Women Only: Exclusive Hypnosis for Women

Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Mindfulness Meditation Mega Bundle: Gym Body Hypnosis Bundle: Get the Physique You Deserve, with Hypnosis. Animal Attraction for Women: Stop Procrastinating, Get Motivated: Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length: September 24, Language: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. The script used for improved sleep quality began with a script providing basic information about the associations between brain activity and sleep, in order to establish the rationale for using self-hypnotic strategies for altering brain activity, and hence influencing sleep Jensen, A portion of the script that presents this information is presented below.

First, when you are awake, your brain is quite active. Your brain cells are firing and talking with each other; back and forth. Some patients may need to be told what a brain cell is. Another fact to be aware of is that people need different amounts of sleep. We all start to wake up more at night as we get older. The important thing is if you are able to get back to sleep when you do wake up, and if you feel rested in the morning. So it is important to understand that it is fine to need less sleep, and to wake up at night. It is also important to understand that your sleep depends on the activity in your brain.

And here is what is interesting: What do you think is happening in your brain during the inductions that we do in the clinic, and that you are practicing at home? If the patient is not sure or does not say something about the brain becoming more relaxed or slowing activity, proceed to explain what is known about brain activity during hypnosis.

During hypnosis, and in response to hypnotic inductions, the brain starts to slow down, much like it does just before a person falls asleep. There is much more slow activity.

Next, basic sleep hygiene information was presented, because improving sleep hygiene is associated with improved sleep Jensen, The sleep hygiene information that was covered included activities helpful for a preparing the body for sleep avoid drugs that interfere with sleep, avoid daytime naps, exercise regularly, wake up at the same time every day, etc. Patients were then told that once they were in bed and ready to go to sleep, they could use their favorite hypnotic induction e. Patients who would prefer to pay attention to hypnogogic images can do so with a suggestion that they can become absorbed by these images.

A script presenting the instructions for this technique follows. The goal of the technique is the same as the other self-hypnotic inductions: Here is how it works. First, just listen for three things. Any three things that you hear: Any three things at all. They can even be the same thing. Just listen for, hear, and then count three things. Next, feel three things.

The feeling of the sheet against the skin—one. An interesting tingling sensation in the limbs—two. Cool or maybe warm air on the face—three. It does not matter what they are. Any three things will do. They can be different or the same. Just feel them and count them, 1, 2, 3. And then, see three things. Allow three images to come into the mind. Just let them appear, on their own. Some third image; it does matter what it is, maybe a beach—three.

Then, after you have seen the third thing, go back, and hear two things, and count them in the mind. Then feel two things. Then see two things. Then hear one thing, feel one thing, and see one thing. And then start again. Hear three things, feel three things, see three things. Then hear two things, feel two things, see two things. Then hear, feel, and see one thing.

And back to three. As the mind is experiencing what it hears, feels, and sees, as it starts to drift to sleep, you will likely lose count. That is fine; just start over. Hear, feel, and see three things. Hear, feel, and see two things. Hear, feel, and see one thing. You can use this strategy and discover what interesting things you can experience as you drift into a deep, restful sleep.

Following the suggestions given for symptom management, additional nonstandardized suggestions were given that were specifically tailored for each participant. The specific suggestions made during this portion of the session were created by the clinician i. Examples of the goals selected by the participants for these suggestions were increased confidence, increased sense of calm, and increased focus on valued goals and activities.

Following the last hypnotic suggestion of each session, participants were given posthypnotic suggestions to extend the benefits of treatment beyond the treatment sessions Jensen, These included suggestions for a an ability to practice and easily experience self-hypnosis again outside of the treatment sessions, b an increased ability to experience both hypnosis and symptom improvement over time and with practice, and c the extension of the benefits of hypnosis and self-hypnosis beyond the treatment and practice sessions.

