This article describes the history, rationale, and guidelines for developing a new definition of hypnosis by the Society of Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the American Psychological Association. The definition was developed with the aim of being concise, being heuristic, and allowing for alternative theories of the mechanisms (to be determined in empirical scientific study). The definition of hypnosis is presented as well as definitions of the following related terms: hypnotic induction, hypnotizability, and hypnotherapy. The implications for advancing research and practice are discussed. The definitions are presented within the article.
This article describes the history, rationale, and guidelines for developing a new definition of hypnosis by the Society of Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the American Psychological Association. The definition was developed with the aim of being concise, heuristic, and allowing for alternative theories of the mechanisms (to be determined in empirical scientific study). The definition of hypnosis is presented as well as definitions of the following related terms: hypnotic induction, hypnotizability, and hypnotherapy. The implications for advancing research and practice are discussed. The definitions are presented within the article.
The article describes the rationale for and the process of developing a new definition of hypnosis by the Society of Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the American Psychological Association. Both theoretical and practical implications led to the production of the definition, which is targeted toward informing clinicians, researchers, and the lay public alike. The definition is presented at the conclusion of the article.
An ethnically diverse sample of high and low hypnotizable children (N = 27) suffering from cancer or blood disorders and their parents were trained to use both distraction and hypnosis to reduce pain and anxiety. Measures of pain and anxiety were obtained from the children and their parents. Independent raters also judged participants' video-taped distress responses. Data were collected during painful medical procedures, for baseline, distraction, and hypnosis conditions. Supporting E. R. Hilgard's (1977Hilgard's ( , 1992 neodissociation theory, hypnotizable children showed significantly lower pain, anxiety, and distress scores in response to hypnosis in contrast to the low hypnotizable children. Distraction produced significant positive effects for observer-rated distress scores for the low hypnotizable children.Children are subjected to painful procedures such as venipuncture, lumbar punctures, and bone marrow aspirations in the treatment of cancer and nonmalignant blood disorders. Because of repetition, conditioned fear and anxiety become a significant concern for parents and medical staff (
Drawing on the literature reviews of this special issue of the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (2000), this article summarizes the evidence for the effectiveness of hypnosis as an empirically supported clinical intervention. As a whole, the clinical research to date generally substantiates the claim that hypnotic procedures can ameliorate some psychological and medical conditions, as judged against the Chambless and Hollon methodological guidelines. In many cases, these clinical procedures can also be quite cost-effective. It is probable that with some key empirical refinement a number of other hypnosis treatment protocols will have sufficient empirical documentation to be considered "well-established." However, it is noted that the Chambless and Hollon guidelines are not particularly well-suited for assessing hypnosis' impact when used adjunctly with other interventions. The article concludes with recommendations regarding the efficacy questions that need to be more fully addressed empirically and offers methodological guidelines for researchers and practitioners.
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