Abstract
Several publications with healthcare professionals, such as psychotherapists, have shown a significant difference in personality styles in practitioners using hypnosis compared to those not using hypnosis. To investigate differences in personality styles, dentists were contacted to participate in a personality-inventory [Personality Style and Disorder Inventory (PSDI)] online survey. Dentists using hypnosis (HYP DGZH) (n = 418) were compared to dentists not using hypnosis (NONHYP DENT) (n = 162). Results show that hypnosis-practicing dentists score significantly higher in the intuitive/schizotypal ST personality style (p < 0.001) compared to non-hypnosis-practicing dentists. Female dentists scored significantly higher in intuitive/schizotypal ST and unselfish/self-sacrificing SL in the HYP DGZH sample but only in unselfish/self-sacrificing SL in the NONHYP DENT sample. The percentage of women was similar in both samples (68.2%; 67.3%). Intuitive/schizotypal ST was found to be the predominant personality style of men who are interested in or use hypnosis, metaphorically so-called “homo hypnoticus.” Within the limitations of this cross-sectional non-interventional observational online-questionnaire study, results expand this notion to the so-called “homo hypnoticus dentalis.” However, further research on the subject is needed to investigate and confirm this personality type in other than the German-speaking DACH countries.
Highlights
Since the first documented tooth extraction under hypnosis (Delatour, 1826), there is a considerable amount of literature on the diverse topics of dental hypnosis
This study aimed to compare the personality profiles of dentists using hypnosis (HYP Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zahnärztliche Hypnose (DGZH)) with that of NONHYP DENT to investigate if a personality profile of the so-called metaphorically “homo hypnoticus dentalis” may exist similar to the study by Peter and Böbel (2020) metaphorically speaking
The personality styles of the NONHYP DENT sample (n = 162) consisting of 109 female and 53 male participants were compared in all fourteen styles
Summary
Since the first documented tooth extraction under hypnosis (Delatour, 1826), there is a considerable amount of literature on the diverse topics of dental hypnosis. After almost 200 years, the most recent report of a tooth extraction with hypnosis as the sole anesthesia was described by Cozzolino et al (2020). Similar interventions have been reported repeatedly by Gheorghiu and Orleanu (1982) and Schmierer (1993). Due to the pioneering work of the latter (Schmierer, 1985, 2015), dental hypnosis received a growing reputation in the German-speaking DACH countries, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, both in practical application (Mehrstedt and Wikström, 1997) and increasingly in scientific research. Outside the narrower circle of hypnosis journals, the topics of dental hypnosis were published
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