Intentionality during hypnosis: an ironic process analysis.

Two studies were completed to test whether responding to hypnotic suggestions requires intentional effort. Hypnotic suggestions for amnesia were used as an analog of thought suppression, and Wegner's model of ironic processing was applied to hypnotic responding. In the first study, participants were required to maintain suggested amnesia while performing a cancellation task with and without a cognitive load. The second study required suppression of thoughts of a favorite car, once with "blank-mind" instructions and then with a suggestion for amnesia. The results of these studies indicate that dissociated control theory provides the best explanation for hypnotic responding in one subset of highly hypnotizable participants, whereas more intentional responding provides the best explanation for others.

Kenneth S. Bowers, interactionism and hypnosis.

Like most seminal thinkers in hypnosis, Kenneth Bowers' interests and contributions have ranged beyond that particular domain. The list of his published works is impressive by anyone's standards, and includes important contributions in the areas of health, psychotherapy, and hypnosis. This paper will focus on his major contribution to personality theory, Situationism in Psychology: An Analysis and Critique, published in 1973 in the Psychological Review.

Context and consistency: the Canadian connection.

Issues related to context effects in hypnosis research are briefly reviewed. The contributions of Canadian hypnosis researchers to current theory and research on context effects are acknowledged. Bowers and colleagues at the University of Waterloo emphasized the scope and subtlety of contextual influences on correlates of hypnotic suggestibility, and they promoted the development of a consistency motivation theory of context effects. Spanos and colleagues at Carleton University generalized context effects within the domain of hypnosis, prompting extension of this work to general personality measurement. Implications of findings on consistency motivation for hypnosis research are discussed in terms of person-by-situation interactions.

Ethical evaluation of hypnosis research: a survey of investigators and their institutional review boards.

We surveyed hypnosis researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) with regard to the ethical evaluation of research protocols. Researchers and IRB administrators were independently surveyed within the same institutions. Both objective and free response items were used to address substantive issues such as deception and at-risk populations, as well as practical matters such as paperwork. Parallel questions allowed a point-counterpoint between researchers and IRBs. Overall, the results suggest that IRBs do not treat hypnosis research differently than other types of research. We end with recommendations for facilitating interactions between hypnosis researchers and their IRBs.

Relationship of social perceptions and self-concept in bulimia nervosa.

Although numerous studies have examined the families of bulimic individuals, none have explicitly addressed how family factors relate to self-concept among patients with bulimia. This study used L. Benjamin's' structural analysis of social behavior (1974) rating scales to assess how perceptions of parental relationships relate to self-concept. The results indicate that female patients with bulimia perceive both parents as hostilely disengaged. Furthermore, the self-concepts of patients with bulimia were significantly associated with perceptions of paternal attack/friendliness, which differentiated them from control participants. The results are discussed in terms of the possible relations between family factors and self-concept in bulimia.

Expert judgments of hypnosis from subjective state reports.

Suggestibility was assessed in 60 college students after a traditional hypnotic induction, an alert induction, progressive relaxation training, or instruction in goal-directed imagery. Responsiveness to suggestion did not differ between groups. Subjects also generated open-ended reports of their states of awareness and of their experience of 3 hypnotic suggestions. A sample of these reports from 24 moderately to highly suggestible subjects were evaluated by 18 experts in the field of hypnosis. Expert ratings of subjects' open-ended reports indicated that (a) traditional hypnotic inductions produce a state of consciousness that is indistinguishable from nonhypnotic relaxation training, (b) the subjective experience of hypnotic suggestions after imagination training is indistinguishable from that after hypnotic inductions, and (c) suggestibility is unrelated to state of consciousness as assessed by experts.

Children's prehospitalization conceptions of illness, cognitive development, and personal adjustment.

Although some empirical attention has focused on the predictors of children's reactions to surgery and hospitalization, few studies have examined the correlates of various dimensions of prehospital adjustment, even though there is some evidence that prehospital adjustment may be the best predictor of posthospital adjustment. This study included the investigation of several cognitive-related variables in association with the psychosocial adjustment of children 4 to 12 years of age who were scheduled for tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies at a Children's Hospital. Subjects were administered measures of illness conceptualizations, cognitive development, and adjustment a few days before hospitalization and surgery. The results indicated that illness concepts correlated highly with verbal receptive skills, conservation abilities, and age. Also, more sophisticated conceptualizations of illness, conservation skills, and age were associated with better prehospital adjustment, most noteably in the areas of lower levels of separation anxiety, anxiety about sleep, and apathy/withdrawal.

Temperament and family characteristics as predictors of children's reactions to hospitalization.