You May Also Like

The primary outcome measures of this study assessed the four target symptoms: All outcome measures were assessed by a research study assistant i. These scores were then averaged into a single composite score representing characteristic pain. Self-report of pain intensity is recognized by experts as the most appropriate primary outcome measure in most analgesic clinical trials Turk et al. In addition, the 0—10 NRS has been recommended as a useful measure of this pain domain because of a strong evidence for its validity as evidenced by its strong association with other measures of pain intensity and responsivity to analgesic treatment, b understandability and ease of use, and c ease of administration and scoring Jensen, A strength of all the PROMIS item banks, including the 10 fatigue items administered in this study, is that any combination of items can be transformed into a T score mean of 50, standard deviation of 10 that is anchored to the mean levels of the domain found in a healthy U.

Thus, a patient with a score of 70 or a sample mean with an average score of 70 is reporting a level of fatigue that is two standard deviations above the mean of the PROMIS healthy normative U. Hot flash frequency was measured using an adaptation of a daily diary assessing hot flash frequency and severity used in a clinical trial, and that demonstrated responsivity to treatment in that trial Goodwin et al. The diary begins with a very detailed operational definition of mild, moderate, severe, and very severe hot flashes, describing each in terms of duration e.

Participants are then asked to indicate the number of each category of hot flash that she experienced in the past 24 hours. Therefore, the diary measure was modified to allow participants to provide estimates of the number of each category of hot flash she experienced in the past 7 days. The total number of hot flashes reported in the past week was used as the primary measure of this outcome domain.

This measure contains items that ask about difficulties with getting to sleep, getting enough sleep to feel rested, awakening short of breath or with a headache, awakening and having difficulty falling back to sleep, staying awake during the day, and getting the amount of needed sleep. The six-item version of this scale was administered in the current study in an effort to minimize assessment burden. Evidence indicates that hypnotic treatments can have benefits beyond those that are specifically targeted by the hypnotic suggestions Jensen et al.

In order to determine if the hypnotic intervention examined in this study had such additional benefits on pain interference for those reporting pain as a problem and for depression, anxiety, or general symptom reporting for all of the participants, we assessed each of these domains at each assessment point. A great deal of research supports the validity and reliability of the PHQ—9 in many patient populations Kroenke et al. The PHQ—9 can vary from 0 to 27, with cutoff points of 5, 10, 15, and 20 representing mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively.

Cutoffs for the 0—21 range of the scale are 5, 10, and 15 for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively Spitzer et al. A great deal of research supports the validity and reliability of the GAD-7 and includes support for its responsivity to treatments that reduce anxiety Kroenke et al. The score can range from 0 to 30, and cutoff points of 5, 10 and 15 are used to represent mild, moderate, and severe somatic symptoms, respectively.

Research supports the validity of the PHQ—15 for identifying patients with somatoform disorder and for detecting change in somatization in clinical trials Kroenke et al. Finally, as a behavioral measure of perceived helpfulness of treatment, at the 6-month follow-up point, participants were asked to indicate how frequently they a listened to the CDs provided with treatment and b practiced self-hypnosis on their own without the CDs over the past 30 days. Because data were available at all time points for all eight participants, we used a series of repeated measures analyses of variance ANOVAs to test for the effects of treatment, followed by univariate tests of the scores between each time point if a significant omnibus time effect emerged from these analyses.

In each case, we limited the analysis sample to those participants presenting with the targeted symptoms. Because only two participants reported problems with hot flashes, descriptive analyses were performed to understand the changes, if any, reported in hot flash frequency for these participants.

ANOVAs followed by univariate tests were also used to test for any changes in the secondary outcome variables of pain interference, depression, anxiety, and general symptom reporting. Data from the five participants reporting pain difficulties were used for the analyses examining pain interference, and data on all eight study participants were used in the analyses examining depression, anxiety, and general symptom reporting. Descriptive analyses were used to examine the frequency of self-hypnosis practice at the 6-month follow-up point.

The means and standard deviations for the primary and secondary outcome variables assessed at each assessment point pretreatment, posttreatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-up are presented in Table 1. Pretreatment to 6-month follow-up effect sizes were even larger for pain intensity 4. F values reported are associated with a time effect, and effect sizes reported are associated with the pre- to posttreatment change in outcome. The immediate pre- to posttreatment decreases in pain intensity for all five participants presenting with pain can be seen, with continued improvements in pain from posttreatment to 1-month posttreatment for 4 of the 5 participants.

