International Hypnosis Research Institute - General

Affirmed yet unaware: exploring the role of awareness in the process of self-affirmation.

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:47:00 -0500

Three studies investigated whether self-affirmation can proceed without awareness, whether people are aware of the influence of experimental self-affirmations, and whether such awareness facilitates or undermines the self-affirmation process. The authors found that self-affirmation effects could proceed without awareness, as implicit self-affirming primes (utilizing sentence-unscrambling procedures) produced standard self-affirmation effects (Studies 1 and 3). People were generally unaware of self-affirmation's influence, and self-reported awareness was associated with decreased impact of the affirmation (Studies 1 and 2). Finally, affirmation effects were attenuated when people learned that self-affirmation was designed to boost self-esteem (Study 2) or told of a potential link between self-affirmation and evaluations of threatening information (Study 3). Together, these studies suggest not only that affirmation processes can proceed without awareness but also that increased awareness of the affirmation may diminish its impact. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2009 Nov;97(5):745-64. Sherman DK, Cohen GL, Nelson LD, Nussbaum AD, Bunyan DP, Garcia J. Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA. david.sherman@psych.ucsb.edu

Realizing Your Inner Savant

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:06:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD One thing that I have learned from theoretical physicists is that we filter an unlimited universe in order to create our perception of reality. This restricts our concept of self, which is very obviously a product of more than just our genetics and the accidental circumstances to which we are born. It seems that since our birth environmental influences began shaping our bodies and minds into what we mistakenly understand as our self-identity. However, if those learned filters are questioned, just maybe we can discover that we are much, much more than we ever imagined. Indeed, within each of us there are endless possibilities. Once we realize this perhaps we can start writing our own story rather than having it done for us. [More]

Comparison of conventional therapies for dentin hypersensitivity versus medical hypnosis.

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:43:00 -0500

This study compared the efficacy of conventional treatments for dentin hypersensitivity (DHS) and hypnotherapy. During a 1-month period at an urban practice in a service area of approximately 22,000 inhabitants, all patients were examined. A total of 102 individuals were included in the evaluation. Values of 186 teeth were analyzed. The comparison of the different treatment methods (desensitizer, fluoridation, and hypnotherapy) did not show significant differences in success rates. However, a noticeable difference was observed in terms of onset and duration of effect. For both desensitizer and hypnotherapy treatments, onset of effect was very rapid. Compared to the other methods studied, hypnotherapy effects had the longest duration. In conclusion, hypnotherapy was as effective as other methods in the treatment of DHS. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2010 Oct;58(4):457-75. Eitner S, Bittner C, Wichmann M, Nickenig HJ, Sokol B. Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany.

The Ethical Implications of Hypnotherapy

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:16:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD During my initial hypnotherapy training, my instructor strongly emphasized that we should always inform our subjects that they could not be hypnotized against their will. Yet over the next couple of decades this claim was constantly contradicted by a string of knowledgeable authorities. These hypnotists imparted technique after technique that proved capable of changing a person's internal representations, emotional states, and behavior completely without the knowledge or pre-approval of a hypnosis subject. After years of active clinical practice, teaching, and writing I have witnessed the power that the hypnotic operator has over others. Even though such an admission may run counter to the dogma that is regularly espoused by the major international organizations, all one has to do is to witness an unintended arm catalepsy during a clinical session or observe a negative hallucination occurring during a stage hypnotist's performance to fully accept my conclusions. [More]

Moving Toward Hypnotherapy Competency

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:38:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD The credibility of any profession or trade relies on a set of generally accepted standards, which lead to a common understanding as to what the public should expect. Educational institutions that train such people, licensure authorities, academic accreditation bodies, and associations and organization of peers generally function to create an aura of officialdom leading to the unquestioned acceptance of those who endeavor to practice any field. Even though there tends to be a multitude of self-styled authorities proclaiming their right to pontificate the "litmus test" for a given field, their acceptability tends to reside less with their vociferousness and more with their compliance with the methodology normally expected by credibility-giving entities. Unfortunately, the field of hypnotherapy is currently falling short. Competing schools and organizations are proffering their own view of standards while failing to realize that their efforts have little similarity to those employed by other trades and professions. Based upon extensive review and deliberation, The International Hypnosis Research Institute would like to attempt to rectify this. [More]

