Hypnotic Relationship Research Articles

When Spirits Become Therapists: Ethnopsychology and Hypnotherapy in Brazil

The present work seeks to demonstrate through a case study that hypnotherapy, under ethnopsychological inspiration, can combine spiritual manifestations in a person’s therapeutic process. This work highlights, on the one hand, the influence of spiritual beings as part of a larger collective machinery that must be acknowledged in their own references as a working condition. This text proposes a way of understanding the meaning of these beings from the ecology of their machinery, in order to oppose a reductionist and colonialist perspective that translates them into distant categories from their universes, such as imagination, hallucination, brain damage, or defense mechanism. On the other hand, a rereading of hypnotherapy is proposed through its principles of acceptance and utilization, emphasizing the importance of modes of the relationship as therapeutic resources. Using some concepts from semiotics, focus is set on the construction of the relationship between the protagonists in the hypnotic relationship and on their condition as signs of collective universes. Next, there is emphasis on the construction of certain roles, such as prophet-witness, master-disciple, and doctor-patient, and the ways these can be fundamental to establishing a therapeutic contract with a person and accessing their world. The article is concluded by confirming that acceptance must encompass individual and collective knowledges and that the use of hypnotherapy, far from a mechanical and repetitive process, should contemplate the person in holistic terms.

Possible Mechanisms of Hypnosis from an Interactional Perspective.

In this paper, utilizing the interactional research paradigm developed by Éva Bányai, we discuss the hypnotic relationship from the viewpoint of interactional synchrony. Based on our three decades of empirical studies of an interactional paradigm, we propose the analogy between hypnosis and mother–child interaction. Hypnosis is considered as a potential corrective/reparative possibility when the real childhood experiences appear to be unfavourable. Possible neuroanatomical and neurochemical mechanisms are also suggested in the right hemispheric orbitofrontal cortex and central oxytocin system.

Don Draper Thinks Your Ad Is Cliché: Fairy Tale Iconography in TV Commercials

When examining the history of fairy tale iconography in advertising, folklore scholar Donald Haase’s fairy tale encyclopedia compared the Pied Piper of Hamelin to a symbol of advertising who could “play his pipe ever so sweetly and the consumers following him without resisting his charming and manipulative music.” In contrast, a 2012 episode of Mad Men, advertising luminary Don Draper shoots down a shoe commercial pitch featuring Cinderella, calling the idea “cliché”. The temptation for advertisers to rely on fairy tale figures and iconography continues today and many ignore Don’s aversion for cliché because it still gets the job done. However, there are some ads featuring fairy tales which avoid cliché and are truly innovative for their time. I’ll examine how, and for whom, these fairy tale figures have been adapted decade by decade in order to examine popular culture’s commercialized and hypnotic relationship with fairy tales in the most direct format available: television commercials.

Hypnotic Dreams as a Lens Into Hypnotic Dynamics

The hypnotic relationship is an important parameter for both experimental and therapeutic contexts. Hypnotic dreams may serve as a lens to examine the hypnotic relationship. By answering 5 questions per item, 70 judges rated 12 accounts of brief hypnotic dreams conducted as part of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. The data show that the judges were able to correctly discern highly from less hypnotizable individuals. Interestingly, highly hypnotizable females coached by a male hypnotic operator had more sexually charged dreams than either less hypnotizable females or males regardless of hypnotizability. These findings contextualize for further research and therapy transference issues related to the hypnotic relationship and the use of hypnotic dreams.

The Special Effects of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: A Contribution to an Ecological Model of Therapeutic Change

There is ample evidence that hypnosis enhances the effectiveness of psychotherapy and produces some astounding effects of its own. In this paper, the effective components and principles of hypnosis and hypnotherapy are analyzed. The “special” hypnotic and hypnotherapeutic effects are linked to the fact that the ecological requirements of therapeutic change are taken into account implicitly and/or explicitly when working with hypnotic trances in a therapeutic setting. The hypnotic situation is described—theoretically and in case examples—as a therapeutic modality that gratifies and aligns the basic emotional needs to feel autonomous, related, competent, and oriented. It is shown how the hypnotic relationship can help promote a sound ecological balance between these needs—a balance that is deemed to be a necessary prerequisite for salutogenesis. Practical implications for planning hypnotherapeutic interventions are discussed.

