Review of international literature

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Apr 2003  by Hammond, D Corydon

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Anbar, R. D. (2002). Hypnosis in pediatrics: Applications at a pediatric pulmonary center. BMC Pediatrics, 2(1), 11. This report discusses the usefulness of hypnosis for patients who presented to a Pediatric Pulmonary Center over a 30 month period. Hypnosis was offered to 303 patients who were either thought to have pulmonary symptoms due to psychological issues, discomfort due to medications, or fear of procedures who were seen from May 1, 1998-October 31, 2000. Improvement in symptoms after hypnosis was observed by the pulmonologist for most patients with habit cough and conversion reaction. Improvement of other conditions for which hypnosis was used was gauged based on patients' subjective evaluations. The author indicates that hypnosis was associated with improvement in 80% of patients with persistent asthma, chest pain/pressure, habit cough, hyperventilation, shortness of breath, sighing, and vocal cord dysfunction. When improvement was reported, in some cases symptoms resolved immediately, and for the others improvement was achieved after hypnosis was used for a few weeks. No patients' symptoms worsened and no new symptoms emerged following hypnotherapy. Patients described in this report were unlikely to have achieved rapid improvement in their symptoms without the use of hypnosis, and therefore, hypnosis can be an important complementary therapy for patients in a pediatric practice. Address for reprints: Ray Anbar, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Upstate Medical University, 750 E, Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. E-mail: Anbarr@mail.upstate.edu.

Barnier, A. J. (2002). Remembering and forgetting autobiographical events: Instrumental uses of hypnosis. Contemporary Hypnosis, 19(2), 51-61. "Instrumental research" uses hypnosis as a tool to investigate phenomena outside the immediate domain of hypnosis. This paper illustrates the value of such uses by focusing on the use of hypnosis to explore the remembering and forgetting of autobiographical events. The paper focuses on research using posthypnotic amnesia to develop a laboratory model of functional amnesia. This research highlights some of the methodological and theoretical challenges inherent in instrumental hypnosis research, as well as its value and interest. Other potential uses of hypnosis within the domain of personal memory are also discussed, including autobiographical memory in hypnotically elicited delusions. Address for reprints: Amanda J. Barnier, Ph.D., School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 1052, Australia.

Barnier, A. J., & McConkey, K. M. (1999). Posthypnotic suggestions, response complexity, and amnesia. Australian Journal of Psychology, 51(1), 1-5. Thirty-eight high hypnotizable subjects were given a suggestion for either a simple or a complex posthypnotic response. This suggestion was given either with or without an accompanying suggestion for posthypnotic amnesia. The type of suggestion had an impact on subsequent responding: 94% of subjects given the simple suggestion and 16% given the complex suggestion responded. Interestingly, the accompanying presence of amnesia did not have an impact on responding: 46% of subjects with amnesia and 63% without responded; 58% of those who did not receive the amnesia suggestion responded. These findings are discussed in terms of a model that highlights the interaction of internal and external processes that encourages or discourages posthypnotic responding. Address for reprints: Amanda J. Barnier, Ph.D., School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 1052, Australia.

Croft, R. J., Williams, J. D., Haenschel, C., & Gruzelier, J. H. (2002). Pain perception, hypnosis, and 40 Hz oscillations. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 46(2), 101-108. A number of areas of the brain are associated with the subjective experience of pain. This study adds to our understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in pain perception by considering the relation between cortical oscillations in response to pain, with and without hypnosis and hypnotic analgesia, and the subjective experience of pain. EEG was measured in 33 subjects during a 40-540 ms period following painful phasic electrical stimulations to the right hand, under control and hypnosis conditions. The resulting FFT amplitudes for EEG frequencies ranging from 8 to 100 Hz were computed. These were grouped into 7 scalp topographic areas, for each frequency, along with the relations between these topographies and pain ratings, and performance and stimulus intensity measures were assessed. Gamma band activity (32-100 Hz) over prefrontal scalp sites predicted subject pain ratings in the control condition (r = 0.50, P = 0.004), and no other frequency/topography combination did. This relation was found to be present in both high and low hypnotizables and was independent of performance and stimulus intensity measures. This relationship was unchanged by hypnosis in the low hypnotizable subjects, but was not present in the highs during hypnosis, suggesting that hypnosis interferes with this pain/gamma relation. This study provides evidence for the role of gamma oscillations in the subjective experience of pain. In addition, it is in keeping with the view that hypnosis involves the dissociation of prefrontal cortex from other neural functions. Address for reprints: Dr. John Gruzelier, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Behaviour, Imperial College London, Medical Faculty, St. Dunstan's Road, W68 RF, London, UK. E-mail: j.gruzelier@ic.ac.uk.