Anthony F. Tasso

The Effectiveness of Hypnosis in Reducing Pain and Suffering Among Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer and Among Women With Temporomandibular Disorder

Abstract The authors describe two studies of special interest to clinicians and clinical researchers. Both are randomized controlled studies, exclusively focused on female patients. The first study tests whether a year-long weekly group intervention including hypnosis can reduce cancer pain among women with metastatic breast cancer. Findings suggest the intervention slowed the increase in reported pain over a 12-month period relative to controls. The second study examines the effect of hypnosis in women suffering from temporomandibular disorder (TMD), with a special focus on function as well as pain. Hypnosis reduced TMD pain as measured by a numerical-rating scale.

Hypnotizability and somatic complaints: a gender-specific phenomenon.

The relationship between hypnotizability and somatic illness was measured in 45 college students. Several weeks after completing the Waterloo-Stanford Group C Scale (WSGC), participants filled out a somatic-complaint checklist and measures of psychopathology. Results indicated a positive correlation between hypnotizability and somatic illness, and the relationship was stronger for female participants. In contrast to the quadratic model proposed by Wickramasekera, the current data demonstrated a linear relationship between hypnotizability and somatic complaint. Further analyses showed that somatic complaints were associated with hallucination and imagery items, corresponding to the perceptual-cognitive factor identified in Woody, Barnier, and McConkeys (2005) factor analysis of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C. The results call into question some claims that high hypnotizability is an adaptive and healthy trait.

Clinical Research on the Utility of Hypnosis in the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Medical and Psychiatric Disorders

The authors summarize 4 articles of special interest to the hypnosis community in the general scientific and medical literatures. All are empirical studies testing the clinical utility of hypnosis, and together address the role of hypnosis in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical and psychiatric disorders/conditions. The first is a randomized controlled study of smoking cessation treatments comparing a hypnosis-based protocol to an established behavioral counseling protocol. Hypnosis quit rates are superior to those of the accepted behavioral counseling protocol. A second study with pediatric patients finds hypnosis critically helpful in differentiating nonepileptic seizure-like behaviors (pseudoseizures) from epilepsy. The remaining 2 papers are randomized controlled trials testing whether hypnosis is effective in helping patients manage the emotional distress of medical procedures associated with cancer treatment. Among female survivors of breast cancer, hypnosis reduces perceived hot flashes and associated emotional and sleep disruptions. Among pediatric cancer patients, a brief hypnotic intervention helps control venepuncture-related pain.

The Use of the Adult Attachment Scale with Domestically Violent Men

Empirical evidence highlights the utility of examining attachment styles in exploring the etiology of intimate partner violence perpetration, with insecure attachment styles regularly identified as underscoring domestically violent men. This study applied the 18-item self-report Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(4), 644–663 1990) to 176 men entering a domestic violence perpetration counseling program. Factor analyses failed to result in the three factor model of the AAS. Subsequent item analyses indicated participants’ random and contradictory response style negated the possibility of any coherent factor structure. The results of this study caution investigators on the validity of self-report data with domestically violent men and offers both research and clinical/conceptual implications.

Intimate Partner Violence Within Military Families Intervention Guidelines for Relational Aggressors

Intimate partner violence (IPV) represents a destructive relationship pattern within military families. This article provides an overview of IPV offender characteristics at large, followed by military-specific IPV perpetrator data. Next, military cultural factors germane to IPV, relevant perpetrator treatment modalities, and general interventional approaches (e.g., mentalization and mindfulness) applicable to military relational abusers are covered. This integrative review article aims to provide a comprehensive scientifically anchored clinical guidepost to therapeutically intervening with domestically violent military personnel.

Neurophysiological Attributes of the Hypnotic State and the Utility of Hypnosis in Pediatric Medicine and Burn Care

Abstract Three articles of special interest to the hypnosis community recently appeared in the general scientific and medical literatures. The first paper is a thoughtful review of the clinical applications of hypnosis in pediatric settings. The second article reports the findings of a randomized, controlled trial of hypnosis for burn-wound care, carried out at the University of Washington Medical School. The third article describes an innovative EEG laboratory case study tracking the cortex functional connectivity of a highly hypnotizable subject across various baseline and experimental conditions. These three articles are sturdy examples of how hypnosis illuminates (and is illuminated by) medical and psychological science.

The application of psychodynamic psychotherapy within a preexisting primary care assessment and treatment approach.

This article aims to demonstrate the utility of psychodynamic treatment approaches within primary care medical settings. First, I provide an overview of the basic integrative care principles, followed by a discussion of a widely used primary care assessment and intervention method (The 5 As: assess, advise, agree, assist, and arrange). I then review specific psychoanalytic perspectives and techniques that are effective in dealing with shorter term, circumscribed conditions. Next, I offer a discussion of the value of a psychoanalytic framework within primary care settings, with a specific focus on the integration of psychodynamic techniques within the 5As approach. This article concludes with a clinical vignette demonstrating the applicability of psychodynamic techniques for a patient presenting in a medical setting.

An Empirical Examination of the Relationship Between Dating Abuse and Entitlement Within a College Population

Although partner abuse is well established as destructive societal problem, partner abuse among adolescents and young adults has only recently gained attention. Entitlement is a concept regularly evoked in the dating abuse literature. Much of the literature on dating partner abuse focuses on adolescent/young adult victimization, whereas perpetration is less well understood. This study examined sense of entitlement and its relationship to various types of abuse, including economic, emotional, physical, and sexual. Sense of entitlement was positively correlated with all types of abuse and was a better predictor of abusive behaviors than other variables in the regression model. Implications address how, including how assessing and addressing entitlement can enhance both partner abuse prevention and intervention efforts.

Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy Among Immigrant Russian-Speaking Jews From the Former Soviet Union:

With immigrants and minorities less prone to commence counseling services, this study explored attitudes toward psychotherapy among immigrant Russian-speaking Jews living in the United States. A total of 211 individuals who self-identified as Jewish and as having personally emigrated from the former Soviet Union (henceforth referred to as “Russian-speaking Jews” for the purposes of this study) took the Beliefs About Psychological Services (BAPS) scale, a three-factor (Intent, Stigma Tolerance, Expertness), 18-item measure, assessing attitudes toward psychotherapeutic services. Exploratory results reveal that Russian-speaking Jewish men report less favorable BAPS scores than women, and that in general BAPS scores in the current Russian-speaking Jewish sample tend to be less favorable than those reported in previous research using the BAPS. Participants who attended school in the United States tended to express more favorable attitudes than those who attended school outside the United States. Results and implications are discussed.