Hypnotic Session Research Articles

Effects of hand catalepsy on subjective trance perception and relative parasympathetic tone in healthy volunteers during pleasant hypnotic session: a randomized controlled study.

This study was designed to evaluate the effects on hand catalepsy on parasympathetic tone assessed using Analgesia/Nociception Index (ANI) and on subjective rating of absorption, dissociation, and time perception among healthy volunteers. This was a randomized controlled trial including participants to a medical hypnosis congress in France. Ninety volunteers were randomized in two arms, all receiving a fifteen-minute positive hypnotic trance, with or without hand catalepsy. The relative parasympathetic tone assessed by ANI (Analgesia/Nociception Index), heart rate and respiratory rate were recorded at different times of the study protocol. The actual duration of the hypnotic session, calculated from eye closing to eye opening, was also recorded. At the end of the hypnotic trance, participants subjectively rated their level of absorption and dissociation on a 0-10 scale. They were also asked to estimate the duration of the hypnotic session from eye closing to eye opening. In total, ninety subjects were included in the study. One subject was excluded because of deviation in the protocol standard, leaving eighty-nine subjects for analysis. Subject characteristics were similar between groups. There was a statistically different increase in ANI and decrease in both heart rate and respiratory rate over time with no difference with or without hand catalepsy. There was no statistically significant difference in absorption and dissociation subjective scales between groups. The median [Q1-Q3] actual duration of hypnotic sessions was similar between the catalepsy and the control groups (9 [8-10] min vs. 8 [7-10] min, respectively). However, subjects in the catalepsy group estimated a longer duration of the hypnotic session (12 [10-15] min) than in the control group (10 [5-10] min) with a mean ± SD overestimation of 3 ± 4min (p < 0.001). Parasympathetic comfort increased during the hypnotic trance with no difference between groups. However, adding hand catalepsy to a pleasant hypnotic trance did not appear to increase feelings of absorption or dissociation but created time distortion on the longer side that could be useful in some clinical settings. Nevertheless, further study is still needed to determine more precisely the physiological and psychological effects on hand catalepsy during the hypnotic trance.

Pathological Sexual Stereotype Caused by Masturbation Using Porn Videos with Participation of Transsexuals/Transvestites

Male patient K, 21, had been living for 1 year with his 22-year-old girl. He sought our medical advice on October 8, 2021. He presented complaints about a periodical appearance of a desire to masturbate using porn with participation of transsexuals/transvestites (“non-normative masturbation”). The rate of development of such a desire depended upon the length of the period when he did not have sex with his girl as well as was associated with the state of his health: if he felt well he wanted to have sex with her; but when he was depressed, underconfident and jaded he developed a desire to make non-normative masturbation. He used the following porn plots: a “girl” with a penis or strapon made sex with a man, disguised as a woman, whom she inserted her penis or strapon into his rectum. And it was that girl who excited him. He did not have any sexual intercourses with transsexuals/transvestites in real life. He made the point that everything in having sex with his girl was normal, but an active enquiry managed to reveal that his sexual excitement and orgasm were more expressed in masturbation with use of the above porn rather than in sexual life with the girl. Four times (3–4 months before) that girl put on a strapon, inserted it into the patient’s rectum, but he disliked it (no pleasant sensations were felt) and gave up that practice. Non-normative masturbation began from the age of 14–15, but was not constant. When in February of 2020 the patient’s father died, his condition became grave and he intensively made non-normative masturbation. Then twice he masturbated directly via videolink looking at a man with his naked penis, who looked like a woman, and told his girl about it (he did not know why). Her reaction to it was stormy and she became jealous of him that brought her to a psychologist and later to a psychotherapist. Later during masturbation he resorted to the above porn plots. At the time of referral his sexual activity with his girl was once a week, since she did not want to live sexual life as often as he did (both because she worked much and because of the jealousy she developed). Our investigations made it possible to conclude that the patient’s long-term masturbation using non-normative porn video plots with involvement of transsexuals/transvestites resulted in formation of his pathological sexual stereotype, which manifested with decreased sexual excitement and weakening of orgasm in heterosexual intercourses. Also the patient developed a drive to the above non-normative masturbation. The following treatment was provided: a talk directed at explanation of causes of his disorder; a ban was imposed on making masturbation, including non-normative one; 10 sessions of hypnosuggestive therapy, which played a key role in therapy. During hypnotic sessions we made suggestions directed at (1) getting rid of the desire to masturbate and the drives to masturbation, which also included use of transsexual/transvestite porn plots; (2) increasing of sexual desire to women in general and his sexual partner in particular; (3) programming of the normal course of coitus with his girl. We also used suggestion, which programmed good mood. The treatment, which lasted 1 month, resulted in recovery: the desire to masturbate using the above non-normative porn video plots absolutely disappeared, the expression of sexual excitement and orgasm in sexual life with his girl achieved maximum. The patient characterized that sex as “roarsome”.