Findings from a study of 47 children 4 to 12 years old who received tonsillectomies at a children's hospital indicated that adjustment before hospitalization was the strongest predictor of postsurgical adjustment. However, certain temperamental and mother-child relationship factors also were strongly related to and predictive of posthospitalization outcomes. Children who displayed the most positive reactions were temperamentally more rhythmical (i.e., had regular, predictable behavior), more approaching to new experiences and people, more adaptable to change and positive in mood, and more responsive. Although family adaptability and cohesion were not significantly associated with children's reactions to hospitalization, maternal trait anxiety and maternal overprotection, rejection, and overindulgence of the child were correlated with poorer adjustment. The findings have practical implications to helping children adjust more effectively to surgery and hospitalization, and they contribute to our understanding of resiliency and vulnerability in children.

The effectiveness of a family asthma program for children and parents.

An evaluation of a Family Asthma Program revealed significant gains in relevant knowledge and management skills for parents, but not 4- to 12-year-old children with asthma. There were no significant differences between program group families and two other groups of families with asthmatic children at post-test time in regard to various characteristics of family stress and coping. Suggestions for the improvement of Family Asthma Programs are discussed.

Subjective scoring for the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A.

A scale is presented which assesses subjective experiences associated with the test suggestions contained in the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962). This scale, along with the standard HGSHS:A self-scoring test booklet, was administered to 479 students at the University of Connecticut and 618 students at North Dakota State University, and normative data from these samples are reported. Correlational analyses indicated that the scale was both reliable and valid as a measure of hypnotic responsiveness. It is suggested that it may be useful to supplement behavioral scoring of hypnotizability with subjective scoring.

Temperament as a predictor of psychological adjustment in female adult incest victims.

Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relation between temperament and psychological adjustment in a sample of female adult incest victims (N = 57). Several dimensions of temperament, including activity level, mood, approach/withdrawal, flexibility (adaptability), and rhythmicity were significant predictors of various indicators of adjustment and self-esteem. The findings suggest that temperamental characteristics may moderate the effects of childhood incest on adult adjustment.

Temperament, adjustment, and alcoholism in adult female incest victims.

Female adult incest victims differing in history of alcoholism were compared to an alcoholism-only and a no incest/no alcoholism group on dimensions of temperament, psychological adjustment, and self-esteem. Incest victims with histories of alcoholism were more alienated and withdrawn, less rhythmical in their daily behavior, and evidenced lower self-esteem, more negative mood, greater social nonconformity, and more emotional discomfort than women in the other three groups. Women in the no incest/no alcohol group showed the best self-esteem and psychological adjustment and were generally more positive in the expression of various temperamental characteristics. The findings also suggested an association between incestuous victimization and an alcoholic family of origin.

Reliability of lumbar paravertebral EMG assessment in chronic low back pain.

The reliability of lumbar paravertebral EMG assessment was investigated in a sample of 70 patients with chronic low back pain, (CLBP). Dual-site EMG monitoring was employed during both static postures and movements. Flexion and rotation indices were divided to assess the reliability of patterning of paravertebral EMG during movement. Within-session reliabilities computed for the full sample ranged from 0.66 to 0.97, and between-session reliabilities, computed on a subset of 29 patients retested after varying intervals, ranged from 0.26 to 0.92. Average EMG levels, flexion, and rotation indices showed no statistically significant differences between surgical (n = 40) and nonsurgical patients (n = 30), although EMG variability was consistently greater for surgical patients across the postures and movements. These results indicate that lumbar paravertebral EMG can be reliably measured and therefore has potential utility as an assessment and treatment variable in CLBP.

Expectancy versus absorption in the prediction of hypnotic responding.

The Absorption Scale, a measure of imaginative involvement, was administered to 64 subjects in the context of a hypnosis experiment and to an additional 64 subjects in a context unrelated to hypnosis. Expectancies of responding to hypnotic suggestions were assessed both before trance induction and after trance induction but before administration of hypnotic test suggestions. Hypnotic depth was assessed on the Long Stanford Scale (LSS) before the administration of test suggestions, and on the Inventory of Hypnotic Depth (IHD) after the hypnosis session. Absorption was correlated with hypnotic responsivity and expectancy, but only when assesed in the hypnotic context. Completing the Absorption Scale in a hypnotic context appeared to affect hypnotic responsiveness by altering subjects' expectancies. Only postinduction expectancies were uniquely predictive of response to hypnotic test suggestions, and all variables except the LSS were predictive of IHD scores. Results of path analysis supported the hypothesis that trance inductions alter expectancies for responding to hypnotic suggestions and that these altered expectancies determine subsequent hypnotic behavior.