.e., modern trance language (MTL) characterized by indirect suggestions as well as narrative style and traditional trance language (TTL) found in traditional societies (e.g., Navajo, San, Aranda aborigines, etc.) that uses multiple repetitions along with narrative sequences. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) was used to evaluate the effects of both texts regarding cognition, emotion, physical experience, and trance depth. In this randomized controlled online study, 178 participants were assigned either to the MTL group or to the TTL group. The PCI and other tests (e.g. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory) were presented to the participants before and after listening to the hypnosis audio of the respective trance text. There were no significant differences between groups concerning trance depth, emotional, and physical experience. However, on the cognitive-imaginative level it was shown that the TTL group experienced more imaginations (PCI-subdimension "visual imagery," p = .009, d = 0.38) and less cognitive activity (PCI-subdimension "inner dialogue," p = .002, d = 0.40) than the MTL group. The results indicate that TTL increases imagery and decreases cognitive activity to a larger extent than MTL. This further indicates the potential of TTL to facilitate more vivid and intensive trance experiences.

Hypnosis presents an auxiliary adjunct in medical, dental, physiotherapeutic, and other clinical fields. This narrative review verified the effect of hypnosis in the control of pain and anxiety in dentistry. It presents the importance and effectiveness of hypnosis to aid dental procedures. It´s use in dentistry allows a wide range of applications such as sedation, analgesia, anesthesia, and hemostasis to facilitate treatment and improve the experience of dental care for dental patients. A discussion about the regulation of hypnosis in dentistry in Brazil, the attributions of dentists qualified in hypnosis, as well as the benefits of application based on evidence of hypnosis in dentistry, and the need for certification by hypnosis practitioners due to the possible risks inherent to the use of hypnosis are presented. Hypnosis is useful in the management of pain and anxiety in dentistry, when the dental practitioner is adequately experienced in this modality and the patients are carefully selected.

Assessment of hypnotizability is useful in research and predicting the effects of hypnosis in clinical practice. There are few contemporary scientific reports examining the relationship between hypnotizability and psychopathological personality dimensions. The current study explores the connections between abnormal personality in psychiatric patients and the hypnotizability level. Fifty-five patients with anxiety and personality disorders who previously completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) were invited to undergo the Elkins Hypnotizability Scale - Clinical Form (EHS-CF). The hypnotizability scores comprise a normal distribution but shifted toward low scores. Twenty-seven patients were included in the low hypnotizability (LOW) group, and 28 patients in the medium to high (MID-HIGH) group. The number of participants with high scores on the Psychopathic Deviate and Paranoia MMPI-2 clinical scales was significantly higher in the LOW than in the MID-HIGH group. Patterns of associations between hypnotizability and psychopathology differed in the two groups. The results indicate that moderate hypnotizability should be considered a normal trait that has no meaningful relationship with psychopathology, but certain dysfunctional symptoms of personality disorders may entail resistance and a defensive attitude toward the hypnotherapy, resulting in a tendency to obtain lower hypnotizability.

Hypnosis has been increasingly used in recent years as an alternative treatment to maintain well-being. Yet, limited evidence is available regarding its role in weight management, especially in Malaysia. Hence, this quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of hypnosis on weight loss and body composition (body mass index, waist circumference and body fat percentage) among staff and students of a public university in Terengganu, Malaysia. Participants with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25.0 kg/m² were randomly assigned to either intervention group (IG = 53) or control group (CG = 54), for 12 weeks. All participants received health education (diet + exercise + behavioral recommendations) with those in IG had additional three hypnotherapy sessions, once a month. Body weight was measured at week 1, 7, and 12 while body compositions were measured at weeks 1 and 12. Descriptive, univariate, and repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were utilized. A total of 104 participants completed the trial (mean age = 26.28 ± 8.01; female = 82.2%; BMI = 31.39 ± 4.89). A significant weight loss was observed in the intervention (-4.61%) and control (-3.04%) groups (mean difference = -1.57; 95%CI: -2.59, -0.54; p = .003) after 12 weeks. Participants that frequently practiced self-hypnosis lost more weight (-6.27%; t(50) = -5.331, p < .001). Body fat percentage and waist circumference did not significantly change from baseline in both groups. Essentially, the positive outcomes indicated the promising potential of hypnosis as an alternative tool in facilitating weight loss efforts for those in need.