Trance Induction Research Articles

Multimodal benefits of hypnosis on pain, mental health, sleep, and quality of life in patients with chronic pain related to fibromyalgia: A randomized, controlled, blindly-evaluated trial

Background and purposeFibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome marked by intense musculoskeletal pain often refractory to pharmacological treatment. Although studies have shown that hypnosis improves fibromyalgia pain, gaps in experimental design limit their reliability. This work aimed to evaluate the effects of hypnosis on pain, mental health, sleep, and quality of life in participants with fibromyalgia chronic pain. MethodsIn this prospective, parallel, randomized, controlled, blindly-evaluated trial, participants of both sexes (n = 49) diagnosed with fibromyalgia and with moderate to severe chronic pain attended 8 weekly 1-h sessions with a hypnotherapist. For the hypnosis group (n = 24), sessions consisted in induction of hypnotic trance followed by suggestions to promote analgesia. For the control group (n = 25), sessions consisted in casual unscripted conversation. Participants were assessed at baseline (7 days before), post-intervention (7 days after), and follow-up (3 months after). The primary outcome was pain intensity. The secondary outcomes were the sensory and affective dimensions of pain; pain unpleasantness; pain catastrophizing; anxiety and depression; sleep quality; fibromyalgia impact; and quality of life. ResultsHypnosis significantly reduced pain scores both at post-intervention and follow-up in comparison with baseline. The analgesic effect of hypnosis combined with pharmacological treatment lasted for at least 3 months and was superior to analgesia promoted by first- and second-line pharmacological treatment alone. Hypnosis significantly improved all parameters evaluated as secondary outcomes both at post-intervention and follow-up without inducing adverse events. ConclusionOur results corroborate that clinical hypnosis is an effective and feasible tool for managing chronic pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Trance, posture, and tobacco in the Casas Grandes shamanic tradition: Altered states of consciousness and the interaction effects of behavioral variables

AbstractHere, we describe how Casas Grandes Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) shamanic practices of the North American Southwest used tobacco shamanism, a ritual stance called the Tennessee Diviner (TD) posture, and cultural expectations to generate trance experiences of soul flight and divination. We introduce a conceptual model that holds that specific trance experiences are the emergent result of human minds interacting with additional factors including entheogens, cultural expectations, physiological states, postures/movement, and sound/stimulation. Experimental and ethnographic evidence indicates initiating trance with either tobacco intoxication or the TD posture accompanied with a rapidly beating drum or rattle corresponds with perceptions of soul flight, transformation, and divination/information acquisition. Both have similar results but pairing them together as they were during the Medio period likely helped ensure the culturally desired trance experiences. This practice of mutually reinforcing factors was likely part of tobacco‐based shamanism found in other New World cultures as well. We suggest our general model can be applied to other contexts to examine how various aspects of trance induction interact to produce the cultural patterns (and resulting cosmological and spiritual frameworks) anthropologists have documented in other cultures.

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.

Incorporating Hypnosis into Pediatric Clinical Encounters.

Increasing numbers of licensed health professionals who care for children have been trained in clinical hypnosis. The evidence base for the safety and efficacy of this therapeutic approach in a wide variety of conditions is also growing. Pediatricians and other health professionals who have received training may wish to apply these skills in appropriate clinical scenarios but still may be unsure of the practical matters of how to incorporate this skill-set into day to day practice. Moreover, the practical application of such skills will take very different forms depending on the practice setting, types of acute or chronic conditions, patient and family preferences, and the developmental stages of the child or teen. This article reviews the application of pediatric clinical hypnosis skills by describing the use of hypnotic language outside of formal trance induction, by describing natural trance states that occur in children and teens in healthcare settings, and by describing the process of planning a clinical hypnosis encounter. It is assumed that this article does not constitute training in hypnosis or qualify its readers for the application of such skills; rather, it may serve as a practical guide for those professionals who have been so trained, and may serve to inform other professionals what to expect when referring a patient for hypnotherapy. The reader is referred to specific training opportunities and organizations.

A Comparison of Hypnotic Induction, Task Motivation, and a “Cold Start” Control Group on Hypnotizability

Groups of participants (N = 164) were randomly assigned to three conditions: Group 1 received a trance induction, Group 2 received task-motivational instructions, and Group 3—“cold start” control—was simply told, “We will begin the hypnosis procedure now.” All participants received the Creative Imagination Scale suggestions and then completed the Creative Imagination Scale and Inventory Scale of Hypnotic Depth. The three conditions did not differ significantly either on the Creative Imagination Scale or in reported hypnotic depth. These results are consistent with prior studies which show that trance induction and task-motivational yield similar results, but they are inconsistent inasmuch as the trance induction and task-motivational groups did not differ from the control group. These results, however, are predictable from socio-cognitive perspectives that the context of hypnosis itself can elicit hypnotic behaviors.