A new way of characterizing hypnotic interactions: Dyadic Interactional Harmony (DIH) questionnaire

Aims: The validation of a new paper and pencil test (called Dyadic Interactional Harmony (DIH) questionnaire). Method: Data of two samples of standardized experimental hypnosis sessions (E1 and E2) are presented. In E1, 232 subjects (Ss) have been hypnotized using the standard protocol of SHSS:A; in E2, 110 Ss participated in group sessions of WSGC. Various well established measures of hypnosis (e.g. hypnotic susceptibility, AIM, PCI,) served as validating criteria for the 4 subscales of DIH: 1 Intimacy; 2 Communion; 3 Playfulness; 4 Tension. Conclusions: The DIH subscales measured the way participants emotionally evaluated their session and the hypnotic relationship with Intimacy having the highest explanatory value. The hypnotizability of the Ss only moderately correlated with DIH subscales. Some characteristic differences were found regarding the pattern of relationship between the DIH subscales and the state effects of hypnosis between the hypnotists (Hs) and Ss. The values of DIH are closest to that of the AIM Archaic Involvement measure (especially in cases of Hs), but seems to be independent from most of the phenomenological aspects of the hypnotic trance (especially in cases of Ss). The DIH is a promising measure with which to tap the interactional aspects of hypnotic relationship. Copyright © 2006 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Preliminary Phenomenological Study of Being Hypnotized and Hypnotizing

This paper presents phenomenological research conducted following Woodard's phenomenological and perceptual research methodology for understanding hypnotic experiencing. The research emphasizes examining the internal experiencings of individuals involved in hypnotic experiencing. Examples are presented of Individual Situated Structures and the General Structures from both a group of 8 participants who hypnotized their clients and another group of 17 individuals who volunteered to be hypnotized. The explicated themes identified in hypnotic experiencing (the hypnotic relationship, phenomenology of trance, use of imagination, problem with psychic energy, a gestalt of experiencing, and linear-nonlinear experiencing) are discussed. The author discusses limitations of this study and suggestions for further work.

Playful Metaphors

The inner world of the child is a community of archetypes potentially available for the child's healthy ego development. Many forces limit and prohibit their utility. Play therapy in the context of a hypnotic relationship can potentiate these archetypes into becoming “playful metaphors” for healing and strengthening ego development. In this article, the author describes her use of playful metaphors in her therapeutic work with two children and explores how metaphor in play therapy is able to connect the child with healing archetypal imagery.

Spinning Straw into Gold: Utilization of Transferential Resources to Strengthen the Hypnotic Relationship

This paper examines the therapeutic utilization of various transference reactions to strengthen the interpersonal relationship between hypnotherapist and patient. Both positive and negative transference reactions will be explored, including idealizations, fear reactions, exaggerated dependency needs, and wishes for magical cures from the hypnotist. Case examples are presented to demonstrate specific utilization techniques that can be employed with and without formal uses of hypnosis.

Power in the hypnotic relationship: therapeutic or abusive?

The unique relationship between hypnotist and subject has been theorized as one explanation for the effectiveness of hypnosis. This relationship carries a power differential, present in most therapeutic relationships, but accentuated by hypnosis. The power differential is sometimes perceived as the ability of the hypnotist to control the subject. Perceptions of hypnosis offered by stage hypnotists, the popular media, and some clinicians perpetuate the notion that the hypnotist has the ability to exert undue influence upon the client. The present article examines the relationship between hypnotist and subject focusing on issues of power and control. The authors examine the unique dynamics accompanying the use of hypnosis and their impact on the therapeutic dyad. Evidence is offered demonstrating the power differential, and how this differential can serve as either a positive or negative agent of change. Therapists should be aware of the dynamics created by using hypnosis. Implications for training therapists in the use of hypnosis are suggested.