Hypnosuggestion in Correction of Homosexual Desire: a Case from Clinical Practice

Male patient M., 17, a student of the 11th form, consulted on his mother’s request. He felt sex drive mainly to males. If conventionally generalized sexual desire can be accepted as 100%, the proportion of his homosexual and heterosexual components was 75% to 25%. At that time he masturbated using homosexual (in 90% of cases) and heterosexual (in 10% of cases) fantasies (he imagined sexual intercourses). During all his previous life he had had 3 heterosexual and 3 homosexual intercourses. At the time of his first consultation the patient regarded homosexuality and bisexuality as the norm, but under influence of his parents and having comprehended possible negative consequences of homosexuality (absence of his own family and children in the future, his position in his parents’ family) he changed his opinion and agreed for correction of homosexuality. The state of that young man at the moment of his visit to us could be assessed as mostly homosexuality, but with inclusion of the heterosexual component. The provided correction included: (1) cognitive influences targeted at strengthening of the patient’s opinion that it is normal to be heterosexual, the latter making it possible to start a family, have children as well as be fully adapted in the society; (2) formation of the normal sexual behavioural stereotype: we recommended the patient to use only heterosexual fantasies during masturbation, while homosexual fantasizing was absolutely prohibited; (3) carrying out of 9 sessions of hypnosuggestive therapy, which was regarded as the basic corrective technique (the contexture of hypnotic sessions was supplemented with the cognitive and behavioural components). Analysing the dynamics of subsidence of the homosexual component of libido in the patient, we can state that the occurrence of obvious positive shifts was strikingly rapid, much more rapidly than expected. For example, as early as after the first hypnotic session the proportion of the heterosexual and homosexual components of libido was, respectively, 60% to 40%, while at the time of his first visit, as we have already mentioned, it was 25% to 75%. After the second session of hypnosis the above proportion already approximated 95% to 5%, and after the third hypnotic session the homosexual drive was completely neutralized. Nevertheless hypnotic sessions were continued with a gradual reduction of their frequency. They were carried out in order to fix the achieved results and exclude any possible recurrences. An interview with the patient 1.5 months after the end of therapy confirmed sustainability of the obtained results.

Formation and Development of the Iconography of the Mesmeric Seance in the Second Half of the 18th — Late 19th Centuries

Analyzing the evolution of the iconography of such a phenomenon as mesmerism in the second half of the 18th — mid-19th centuries, the author shows that the scenario of modern hypnotic representation and its gestures were established by mesmerists in the second half of the 18th century, followers of the parascientific theory that caused discussions and intrigued doctors and artists for centuries. Analyzing the development of the iconography of mesmeric seance, the author identifies two waves of popularity of this subject: the first wave in the 70–80s of the 18th century and the second wave during the first decade of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Such a duration is due to the fascination with the supernatural and inexplicable, reflected in various styles and trends. In this article, the author tries to show how the development of the iconography of the mesmeric seance provoked the appearance of the hypnotist or magician trickster, who became integrated into popular culture that later began to mark the majority of hypnotic actions, spiritualistic sessions or miracle shows. The author also illustrates how the image of a “controller” in the face of a man formed and confirmed the paradigm of a powerless, mysterious and controlled woman. As a result, it is concluded that hypnosis and mesmerism became common theatrical spectacles in the 20th century, cultivating the power of men (patriarchal society) over an exhausted woman, which is reflected in the works of Georges Méliès, Alfred Hitchcock, and even in the comic book Wonder woman.