The “trance dance” of the Ju/’hoan Bushmen (San) of Southern Africa: implications for hypnotic means of healing

Within the perspective of the history of hypnosis, the healing dance of the Kalahari Bushmen (San) is regarded as special kind of kinetic trance that uses focused emotional intensity inside music and dance to initiate movement automatisms for healing. We demonstrate how the Bushman way of healing introduces new distinctions, metaphors, and strategies for the understanding and practice of hypnotically oriented forms of therapy. We propose that the Bushman form of trance, one that utilizes the arousal and amplification of emotions, improvised sounds, and spontaneous movement, suggests a unique form of healing trance and hypnotic induction. The Bushman dance relies less on purposeful induction through direct or indirect verbal and nonverbal suggestion and entrainment, and more on the amplification of emotion and song. These help awaken spontaneous movement that goes past choreographed dance. In short, the so-called trance dance of the Ju’/hoan Bushmen of southern Africa is primarily concerned with waking up strong positive feelings through rhythm and song, bringing forth a spontaneous vibration in the body, and sharing or passing this vibration to others. We discuss how this brings forth the experience of crossing over from the everyday reality of distinguishing, languaging mind (what the Bushmen call second creation) into the highly charged, ecstatic experience of transformation in which all of creation is experientially felt rather than named (called first creation).

The Efficacy, Safety and Applications of Medical Hypnosis.

The efficacy and safety of hypnotic techniques in somatic medicine, known as medical hypnosis, have not been supported to date by adequate scientific evidence. We systematically reviewed meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of medical hypnosis. Relevant publications (January 2005 to June 2015) were sought in the Cochrane databases CDSR and DARE, and in PubMed. Meta-analyses involving at least 400 patients were included in the present analysis. Their methodological quality was assessed with AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews). An additional search was carried out in the CENTRAL and PubMed databases for RCTs of waking suggestion (therapeutic suggestion without formal trance induction) in somatic medicine. Out of the 391 publications retrieved, five were reports of metaanalyses that met our inclusion criteria. One of these meta-analyses was of high methodological quality; three were of moderate quality, and one was of poor quality. Hypnosis was superior to controls with respect to the reduction of pain and emotional stress during medical interventions (34 RCTs, 2597 patients) as well as the reduction of irritable bowel symptoms (8 RCTs, 464 patients). Two meta-analyses revealed no differences between hypnosis and control treatment with respect to the side effects and safety of treatment. The effect size of hypnosis on emotional stress during medical interventions was low in one meta-analysis, moderate in one, and high in one. The effect size on pain during medical interventions was low. Five RCTs indicated that waking suggestion is effective in medical procedures. Medical hypnosis is a safe and effective complementary technique for use in medical procedures and in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Waking suggestions can be a component of effective doctor-patient communication in routine clinical situations.

Explorer in Hypnosis

Written in 1957, this paper was Jay Haley’s first attempt to organize his impressions of Milton Erickson. The article captures the essence of Erickson: the man, his early concepts of the trance state, his flexibility in trance induction, and his delight in working with those considered “resistant subjects.” In this early paper, Jay Haley clearly recognizes Erickson’s potential impact on therapy and clinicians around the world. This paper reminds readers of the importance of therapeutic relationship and the power of effective communication.

Hypnotic Seminar

In this transcription of a lecture given in 2000, Jay Haley begins by answering the question, “What is hypnosis?” Haley reviews the circumstances of Gregory Bateson encouraging him to meet with Milton Erickson to discuss the history of hypnosis and the paradoxical nature of trance induction. Haley expresses many original thoughts about multiple personalities, regression to past lives, and how to handle memories that historically may be false. Sophisticated and subtle, this is Haley at his best.

