Scientometric analysis of psychological interventions based upon the use of Hypnosis

Abstract

Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique that has developed for centuries, and every time with greater clinical and scientific weight. Currently, hypnosis constitutes a solid support method for treatments against chronic pain and for emotion control under situations that generate fear and anxiety -such as surgery or other type of phobias-, so it is presented as an alternative to the use of medicine/drugs by health specialists. On the other hand within the field of behavioral sciences, apart from controlling fear and anxiety responses, hypnosis serves as support to the various cognitive behavioral techniques by facilitating their assimilation and development. This work presents a scientometric study of the research done on hypnosis over the last fifteen years, from publications -in Spanish and English- in specialized journals, indexed in SCOPUS (a specialized international bibliometric database). The contemporary applications of hypnosis are presented and critically discussed; as well as the fields in which its application has proven successful; its limitations; the research networks generated within the time of the study; plus, probable projections for future research are also mentioned.