More variability in changes in pain can be seen after both the 1-month e.

Women Only: Exclusive Hypnosis for Women by Erick Brown on iTunes

Characteristic pain intensity scores at each assessment point for the five participants who presented with pain as a problem. MOS Sleep Problem Index scores at each assessment point for the five participants who presented with sleep problems at baseline. Number of hot flashes during the past week at each assessment point for the two participants who presented with hot flashes as a problem. With respect to fatigue, the participants showed a similar pattern of responding see Figure 2. They all reported pre- to posttreatment improvements that continued to the 1-month follow-up point.

There was a return to pretreatment fatigue levels for these participants at the 3-month assessment point for three of the participants, but all participants reported improvements in fatigue from the 3- to the 6-month assessment point. One participant reported a marked decrease in fatigue pre- to posttreatment that returned to pretreatment levels by the 1-month follow-up point and then generally stayed the same through the 6-month assessment point. The pattern of improvements in sleep appeared more similar to those for pain intensity than to those for fatigue.

There was a decrease in sleep problems for all 5 of the participants presenting with sleep difficulties from pretreatment to posttreatment; although the improvements for one of the participants was very modest. When using hypnosis, one person the subject is guided by another the hypnotist to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, [24] [25] sensation, [26] emotion, thought or behavior.

Persons can also learn self-hypnosis, which is the act of administering hypnotic procedures on one's own. If the subject responds to hypnotic suggestions, it is generally inferred that hypnosis has been induced. Many believe that hypnotic responses and experiences are characteristic of a hypnotic state. While some think that it is not necessary to use the word "hypnosis" as part of the hypnotic induction, others view it as essential.

• Hypnosis - Wikipedia;
• North Wales Hospital, Denbigh 1842-1995.
• ?
• Il monte Oliveto (Italian Edition).
• Product details.

Michael Nash provides a list of eight definitions of hypnosis by different authors, in addition to his own view that hypnosis is "a special case of psychological regression ":. Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell the originators of the human givens approach define hypnosis as "any artificial way of accessing the REM state, the same brain state in which dreaming occurs" and suggest that this definition, when properly understood, resolves "many of the mysteries and controversies surrounding hypnosis".

They explain this by pointing out that, in a sense, all learning is post-hypnotic, which explains why the number of ways people can be put into a hypnotic state are so varied: Hypnosis is normally preceded by a "hypnotic induction" technique. Traditionally, this was interpreted as a method of putting the subject into a "hypnotic trance"; however, subsequent "nonstate" theorists have viewed it differently, seeing it as a means of heightening client expectation, defining their role, focusing attention, etc.

There are several different induction techniques. One of the most influential methods was Braid's "eye-fixation" technique, also known as "Braidism". Many variations of the eye-fixation approach exist, including the induction used in the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale SHSS , the most widely used research tool in the field of hypnotism. Take any bright object e. The patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on the idea of that one object.

It will be observed, that owing to the consensual adjustment of the eyes, the pupils will be at first contracted: They will shortly begin to dilate, and, after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, extended and a little separated, are carried from the object toward the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion.

If this is not the case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him to begin anew, giving him to understand that he is to allow the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried towards the eyes, but that the eyeballs must be kept fixed, in the same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the object held above the eyes. In general, it will be found, that the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed.

Braid later acknowledged that the hypnotic induction technique was not necessary in every case, and subsequent researchers have generally found that on average it contributes less than previously expected to the effect of hypnotic suggestions. However, this method is still considered authoritative. When James Braid first described hypnotism, he did not use the term "suggestion" but referred instead to the act of focusing the conscious mind of the subject upon a single dominant idea.