Hypnotizing the Internet Mind

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:52:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD The fundamental functioning of the human mind/brain is currently undergoing the most significant shift since the advent of the printing press. Starting with the mid-20th century cultural infection known as the mass media, recent information technology advances are redesigning our plastic brains and affecting how we think, learn, and interact with each other. These profound changes are also redefining our basic nature, creating a plethora of new mental dysfunctions, and necessitating that we relook at just how consultants, trainers, coaches, and therapists ply their transformative efforts. Hypnotherapists who practice their skills as either a profession or a trade must update their methods lest, like the rotary dial telephone, they become an obsolete relic of the past. We have become technological junkies. My desktop is a prime example. I am writing this article on the left screen of my dual screen display. (I often wish that I had more than two.) I have five Internet browsers currently open with a total of 17 active tabs representing ideas, projects, and concerns that are currently occupying my mind. To the right is my palm-sized multi-media cell phone complete with Web and the ability to perform live syncing with multiple social network systems. Then there is my six line phone which came with a 900 page manual, live tech support, and more features than I will ever master. And then on the edge of my desk I am charging the latest addition, which is an Amazon Kindle DX that is connected wirelessly 24/7 as it continually downloads updates of several newspapers and a couple of my favorite magazines. Add to this cacophony of communication technologies the fact that I actively maintain 12 e-mail profiles, over 40,000 Web pages, a couple of Twitter accounts, a MySpace account, and more Facebook personal pages than they would like me to have ? and 26 Facebook "fan" pages. [More]

Matters of the Mind

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:32:00 -0500

by Joyce-Anne Locking Being unhappy, depressed, lazy, sluggish, joyful, ambitious or exuberant are all examples of habit. Whatever habits you find yourself automatically repeating each day can be changed. Pay attention to the things you are focusing on daily and ask yourself if these things are serving your purpose today. [More]

The Impact of Passive Information Processing

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:48:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD In the late 18th century the German Idealist philosopher Friedrich von Schiller said that "It is the union of the unconscious and reflection that makes the poetic artist." That one phrase revolutionized how humanity viewed conscious awareness. He introduced the idea that in addition to our conscious awareness that there was another level that was actively working in the background. While he was merely a philosopher ? rather than a scientist ? his concept of a below-the-awareness consciousness quickly seeped into the lexicon of the rational researcher as an a priori assumption of the existence of an unconscious mind, which is a term often interchangeable with the idea of a subconscious mind. Nevertheless, while few doubt its existence, few have substantially explored its functioning and how it perceives and processes external perception. One such researcher is Norman F. Dixon, PhD, of the University College, in London. He has conducted extensive research into how our mind passively processes perception. He concluded that our senses allow our mind and body to rapidly accept and adapt to both internal and external entities and events. Accelerated learning advocates, such as Paul R. Scheele, MA, of Learning Strategies Corporation in Minnesota, have applied Dixon's work to a variety of self-development programs, many of which tend to claim accomplishments that quickly receive the attention of skeptics. Regardless, the preconscious processing concepts proposed by Dixon and adopted by Scheele are based upon the premise that our neurophysiology is capable of perceiving and processing millions of bits of information each and every second. They claim that respecting this natural human ability allows learning to occur much more rapidly than in occasions when a subject should limit learning to their much slower aggregate conscious awareness, which tends to be retarded or throttled by a miniscule ability to processes information. [More]

The efficacy of hypnosis in the treatment of pruritus in people with HIV/AIDS:a time-series analysis

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:21:00 -0500

Pruritus, or generalized itch, is a source of serious discomfort and distress in a significant minority of people living with AIDS. Anecdotal reports suggest hypnosis might be a useful treatment, leading to reductions in distress and improvements in the condition. But empirical examination of the question is notably lacking. This time-series study reports results of a 6-session self-hypnosis treatment (relaxation, deepening, imagery, and home practice) for 3 HIV-positive men suffering from pruritus, related to disease progression and/or HIV medications. Posttreatment, all 3 patients reported significant reductions in daily itch severity and extent of sleep disturbance due to itch. One patient also evidenced significantly less itch distress. Another also experienced significantly less time bothered by itch. For the 2 patients on which 4-month follow-up data were available, treatment benefit across variables was stable or further improved. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2002 Apr;50(2):149-69. Rucklidge JJ, Saunders D. The Toronto Hospital, Canada. j.rucklidge@psyc.canterbury.ac.nz

