Herbert Spiegel

The grade 5 syndrome: The highly hypnotizable person

Abstract On a 0–5 hypnotizability range, as measured by the Hypnotic Induction Profile, the grades 4–5 are identified as highly hyp-notizable persons. This group tends to exhibit a clinically identifiable configuration of personality traits. Knowledge of the nature and interplay of these traits can help us to formulate appropriate treatment strategies. The features which together identify the grade 5 syndrome are: the high eye-roll sign; the high intact Hypnotic Induction Profile score; readiness to trust; a relative suspension of critical judgment; an ease of affiliation with new experiences; a telescoped time sense; an easy acceptance of logical incongruities; an excellent memory; a capacity for intense concentration; an overall tractability, and, paradoxically, a rigid core of private beliefs. Role-confusion and a subtle sense of inferiority are often evident. For these persons, treatment strategy requires clarification of central versus peripheral beliefs; increasing sensitivity to positive and negati...

A single-treatment method to stop smoking using ancillary self-hypnosis.

Abstract This report discusses the first 615 patient-mokera who have been treated with a single 45-minute session of psychotherapy reinforced by hypnosis. Technique of treatment, including rationale of approach, induction procedure, assessment of hypnotizability, and training instructions to stop smoking are presented in detail. & month follow-up study results are discussed. Of 271 (44%) patients who returned a questionnaire, 121 (20%) hard-core smokers (who had repeatedly tried and failed to stop smoking before) were able to stop for a t least 6 months. Another 120 (20%) persons reduced their smoking to varying degrees. These results of a l-session treatment compare favorably with, and often are significantly better than, other longer-term methods reported in the literature. They suggest that every habitual smoker who is motivated to stop be exposed to the impact of this procedure, or its equivalent, so that at least 1 of 5 smokers can be salvaged.

Psychometric analysis of the hypnotic induction profile

Abstract Psychometric analyses of the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) of Spiegel (1974a), a sixteen point test designed to measure hypnotic capacity, are presented herein. Briefly summarized are the sequential phases of trance experience as monitored by the HIP. On the basis of a factor analysis of individual items entering into the HIPs of 1674 patients, two distinct factors emerged. One is defined largely by up-gaze and eye-roll, the other by some of the subsequent items. Two methods for scoring the HIP, a configurational method involving both factors (profile scoring) and an actuarial method using only items from the second factor (induction scoring), are defined. As expected from the factor analysis, eye-roll is little related to the HIP graded by either scoring method. The correlation of induction scoring with the eye-roll is .22 in a sample of 1023 patients. Such a correlation is significant, although it accounts for only 5% of the variance that eye-roll and induction scoring have in common. That ...

The relation between the Hypnotic Induction Profile and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, forms A and C.

Abstract Measures from the clinically derived Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) of Spiegel (1974a) were correlated with those from the laboratory derived Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, Forms A and C (SHSS:A, SHSS:C) of Weitzenhoffer and Hilgard (1959, 1962), and with some scores from the related Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). Ss were paid volunteers from student populations at the University of Pennsylvania (N = 87) and from Stanford University (N = 58). Some differences in sampling procedures and orders of testing are discussed, but only minimal differences between the 2 samples resulted. Positive but nonsignificant correlations were found between the Eye-Roll sign alone and SHSS in the 2 samples. Both the Induction (IND) and Profile scoring methods of HIP were compared with SHSS. The IND, an actuarial scale, was positively correlated with SHSS. A representative value is the significant correlation of .34 between IND and SHSS:(A + C)/2 scores when ...

THE HYPNOTIC INDUCTION PROFILE (HIP): A REVIEW OF ITS DEVELOPMENT*

There has been a long-standing need for standardized measurements of hypnotizability appropriate for clinical use. Without measurements, the resulting clinical appraisals are ambiguous. Questions such as “Was the patient hypnotized or not?”, “What kind of trance was it?’, and “What difference does it make for therapy?’ cannot be answered. Ignoring these questions, clinicians who use hypnosis plunge ahead, using some technique (or ceremony) that “works.” In fact, many clinicians not concerned with the assessment issue make the assumption that all patients are hypnotizable and that inducing hypnosis depends solely upon the effort and skill of the therapist. Such ceremonies tend to be tailored for the therapist instead of the individual capacity of the patient. Also, consensual validation among therapists is not possible without a standard clinical monitor of trance experience, and further, trance capacity is not differentiated from treatment strategy. Clinicians have been left in this predicament bccause laboratory tests for hypnotizability are not feasible for clinical use for many reasons. Practically, these measurements take too much time (an hour or more) out of a therapy session and also may fatigue the patient. Some instructions are aesthetically inappropriate and perhaps embarrassing. There is also the insulting insinuation in the term “susceptibility” that because of a particular weakness, a patient is hypnotizable. Laboratory tests have been standardized on nonpatients (college students), and questions of the impediments caused by psychopathology or neurological deficits have not been considered. Additionally, laboratory tests are based on the assumption that hypnosis is sleeplike, despite the fact that there is no evidence to support this. I t is the opposite: attentive, receptive concentration. Asking a subject to “wake up” from a trance or referring to the trance as the opposite of the “awake” state represents sloppy thinking without data-based facts. Furthermore, it is the alertness of the patient in trance that is critical for the treatment interaction. The Hypnotic Indiiction Profile (HIP) answers the need for a clinically appropriate test of trance capacity, and it can be iiscd in the laboratory. A brief and quickly paced test.’ it takes five to ten minutes to administer and works as an alerting operation. Instead of testing a broad range of often embarrassing “hypnotic behaviors” in order to then predict the degree of

