Contemporary hypnosis : the journal of the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis最新文献

Numerous studies on people with Down's syndrome show that they are able to adapt to simple tasks, have a better ability for language comprehension than for language production, and that their learning difficulties are connected to their particular memory functions as well as to their prolonged information processing time. These characteristics do not, however, highlight elements that suggest non-receptivity to hypnosis. The present research studied (a) hypnotic response in children with Down's syndrome, and (b) the cognitive variables that can mediate the hypnotic response. The sample included twelve participants, 7 girls and 5 boys, ages ranging from 6 to 17, mean age: 10.4 (SD: 3.83). We used the Stanford Hypnotic Scale for Children, Modified Form (SHCS; Morgan and Hilgard, 1979), and also checked Mnemonic recuperation, Abstraction, Perception and Vocabulary comprehension (using different subscales in WPPSI-R, K-ABC and Chevrié Muller, Simon & Decante, 1975). Results show that the children were capable of responding to suggestions under hypnosis; both motor and cognitive. The differences with the pattern of children from the general population are discussed. Copyright © 2009 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article both summarizes the previous reviews of randomized, controlled trials of hypnotic analgesia for the treatment of chronic and acute pain in adults, and reviews similar trials which have recently been published in the scientific literature. The results indicate that for both chronic and acute pain conditions: (1) hypnotic analgesia consistently results in greater decreases in a variety of pain outcomes compared to no treatment/standard care; (2) hypnosis frequently out-performs non-hypnotic interventions (e.g. education, supportive therapy) in terms of reductions in pain-related outcomes; and (3) hypnosis performs similarly to treatments that contain hypnotic elements (such as progressive muscle relaxation), but is not surpassed in efficacy by these alternative treatments. Factors that may influence the efficacy of hypnotic analgesia interventions are discussed, including, but not limited to, the patient's level of suggestibility, treatment outcome expectancy, and provider expertise. Based upon this body of literature, suggestions are offered for practitioners who are using, or would like to use, hypnosis for the amelioration of pain problems in their patients or clients. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study examined the contributing effects of hypnosis on a standard cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) intervention for treating pain in patients with fibromyalgia. Forty-seven patients with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) Pharmacological treatment (standard care control group); (2) CBT group therapy; or (3) CBT group therapy with hypnosis. Outcome measures assessing pain intensity, sensorial and affective quality of pain and total FIQ score were administered before and after treatment. The analyses indicated that patients who received either CBT or CBT plus hypnosis improved more than patients who received only conventional pharmacological treatment; patients who received CBT plus hypnosis showed greater improvement than those who received CBT without hypnosis. The findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating the additive benefits of hypnosis when combined with other effective treatments. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This short review describes recent advances in understanding hypnotic modulation of pain. Our current understanding of pain perception is followed by a critical review of the hypnotic analgesia studies using EEG, evoked potential and functional imaging methodologies. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study was designed to seek hypnotizability-related differences in attention temporal dynamics. For this purpose, an iconic version of the Attentional Blink Task (AB) was performed on 18 highly (Highs, score 9–12, SHSS form C) and 18 low susceptible individuals (Lows, score 0–3). The procedure consisted of two tasks in which two animal shapes (a coloured animal, Target, and a black butterfly, Probe) appeared in close temporal proximity within a rapid stream of distractors (black animals). In the Single task only Probe detection was required; in the Conditional task, Target identification was also requested. In this case, competition between Target and Probe for limited attentional resources decreases Probe visibility as a function of the time lag from Target (AB effect). A similar AB effect occurred in the two groups; nonetheless, Probe detection scores at the shorter lags were frequently higher in Highs than in Lows. This suggests that time constraints could affect the performance of Highs less than Lows, but also that the two groups could differ in attention capturing mechanisms, i.e. automatic capture by colour at the shorter lag. Moreover, Highs scores on Target identification were lower than Lows' ones indicating an impairment of Highs when engaged in dual tasks.

It has been hypothesized that highly hypnotizable people spontaneously slip into trance when given imaginative suggestions without prior induction of hypnosis. We tested this in two studies. In Study 1, we examined state reports from ten highly suggestible students following the administration of a suggestion for altered colour perception. The suggestion was administered twice, once with and once without prior induction of hypnosis. Students reported equivalent perceptual changes with and without the induction of hypnosis, but reported being in a hypnotic state only when a hypnotic induction had been administered. In Study 2, participants received either a hypnotic induction or specific suggestions to not slip into hypnosis. Even under these circumstances, subjective responding was equivalent in both conditions and behavioural responding was only slightly higher in the ‘hypnosis’ condition. These data disconfirm the slipping-into-hypnosis hypothesis. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As a forensic memory enhancement tool, hypnosis is problematic because it tends to increase pseudomemory responses and inflate confidence regardless of accuracy. A variety of evidence suggests that major influences in producing these effects are expectancy and demand characteristics. However, if expectancy and demand characteristics play a role in increasing false positive responses with hypnosis, it may be possible to use the same factors to reduce false positive responses. Some have argued that the standard misinformation effect in nonhypnotic situations may be influenced by expectancy and demand characteristics. Consequently, if subjects are given misleading information followed by an instruction suggesting that hypnosis will reduce the influence of misinformation, hypnosis may reduce rather than increase false positive responses, including spurious confidence in errors. In this paper two studies are described that lend some experimental support for this hypothesis. The first showed that, when participants are not given an opportunity to commit themselves to making errors, the misinformation effect can be eliminated if hypnosis is given together with a suggestion that it will help participants discriminate between correct and incorrect information. The second study showed that a similar posthypnotic suggestion was more effective than a warning alone in reducing or reversing misinformation errors even after participants had committed themselves to reporting such errors. There was no evidence of inflated confidence with hypnosis in either study. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This experiment indexed the impact of hypnotic identity delusion on information processing. During hypnosis, high and low hypnotizable participants received a suggestion to become a same-sex friend (with opposite personality characteristics) and listened to a structured story about two characters with opposite personality characteristics. Importantly, half the participants encoded the story before the delusion suggestion and retrieved it after the suggestion, and half encoded the story after the delusion suggestion and retrieved it after cancellation. The majority of highs, but few lows, passed the suggestion and reported a compelling delusion experience. Of particular interest is that whereas lows' processing of the story was not influenced by the delusion suggestion or the time of encoding and retrieval (they recalled more than highs overall, identified with the story character consistent with their actual identity, and showed no selectivity in recall), highs' processing was influenced both by their delusional experience and the time of encoding and retrieval. Highs who encoded the story after the delusion suggestion identified with the character consistent with their suggested identity and retrieved more information about this character. In discussing these findings we consider the role of encoding vs. retrieval processes, the impact of current conceptions of self on information processing, and the relevance of this work to memory and clinical delusions. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.