Braid's main therapeutic strategy involved stimulating or reducing physiological functioning in different regions of the body. In his later works, however, Braid placed increasing emphasis upon the use of a variety of different verbal and non-verbal forms of suggestion, including the use of "waking suggestion" and self-hypnosis. Subsequently, Hippolyte Bernheim shifted the emphasis from the physical state of hypnosis on to the psychological process of verbal suggestion:.

I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar psychical [i. Often, it is true, the [hypnotic] sleep that may be induced facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary preliminary. It is suggestion that rules hypnotism. Bernheim's conception of the primacy of verbal suggestion in hypnotism dominated the subject throughout the 20th century, leading some authorities to declare him the father of modern hypnotism. Contemporary hypnotism uses a variety of suggestion forms including direct verbal suggestions, "indirect" verbal suggestions such as requests or insinuations, metaphors and other rhetorical figures of speech, and non-verbal suggestion in the form of mental imagery, voice tonality, and physical manipulation.

A distinction is commonly made between suggestions delivered "permissively" and those delivered in a more "authoritarian" manner.

Women Only: Exclusive Hypnosis for Women

Harvard hypnotherapist Deirdre Barrett writes that most modern research suggestions are designed to bring about immediate responses, whereas hypnotherapeutic suggestions are usually post-hypnotic ones that are intended to trigger responses affecting behaviour for periods ranging from days to a lifetime in duration. The hypnotherapeutic ones are often repeated in multiple sessions before they achieve peak effectiveness. Some hypnotists view suggestion as a form of communication that is directed primarily to the subject's conscious mind, [40] whereas others view it as a means of communicating with the " unconscious " or " subconscious " mind.

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory describes conscious thoughts as being at the surface of the mind and unconscious processes as being deeper in the mind. Indeed, Braid actually defines hypnotism as focused conscious attention upon a dominant idea or suggestion. Different views regarding the nature of the mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion. Hypnotists who believe that responses are mediated primarily by an "unconscious mind", like Milton Erickson , make use of indirect suggestions such as metaphors or stories whose intended meaning may be concealed from the subject's conscious mind.

The concept of subliminal suggestion depends upon this view of the mind. By contrast, hypnotists who believe that responses to suggestion are primarily mediated by the conscious mind, such as Theodore Barber and Nicholas Spanos , have tended to make more use of direct verbal suggestions and instructions.

More by Rapid Hypnosis Success

The first neuropsychological theory of hypnotic suggestion was introduced early by James Braid who adopted his friend and colleague William Carpenter's theory of the ideo-motor reflex response to account for the phenomenon of hypnotism. Carpenter had observed from close examination of everyday experience that, under certain circumstances, the mere idea of a muscular movement could be sufficient to produce a reflexive, or automatic, contraction or movement of the muscles involved, albeit in a very small degree.

Braid extended Carpenter's theory to encompass the observation that a wide variety of bodily responses besides muscular movement can be thus affected, for example, the idea of sucking a lemon can automatically stimulate salivation, a secretory response. Braid, therefore, adopted the term "ideo-dynamic", meaning "by the power of an idea", to explain a broad range of "psycho-physiological" mind—body phenomena. Braid coined the term "mono-ideodynamic" to refer to the theory that hypnotism operates by concentrating attention on a single idea in order to amplify the ideo-dynamic reflex response. Variations of the basic ideo-motor, or ideo-dynamic, theory of suggestion have continued to exercise considerable influence over subsequent theories of hypnosis, including those of Clark L.

Hull , Hans Eysenck , and Ernest Rossi. Braid made a rough distinction between different stages of hypnosis, which he termed the first and second conscious stage of hypnotism; [43] he later replaced this with a distinction between "sub-hypnotic", "full hypnotic", and "hypnotic coma" stages. In the first few decades of the 20th century, these early clinical "depth" scales were superseded by more sophisticated "hypnotic susceptibility" scales based on experimental research.

The most influential were the Davis—Husband and Friedlander—Sarbin scales developed in the s. Hilgard developed the Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility in , consisting of 12 suggestion test items following a standardised hypnotic eye-fixation induction script, and this has become one of the most widely referenced research tools in the field of hypnosis.

