Active-Alert Hypnosis: History, Research, and Applications

Abstract

After a brief review of the history of the idea of an activity-increasing hypnotic induction procedure with eyes open and pedaling a bicycle ergometer, the features of active-alert hypnotic induction are summarized. Results of research conducted on healthy volunteers revealed the behavioral, experiential, physiological, and interactional characteristics of the induced altered state of consciousness (ASC), showing both similarities and differences between traditional and active-alert hypnosis. A short description of the application of the method is followed by two brief case studies.

Dreaming, Mind-Wandering, and Hypnotic Dreams

“…However, developments in hypnosis research have demonstrated that hypnosis is not a sleep-like state ( 8 ), and the REM-centric attitude toward dreaming that the AIM model relied on has been severely criticized over the years on several grounds ( 9 – 13 ). With the advancement of the rival neuro-cognitive theory of dreaming stating that all forms of dreaming and mind-wandering are on a continuum underlain by default-mode network activity ( 10 , 14 ), the unificatory view that presented dreaming and hypnosis in analogy with each other has become obsolete.…”

Active-Alert Hypnosis to Achieve Personal, Professional, and Therapeutic Goals

“…They followed the instructions of the experimenter immediately, while their fast movements, lively facial expressions, loud voices, and their fast speech were in sharp contrast with the passive behavior of the average subjects. It was as if they had been released from some kind of pressure, their behavior reflected childlike playfulness [6].…”

“…According to Banyai [6], active-alert hypnosis has been a useful tool in the following cases: Since these original approaches were performed, several methods of achieving an active-alert hypnotic state have been developed. For example, Etzel Cardeña [9] elaborated a gentle active-alert hypnotic technique consisting of simply waving one hand up and down, producing results similar to those of Banyai's study.…”

Interakciós szemléletű hipnóziskutatás: a hipnózis szociál-pszichobiológiai modelljének kísérleti háttere

“…Miután több mint tíz évig tanulmányoztam a hipnotizált alanyokban megjelenő pszichofiziológiai változásokat hagyományos relaxációs és az általam kidolgozott, aktivitásfokozó aktív-éber hipnózisban (Bányai, 2018a;Bányai és Hilgard, 1976), a 80-as évek elején arra a következtetésre jutottam, hogy a hipnózis jellegzetes kontextusban, két személy sajátos interakciója során, annak eredményeként alakul ki. Mechanizmusai feltárásához tehát a kontextust, valamint a résztvevő személyek -a hipnotizőr és alanya -kölcsönös egymásra hatását, azaz magát a hipnózis-interakciót kell vizsgálat tárgyává tennünk.…”