HYPNOSTYLISTIC PATTERNS OF SUGGESTION IN HYPNOTIC DISCOURSE

Summary.The article investigates hypnotic discourse, i.e. the result of communication in a situation of hypnotherapeutic influence together with all (tangible and intangible) constituents of the communicative situation. When applying hypnosis, the hypnotherapist uses hypnotic speech, which is characterized by specific hypnostylistic patterns. The purpose of this article is to outline the linguistic features of the functioning of hypnostylistic suggestions in Chinese hypnotic discourse. The object of the study is hypnotic discourse in Chinese, and the subject is the mechanisms of hypnotic communicative act in Chinese. The materialis transcripts of speech recordings of hypnotherapists during hypnotic sessions in Chinese with a total volume of 50 hours. The following methods were used in the study: general scientific methods (induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, quantitative, etc.) to derive scientifically sound inferences; general linguistic methods (discourse analysis) for the analysis of the lingual components of hypnotic discourse; the author 's technique of hypnostylistic analysis is used to single out lingual patterns of hypnotic impact and suggestion. The main results of the study. A frequent group of linguistic patterns that lead to a change in beliefs are those that are based on changing the size of the perception frame. These include: decrease and increase (213 cases of decrease and 338 cases of increase were registered), scaling (used 130 times) and metaframe (used 73 times). Also, one of the groups of suggestions that lead to a change of beliefs are those that are axiological in nature, they include: self-application (used 104 times), reality strategy (used 240 times), hierarchy of criteria (used 189 times), and counterexample (used 357 times).The use of the analyzed suggestions during the hypnotic effect of a hypnotherapy session makes it possible to deepen the trance and, accordingly, to effectively correct the restrictive beliefs. Prospects for further research are seen in the comprehensive study of the linguistic mechanisms of hypnotic effects on the recipient on the material of Chinese and English.

Using hypnoanalysis and guided imagery to identify and manage emotional aspects of multiple sclerosis

BackgroundTo date, no studies have used hypnosis to examine and manage the potential emotional causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the scientific field; therefore, we decided to compare the effectiveness of hypnoanalysis and guided imagery for determining and manage these emotional causes. MethodsFifteen participants with severe MS were included and assigned into 2 groups: hypnoanalysis and guided imagery. In the hypnoanalysis group, the participants underwent 10 hypnotic sessions to understand events related to the cause of the disease, which were restructured (the events were modified by adding the psychological resources that each involved person needed); in addition, other techniques were used to investigate the causes and solutions according to the participants’ unconscious. The guided imagery group received 10 group sessions of body relaxation and guided imagery, which were recorded for practice at home. Outcome measures, namely, disability (the Expanded Disability Status Scale, EDSS), quality of life (QoL, measured with the SF-36) and number of relapses, were evaluated 4 months previous the intervention, at baseline, post-intervention, and 3 months later. ResultsHypnoanalysis revealed that stressful events and psychoemotional maladaptive patterns acted as causal, detonating, or aggravating factors of disease, and psychoemotional changes were the most frequent and varied solutions. No changes were observed in disability between the two groups. The guided imagery group showed an improvement in 2 subscales of QoL when compared with the hypnoanalysis group (which disappeared at the follow-up); this difference is probably due to the increased number of sessions and probably due to psychoemotional maladaptive patterns being more frequently mentioned than difficult circumstances in life and/or unsolved past events. However, the techniques used in hypnoanalysis were effective in understanding the potential emotional causes of MS, which showed high intra- and inter-participant consistency. ConclusionsThe daily use of guided imagery overcame the restructuring of negative past events to improve QoL in patients with MS. Trial registrationACTRN12618002024224 (retrospectively registered)

THE USE OF HYPNOSTYLISTIC PATTERNS OF THE LEXICAL LEVEL FOR INDUCTION AND DEEPENING OF HYPNOTIC TRANCE IN THE CHINESE HYPNOTIC DISCOURSE

