DE 
EN Volume 9, Double-issue 1+2, October 2014, 272 pages
of the journal Hypnose – Zeitschrift für Hypnose und Hypnotherapie (Hypnose-ZHH)
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Table of Contents
- Angelika A. Schlarb
When legs can sleep: A case vignette about treatment of restless-legs-syndrome - J. Philip Zindel
The 3D-method and its applications - O. Berndt Scholz
The unconscious and the posthypnotic task (PHT) - Tanja Prade, Emilia Geiger und Burkhard Peter
Personality and career aspiration of adolescent students interested in hypnosis - Björn Riegel und Janine Kredel
Hypnosis and health promotion - An evaluation of the popularity of hypnosis to stop smoking, loose weight and reduce stress - Burkhard Peter, Christoph Piesbergen, Kristina Lucic, Melina Staudacher und Maria Hagl
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 83-116 - Vera U. Ludwig, Christine Stelzel, Harald Krutiak, Lena M. Paschke, Amadeus Magrabi, Rosa Steimke, Norbert Kathmann, Henrik Walter
The suggestible brain: posthypnotic effects on value-based decision-making - Maria Hagl
Efficacy research in the field of clinical hypnosis in the year 2013 - Burkhard Peter und Alida Iost-Peter
The “Wolfart case” or the problem with the magnetic rapport. On the development of the therapeutic relationship in the early stages of psychotherapy - Reinhard Weber
The history behind the story. Or: How to define adequately therapeutic goals, resources and solutions on the basis of a patient`s individual biographical experiences - Rosemarie Schuckall
"Gaining more and more backbone". Hypnotherapy as part of the multimodal treatment of a 14-year-old with scoliosis - Hansjörg Ebell
„Take the wheel!“ – The fear of failure before taking a driving test
Abstracts
Angelika A. Schlarb
When legs can sleep: A case vignette about treatment of restless-legs-syndrome
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 7-14
The Restless-legs-syndrome (RLS) with its typical unpleasant sensations in the legs as well as the need for movement appears more often in women than in men. Symptoms usually cause a considerable impairment of quality of life as patients with RLS are not able to carry out most activities anymore. Treatment is usually oriented towards medical options. This case vignette shows a hypnotherapeutic intervention strategy on chronic RLS symptoms. After treatment symptoms were significantly reduced, the patient was able to start again most daily activities resulting in a considerable increase of quality of life and functional capability.
Key words: RLS, construction of metaphors, case vignette, hypnotherapy
J. Philip Zindel
The 3D-method and its applications
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 15-30
The 3D-Method is an exceedingly simple hypnotic technique which offers a wide array of possible fields of application. Essentially, six key questions are suggested to the patient: What does he wish to have to his right, to his left, behind him, underneath, above and in front of him? Thereby, several distinct resources are activated at the same time. With these six wishes the patient creates a hypnotic resource space around himself, which he can use to his advantage in various ways.
Keywords: Hypnotic induction, hypnotherapy, three-dimensional experience of space, self-hypnosis, multiple resources, paradoxical resource space
O. Berndt Scholz
The unconscious and the posthypnotic task (PHT)
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 31-43
Theoretical Background: A method for quantitative determination of the implicit (unconscious ) proportion of suggestions developed by the modern psychology of memory is ilustrated and applied within a clinical-experimental study. Question: What is the place value of implicit memory traces of a clinically relevant hypnosis treatment for patiens with test anxiety and how stable is this memory span during one and two weeks after the PHT? Methodology: 20 patients with far above average test anxiety underwent 3 therapy sessions. Hypnosis has been applied by a CD and heard five times at home. Treatment success was measured by TAI-G. One or two weeks after return of CD the Deese-Roedinger-McDermott (DRM-)paradigm was appied. Results: The intervention was successful, both after one and 2 weeks. The DRM parameters indicate a significant involvement of implicit memory residuals after a week, which is still detectable after 2 weeks. Discussion: Improvements of the DRM paradigm are called. The optimal wording of the PHT is discussed.
