Richard M. Kurtz

Differential effects of hypnotic suggestion on multiple dimensions of pain

Within the framework of multidimensional pain assessment, this study extended an earlier finding that hypnotic analgesia and relaxation suggestions have differential effects on pain reduction by evaluating these strategies in subjects undergoing a cold pressor protocol. Thirty-two highly susceptible subjects were randomly assigned to an analgesia or a relaxation suggestion treatment group. Six pain reports were taken at 10-sec intervals for each experimental condition. The baseline measures served as covariates. A 2 x 2 x 2 x 6 repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant group (analgesia, relaxation) by pain dimension (intensity, unpleasantness), by condition (suggestion alone, hypnotic induction plus suggestion) interaction. Analysis of the simple-simple main effects, holding both group and condition constant, revealed that application of hypnotic analgesia reduced report of pain intensity significantly more than report of pain unpleasantness. Conversely, hypnotic relaxation reduced pain unpleasantness more than intensity. The clinical implications of the study are discussed.

Hypnotic susceptibility and the endogenous eyeblink: a brief communication.

This study investigated the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility, hypnotic state, and the endogenous eyeblink with 36 undergraduates, who were assigned to four independent groups (waking-low, hypnotized-low, waking-high, and hypnotized-high susceptibles) on the basis of combined cutoff scores on both the Creative Imagination Scale and the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale for Adults. The auditory vigilance task required subjects to discriminate between 200 ms and 300 ms tones over a 35-minute period. Hypnotic depth was controlled across trials using the Long Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Depth. As predicted, high-susceptible subjects had a significantly lower blink rate than low-susceptible subjects. The predicted interaction between susceptibility and hypnotic state was also confirmed. High-susceptible subjects showed a significant decrease in blinking for the hypnotized condition, whereas low-susceptible subjects did not. The need for replication with more adequate measures of susceptibility is discussed.

Changes in body attitude as a function of posthypnotic suggestions

This study hypothesized that highly hypnotizable Ss who remained amnesic for posthypnotic suggestions to improve body attitude would show greater changes than Ss who were not amnesic. Ss given simulating instructions were used as a comparison group to assess experimental demands. 48 females were screened with the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962) and assigned to one of 4 conditions: (a) high hypnotizable with amnesia suggestions, (b) high hypnotizable without suggested amnesia, (c) low hypnotizable simulators with amnesia, and (d) low hypnotizable simulators without suggested amnesia. A fifth group was formed of those high hypnotizable Ss who remembered the suggestion despite instructions to the contrary. The Body Attitude Scale (Kurtz, 1966) was administered prior to and 3 days after the experimental suggestions. Results generally demonstrated that high hypnotizable amnesic Ss manifested the greatest attitudinal and phenomenological changes as a result of the posthypnotic suggestion, although conclusions were tempered by performance of simulating Ss. The implications for hypnosis research and clinical practice are discussed.

Hypnosis, Attention, and Time Cognition

This study examined the influence of hypnotic susceptibility (high vs. low), hypnotic condition (hypnotic vs. nonhypnotic), and attentional demands (high vs. low) on the verbal estimates (N = 510 undergraduates) of 30- and 60-second time intervals under both prospective (aware of timing) and retrospective (unaware of timing) paradigms. It was expected that prospective judgments would be greater than retrospective judgments across all factors. Consistent with existing literature, strong support was found for this hypothesis. Hypotheses generated within the trait-state paradigm were not supported. No effects were found for hypnotic susceptibility in any form. Partial support was found for the sociocognitive model. The hypnotic context, independent of level of susceptibility, apparently utilizes the attentional resources of participants and as a by-product leads to underestimation of time. Longer time intervals (60s) were also underestimated in comparison to shorter intervals (30s).

The endogenous eyeblink and hypnotic susceptibility in a real-simulator design.

This study investigated the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and the endogenous eyeblink with 27 subjects who were assigned to groups of high susceptibles, low susceptibles and simulators on the basis of cutoff scores from the Harvard Group Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales: Form C. Using a repeated-measures design, oculomotor data were collected during two separate conditions, waking and hypnotized, while subjects performed a visual task requiring the discrimination of short light flashes (200 ms) from long light flashes (400 ms). Although results partially replicated previous studies, with high susceptibles blinking significantly less than low susceptibles across both conditions, no effect was found for the hypnotic state. Failure of the simulating group to meet assumptions in the waking condition allowed no conclusions regarding impact of task demands on the endogenous eyeblink.