The purpose of this study is to present the main linguistic patterns of Chinese hypnotic communication, as well as highlight the main lingual features of trance induction in Chinese hypnotic discourse. The object of the research is hypnotic discourse in the Chinese language, and the subject is the mechanisms of conducting a hypnotic communicative act in the Chinese language. The material was the recording of the speech of the hypnotherapist during hypnotic sessions in the Chinese language with a total volume of about 100 hours. The article determined that hypnosis is a state of consciousness that includes focusing attention and decrease in the degree of peripheral consciousness, characterized by increase in the ability to respond to suggestion, namely: 1) decrease in the degree of alertness and psychomotor activity of a person, which resembles a dream; 2) cooperation with a person who is called a client, with a person called a therapist or operator; 3) increase of the possibility of successful induction of the suggestion. The main physiological symptoms of a hypnotic state were noted both in relation to external manifestations, for example, immobility, closing of the eyes, relaxing muscles, changing the nature of breathing, slowing down the swallowing of saliva, automatic twitching, having an ideomotor character, and the like; and in the aspect of physiological changes in the activity of the cerebral cortex, namely, the intensification of the activity of the parts of the cerebral cortex responsible for processing visual images, sounds, kinesthetic feelings and a frequennt phenomenon in which they are activated simultaneously, which is called synesthesia. The course of a typical hypnotherapy session was considered, which includes the following components: guidance, suggestion and termination. It also examined the hypnostylistic patterns used by the hypnotherapist to induce a hypnotic trance state in a client. It was proposed to designate the branch of linguistics that studies the lingual features of hypnotic speech using the term hypnostylistics, and the process of identifying patterns of hypnotic speech using the term hypnostylistic analysis. Hypnostylistic patterns of the lexical level were identified.

Effect of circle therapy on breast cancer pain management

Objectives &amp; Background: Recent studies have shown that alternative non pharmacological approaches have significant effect on pain management. Hypnosis has also been seen effective in pain management including cancer pain. The current study was conducted to assess the effect of novel hypnotic approach, called ‘circle therapy’ on pain due to breast cancer. Methodology: For this study, 60 females suffering from stage 2 breast cancer, undergoing through chemotherapy, were selected by using purposive sampling technique. An intervention plan for breast cancer patients was developed using a hypnosis technique, the ‘circle therapy’. Subjective pain rating scale was used for the pre and post assessment of the pain.Results: Repeated measure ANOVA showed a significant effect of ‘circle therapy’ on pain caused by breast cancer (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion: On the basis of this current research, it is concluded that hypnosis has significant effect on pain reduction due to breast cancer. This effect is for short duration; however, this positive effect may be prolonged by increasing the number of hypnotic sessions.

Assessment of a short hypnosis in a paediatric operating room in reducing postoperative pain and anxiety: A randomised study.

To assess the impact of a short hypnotic session on postoperative anxiety and pain in major orthopaedic surgery. Despite specific information given before a scheduled paediatric surgery, perioperative anxiety can become important. Randomised Clinical Study. The study is an open single-centre randomised clinical study comparing a "control" group versus a "hypnosis" group receiving a short hypnosis pre-induction session as additional experimental analgesic procedure. The primary endpoint was the postoperative anxiety, blindly assessed using a visual analogue scale. The study involved 120 children (age 10-18years). The results showed no difference between control group versus hypnosis group. Twenty-four hours after surgery (Day+1), the patient's anxiety score was not different between control and hypnosis groups (median [Q1-Q3]: 1 [0; 3] vs. 0 [0; 3], respectively, p=.17). Each group experienced a significant decrease in anxiety level between the day before surgery (Day-1) and the day after surgery (Day+1) (median ([Q1-Q3]) difference of the anxiety score: 2 [4; 0] and 2 [4; 0], respectively, p<.0001 in each group). The postoperative pain scores were low and not different between groups (median [Q1-Q3]: 2 [0; 3] in control group vs. 3 [1; 3] in hypnosis group, p=.57). This randomised study on a short hypnosis session performed in the operating room prior to a major surgery showed no difference in postoperative anxiety and pain levels. The decrease in anxiety and pain levels may be due to the addition of nurse pre-operative interviews and optimisation in communication in the operating room. As postoperative anxiety level was low in both control and hypnosis groups, nurse pre-operative interviews and nurse training in hypnosis may contribute to the optimisation of global management and decrease the postoperative anxiety level.

