Phobias and intense fears: Facilitating their treatment with hypnosis.

Abstract

Most clinical and experimental psychologists have been acquaintedwith clients, students, or research subjects who have described irrational and debilitating fears of specific stimuli or situations. An understanding of phobias, both their etiology and maintenance, and the role of hypnosis in their treatment should help facilitate appropriate referrals and increase the probability of successful outcomes.Several treatment approaches have been shown to be effective. This chapter concentrates on the use of hypnosis in the treatment of phobias as an adjunct to cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, insight therapy, and other approaches. We will review experimental research that finds that the effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of phobias seems to be related to the often high hypnotic responsivity of phobics and their unusual capacity for imagery vividness, focused attention, and flexibility in information-We Erently appreciate the insightful comments and suggestions made hy Thornaa Ollendick and Fred Frankel to an earlier version of t h s chapter.

Watching neutral and threatening movies: Subjective experience and autonomic responses in subjects with different hypnotizability levels

“…Although we cannot exclude that more threatening tasks may lead to different results, the present findings do not support the view of higher proneness of Highs to cognitively induced threatening experiences and, thus, to possible autonomic-related diseases (Wickramasekera, 1993;Crawford and Barabasz, 1993;De Pascalis et al, 1998), as suggested by earlier observations (Sebastiani et al, 2003). In addition, previous studies on hypnotized Highs during guided imagery of unpleasant situations have indicated that, in these subjects, the autonomic responses can be efficaciously reduced by numbing suggestions even in the absence of changes in the subjective experience (Sebastiani et al, 2007).…”

Role of relaxation and specific suggestions in hypnotic emotional numbing

“…In these subjects, guided imagery of the phobic object induces autonomic activation, but it is less pronounced than in low hypnotizable individuals (Lows) (Gemignani et al, 2006). Hypnosis is commonly used in desensitization procedures (Spiegel et al, 1981;Crawford and Barabasz, 1993); indeed, the cognitive characteristics of Highs (Wolpe and Lazarus, 1966;Crawford, 1989;Crawford and Barabasz, 1993;) allow them to experience suggestions quite like an in vivo exposure and to modify their autonomic responses accordingly (Sebastiani et al, 2003b;Santarcangelo and Sebastiani, 2004). Hypnosis is effective in the attenuation of both the behavioral (i.e.…”

Evaluación de la Sugestionabilidad en Trastornos Emocionales. Un Estudio Exploratorio

“…Frankel (1974) planteó hace tiempo que los pacientes fóbicos eran más sugestionables que la población normal. Estudios posteriores han puesto de manifiesto que los pacientes fóbicos puntúan consistentemente más alto en hipnotizabilidad que los controles (ver Crawford y Barabasz, 1993;González Ordi y Miguel Tobal, 2001). Según Dell (2017), estos estudios informan que entre un 46% y un 79% de los pacientes fóbicos mostrarían una alta capacidad de respuesta a la hipnosis, relación que es tanto más clara cuando hablamos de la presencia de varios miedos específicos o multifobias.…”