Hypnotic age regression to the neonatal period: Comparisons with role playing

The present study explored differences in behavior and reflexes following instructions to age regress to infancy or to portray infancy while high hypnotizable Ss were in an actor's role. Additional role enactment controls were provided by professional actors and low hypnotizahle Ss. High hypnotizable Ss while hypnotized reproduced realistic newborn reactions, both behavior and reflexes, which were strikingly like newborn infants during actual age regression, but were unable to produce as many during role enactment. Similarly, the low hypnotizable Ss and professional actors were unconvincing. Negating the theory of age ablation, results are discussed in the light of reactivation of lost memories through the breaking of amnesic barriers during hypnotic age regression.     

Finding the Hypnotic Virtuoso

Measures of hypnotizability based on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) correlate only moderately with those based on Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C(SHSS:C). Ss(N = 148) scoring in the high range (10-12) on HGSHS:A were classified according to whether they scored in the “virtuoso” range (11-12) or not on a subsequent administration of SHSS:C. Significant group differences were found on items comprising the cognitive distortion subscale of HGSHS:A, whether assessed in terms of overt behavior or subjective impressions of success. The 2 groups also differed on global self-ratings of hypnotic depth and on those subscales of Field's Inventory Scale of Hypnotic Depth concerned with subjective feelings of loss of control, automaticity, transcendence of normal functioning, and fluctuating depth. Assessments of hypnotizability are enhanced when investigators consider subjective involvement as well as behavioral measures of hypnotic response. This is particularly important when the more dissociative aspects of hypnosis are under scrutiny.     

Oxytocin and Cortisol in the Hypnotic Interaction1

Changes in oxytocin and cortisol levels were tested in healthy volunteers during hypnotic interactions in standardized laboratory sessions. Pre- to posthypnosis changes of oxytocin and cortisol were related to the hypnotic susceptibility of subjects and the relational experiences reposted by subjects and hypnotists on several paper-and-pencil tests. Results show that the changes in oxytocin are not related to hypnotic susceptibility but to relational experiences. After the hypnotic interaction, the subject's oxytocin level increased if perceived harmony with the hypnotist was high, whereas it increased in the hypnotist if the subject had memories of less warm emotional relationships with his or her parents. The results are interpreted within the social-psychobiological model of hypnosis.     

Hypnotic Depth and Basal Skin Resistance

This study investigated the relationship between a self-report scale for measuring the depth of the hypnotic state and basal skin resistance (BSR). 10 Ss participated in 2 training and 2 experimental sessions each, and BSR was recorded during the latter two sessions. The self-report depth scale accurately predicted the occurrence of hypnotic dreaming and amnesia, traditional criteria for medium and deep hypnotic states. BSR showed a high, positive correlation with the self-report depth scale. Although the study was exploratory in nature, the data suggest that both the self-report depth scale and BSR may be useful measures for detecting changes in the depth of the hypnotic state, and encourage further research.     

Hypnotic color blindness and performance on the Stroop test

A suggestion for hypnotic color blindness was investigated by administering a reverse Stroop color-naming task. Prior to the suggestion for color blindness, participants learned associations between color names and shapes. Following the color blindness suggestion, participants were required to name the shapes when they appeared in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the learned associations. The 18 high hypnotizable participants who passed the suggestion were slower to name (a) shapes in which the color name was incongruent with the color in which it was printed, (b) "unseen" rather than "seen" shapes, and (c) color-incongruent shapes that were printed in the color in which they were "color-blind." These patterns are discussed in terms of potential cognitive and social mechanisms that may mediate responses to hypnotic color blindness.     

Hypnotic color blindness and performance on the stroop test

A suggestion for hypnotic color blindness was investigated by administering a reverse Stroop color-naming task. Prior to the suggestion for color blindness, participants learned associations between color names and shapes. Following the color blindness suggestion, participants were required to name the shapes when they appeared in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the learned associations. The 18 high hypnotizable participants who passed the suggestion were slower to name (a) shapes in which the color name was incongruent with the color in which it was printed, (b) “unseen” rather than “seen” shapes, and (c) color-incongruent shapes that were printed in the color in which they were “color-blind.” These patterns are discussed in terms of potential cognitive and social mechanisms that may mediate responses to hypnotic color blindness.     