Ferenczi’s Concept of Identification with The Aggressor: Understanding Dissociative Structure with Interacting Victim and Abuser Self-States

No one has described more passionately than Ferenczi the traumatic induction of dissociative trance with its resulting fragmentation of the personality. Ferenczi introduced the concept and term, identification with the aggressor in his seminal "Confusion of Tongues" paper, in which he described how the abused child becomes transfixed and robbed of his senses. Having been traumatically overwhelmed, the child becomes hypnotically transfixed by the aggressor's wishes and behavior, automatically identifying by mimicry rather than by a purposeful identification with the aggressor's role. To expand upon Ferenczi's observations, identification with the aggressor can be understood as a two-stage process. The first stage is automatic and initiated by trauma, but the second stage is defensive and purposeful. While identification with the aggressor begins as an automatic organismic process, with repeated activation and use, gradually it becomes a defensive process. Broadly, as a dissociative defense, it has two enacted relational parts, the part of the victim and the part of the aggressor. This paper describes the intrapersonal aspects (how aggressor and victim self-states interrelate in the internal world), as well as the interpersonal aspects (how these become enacted in the external). This formulation has relevance to understanding the broad spectrum of the dissociative structure of mind, borderline personality disorder, and dissociative identity disorder.

Analysis of Electrophysiological State Patterns and Changes During Hypnosis Induction

Hypnosis can be seen as a guided induction of various states of consciousness. This article details a time-series analysis that visualized the electrophysiological state changes during a session as a correlate to the instructions. Sixty-four channels of EEG and peripheral physiological measures were recorded in 1 highly susceptible subject. Significant state changes occurred synchronously with specific induction instructions. Some patterns could be physiologically explained, such as sensorimotor desynchronization over the right hemispheric hand area during left arm levitation. There was a highly significant increase in broadband activity during the stepwise trance induction that may point to a deep hypnotic state. This study provides illustrated proof for the detectability of physiological state changes as correlates to different states of awareness, consciousness, or cognition during hypnosis.

Plasticity changes in the brain in hypnosis and meditation

AbstractNeuroscientific evidence interprets both hypnotic trance induction and different meditation traditions as modified states of consciousness that emphasize attention, concentration and the letting go of thoughts, but they differ in terms of sensory input, processing, memory, and the sense of time. Furthermore, hypnosis is based on the suggestibility of a person and meditation on mindfulness; therefore it is not surprising to find differential brain plasticity changes. We analysed shared and non‐shared neural substrates using electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Most pronounced EEG changes were in deep as compared to light hypnosis (step‐by‐step induction) and in arm levitation where suggested movement was perceived as external. In a within‐subject‐design changes in brain activity during hypnosis and Tibetan Buddhist meditation were compared. High amplitudes in alpha frequency bands were most pronounced with meditation at frontal positions and with hypnosis in central and temporal locations. Significantly greater activity in theta 2 band was observed only with hypnosis in both hemispheres. PET cerebral activation patterns of imagery‐mediated learning were analysed in hypnosis in a within‐subject‐design. Compared with baseline the learning of high‐imagery words was associated with (i) more pronounced bilateral activation in the occipital cortex and prefrontal areas and (ii) improved memory performance. Visual illusion in hypnosis was studied with fMRI, analysed with Granger Causality Mapping, showing changes in the effective connectivity relations of fusiform gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex and intraparietal sulcus. Little is known about the neurobiological basis of the process of enhancing cognitive and emotional traits in meditation. In a longitudinal fMRI study attention abilities through intensive Soto‐Zen meditation were investigated before (baseline), after training (6 months) and at follow‐up (9 months). After six months differences were observed in the left inferior and left superior frontal gyrus; after 9 months activations in the left precuneus. Taken together, the findings advance understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie hypnosis and meditation. Further studies with a greater sample size are needed to explore the differences and commonalities of hypnosis and different meditation techniques. Copyright © 2009 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Der Wirkfaktor Stimme in der Psychotherapie / in der Musiktherapie

The voice is an important, often underestimated factor in music psychotherapy, both in uncovering and in resource-oriented, body-oriented work. The article offers a survey of the influence of the voice in the therapeutic dialogue and points to opportunities for singing and sound-making in psychotherapy and music therapy. Various categories are then elaborated in greater depth, including the voice as a medium of verbal and non-verbal shaping of relationship, as a method in body-oriented music psychotherapy, as a diagnostic tool in the therapeutic dialogue, as an indicator for therapeutic transference and counter-transference, as a symptom, as a means of expression, as a means of self-healing and as a medium for trance induction. The bodily effects of singing are presented, with a focus on the specific potential of singing as the finest path.