Whereas the older "depth scales" tried to infer the level of "hypnotic trance" from supposed observable signs such as spontaneous amnesia, most subsequent scales have measured the degree of observed or self-evaluated responsiveness to specific suggestion tests such as direct suggestions of arm rigidity catalepsy. The Stanford, Harvard, HIP, and most other susceptibility scales convert numbers into an assessment of a person's susceptibility as "high", "medium", or "low". There is some controversy as to whether this is distributed on a "normal" bell-shaped curve or whether it is bi-modal with a small "blip" of people at the high end.

Research by Deirdre Barrett has found that there are two distinct types of highly susceptible subjects, which she terms fantasizers and dissociaters. Fantasizers score high on absorption scales, find it easy to block out real-world stimuli without hypnosis, spend much time daydreaming, report imaginary companions as a child, and grew up with parents who encouraged imaginary play. Dissociaters often have a history of childhood abuse or other trauma, learned to escape into numbness, and to forget unpleasant events.

Their association to "daydreaming" was often going blank rather than creating vividly recalled fantasies. Both score equally high on formal scales of hypnotic susceptibility. Individuals with dissociative identity disorder have the highest hypnotisability of any clinical group, followed by those with posttraumatic stress disorder. People have been entering into hypnotic-type trances for thousands of years. In many cultures and religions, it was regarded as a form of meditation. Mesmer held the opinion that hypnosis was a sort of mystical force that flows from the hypnotist to the person being hypnotized, but his theory was dismissed by critics who asserted that there is no magical element to hypnotism.

Before long, hypnotism started finding its way into the world of modern medicine. The use of hypnotism in the medical field was made popular by surgeons and physicians like Elliotson and James Esdaille and researchers like James Braid who helped to reveal the biological and physical benefits of hypnotism. He first discussed some of these oriental practices in a series of articles entitled Magic, Mesmerism, Hypnotism, etc. He drew analogies between his own practice of hypnotism and various forms of Hindu yoga meditation and other ancient spiritual practices, especially those involving voluntary burial and apparent human hibernation.

Last May [], a gentleman residing in Edinburgh, personally unknown to me, who had long resided in India, favored me with a letter expressing his approbation of the views which I had published on the nature and causes of hypnotic and mesmeric phenomena. In corroboration of my views, he referred to what he had previously witnessed in oriental regions, and recommended me to look into the Dabistan , a book lately published, for additional proof to the same effect.

On much recommendation I immediately sent for a copy of the Dabistan , in which I found many statements corroborative of the fact, that the eastern saints are all self-hypnotisers, adopting means essentially the same as those which I had recommended for similar purposes. As he later wrote:. In as much as patients can throw themselves into the nervous sleep, and manifest all the usual phenomena of Mesmerism, through their own unaided efforts, as I have so repeatedly proved by causing them to maintain a steady fixed gaze at any point, concentrating their whole mental energies on the idea of the object looked at; or that the same may arise by the patient looking at the point of his own finger, or as the Magi of Persia and Yogi of India have practised for the last 2, years, for religious purposes, throwing themselves into their ecstatic trances by each maintaining a steady fixed gaze at the tip of his own nose; it is obvious that there is no need for an exoteric influence to produce the phenomena of Mesmerism.

Avicenna — , a Persian physician, documented the characteristics of the "trance" Hypnotic Trance state in At that time, hypnosis as a medical treatment was seldom used until the German doctor Franz Mesmer, reintroduced it in the 18th century. Franz Mesmer — believed that there is a magnetic force or "fluid" called "animal magnetism" within the universe that influences the health of the human body.

He experimented with magnets to impact this field in order to produce healing. By around , he had concluded that the same effect could be created by passing the hands in front of the subject's body, later referred to as making "Mesmeric passes". The word "mesmerize", formed from the last name of Franz Mesmer, was intentionally used to separate practitioners of mesmerism from the various "fluid" and "magnetic" theories included within the label "magnetism". Among the board members were founding father of modern chemistry Antoine Lavoisier , Benjamin Franklin , and an expert in pain control, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin.

