Binaural beat induced Theta EEG activity and hypnotic susceptibility: Contradictory results and technical considerations

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Apr 2003  by Stevens, Larry,  Haga, Zach,  Queen, Brandy,  Brady, Brian,  Et al

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A difficulty with existing susceptibility change procedures is that either the technology required (e.g., sensory deprivation and biofeedback) or the time and response cost (e.g., hypnotic training, psychotomimetic drugs, personal growth, and developmental changes) often prohibit their use by the clinician. If an easily administered and low response-cost procedure could be shown to statistically and clinically increase hypnotic susceptibility, then hypnosis practitioners could simply prescribe such conditioning interventions, ideally as homework, prior to formal inductions to increase the range of applicability and power of their interventions. Binuaral Beat Brainwave Entrainment holds promise as just such an intervention, one which is also quite affordable and available to the general public through compact disks and tapes. Additionally, a number of other studies have rather reliably demonstrated a frequency-following response to auditory binaural beat stimulation similar to those reported in our earlier study (Atwater, 1996; Lane, Kasian, Owens, & Marsch, 1998; Sadigh & Kozicky, 1994), so this technology appears to merit further investigation in order to validate and to extend its clinical possibilities.

The purpose of this study was to replicate our earlier study demonstrating statistically significant, but marginally clinically significant, increases in hypnotic susceptibility with binaural beat training. We hoped to increase the potential clinical impact of this training program by extending the duration of training from 1 hour to 4 hours and to better test effectiveness through a double-blind, repeated-measures group design utilizing a larger number of low and moderate susceptible participants. Only low and moderate susceptible participants were used in this study because of our prior findings of an enhancement effect only in this group and because of theoretical bases for expecting susceptibility enhancement primarily in medium and low participants (Perry, 1977; Brady & Stevens, 2000).

Method

Participants

Over 100 undergraduate college students at Northern Arizona University were pre-screened as a part of another study of hypnotic susceptibility measures with Tellegen and Atkinson's (1974) Psychological Absorption Scale, Wilson and Barber's (1978) Creative Imagination Scale, and Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard's (1962) Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSS:C). Respondents scoring low (0-4) and moderate (57) on the SHSS:C were invited to participate on a first-signup basis in the present study. Twenty-seven participants, 13 lows and 14 moderates, agreed to complete the 2 weeks of intensive binaural beat training and received $50.00 each for their participation at the end of the study2.

Participants ranged in age from 18-31 years with a mean age of 21.35 years; 21 were females and 6 were males. Only 5 had experienced hypnosis before; 10 had experienced some form of meditation practice in the past; 4 had participated in directed relaxation training in the past; only 2 had had an EEG prior to the study; 3 had sustained a mild head injury without neurological sequellae in the past; 6 reported a brief period of unconsciousness in the distant past; and all but one were right handed. The mean score for the lows on the SHSS:C was 2.46 and for the moderates was 6.50.