An investigation of the factor structure of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A)

AbstractIn order to investigate the effects of the hypnotic state a standardized hypnosis session was conducted with 144 subjects in a controlled laboratory study. The induction of a hypnotic trance in the German version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:A by Shor and Orne, 1962) was tape‐recorded and used as the treatment.The HGSHS:A seems to be a reliable measure of suggestibility and hypnotizability. This is underlined by the consistent results of a factor analysis on the depths of hypnosis that is in agreement with former studies. Descriptive data analyses with a sufficient number of subjects of high and low suggestibility suggest that our hypnosis induction by tape is an effective method of producing a hypnotic trance. Analyses of within‐subjects variables did not reveal any valid predictors of hypnotizability, thereby confirming the need of screening instruments such as the HGSHS. Copyright © 2006 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Milton Hyland Erickson, 1901–1980

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Images in PsychiatryFull AccessMilton Hyland Erickson, 1901–1980Gregg E. Gorton, M.D.Gregg E. GortonSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Jul 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.162.7.1255AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Milton H. Erickson, M.D., long considered the father of modern clinical hypnosis, is best appreciated today as a psychotherapy innovator (1). His “uncommon” therapy (2) was molded by his early career research into the nature of suggestion, hypnotic states, the mental mechanisms underlying psychodynamic processes, and the psychophysiological aspects of trance (3). Dr. Erickson had a pivotal realization that even as a hypnotherapist, he could be most effective when not using formal or directive hypnosis. The nondirective, naturalistic style he invented is called Ericksonian hypnosis, and his revolutionary psychotherapeutic approach is called Ericksonian psychotherapy. He conceptualized what he was doing as actively catalyzing some new possibility, not as passively awaiting change or as commanding, prescribing, or controlling the ultimate outcome. When I queried him about this in July 1977, he said, “Once you start a snowball rolling from the top of a mountain, who can tell what it will grow into and what path it will take?”Dr. Erickson believed that treatment should be specifically constructed for each patient because each patient is unique. He advocated a “utilization” approach whereby a clinician utilizes whatever behavior, ideas, or attitudes patients exhibit. Dr. Erickson had a deeply humane view of patients, and he spent a great deal of time getting to know them while testing and working with their responses, especially their strengths. He would concoct an approach—not always using hypnosis—that would allow some slight change to occur, and this was often followed by a cascade of progressive changes. He appeared to have uncanny intuition yet attributed his clinical insight to both the acute development of his own perceptual skills and the innate receptive and synthetic capacities of the unconscious, which Dr. Erickson viewed as a reservoir of creative potential that can be a source of wisdom, not just of pathology.Among the many therapeutic approaches he spawned were one-session therapy, brief therapy, strategic family therapy, systems-oriented therapy, solution-focused therapy, ordeal therapy, neurolinguistic programming, pediatric and dental hypnoanalgesia, and Ernst Rossi’s psychobiological therapy. He invented such therapeutic techniques as paradox, humor, reframing, confusion, surprise, binds and double binds, metaphors and storytelling, ambiguous function assignments, variable session length, and going with the resistance. Among the many hypnotic techniques he invented or developed are arm levitation, interspersal, confusion, illogic and irrelevance, indirection, many varieties of time distortion, age regression and progression, future projection, and trance induction by touch alone (1).Dr. Erickson was a truly American character, born in Nevada, who came east in a covered wagon and grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. His struggles to overcome a nearly fatal bout of polio and, later, to live with postpolio syndrome shaped his therapeutic drive. Perhaps it is not surprising that this pioneering clinician who spent the last 30 years of his life practicing and teaching in Arizona and who used stories and metaphors frequently in his work with patients from near and far should himself be the subject of tales that sometimes portray him as larger than life.Today, nearly 100 Erickson institutes exist in almost 30 countries. The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, which Dr. Erickson cofounded along with its journal, is approaching its golden anniversary. So, too, is the decision by the American Medical Association to ratify hypnosis as a legitimate medical technique. Dr. Erickson was a courageous clinician whose ingenious insights and techniques can continue to enrich our therapeutic palette if only we are willing to listen to his voice.Address reprint requests to Dr. Gorton, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Mailstop 116, University and Woodland Aves., Philadelphia, PA 19140; [email protected] (e-mail). Photograph provided with permission of the Archives of the Milton Erickson Foundation. Milton H. Erickson, M.D.