Impact of a preoperative conversational hypnotic session on propofol consumption using closed-loop anesthetic induction guided by the bispectral index: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective:The automated administration of propofol in a closed loop could be used to objectively evaluate the nonpharmacological anesthetic action of hypnotherapy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a conversational hypnosis session on the consumption of propofol for anesthetic induction.Design:A randomized, usual care-controlled, single-center, patient-blind trial.Setting:Tertiary care center in France from November 2012 to December 2013.Participants:Adult patients scheduled for a surgical procedure under general anesthesia.Interventions:Before surgery, patients were randomized with a computer-generated random list for a preoperative conversational hypnosis session or for usual care. The conversational hypnosis session was conducted and individualized by the therapist with an academic degree in hypnosis in a quiet environment. Anesthetic induction was automatically performed by propofol without opioids and was assisted by the bispectral index in a closed loop.Outcome:Primary endpoint was the propofol dose required for anesthesia induction, defined as a Bispectral index less than 60 for at least 30 seconds.Results:The study included 48 patients in the hypnosis group and 49 patients in the control group. No difference in propofol consumption to obtain anesthesia induction was observed between the groups (total dose: 138.6 [67.5] and 130 [47.9] mg, P = .47; adjusted dose: 2.15 [1.09] and 1.95 [0.66] mg/kg, P = .28, for the hypnosis and control groups, respectively). Hetero-evaluation of arm movement during propofol injection (no reaction: 98% and 74%; P = .004, in the hypnosis and control groups, respectively) and face reaction at venous access placement (no reaction 59% and 30%; P = .017, in the hypnosis and control groups, respectively) were lower in the hypnosis group. No adverse event was reported.Conclusions:No difference in propofol consumption was observed in this study designed to evaluate the effect of a hypnotic conversational session on anesthesia induction using an automated tool for propofol administration.

Tumeurs desmoïdes dans le cadre d’une polypose adénomateuse familiale chez une adolescente

Desmoid tumors (DT) are rare and nonmetastasizing fibroblastic neoplasms, characterized by local invasiveness. They occur sporadically or arise in the context of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP; 5-10% of cases). Most cases develop sporadically in young adults, but some cases also occur in children. We report the case of an adolescent girl with FAP and DT, and we discuss the therapeutic strategies. An adolescent girl with FAP underwent surgery at the age of 14years with total proctocolectomy. She had a neo-mutation in the APC gene at codon 1068, which is not usually associated with DT. Three years later, she had painful defecations. Imaging showed two abdominal DT. After a multidisciplinary team meeting, the patient was refused for surgery, and medical treatment with antihormonal agents and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was started. Imaging 18months later showed DT stabilization, but the patient had difficulties to control chronic pains, which required morphine treatment, hypnotic sessions, and transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation. This case highlights the importance of DT screening in patients with FAP, mainly after surgery, regardless of their age and genetic mutation. Progress remains to be made in determining DT risk factors and in developing treatment. DT are still difficult to cure because of their potential for local invasion and local recurrence, and need to be managed by a multidisciplinary team.

What Can a Hypnotic Induction Do?

In contrast to how recent definitions of hypnosis describe the induction, a work-sample perspective is advocated that characterizes the induction as an initial, stage-setting phase encompassing everything in a hypnotic session up to the first hypnotic suggestion of particular relevance to the therapeutic or research goals at hand. Four major ways are then discussed in which the induction could affect subsequent hypnotic responses: It may provide information about how subsequent behaviors are to be enacted; it may provide cues about the nature of the interpersonal interaction to be expected in hypnosis; it may provide meta-suggestions, defined as suggestive statements intended to enhance responses to subsequent hypnotic suggestions; and it may provide a clear transition to help allow new behaviors and experiences to emerge. Several ideas for future research are advanced, such as mapping hypnosis style onto the interpersonal circumplex, evaluating whether attentional-state changes measured at the end of the induction actually mediate subsequent hypnotic responsiveness, and systematically examining the impact of ritual-like aspects of inductions.

Diana’s Diary. A Case-Study of Hypnotherapy

This case-study accounts on a 25 year’s old woman’s serious suffering and recovery due to successful hypnotherapy conducted by the author. Diana, the patient was a salesgirl in a little store. She was inflicted numerous stab-wounds with culpable homicide, and her life depended on few seconds only. After having had a chest surgery she was gradually becoming anxious while reliving her trauma again and again, and she became ill suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and she had to take antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs. Her Jungian type of psychotherapy including hypnotic sessions with Guiding Spirit Method divided into two periods. In the course of the first period longing for a year she was relieving from anxious attacks and intrusive traumatic images as characterized by PTSD, and she has become balanced mentally. Although, she had been quite well after the first period of therapy, a new serious problem came to light since she aborted twice, and she was unable to be pregnant again. Then, the second period of therapy started for her request, and ended when she became pregnant again, and she had a newborn baby, later. This study is divided into two parts. In the first part the patient will be the leading character, whose subjective report serves as a basis of the case-study. In doing so an intimacy of the report is felt as it is told in Diana’s voice written in her diary. The therapist’s interpretation upon the therapeutic process can be read in the second part. The patient made reports based on her own experiences and gave her written consent for publication. The client’s name mentioned in this paper is fictional and non-identifiable.

