Stephen Kahn

Relations Between Identity in Young Adulthood and Intimacy at Midlife

This study examines the relation between the development of ego identity by young adulthood and the establishment and maintenance of stable and enduring intimate interpersonal relationships by midlife. This relation was investigated further in order to discover how it might differ between men and women. The Identity Scale was first cross-validated with other personality measures before being related to subsequent intimacy patterns. The achievement of ego identity was found to be important for the establishment (for men) and stability (for women) of marital relationships. Additional sex differences in happiness and spheres of life satisfaction were also explored. These differences suggest differing developmental courses for young men and women as they establish themselves in the adult world.

The Modes of the Ego in Self-Hypnosis

In this study, the diary entries of thirty subjects who practiced self-hypnosis for twenty-eight consecutive days were analyzed carefully with regard to manifestations of four ego modes: ego activity, ego receptivity, ego passivity, and ego inactivity. Results snowed that ego activity (decision making, structuring of the experiences) and ego receptivity (openness to stimuli rising from within) are essential elements in self-hypnosis, while ego inactivity (“nothing happens”) and ego passivity (feeling overwhelmed) rarely occur in the self-hypnotic experiences of healthy subjects. Ego receptivity is central to self-hypnosis. It is strongly positively related to vivid imagery, absorption, self-hypnotic trance depth, and also to hetero-hypnotic susceptibility. Personality characteristics of subjects who demonstrate high ego receptivity are: a need for independence, self-reliance, and trust in ones own unconscious. On the other hand, a greater preponderance of ego activity in self-hypnosis is to be found in subjects who have a need for structure, certainty, and control in their lives. These subjects cannot allow themselves to let imagery emerge naturally or to become deeply absorbed in the self-hypnotic process.

Hypnosis and the Treatment of Huntington's Disease

Huntingtons Disease is an inherited fatal disorder of the central nervous system. Literature on the hypnotic treatment of this disease is extremely sparse. We treated two patients with Huntingtons Disease using a wide variety of hypnotic interventions. One patient was treated for a number of years and the other for 10 consecutive sessions. We discuss the continuously interacting cycle between the primary physical symptoms caused by the disease and the secondary psychological symptoms. Hypnotic techniques and daily self-hypnosis appeared to ameliorate both physical and psychological difficulties, thereby enhancing the quality of life that remained for the patients. Systematic research into the effectiveness of hypnosis with symptoms of Huntingtons Disease needs to be undertaken in the future.

Being "the other therapist": the varieties of adjunctive experience with hypnosis.

Abstract Clinicians who utilize hypnosis in their practices are frequently approached with requests to participate in the care of patients who are currently in treatment with a primary therapist. Surprisingly, a review of the literature indicated that no research has been done on this common practice. This article provides a discussion of some of the important issues as well as the variables to consider in deciding whether to enter into this arrangement. It will serve as a starting point in generating further research on this crucial topic.