They investigated the practices of a disaffected student of Mesmer, one Charles d'Eslon — , and though they concluded that Mesmer's results were valid, their placebo-controlled experiments using d'Eslon's methods convinced them that mesmerism was most likely due to belief and imagination rather than to an invisible energy "animal magnetism" transmitted from the body of the mesmerist. In writing the majority opinion, Franklin said: Therefore, this mesmerism must be a fraud. Following the French committee's findings, Dugald Stewart , an influential academic philosopher of the " Scottish School of Common Sense ", encouraged physicians in his Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind [54] to salvage elements of Mesmerism by replacing the supernatural theory of "animal magnetism" with a new interpretation based upon "common sense" laws of physiology and psychology.

Braid quotes the following passage from Stewart: It appears to me, that the general conclusions established by Mesmer's practice, with respect to the physical effects of the principle of imagination more particularly in cases where they co-operated together , are incomparably more curious than if he had actually demonstrated the existence of his boasted science [of "animal magnetism"]: In Braid's day, the Scottish School of Common Sense provided the dominant theories of academic psychology, and Braid refers to other philosophers within this tradition throughout his writings.

Braid therefore revised the theory and practice of Mesmerism and developed his own method of hypnotism as a more rational and common sense alternative. It may here be requisite for me to explain, that by the term Hypnotism, or Nervous Sleep, which frequently occurs in the following pages, I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it may be thrown by artificial contrivance, and which differs, in several respects, from common sleep or the waking condition. I do not allege that this condition is induced through the transmission of a magnetic or occult influence from my body into that of my patients; nor do I profess, by my processes, to produce the higher [i.

My pretensions are of a much more humble character, and are all consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science. Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists. Despite briefly toying with the name "rational Mesmerism", Braid ultimately chose to emphasise the unique aspects of his approach, carrying out informal experiments throughout his career in order to refute practices that invoked supernatural forces and demonstrating instead the role of ordinary physiological and psychological processes such as suggestion and focused attention in producing the observed effects.

Braid worked very closely with his friend and ally the eminent physiologist Professor William Benjamin Carpenter , an early neuro-psychologist who introduced the "ideo-motor reflex" theory of suggestion. Carpenter had observed instances of expectation and imagination apparently influencing involuntary muscle movement. Chevreul claimed that divinatory pendulae were made to swing by unconscious muscle movements brought about by focused concentration alone. Braid soon assimilated Carpenter's observations into his own theory, realising that the effect of focusing attention was to enhance the ideo-motor reflex response.

In his later works, Braid reserved the term "hypnotism" for cases in which subjects entered a state of amnesia resembling sleep. For other cases, he spoke of a "mono-ideodynamic" principle to emphasise that the eye-fixation induction technique worked by narrowing the subject's attention to a single idea or train of thought "monoideism" , which amplified the effect of the consequent "dominant idea" upon the subject's body by means of the ideo-dynamic principle.

For several decades Braid's work became more influential abroad than in his own country, except for a handful of followers, most notably Dr. The eminent neurologist Dr.

• A Little Traitor to the South A War Time Comedy With a Tragic Interlude.
• Ravens Chance?
• SpongeBobs Christmas Wish (SpongeBob SquarePants)?
• Customers who bought this item also bought?

George Miller Beard took Braid's theories to America. The psychiatrist Albert Moll subsequently continued German research, publishing Hypnotism in France became the focal point for the study of Braid's ideas after the eminent neurologist Dr. At the request of Azam, Paul Broca , and others, the French Academy of Science , which had investigated Mesmerism in , examined Braid's writings shortly after his death. The study of hypnotism subsequently revolved around the fierce debate between Bernheim and Jean-Martin Charcot , the two most influential figures in late 19th-century hypnotism.

Charcot, who was influenced more by the Mesmerists, argued that hypnotism was an abnormal state of nervous functioning found only in certain hysterical women. He claimed that it manifested in a series of physical reactions that could be divided into distinct stages. Bernheim argued that anyone could be hypnotised, that it was an extension of normal psychological functioning, and that its effects were due to suggestion.