Hypnocounseling: Carl Rogers and Milton Erickson / Hypnocounseling: Carl Rogers und Milton Erickson / Hipnocounseling: Carl Rogers y Milton Erickson

In this paper we propose the convergence of seemingly unrelated therapies to form the basis of hypnocounseling. Erickson and Rogers shared a belief in the inherent growth of the individual and in the importance of immediacy. Both worked to restore personal power and control to the client-patient. Although using different methods, both trusted that the development of a sensitive understanding of the individual's internal frame of reference would facilitate growth and change. As the foremost contributor to a modern method of hypnosis, Erickson's therapy model focused on trance induction as the key that unlocks an individual's stored potential for growth and change. Rogers, on the other hand, wrought a richly compassionate environment—a prizing of the individual—that allowed a deep sense of self-discovery to emerge. Hypnocounseling merges Rogers' person-centered therapy with Erickson's utilization approach to create opportunities for choice, deep understandings, and change.

Love Triangle in Marital Therapy

The Allegory of Barbie, Ken, and GI Joe is a marital therapy intervention which reframes and normalizes gender differences between partners. Telling The Allegory seems to stimulate mutual trance induction for partners, and provides a context in which both partners can better understand and accept the profundity and naturalness of gender differences. Its uses include reduction of counter-therapeutic conflict and anxiety, enhancement of mutual empathy and sensitivity to gender-based experiential differences, and building therapeutic movement and/or intensity through accessing issues connected with childhood, both positive and negative. When used with appropriate timing and sensitivity, no contraindications have been identified.

Hypnosis-Facilitated Relaxation Using Self-Guided Imagery during Dermatologic Procedures

Many patients experience some degree of anxiety and/or discomfort during dermatologic procedures. For most patients this anxiety or discomfort is tolerable, but a few find it intolerable to the point of interference with the accomplishment of the procedure. A case is presented in which a 51-year-old female experienced so much anxiety that it jeopardized the continuation of a necessary procedure. When (with her consent) a trance state was induced through hypnosis, she relaxed and remained in a pleasant mental condition for the remainder of the procedure. This case illustrates the usefulness of hypnosis in selected situations where it can alleviate anxiety and discomfort associated with dermatologic procedures. Suggested trance induction, maintenance, and termination scripts are included to assist those with adequate training and experience in providing this comfort to selected patients through hypnosis.

Stambali: Dissociative Possession and Trance in a Tunisian Healing Dance

This study investigated Stambali, a Tunisian trance-dance practiced in Israel as a healing and a demon exorcism ritual by Jewish-Tunisian immigrants. The authors observed the ritual and conducted semi-structured ethnographic interviews with key informants. Content analysis revealed that Stambali is practiced for prophylactic reasons (e.g. repelling the ‘evil eye’), for the promotion of personal well-being, and as a form of crisis intervention. Crisis was often construed by our informants as the punitive action of demons, and the ritual aimed at appeasing them. Communication with the possessing demons was facilitated through a kinetic trance induction, produced by an ascending tempo of rhythmic music and a corresponding increased speed of the participant’s movements of head and extremities. The experience was characterized by the emergence of dissociated eroticism and aggression, and terminated in a convulsive loss of consciousness. Stambali is discussed in terms of externalization and disowning of intrapsychic conflicts by oppressed women with few options for protest.

TRANCE, a TNF Family Member, Is Differentially Expressed on T Cell Subsets and Induces Cytokine Production in Dendritic Cells

TNF-related activation-induced cytokine (TRANCE) is a member of the TNF family recently identified in activated T cells. We report here that TRANCE mRNA is constitutively expressed in memory, but not naive, T cells and in single-positive thymocytes. Upon TCR/CD3 stimulation, TRANCE mRNA and surface protein expression are rapidly up-regulated in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, which can be further enhanced on CD4+ T cells by CD28-mediated costimulation. However, TRANCE induction is significantly suppressed when cells are stimulated in the presence of IL-4, but is not modified in the presence of IFN-alpha, IFN-gamma, TGF-beta, TNF-alpha, or IL-2. High levels of TRANCE receptor expression are found on mature dendritic cells (DCs). In this study we show that activated T and B cells also express TRANCE receptor, but only at low levels. TRANCE, however, does not exert any significant effect on the proliferation, activation, or survival of those cells. In DCs, TRANCE induces the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1) and T cell growth and differentiation factors (IL-12, IL-15) in addition to enhancing DC survival. Moreover, TRANCE cooperates with CD40 ligand or TNF-alpha to further increase the viability of DCs, suggesting that several TNF-related molecules on activated T cells may cooperatively regulate the function and survival of DCs to enhance T cell-mediated immune responses.