Is There Free Will? Finally an Answer

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:10:00 -0500

by Alfred A Barrios, PhD The question of whether man does or does not have free will has been debated down through the centuries by some of the greatest minds but has never been fully answered. There are those, call them idealists, who say that of course we have free will; we can control our own destiny; we can choose between misery and happiness. Then there are the realists who point to all the miserable people in the world and ask did all these people freely choose to be miserable? [More]

Hypnosis and the Inelasticity of the Human Ego

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:49:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD The enemy to learning, health, and other human transformation is an inelastic and fixed sense of ego. Hypnosis is a primary tool designed to promote change through the seeking to dissolve the prison in which many subjects have incased their egos. The sense of self that is indoctrinated into most of humanity is also related to the maintenance of disharmonious states, which can also be termed as pathologies and illnesses. Any cursory review of human history will disclose a ubiquitous effort to establish a firm, unchanging sense of self. Writers and thinkers such as Joseph Campbell have even implied that mythology and even the "invention" of religion may serve to satisfy this need. While this article will not question the validity of spirituality or cosmological beliefs, I will recognize that there has always been an urge for individuals to "find themselves." Likewise, communities and organizations also display a tendency to rapidly develop a culture and identity ? to which they jealously cling. [More]

Abstracts Are Not Only Used as Wall Hangings!

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:40:00 -0500

by Joyce-Anne Locking B.Mus. Music is abstract sound expressing emotion which is subjective not concrete. Music is deep rather than horizontal in thought. It reminds me of a saying about happiness. Happiness, as poet Robert Frost put it, makes up in height what it lacks in length. Music is a kind of happiness too and it can describe happiness, or the lack of it, beyond words. [More]

Understanding dissociation and insight in the treatment of shortness of breath with hypnosis

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:14:00 -0500

Full Title: Understanding dissociation and insight in the treatment of shortness of breath Training in hypnosis is particularly valuable for the physician seeking to better appreciate the interplay between mind and body. Through such experiences the physician can learn that presentation of symptoms often is affected by patients' psychological states, and that symptoms sometimes serve as solutions for patients' psychological dilemmas. The presented case study demonstrates how an 11-year-old's complaint of shortness of breath becomes an opportunity for an appropriately trained physician to provide treatment by helping the patient to engage his inner resources. The case illustrates the strength of hypnosis for accessing resources outside of conscious awareness and use of dissociative language to both support and alter the patient's defenses. We discuss the role of hypnosis when working psychodynamically with a patient, and whether and when insight is important or necessary for change of behavior. Am J Clin Hypn. 2010 Apr;52(4):263-73. Anbar RD, Linden JH. SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. anbarr@upstate.edu

"Stop, Believe and Let go": a Behavioral Change Mentorship Program

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

by Shealy Healy Poor health often is a byproduct of stress. When you accumulate too much stress within your mind and body you are left depleted of healthy rejuvenating every. Your mind becomes ill. Anxiety takes over your body. You get sick. [More]

The Dark Side of Brilliance

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:59:00 -0500

by Tim Brunson, PhD Within the arenas of genius, mastery, and brilliance lay the seeds of evil and destruction. Understanding this is vital to the practice of any healing or helping profession. Consider two medical doctors who could easily be considered extremely capable and effective in their chosen endeavors. One was Albert Schweitzer, who won the 1953 Nobel Prize for his "Reverence of Life" philosophy; the other, Josef Mengele, the Nazi SS physician, who was called the "Angel of Death." Despite the good achieved by the former and the despair caused by the latter, it is very easy to recognize that both had a high level of competency. What I wish to explore is whether the achievement of mastery facilitates the simultaneous probability of significant good and bad outcomes and what we can do to influence the results. Hopefully, the recognition of dichotomy will increase the likelihood that transformation will benefit an individual and mankind as a whole. As a somewhat arm-chair-neurologist, I equate mastery as a physical state in which the requisite areas of the brain are enhanced with thicker neural networks. This increased capability allows violinists to play at the expert level, golfers to improve their handicaps, languages to be mastered quickly, and culinary delights to be produced on a regular basis. On the other hand, when these substrates are enhanced, all of the capabilities related to that substrate become available at an increased level. These capabilities are functional tools. There is no assurance that the end result will always be desirable. The problem is that the increased level of functioning provides the potential for both positive and negative results. [More]