Key-words: post-hypnotic task, post-hypnotic suggestion, implicite information processing
Tanja Prade, Emilia Geiger und Burkhard Peter
Personality and career aspiration of adolescent students interested in hypnosis
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 45-67
Career aspirations of young people may be affected by several factors. But does personality type play a role? 91 high-school students and 8 secondary school students in Germany, aged 15 to 19 years with a balanced gender ratio, were asked about their career aspirations which were then compared with their personality types. Data suggest 2 main categories: More than a quarter aspired a career in a social sector, about 40% in a mathematical/natural-sciences/ economic sector. The two main categories differ significantly in that the participants of the “social” quarter are characterized by a rather “presentimental-schizotype” personality type suggesting that they are not lead solely by logical thinking but they also trust their gut feeling and intuition. Furthermore, they are more cautious, self-critical, loyal and co-operative with empathy and social commitment. Twice as many females than males reported a career aspiration in a social sector. Results are discussed in regards of more than 200-year-old gender characteristics. Because students volunteered primarily for a hypnotizability screening, factors of self-selection are discussed and a „hypnosis-prone“ personality style is conjectured.
Key words: Career aspiration, personality type, high-school students, social orientation, gender characteristics, hypnosis-proneness
Björn Riegel und Janine Kredel
Hypnosis and health promotion - An evaluation of the popularity of hypnosis to stop smoking, loose weight and reduce stress
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 69-81
Purpose of this study was to investigate the interest in hypnotherapeutic methods to change health behaviour in a sample of university students (n = 183). Furthermore the attitude towards hypnosis was measured in three subgroups for smoking cessation, stress management and weight loss employing the HypnoS. The participants were not aware that hypnosis is being investigated as a treatment modality. They had to choose from a variety of different treatment alternatives. From the perspective of smokers hypnosis in smoking cessation is the first line treatment. In contrary participants viewed hypnosis in stress reduction only as one of several forms of relaxation. For weight loss, however it is hardly considered. In this sample the positive attitude towards hypnosis is an important factor for choosing a hypnotherapy.
Keywords: hypnotherapy, attitude towards hypnosis, HypnoS, health behavior, prevention
Burkhard Peter, Christoph Piesbergen, Kristina Lucic, Melina Staudacher und Maria Hagl
The role of tactile support in arm levitation
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 83-116
In three consecutive trials, 30 students were tested to perform arm levitation entirely autonomously or with the help of tactile stimulation. The fourth trial was a control condition where they lifted their arm voluntarily. More than half of the participants did not require any tactile support, the remaining – except for 2 – also achieved arm levitation autonomously after receiving brief tactile stimulation. Those without tactile support went faster into hypnotic trance, rated it to be deeper and experienced more unvoluntariness; the values of electrodermal activity (EDA) were higher than the EDA-values of those participants who sometimes or always required tactile support. Higher EDA is interpreted as greater physiological activity which is necessary in hypnotic arm levitation as a form of “attentive hyposis” in contrast to pure relaxation hypnosis. Expectation and learning effects are held responsible for differences over the course of the hypnotic trials. The idea of different proprioceptive-kinesthetic abilities is introduced and the profound need of co-creation of a suggestion is emphasized. Erickson introduced arm levitation which proofed in several cases to be a technique that is an easily applied and impressive hypnosis ritual.
Keywords: hypnosis, arm levitation, ideomotor, tactile support, trance depth, involuntariness, electrodermal activity (EDA), Milton H. Erickson
Vera U. Ludwig, Christine Stelzel, Harald Krutiak, Lena M. Paschke, Amadeus Magrabi, Rosa Steimke, Norbert Kathmann, Henrik Walter
The suggestible brain: posthypnotic effects on value-based decision-making
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 117-146
Hypnosis can affect perception, motor function, and memory. However, so far no study using neuroimaging has investigated whether hypnosis can influence reward processing and decision-making. Here we assessed whether posthypnotic suggestions can diminish the attractiveness of unhealthy food and whether this is more effective than diminishing attractiveness by one’s own effort via autosuggestion. Sixteen participants were hypnotized and 16 others were instructed to associate a color cue (blue or green) with disgust regarding specific snacks (sweet or salty). Afterwards, participants bid for snack items shown on an either blue or green background during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurement. Both hypnosis and autosuggestion successfully devalued snacks. This was indicated by participants’ decision-making, their self-report, and by decreased blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a region known to represent value. Different vmPFC subregions coded for cue and snack type. The cue had significantly stronger effects on vmPFC after hypnosis than after autosuggestion, indicating that hypnosis was more effective in genuinely reducing value. Supporting previous findings, the precuneus was involved in the hypnotic effects by encoding whether a snack was sweet or salty during hypnotic cue presentation. Our results demonstrate that posthypnotic suggestions can influence valuation and decision-making.