The Relationship between the Hypnotic Induction Profile and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C: Revisited

Hilgard’s comment raises some important issues, although many of these have little to do with the primary purpose of the study under discussion. This purpose was to objectively examine the relationship between three conceptually and operationally different procedures for measuring hypnotic responsivity. Hilgard’s concern over the magnitude of the correlation between the HIP and SHSS:C is unfounded. A cross-validated correlation of .66 was found between the HIP and SHSS:C in a new sample of 44 student volunteers. This demonstrates that the HIP correlates about the same with SHSS:C as the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. Hilgard’s conception of the Eye-Roll (ER) hypothesis is clarified. Evidence which utilizes all cases in the correlational analysis is presented in support of the ER hypothesis. Happily, we all agree on a new methodology which will be definitive in testing the validity of the ER hypothesis.

Commentary: Defining Hypnosis

The invitation to comment on the new definition of hypnosis published by Division 30 of APA gives me (H.S.) an occasion to express some thoughts that I have had for quite some time. The article, “Forging Ahead: The 2003 APA Division 30 Definition of Hypnosis” (Green, Barabasz, Barrett & Montgomery, 2005), represents a major effort to consolidate various points of view in the field of hypnosis. After reading it, I became concerned that the resulting definition of hypnosis is more confusing than clarifying with its emphasis on various procedures and ceremonies including disagreements about mentioning the word “hypnosis.” Just as some regard a camel as a horse designed by a committee, I got the impression that the definition seems like a “camelized” version of a hypnotized horse. This led me to crystallize my thinking about our field after more than 50 years of working with trance phenomena during war and peace (Kardiner & H. Spiegel, 1947; H. Spiegel, 2000). During this period, I have engaged in an estimated 50,000 trance inductions. Inevitably, I made some observations and developed some convictions that I would like to share with a special concern for that large population of therapists who are chronically cynical about hypnosis. Then, I asked my wife, Marcia Greenleaf, PhD, to join me in adding her thoughts based on her experience in the field during the last 30 years.

The hypnotic induction profile and absorption.

This study examined the relationship between scores on the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) and the trait of absorption in three different clinical groups: Smokers (n = 226), Phobics (n = 95), and patients with Chronic Pain (n = 65). Two hypotheses were investigated. The first predicted that both the Eye-Roll sign (ERS) and Induction Score (IND) of the HIP would correlate similarly (r = .30) with scores on the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), as has been previously reported with other measures of hypnotic responsivity in student samples. The second was that using a combination of both ERS and IND scores to predict TAS scores would result in a significant increase in forecasting accuracy over using either HIP measure alone. Both hypotheses were supported in all three clinical groups. Correlations between HIP and Absorption scores ranged from .33 to .53. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

The Neural Trance: A New Look at Hypnosis

Abstract Hypnosis has had a gradual conceptual emergence from an alleged mystical experience, to sleep, to a psychological shift in concentration that activates a preexisting neuro-physiological circuitry. Data are presented to support the thesis that hypnotizability exists on a spectrum that has biological as well as psychosocial components. When there is synchrony between the bio-psychosocial components of hypnotizability as measured by the Hypnotic Induction Profile (an intact flow), psychotherapy is the primary treatment strategy, with medication secondary or not at all. When measurement reveals a lack of synchrony between biological factors as measured by the Eye-Roll sign and psychosocial responsivity (a nonintact flow), medication will be primary, with different degrees of psychosocial support.

Hypnosis in psychosomatic medicine

Abstract In addition to its well-known therapeutic uses, hypnosis can serve as a useful diagnostic tool for clinicians. The authors outline various categories of hypnotizability and explain how these can be used in the differential diagnosis of psychosomatic conditions. Therapy for psychosomatic illness employing hypnosis is discussed in terms of anxiety relief and pain control.