Responding and Failing to Respond to Both Hypnosis and a Kinesthetic Illusion, Chevreul's Pendulum

Abstract

In this study, participants who failed to exhibit pendulum movement in response to Chevreul's Pendulum (CP) instructions had lower Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A (SHSS:A) scores and reported experiencing less subjective response to hypnosis than did their counterparts who exhibited CP movement. However, intensity scores on Shor's Personal Experiences Questionnaire (PEQ) did not differ between pass- and fail-CP groups. Additionally, pass-CP participants showed positive correlations between PEQ intensity scores and hypnotizability scores, while fail-CP participants showed negative correlations among these measures. These findings are consistent with the notion that CP failure may reflect a situation-specific unwillingness to become imaginatively involved rather than a general inability to do so. Additional analyses revealed that 5 of 10 participants who had failed the CP task scored 0 or 1 on the SHSS:A, while only 3 of 65 pass-CP participants scored 0 or 1.

The Effectiveness of Hypnosis in Reducing Pain and Suffering Among Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer and Among Women With Temporomandibular Disorder

“…Those assigned to the hypnosis intervention were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility to track whether symptom improvement is associated with hypnotizability (Iglesias & Iglesias, 2008;Lichtenberg, Shapira, Kalish, & Abramowitz, 2009;Nash et al, 2009;Oneal, Patterson, Soltani, Teeley, & Jensen, 2008;Pyun & Kim, 2008;Raz, 2008;Wagstaff, Cole, & Brunas-Wagstaff, 2008;Whitehead, Noller, & Sheehan, 2008;Xu & Cardeña, 2008;Yard, DuHamel, & Galynker, 2008). The authors include a host of measures to detect changes in cognition and coping strategies sometimes associated with hypnotic interventions (Karlin, Hill, & Messer, 2008;Nathanson, 2009;Pekala et al, 2008;Pyun & Kim, 2009;Robertson, 2009aRobertson, , 2009bSala et al, 2008;Szendi et al, 2009;Tschugguel & Hunter, 2008). Standardized scales as well as pain diaries were used at baseline and during three treatment phase intervals.…”

Moving by thoughts alone? Amount of finger movement and pendulum length determine success in the Chevreul Pendulum Illusion

“…They also confirmed that restraining the arm at the wrist decreased the pendulum oscillation and demonstrated that out of 75 subjects, only 60 were able to create the illusion (Easton and Shor, 1976). Hypnosis research uses Chevreul's pendulum illusion as a tool for testing a patient's response to the technique, with patients that are not able to move the pendulum generally being unresponsive to hypnosis (Karlin et al, 2007).…”

Two Cases, One Good Therapist

“…Like an IQ test, the participant had to be willing enough to try to do each task in order for measurement to be valid, but willingness acted as a gatekeeper of, rather than reason for, hypnotizability scores (cf. Karlin, Hill, & Messer, 2005).…”