Evolutionary Approaches to Understanding the Hypnotic Experience

Using Tinbergen’s 4 why questions of causation, development, evolution, and function, the authors examine hypnosis from a larger, evolutionary perspective. Reasoning by analogy, they seek to view hypnosis in terms of an action pattern that represents a self-contained behavioral program although not as rigid as seen in lower organisms. In humans, such a program develops within the context of a long developmental sequence emphasizing social connections, imitation of significant figures, and the use of linguistic symbols to regulate both internal and external processes and actions. In terms of a mechanism, the authors speculate on the involvement of the cingulate cortex in achieving in hypnosis the experience of autonomous actions or analgesic sensory processes. Finally, they point to the fact that hypnotizability is associated with an ability to reduce the experience of pain, modulate the immune system, and achieve greater benefits of psychosocial therapies as a functional significance of the hypnotic experience.     

Hope,positive illusions and palliative rehabilitation

Abstract

In ordinary usage, the word ‘hope’ is clear and unambiguous. But in the palliative care context it has been amplified, dramatized, glamorized, and spiritualized to the extent that it is no more than a piece of inflated rhetoric. In this paper, I will offer a simple analysis of a simple word; explain why the inflated sense is unhelpful; show why hope does not have a straightforward ‘opposite’; and argue that ‘hope’ is not a name for a metaphysical, psychological, or spiritual something-or-other. However, bewitched by their inflated understanding of ‘hope’, some palliative care professionals apparently tell patients and carers what they should hope for – which could hardly be more patronizing – while others use it as a portmanteau term to describe whatever positive health care outcomes take their fancy. My suggestion is that palliative rehabilitation specialists should resist the temptations of inflation and glamorisation, and begin to use the word more precisely, modestly, and transparently. There is no such thing as ‘hope’ the life force, ‘hope’ the inner power, ‘hope’ the universal human phenomenon, or ‘hope’ the theological virtue.     

Diagnostic illusions: the reliability of random chance

A "Monte Carlo" experiment was performed in order to determine chance concordance rates for multiple test scenarios often encountered in chiropractic diagnosis. The Monte Carlo simulation took into account the following variables: the number of tests involved in the diagnosis; the number of vertebral segments implicated by each test; the proportion of tests in agreement relative to the number of tests performed; and the segmental margin of error accepted. Random data for up to five diagnostic tests performed on 500 "patients" were computer generated and a wide variety of test scenarios analyzed. One typical analysis asked: if four diagnostic tests are performed on each patient, each test implicating on average three vertebral segments, and a plus or minus one segment error margin is accepted, what are the chance odds that any three out of the four tests will implicate the same vertebral segment? The answer, determined by simply counting how often this happened in the 500 "patients," was 89%. Many test scenarios yielded chance levels much higher than might have been expected. High probability situations as well as those test criteria yielding relatively low chance concordance rates are identified.     

Visual illusions affecting perception of the roentgen image

The common denominator of any roentgenographic study is the ability of the radiologist to interpret the image on the film. We are aware that the makeup of that image is a composite of the shadows of all the structures through which the roentgen beam passes. Less well appreciated, however, is a variety of illusory phenomena which results from overlapping shadows, differences in background illumination, and subjective contour formation. The result is a variety of false images which exists in the "mind's eye" only and may be misinterpreted as significant pathologic abnormalities. The three most common causes of illusory phenomena are Mach bands, background density effect, and subjective contours. These are all related and are derived from the process of lateral inhibition. It is important for radiologists to recognize these phenomena in order to avoid their pitfalls. This paper will describe these phenomena and will review previous work on perception.     

Hypnotic efficacy of lorazepam and flurazepam.

In a double-blind crossover study involving 15 insomniac subjects, the hypnotic efficacy of lorazepam, 2 and 4 mg, was compared with flurazepam, 15 and 30 mg, and placebo. Five subjective measures were used: onset, length, and depth of sleep, number of times awakened, and satisfaction with the hypnotic. Lorazepam in 2- and 4-mg doses was comparable in hypnotic efficacy to flurazepam, 30 mg, according to most parameters of measurement. Side effects were minor, although relatively numerous at the 4-mg doses.