Therapist sexual feelings in hypnotherapy: Managing therapeutic boundaries in hypnotic work

This article elaborates ways that using hypnosis may create special vulnerability for the clinician, not only to experiencing sexual feelings toward patients but also to becoming confused about the meaning of these feelings and their relevance to treatment, as well as about the maintenance of appropriate patient-clinician boundaries. Special qualities of the hypnotic experience and relationship likely to generate erotic feelings and impulses in patients and clinicians alike are addressed. A clinical case example illustrates many possible meanings of therapist sexual feelings and the impulses to avoidance or acting out they may provoke. Clinically appropriate and inappropriate ways of managing boundaries in the presence of sexual arousal and of using sexual feelings to deepen clinical understanding and direct treatment interventions are discussed.

Conditional reflexes as related to hypnosis and hypnotic techniques.

Hypnosis has never been adequately explained in terms of conceptual framework of most schools of psychotherapy. The psychoanalytic concept that it consists of submission and surrender of important ego functions to the therapist does not explain all observed facts. During my wartime studies and since, I have been impressed by the observation that the patient's ego is by no means powerless and defenseless, even during a deep state of trance, i.e., in states of trance sufficiently deep to eliminate awareness of painful body injuries (1965). Erickson (1954) has shown on many occasions that in resistant subjects one of the best ways to induce trance is to encourage the patient to resist as much as he can. Haley (1963) has pointed out in detail that at the beginning of any hypnotic relationship there evolves a subtle battle for "one-upmanship." These observations certainly show that surrender in the psychological sense is by no means an aspect of even the most successfully induced trance states.

The Hypnotic Relationship and the Holographic Paradigm

The holographic paradigm is a recently constructed model of consciousness derived from neuropsychology and quantum physics. It views the processing of mental forms as occurring within the context of a part/whole relationship, where the identified part exists within the code of the whole. In this paper I have applied this paradigm to the hypnotic relationship, viewing the hypnotic process as an undulation of form and transitional states and proposing the holographic paradigm as a cutting edge to understand the curative processes in hypnosis.

Hypnotic Hypermnesia and Forensic Hypnosis: A Cross-Examination

Abstract Early enthusiasm for the hypnotic enhancement of memories of witnesses has faded since publication of a number of experimental studies which cast doubt on its efficacy and reported also that pseudo-memories could be confabulated under hypnosis. This has caused some investigators to assert that hypnosis should never be used to enhance the memories of eyewitnesses testifying in court. Many of these studies are themselves subject to errors in sampling, biases, and ignoring of the “hypnotic relationship” effect. It is premature to recommend complete elimination of hypnotic hypermnesia in court situations, and several recent Supreme Court decisions seem to agree. Results of some previously unpublished studies are reported, plus suggestions for improving research approaches to studies of hypnotic memory enhancement.

The hypnotic relationship: an investigation of compliance and resistance.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the ability of hypnotic Ss to voluntarily resist a neutral suggestion when a monetary reward is offered for resistance. 19 of 40 Ss (47.5%) successfully resisted after money was offered by the "resistance instructor." The correlation between resistance/compliance and hypnotizability was -.44 (high hypnotizables were more likely to comply). Ss' impressions of the hypnotist tended to be positive; impressions of the resistance instructor tended to be neutral. There was a tendency for nonresistors to have a more positive view of the hypnotist but it is not as marked as was found in an earlier study (Levitt & Baker, 1983).

It takes two to tango: some thoughts on the neglected importance of the hypnotist in an interactive hypnotherapeutic relationship.

Abstract Hypnotists can vary in their ability to produce meaningful trance experiences. Certain hypnotists produce more meaningful trance experiences than do others. Therapeutic hypnosis is regarded as a “dual phenomenon” occurring within an intense interpersonal relationship. This interactive dimension is important as is the unique contribution made by the hypnotist. A brief historical survey demonstrates the causal attribution of hypnotic effects. The theoretical literature on the reciprocal nature of hypnotic experience emphasizes the importance of the interpersonal functions of hypnosis, the hypnotic relationship per se, and the impact of the hypnotist. Recent research investigating interactional parameters supports these conclusions and suggests future empirical directions. Finally, an emergent interactional theoretical framework is presented which views hypnotherapeutic skill primarily as a function of the hypnotherapeutic ability to create a facilitating “holding” environment for the patient's inte...

