Fred H. Frankel

Hypnosis in a case of long-standing psoriasis in a person with character problems

Abstract A 37-year-old schoolteacher, socially withdrawn and pathologically sensitive to public opinion, in psychotherapy for 3 years, inquired about hypnosis as a treatment for his stubborn, widespread psoriasis. Under hypnosis induced by a therapist other than his, sensory imagery was used to replicate the feelings in his skin that he experienced when sunbathing—an activity which had always been somewhat beneficial in the past. Taught to induce the hypnotic state in himself, the patient exercised 5 or 6 times a day for a few minutes. The psoriatic lesions improved markedly, as did his ability to work in psychotherapy, and he lost 20 pounds in weight. He experienced and discussed feelings and future plans in a manner which he had never been able to achieve previously.

Failure of Hypnotic Suggestion to Alter Immune Response to Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity Antigensa

The ability to alter delayed-type hypersensitivity via hypnotic suggestion was tested in 12 highly hypnotizable, untrained subjects and 30 nonhypnotized controls. Subjects were skin-tested bilaterally with a standardized panel of delayed hypersensitivity antigens and instructed either to enhance or suppress the skin test response unilaterally. Compared with results in controls, the skin test response reflected no effect of hypnotic suggestion with regard to either the area of induration or the degree of inflammation assessed histologically.

Hypnosis and Relaxation in the Medically Ill

Interest in the application of hypnotic techniques for patients with medical disorders seems to rise and fall over the years. Enthusiasm for this work comes both from patients and clinicians. Often, however, these techniques are offered without regard to the psychological theories that should inform their operation and the limits that clinical and experimental research suggest. This article offers a brief description of the elements of hypnosis and a review of the history of the use of hypnotic techniques with a variety of medical problems including asthma, habits such as cigarette smoking and medical symptoms such as persistent nausea and vomiting. Special attention is placed on the psychological and physiological principles that help to establish the valid use of this technique.

Hypnosis and hypnotizability scales: A reply

Abstract The use of the hypnotizability scales in the experimental setting is briefly reviewed, as is the need to separate the effect of hypnosis from the influence of factors such as relaxation and placebo which accompany the use of hypnosis clinically. The clinical relevance of the scales, most of which were developed primarily for experimental work, is affirmed by several studies conducted in the clinical context, in which the scales were used. Levels of hypnotizability have correlated well with patterns of clinical behavior. Although the scales are useful in many instances in helping to plan treatment strategy, their value in investigative studies is emphasized. Sacerdotes (1982) criticisms of the scales are considered. While it is true that the scales are blind to some of the qualitative aspects of the hypnotic experience, the great majority of clinically hypnotizable patients are able to respond to the items on the scales. Sacerdotes reluctance to learn about the value of the scales is evident in ...

Significant Developments in Medical Hypnosis During the Past 25 Years

Abstract Selected significant investigative studies on the use of hypnosis in the medical context over the past 25 years are discussed. The topics covered include anxiety and pain, asthma, migraine, skin disease, burns, nausea and vomiting, surgery, haemorrhagic disorders, and cancer and immunity. The importance of hypnotizability ratings in the methodology is emphasized.

The Effects of Brief Hypnotherapy in a Series of Psychosomatic Problems

The use of hypnosis on its own or in association with other treatment procedures produced improvement, subjectively and/or objectively, in 17 of a series of 50 patients suffering from a variety of psy

Reporting hypnosis in the medical context: A brief communication

Abstract Data relating to hypnosis in medicine fall into 3 categories: studies of efficacy, surveys, and reports of rare cases. Studies of the comparative efficacy of hypnosis pose special problems; surveys focused on the possible association between hypnotic responsivity and the nature of a clinical situation or its treatment are encouraged; and the presentation of unique or rare cases is considered.

Hypnosis — Both Poetry and Science

The origins of hypnosis are indisputably clinical, but its current acceptability and recognition stem largely from the high calibre of academic investment and the findings in experimental laboratories in recent years. What we know has been accumulated in the context of a rigorous adherence to finely developed research methods, constructive scepticism, and cold facts. Clinical results, on the other hand, demand flexibility, imaginative phrases, deep feelings, and even lofty thoughts. The poetry and the science are both essential for survival.

In memoriam: Martine T. Orne, 1927-2000

Martin T. Ome, one of the leading figures in the modem era of hypnosis research and editor of this journal from 1961 to 1992, died of cancer on February 11,2000, at the age of 73. Orne made classic contributions to our knowledge of the nature of hypnosis and its applications to psychotherapy and behavioral medicine. From his distinguished academic bases, first at Harvard and later at Pennsylvania, he helped bring new status to the scientific study of hypnosis and vigorously promoted its use in medicine and psychotherapy. Martin Ome is survived by his wife, Emily Carota Ome, a research psychologist who was his longtime collaborator at the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry; their son, Franklin; and daughter, Tracy. Martin Ome was born in Vienna on October 16,1927, into a family of physicians; his father, Frank Ome, was a surgeon, and his mother, Martha Brunner-Ome, was a psychiatrist who made distinguished contributions to the understanding and treatment of alcoholism. In 1938, escaping the Nazi onslaught, the family emigrated to the United States, settling first in New York City, where Martin attended the Bronx High School of Science, and later in Boston. Ome received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1948 with a major in social relations, an innovative department that cut across the fields of psychology, sociology, and anthropology and which cemented his commitment to a broad, interdisciplinary approach to human behavior. Ome received his medical degree from Tufts in 1955 and his doctorate in psychology from Harvard in 1958. After completing his medical internship at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Orne returned to Harvard for his psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston. From 1960 to 1964, he was senior research psychiatrist at MMHC. In 1964, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he held appointments in both the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Psychology. At Penn, he directed the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry at the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital; following reorganization of the hospital in 1995, the Unit moved to facilities within Penn‘s School of Medicine. At the time of his death, Orne was professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and adjunct professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology. Throughout his career, Ome was primarily concerned with the objective, scientific study of private, subjective experience, and hypnosis was the perfect vehicle for pursuing this topic. Many of Ome’s papers on hypnosis were critical of popular, long-standing claims about hypnosis. His bachelor’s thesis, which remains a classic, compared subjects’ produc-

Landmarks in the History of Hypnosis: An Examination of the Concepts

Although medical hypnosis is considered to have had its beginnings with the Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1774) in the latter half of the eighteenth century, most modern writers take pains to explain that hypnosis, or something very similar, has been practiced by religious and other healers in various ways since the dawn of civilization.