Education and Hypnosis for Treatment of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (FGIDs) in Pediatrics

FGIDs in children and adolescents (ROME III classification) have a significant impact on the daily functioning and quality of life. Often it is the pain that is one of the main contributors to the burden of functional dyspepsia, functional abdominal pain (syndrome), and irritable bowel syndrome. Current knowledge confirms that a number of integrated networks at cortical and subcortical sites are responsible for the experience of pain. From the work of Mayer and Tillisch (2011), mainly based on structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, it has become clear that abdominal pain syndromes are disorders of the bi-directional mind–brain–gut interactions. In this multi-factorial bio-psycho-social model we recognize the importance of neurobiological processes in the mind–brain–gut interactions, leading to alterations in motility, sensation, and immune functions. Medical treatment often offers little or no relief. Until now pharmaceutical research has not succeeded in developing safe new drugs with an effect on the brain–gut axis. More recent published research shows the rationale for the use of medical hypnosis in FGID. In this article the author will illustrate her specific approach in a pediatric gastroenterology clinic with children and adolescents with FGIDs. Being a pediatric gastroenterologist, the author emphasizes the importance of a clear diagnosis, explains the rationale for educating the patient and his or her parents on the multi-factorial bio-psycho-social model and the concepts of chronic pain, discusses the specific settings and pitfalls for hypnosis treatment in children, and last but not least, provides some examples of hypnotic sessions used with FGIDs.

Synchronized Action of Breathing and Diaphragm by Hypnosis Assisted Abdominal Weightlifting Exercises and Ego Strengthening for the Treatment of Stuttering “Kaya Method”

This is a continuing study for the efficacy of the combined effect of hypnosis and diaphragmatic exercises in the management of stuttering. This study included 74adults with speech fluency disorder and a control group consisting of 74 participants. The people who stutter (PWS) were highly educated and the control group was selected from university students. The training program focused on strengthening respiratory muscles and improving diaphragmatic movements by instructing PWS to practice abdominal weightlifting. The purpose of the hypnotherapy component was to alleviate anxiety, boost self-confidence and increase motivation for abdominal weightlifting training. The hypnotherapy consisted of eight sessions spread over eight days and each session lasted approximately 60 to 90minutes in duration. After each hypnotic session, the patient was instructed to practice abdominal weightlifting for two hours at home. The abdominal weightlifting exercises involved lifting a dumbbell (2.0–4.0kg) by abdominal movements concomitantly breathing exercises using their diaphragm. Whilst this exercise is taking place the patients were instructed to spell out letters, syllables, words, and sentences step by step using their diaphragm associated breathing. Thus, hypnotic procedures were utilized to increase motivation and self confidence for the patient to practice abdominal weightlifting at home without the instructor. The pre- and post-measurements were found to be statistically significant (p<0.01). The results of the study provide support for the effectiveness of hypnotically-assisted diaphragmatic exercises in the management of stuttering. Furthermore, the control group who did not undergo any hypnosis during the 8 days made more mistakes than PWS when repeating the rhymes at the fourth and fifth sessions. Nevertheless, this study illustrates how hypnosis can be applied in an innovative way in the management of stuttering and therefore is called Kaya's Method.

Hypnosis-induced mental training improves performance on the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) simulator.

Mental training (MT) is used extensively by musicians and athletes to improve their performance. Recently, it has been suggested as a training method for surgical trainees. We assessed the influence of MT, induced by hypnosis, on the performance of simulated tasks on a laparoscopic simulator, as compared to a non-specific relaxing intervention. 11 surgeons completed a proficiency-based training program on the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) simulator, until they reached performance plateau of the peg transfer task. Thereafter, they received a single music session, as a relaxing intervention, followed by repeating of the peg transfer task. Then they went through a hypnosis session guided by an experienced psychologist, with suggestions of smooth flow of pegs from one position on the board to another, and re-performed the task. Plateau performance was 51.1 ± 6.9 s. After the music session performance improved by 6.3% to 47.9 ± 5.4 s (p = 0.86). After the MT session performance further improved by 15.3% to 40.1 ± 5.8 s (p = 0.009), which was a 21.6% improvement from baseline (p < 0.001). Subject's satisfaction from their performance, without knowledge of the task scores, was 6.0 ± 2.9 on 0-10 VAS after the music and reached as high as 8.5 ± 1.7 after the hypnotic session (p = 0.01). Hypnosis-induced MT significantly improves performance on the FLS simulator, which cannot be attributed to its relaxing qualities alone. This study contributes evidence to the effectiveness of MT in surgical skills acquisition and suggests that hypnotic techniques should be used in mental preparation processes. There is a need to further study these effects on operating room performance.

