Objectives:An exploratory investigation is reported into the role of spirituality and religious practice in protecting against depression among older people living in rural villages in Bulgaria and Romania, two neighbouring countries with similar cultural, political and religious histories, but with differing levels of current religiosity. Methods:In both countries interviews were conducted with samples of 160 persons of 60 years and over in villages of similar socio-economic status. The HAD-D scale and the Royal Free Interview for Religious and Spiritual Beliefs were used to assess depression and spiritual belief and practice respectively. In addition social support, physical functioning and the presence of chronic diseases were assessed. One year later follow-up interviews were conducted with 58 of the original sample in Bulgaria, in which additional measures of depression and of spiritual belief and practice were also included. Results:The study demonstrates, as expected, significantly lower levels of spiritual belief in the Bulgarian sample, as well as significantly higher levels of depression, the latter attributable in large part to higher morbidity and disability rates, but less evidently to differences in strength of belief. However analyses from both the cross-sectional study and the one year follow-up of the Bulgarian sample do suggest that spiritual belief and practice both influence and reflect physical and mental illness. Conclusions:Religious and spiritual belief and practice constitute important means of coping with both physical and mental health problems in later life. Further investigation of their protective role is encouraged in populations of diverse religiosity.

Subjects were 194 nursing students who experienced the HGSHS A (Shor & Orne, 1962) in which was embedded a 2-minute sitting quietly interval subsequent to the eye catalepsy item, but prior to the "counting out" sequence. After the HGSHS:A, subjects completed the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) (Pekala, 1982, 1991c) in reference to the sitting quietly interval embedded in the hypnotic induction ceremony. Subjects were divided into low and high susceptible groups. K-means cluster analysis of the subjects' responses to the PCI revealed nine different cluster groups. These groups had different patterns of phenomenological experiences that cut across individual subjects' actual HGSHS:A scores. Implications of the above for (a) working with clients who may not score that high on standard behavioral measures of hypnotizability (such as the HGSHS:A), or (b) understanding how hypnosis "works," are discussed.

The hypnotic susceptibility of 300 nursing students was predicted via an instrument called the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. The students experienced the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and subsequently completed the self-report inventory with reference to their experience of hypnosis. Regression analyses generated a multiple R of .67 between subjects' susceptibility, as measured by the Harvard scale, and their predicted susceptibility, based on the (sub)dimensions of the inventory. Additional analyses gave a validity coefficient of .61 between the Harvard scale scores of the subjects in the present study and their predicted scores, using regression coefficients obtained in an earlier study. The results replicated previous research and suggest that the inventory may be a useful instrument in predicting hypnotic susceptibility in a less obtrusive fashion than the Harvard scale.

The purpose of this study was to assess the psychophysiological stress-reducing properties of progressive relaxation compared with hypnosis, and deep abdominal breathing compared with a baseline condition, while controlling for hypnotizability. 231 nursing students experienced the baseline procedure and progressive relaxation in Session 1 and deep abdominal breathing and hypnosis in Session 2 about a week later. Before and after each technique peripheral skin temperature and pulse rate were assessed. Separate analyses of variance, computed for the first and second sets of techniques, indicated that progressive relaxation and hypnosis both increased skin temperature and reduced pulse rate, suggesting reduced psychophysiological responsivity. Deep abdominal breathing was associated with a significant reduction in physiological responsivity (skin temperature) relative to baseline. Hypnotic susceptibility had no effect on the psychophysiological measures.

The present study compared the reported phenomenological effects associated with several stress management techniques (hypnosis, progressive relaxation, deep abdominal breathing) and a baseline condition (eyes-closed) as a function of hypnotic susceptibility. Three hundred nursing students experienced the aforementioned conditions and retrospectively completed a self-report questionnaire, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), in reference to each condition. The PCI allows for reliable and valid quantification of various (sub)dimensions of phenomenological experience. The results indicated that stress management techniques like hypnosis or progressive relaxation are not phenomenologically equivalent, and their effects are further moderated by a subject's hypnotic susceptibility.