After decades of debate, Bernheim's view dominated. Charcot's theory is now just a historical curiosity. Pierre Janet — reported studies on a hypnotic subject in Sigmund Freud — , the founder of psychoanalysis , studied hypnotism at the Paris School and briefly visited the Nancy School. At first, Freud was an enthusiastic proponent of hypnotherapy. He "initially hypnotised patients and pressed on their foreheads to help them concentrate while attempting to recover supposedly repressed memories", [61] and he soon began to emphasise hypnotic regression and ab reaction catharsis as therapeutic methods.

He wrote a favorable encyclopedia article on hypnotism, translated one of Bernheim's works into German, and published an influential series of case studies with his colleague Joseph Breuer entitled Studies on Hysteria This became the founding text of the subsequent tradition known as "hypno-analysis" or "regression hypnotherapy". However, Freud gradually abandoned hypnotism in favour of psychoanalysis, emphasizing free association and interpretation of the unconscious.

by Erick Brown

Struggling with the great expense of time that psychoanalysis required, Freud later suggested that it might be combined with hypnotic suggestion to hasten the outcome of treatment, but that this would probably weaken the outcome: Only a handful of Freud's followers, however, were sufficiently qualified in hypnosis to attempt the synthesis. Their work had a limited influence on the hypno-therapeutic approaches now known variously as "hypnotic regression", "hypnotic progression", and "hypnoanalysis".

The next major development came from behavioural psychology in American university research. Hull published many quantitative findings from hypnosis and suggestion experiments and encouraged research by mainstream psychologists. Hull's behavioural psychology interpretation of hypnosis, emphasising conditioned reflexes, rivalled the Freudian psycho-dynamic interpretation which emphasised unconscious transference. Although Dave Elman — was a noted radio host, comedian, and songwriter, he also made a name as a hypnotist. He led many courses for physicians, and in wrote the book Findings in Hypnosis , later to be retitled Hypnotherapy published by Westwood Publishing.

Perhaps the most well-known aspect of Elman's legacy is his method of induction, which was originally fashioned for speed work and later adapted for the use of medical professionals. Milton Erickson — , the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association , the American Psychological Association , and the American Psychopathological Association , was one of the most influential post-war hypnotherapists. He wrote several books and journal articles on the subject. During the s, Erickson popularized a new branch of hypnotherapy, known as Ericksonian therapy , characterised primarily by indirect suggestion, "metaphor" actually analogies , confusion techniques, and double binds in place of formal hypnotic inductions.

Erickson had no hesitation in presenting any suggested effect as being "hypnosis", whether or not the subject was in a hypnotic state. In fact, he was not hesitant in passing off behaviour that was dubiously hypnotic as being hypnotic. In the latter half of the 20th century, two factors contributed to the development of the cognitive-behavioural approach to hypnosis:. Although cognitive-behavioural theories of hypnosis must be distinguished from cognitive-behavioural approaches to hypnotherapy, they share similar concepts, terminology, and assumptions and have been integrated by influential researchers and clinicians such as Irving Kirsch , Steven Jay Lynn , and others.

At the outset of cognitive behavioural therapy during the s, hypnosis was used by early behaviour therapists such as Joseph Wolpe [71] and also by early cognitive therapists such as Albert Ellis. Hull had introduced a behavioural psychology as far back as , which in turn was preceded by Ivan Pavlov. The American Medical Association currently has no official stance on the medical use of hypnosis. However, a study published in by the Council on Mental Health of the American Medical Association documented the efficacy of hypnosis in clinical settings.

Hypnosis has been used as a supplemental approach to cognitive behavioral therapy since as early as Hypnosis was defined in relation to classical conditioning ; where the words of the therapist were the stimuli and the hypnosis would be the conditioned response.

Some traditional cognitive behavioral therapy methods were based in classical conditioning. It would include inducing a relaxed state and introducing a feared stimuli. One way of inducing the relaxed state was through hypnosis. Hypnotism has also been used in forensics , sports , education, physical therapy , and rehabilitation.