Hypnotic suggestibility denotes a capacity to respond positively to direct verbal suggestions in an involuntary manner in the context of hypnosis. Elucidating the characteristics of this ability has bearing on responsiveness to suggestions in a variety of clinical and non-clinical contexts. A considerable amount of research has focused on a small subgroup of individuals who display strong responsiveness to hypnotic suggestions. However, it remains poorly understood whether these highly suggestible individuals constitute a discrete subgroup (taxon) that is characterized by a qualitatively distinct mode of responding from the remainder of the population or whether hypnotic suggestibility is better modelled as a dimensional ability. In this study, we applied taxometric analysis, a statistical method for distinguishing between dimensional and categorical models of a psychological ability, to behavioural and involuntariness subscale scores of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form A (HGSHS:A) in a sample of neurotypical individuals (N=584). Analyses of HGSHS:A behavioural and involuntariness subscale scores with different a priori taxon base rates yielded consistent evidence for a dimensional structure. These results suggest that hypnotic suggestibility, as measured by the HGSHS:A, is dimensional and have implications for current understanding of individual differences in responsiveness to direct verbal suggestions.
The article analyzes the main trends in the development of psychoanalysis in the St. Petersburg school: the preservation of the classical heritage; the development of an interpersonal approach, in which the most significant factor in the success of therapy is the quality of the relationship between the patient and the analyst; the implementation of the principle of psychoanalytic neutrality; the principle of nurturing and socialization of the patient. Modern approaches to working with the symptom, to the setting, to the principle of filiation and psychoanalytic education are revealed.
When we think of terrorism, we tend to think of Islamic terrorism but in fact most of the violent happenings in our societies are caused by 'domestic terrorism' and it has been suggested by authors such as Twemlow that there is a developmental continuum between social activism and terrorism. The generalized rise in what the author terms 'a terrorist worldview' has been linked to many different social, political, economic and psychological conflicts but the present paper suggests that this is not sufficient and that in order to understand it it is necessary to take into consideration certain processes in contemporary civilization. At present, I am suggesting that Western civilization is characterized by the generalized breakdown of values and of signifying structures and by the gradual weakening of the models of state power and institutions that previously guaranteed the unity and security of our societies. The result is a crisis of identity which is particularly evident among the youth of today and when this is exasperated by the failure of authority to provide an adequate explanatory system of contemporary reality and by the tendency to resort to repressive mechanisms, all too often the result is the degeneration of social activism into social violence. It is becoming urgent that our societies reflect on more efficient ways of preventing social activism degenerating into terrorism, both internationally and domestically.
The article is focused on a critical analysis of the work of I.M. Sechenov Reflexes of the brain and its influence on the development of modern psychology, psychoneurology and psychiatry.
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