Hypnosis: depth or width?

Recent research (2, 3) has- emphasized the usefulness of an interactional approach to hypnosis. When hypnosis is understood from this point of view, it becomes clear that some of the traditional concepts and some of the terms used to describe these concepn need to be revised. One of these is the idea of the of hypnosis, which is merely a concept and not an ultimate reality (5). The idea of a depth dimension of hypnosis originares from the psychoanalytic view of the unconscious. Here the conception is that, as hypnosis progresses, the subject goes deeper into his unconscious mind. This conceptualization does not have any meaning within the interactional explanation of hypnosis. Even when hypnosis is approached traditionally, researchers find it necessary to attach various behavioural, that is, observable, indices to the different proposed levels of depth. Messages (verbal and npn-verbal behaviour) from the subject are used to infer certain levels of depth. For instance, glove anaesthesia is chought to be an indication of a medium trance depth (1). The interactional view sees these same messages as statements about the hypnotistsubject relationship (4). As such they form part of the negotiation for the definition of the relationship that goes on between hypnotist and subject (3). As the relationship progressively becomes defined as hypnotic by the hypnotist, the subject's responsive behaviour increasingly confirms this definition, indicating increasing acceptance of the hypnotic relationship. In this way the nature of the relationship is mutually defined. The murual acceptance of the narure of the relationship involves a tacit agreement as to which behaviours (hypnotic phenomena) could occur within the bounds of the relationship. The wider these bounds, the more phenomena could be exhibited by the subject in that particular hypnotic relationship. From this perspective it becomes more appropriate to talk about the width of the hypnotic rellrtionrhip rather than the depth of hypnosis. The concept of the width of the hypnotic relationship represents a theoretical shift from an intrapsychic viewpoint to an understanding of hypnosis as an interaaional phenomenon.

Object relations theory and family systems: Toward a reconceptualization of the hypnotic relationship.

Object relations theory and family systems: Toward a reconceptualization of the hypnotic relationship.

Sensory hypnotherapy and regression during psychological stress

The contemporary utilization of hypnotherapy takes into account a now recognized facility with which hypnotic states may be elucidated through the management of transference phenomena and that within the hypnotic relationship, direct as well as indirect intervention with basic response mechanisms in patient behavior is possible. The regressive nature of the hypnotic transference, when properly recognized, permits the incorporation of hypnosis into psychotherapy with a degree of directiveness and patient participation frequently characterized by increased feelings of self-mastery as the patient develops the ability to encounter heretofore difficult and dissonant aspects of the self. Hypnosis can make a significant contribution to the ability to intensify affect, the reorganization of ideational processes, and the integration of both cognitive functioning and emotional responsiveness in a manner consistent with general therapeutic objectives. Moreover, hypnotherapy is capable of integration within a variety of therapeutic approaches.

Freud and hypnosis: a reevaluation.

Abstract Freud's attitude and prepsychoanalytic experience with hypnosis has been the subject of both historical and clinical significance. The therapeutic and scientific position of hypnosis in the early part of the 20th century has, to a great degree, been influenced by psychoanalytic considerations. The role of Freud in this connection has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted. This paper reveals Freud's early thinking in relation to hypnosis in the light of more recently available publications. Freud worked intensively with hypnosis in the prepsychoanalytic period and clearly developed considerable skill and understanding of the nature of hypnosis and the dynamics of the hypnotic relationship. His eventual abandonment of hypnosis has previously been examined in relation to transference and countertransference issues, and in this paper additional focus is placed upon the problems of the limitations of a psychotherapy of simplistic suggestion and the need to separate suggestion and hypnosis as psy...