Keywords: value-based decision-making, hypnosis, autosuggestion, self-control, neuroscience, fMRI, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus
Maria Hagl
Efficacy research in the field of clinical hypnosis in the year 2013
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 147-167
A systematic literature search for the year 2013 yielded 15 randomized or quasi-randomized trials where clinical hypnosis was evaluated either as a stand-alone method or as an adjunct. Most trials dealt with somatic complaints or indications; only three trials evaluated treatment for psychological complaints. Five trials were from the field of gynaecology, and five trials dealt with the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. Most trials evaluated short self-hypnosis trainings with additional audio recordings for practising at home. Even aside from gynaecological studies participants were predominately female. Reporting quality was adequate in most trials, so that methods and the relevance of results could be evaluated. Future studies should consider possible moderator variables more often, as well as the role of practicing at home for treatment efficacy. Research was funded by the Milton Erickson Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Germany.
Keywords: Hypnosis, hypnotherapy, efficacy, effectiveness, psychotherapy research, randomized controlled trials, RCT
Burkhard Peter und Alida Iost-Peter
The “Wolfart case” or the problem with the magnetic rapport. On the development of the therapeutic relationship in the early stages of psychotherapy
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 169-207
In psychotherapy, the therapeutic relationship is considered an important basic principle of effectiveness. However, this point of view developed rather late. Previously, Mesmer’s animal magnetism dismissed a psychological component for this relationship. Two books from 1821 and 1822 describe contrary perspectives on a scandal in Berlin, a presumably sexual abuse in the context of animal magnetism. By this example, different context variables are described that show how psychotherapy struggled in its early stages, as well as psychotherapy’s general focus of interest and the relationship factor in particular. Psychopathological, socio-cultural, political, scientific and career political aspects are outlined. The problems inherent to the orthodox mesmerism, with rapport regarded as physical, could only be solved by a new psychological understanding that was developed during the romantic somnambulism in the first half of the 19th century. This understanding granted priority in the first place to the psychological dimension of magnetic rapport and the therapeutic relationship respectively.
Keywords: Wolfart, mesmerism, rapport, therapeutic relationship, sexual abuse
Reinhard Weber
The history behind the story. Or: How to define adequately therapeutic goals, resources and solutions on the basis of a patient`s individual biographical experiences
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 209-221
Patients experience the pattern of a certain problem simultaneously on different levels, e.g. their family, their family of origin, their body image or their interaction with the therapist. Describing their problems on one of these levels the other levels regularly are involved unconsciously. Every report of a problem on one of these levels is a metaphorical narration of conflicts and approaches for solutions concerning the other ones. Therapists first have to find out, which are the repetitive patterns of a problem. Interventions that fit on as much levels as possible will be most efficient. Of particular importance is the psychological age of the patient in the problem state. Using these ideas therapeutic decisions depend on the individual story of a patient´s life. Planning therapeutic interventions as well as supervisional processes may be facilitated.
Keywords: Multi-level-communication, supervision, hypnotherapy, psychological age, metaphorical communication, treatment plan
Rosemarie Schuckall
"Gaining more and more backbone". Hypnotherapy as part of the multimodal treatment of a 14-year-old with scoliosis
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 223-229
Sandra, a 14-year-old high school student suffers from a severely deforming scoliosis of the thoracic spine. The onset of puberty resulted in the intensification of a depressive withdrawal; she fell silent. Academically, a notable degeneration was observed as well. First, by means of an art-therapeutical, systemic, and psychodynamic approach, it was attempted and made possible to get closer to the very secluded and brittle young lady. An exclusively dialogic-developed hypnotherapeutic conversational style allowed further wider-reaching, positive developments. The patient was prepared for the anxiety-causing corrective scoliosis surgery by means of this strictly dialogic hypnotherapy. The surgical intervention and the post-operative treatment went amazingly well and anxiety-free for the patient. The special feature of this hypnotherapeutic dialogue is based upon the therapeutic attitude which continues to perceive the images for change and conceptions of the patient as approved guideline to proceed. Cooperating with the aim of healing a counterweight was developed that resolved the formal passivity in the trance sessions (when lying down).
Key words: Hypnotherapy, anxiety disorder, family therapy, progressive thoracic scoliosis
Hansjörg Ebell
„Take the wheel!“ – The fear of failure before taking a driving test
Hypnose-ZHH 2014, 9 (1+2), 230-238
The 19-year old apprentice of an auto mechanic desperately needs a driver’s license. Failing the official driving test for the third time despite having taken an anxiolytic tranquilizer, he prepares for the next decisive attempt with the help of hypnosis and a metaphor referring to his own ‘personal rotational speed sensor’. This time he passes the test.
Key words: achievement anxiety, hypnosis