Hipnose, singularidade e dificuldades de amamentação: um estudo clínico

Por meio de um breve estudo de caso, o presente trabalho busca ilustrar a construção de processos individualizados de sugestão hipnótica para uma jovem mãe que possuía dificuldades em amamentar seu bebê. Após a apresentação do caso, o trabalho centra-se em três eixos de interpretação dos processos sugestivos que estiveram presentes na condução da sessão hipnótica: um primeiro voltado para os sentidos físicos, o segundo para o uso de metáforas envolvendo o leite e o terceiro para formas de redefinição sobre a competência da jovem como mãe. Nesses três eixos busca-se destacar a importância de que as sugestões hipnóticas contemplem a singularidade da mãe, contemplando suas emoções, sentidos e significados particulares. Por fim, o trabalho é concluído ressaltando a perspectiva de que a necessidade de mais pesquisas qualitativas deva consistir no reconhecimento da clínica como campo de pesquisa de modo que seja possível contemplar processos subjetivos presentes nas relações hipnóticas como o transe, a comunicação, a linguagem, a simbolização, as emoções e as construções de sentido.

Book Review: Dissociative Disorders: The Bifurcation of the Self: The History and Theory of Dissociation and its Disorders

Dissociative Disorders The Bifurcation of the Self: The History and Theory of Dissociation and Its Disorders Robert W Richer. New York (NY): Springer; 2006. 324 p. US$69.95. Reviewer rating: Good Robert W Rieber is a professor of psychology at Fordham University with interests in the history of psychology and psycholinguistics. In this book, he has 3 main objectives. The first is to establish a history and theoretical structure for dissociative disorders, the second is to demolish belief in the case of the famous multiple personality Sybil, and the last is to outline 14 additional seminal cases and their relation to dissociation. Rieber provides a competent introduction, giving an account of the earlier hypnotists, from Mesmer to Janet, and a discussion of their theoretical and philosophical significance. Much of this has been told before, but the sample of information varies somewhat from other texts and remains interesting. Whether it provides a solid foundation for dissociative disorders is questionable. The second part of his book makes it difficult to believe in dissociative disorders at all. It consists of a devastating expose of Sybil, the famous alleged case of multiple personality disorder (MPD) who became the subject of a book and film (and now currently another film). Rieber's aim was, in fact, accomplished in November 1993 by Herbert Spiegel, who told the CBC's Fifth Estate that he had seen the original patient Sybil and concluded that she did not have more than one personality. She was referred to Spiegel by Dr Cornelia Wilbur, the original proponent of Sybil as a case of multiple personality, and she went to see Spiegel for additional hypnotic sessions while Wilbur was away. In the course of these sessions, Sybil asked Spiegel if he wanted her to the personalities she was talking about. Spiegel asked her why she said that and Sybil explained that at different phases of discussion, Wilbur wanted her to express herself as different individuals. Spiegel reassured her that this was unnecessary, and she did not bother with it until she returned to Wilbur. The various personalities only appeared after Wilbur began to use hypnosis, and the book itself clearly establishes the overt iatrogenic etiology of Sybil's multiple personalities. Spiegel told Flora Schreiber, the journalist who wrote up the case from Wilbur's records, that he did not think it was a case of MPD. She said that the book would not sell well unless it was presented as such. Spiegel said that both women were very angry when he did not wish to be associated with a book written in that way. Rieber was friendly with Schreiber, who gave him several tapes made by her and Wilbur, as well as by Sybil and Wilbur. Three of these recordings provide a rather choppy and incomplete appendix to the book, essentially because of transcription difficulties with old tapes. However, buried in them is a statement, apparently made by Wilbur, that the alter personalities only emerged after she started to give Pentothal to the patient. …

“Hypnotizzy” in the Cold War: The American Fascination with Hypnotism in the 1950s

In early 1956, amidst a burgeoning civil rights movement and a presidential election, swarms of journalists, historians, and genealogists in the United States were frantically searching for biographical information on a nineteenth-century Irish woman named Bridey who may or may not have actually existed. The riddle of Bridey Murphy began in 1954 when the Denver Post published a three-part installment by reporter William Barker concerning the strange experience of 33-year-old Colorado housewife Virginia Tighe who, under hypnosis, had transformed the personality of a long-deceased Irish woman from Cork. When over 10,000 letters from local readers poured the newspaper, Morey Bernstein, the Pueblo businessman and amateur hypnotist who had conducted the sessions with Tighe, decided to write his own account of the incident. The Search for Bridey Murphy, published in January 1956 by Doubleday & Company, recounted Bernstein's 1952 hypnotic sessions with his pseudonym for Tighe. According to Bernstein, he had gained interest in hypnotism after witnessing the cousin of one of his business associates perform a humorous demonstration on a hapless young woman, a demonstration that led him into a whirlwind investigation of hypnosis, telepathy, and clairvoyance (15). After a detailed study of the history and technique of hypnotic induction, Bernstein began practicing his art on his wife and neighbors. Bernstein was particularly fascinated by the phenomenon of age regression; the ability of hypnotic subjects to relive or recall past incidents, including those of early childhood. His successful experiments with age regression soon led Bernstein to wonder if he could use hypnotism to pry even deeper the recesses of the human mind, to determine if the mind might possess unique creative forces which transcend the space-time-mass relations of matter (63). After persuading Ruth Simmons, a family friend and one of his former hypnotic subjects whom he had once successfully regressed to early childhood, Bernstein used a hypnotic trance to help Ruth explore her memory for other scenes from faraway lands and distant places (111). After several minutes, Ruth Simmons began speaking in an Irish brogue and referred to herself as Bridey Murphy, the reincarnated spirit of a nineteenth-century Irish housewife. Bernstein conducted several more sessions with Ruth Simmons throughout the late months of 1952 in order to record as much information on Bridey as possible. Born in 1798 in a small wooden house, Bridey was supposedly the redhaired daughter of Duncan Murphy, a barrister living in Cork, and his wife Kathleen. At the age of seventeen, Bridey met and married John MacCarthy, another Cork barrister, and moved to Belfast where they lived in a small cottage on Dooley Road. In her conversations with Bernstein, Bridey painted an image of a simple and pleasant life, learning to play the lyre and dancing Irish jigs, befriending Father John Goran of St. Theresa's church, patronizing a local grocer named Carrigan, and cooking simple Irish meals of boiled beef and onions for her husband. Bridey claimed that she died at the age of sixty-six after a terrible fall down a flight of stairs and lived a transient life-after-death until she was reborn in the United States in 1923 as Ruth Simmons. Believing that his experiments with Simmons had proven that some persons do retain memories of a previous life (216), Bernstein concluded his account with enthusiastic speculations about the metaphysical wonders the tool of hypnotism might uncover. Curiosity over the supposed power of hypnotism and the possibility of reincarnation transformed The Search for Bridey a national phenomenon. The initial press run of 10,000 copies proved inadequate; by the middle of March, over 200,000 copies had been sold. The book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for twenty-six weeks and was eventually translated thirty different languages in thirty-four different countries. …

Human hypnosis: autonomic and electroencephalographic correlates of a guided multimodal cognitive-emotional imagery

The effects of a guided neutral and unpleasant imagery involving several sensory modalities were studied in hypnotized subjects. Heart rate (HR), respiratory frequency (RF), tonic skin resistance and different electroencephalographic rhythms were evaluated during a long-lasting hypnotic session including the guided suggestion of a neutral (NS) and an unpleasant (US) imagery, each preceded by a hypnotic relaxation rest period. During NS, the absence of autonomic changes, associated with electroencephalographic gamma power decrement and theta1 power increment, indicated the prevalence of relaxation on the expected task-related modifications. In contrast, US elicited HR and RF increments together with higher electroencephalographic gamma, beta3 and beta2 activities. Thus, hypnotic state appears to prevent the autonomic responses expected during the neutral stimulation, while the emotional valence of the unpleasant imagery overwhelms the hypnosis-related relaxation.