Hypnosis - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Hypnosis

Altered Consciousness or Role-Playing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9bFHlr__

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPVS-TKuybUSlide2

States of Consciousness (2-4%)

AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:

• Describe various states of consciousness and their impact on behavior.

• Discuss aspects of sleep and dreaming:

— stages and characteristics of the sleep cycle;

— theories of sleep and dreaming;

— symptoms and treatments of sleep disorders.

• Describe historic and contemporary uses of hypnosis (e.g., pain control,

psychotherapy).

• Explain hypnotic phenomena (e.g., suggestibility, dissociation).

• Identify the major psychoactive drug categories (e.g., depressants, stimulants)

and classify specific drugs, including their psychological and physiological

effects.

• Discuss drug dependence, addiction, tolerance, and withdrawal.

• Identify the major figures in consciousness research (e.g., William James,

Sigmund Freud, Ernest

Hilgard

).Slide3

Consciousness

Awareness of ourselves and our environments

Dual processing: conscious and unconscious

Some states occur spontaneously

Daydreaming

Drowsiness

Dreaming

Some

are physiologically induced

Hallucinations

Orgasm

Food or Oxygen intake

Some are psychologically induced

Sensory Deprivation

Hypnosis

MeditationSlide4

Hypnosis

Hypnotism (coined in 1843) from the Greek word for sleep

James Braid believed it could be used as a form of anesthesiaSlide5

Hypnotic Induction and Susceptibility

Hypnosis

: a social interaction in which one person (the subject) responds to another person’s (hypnotist) suggestions that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Hypnotic induction- relies on the person’s

sggestabilitySlide6

Susceptibility

People vary in their response to hypnotic induction

Recent studies show about 20% of people are highly

succeptable

Typically people who can become deeply absorbed in imaginative activitiesSlide7

Memory

We do NOT encode everything around us

We permanently store only some of our experiences, and sometimes we can’t retrieve those

Courts (US) have banned the use of testimony provided under hypnosisSlide8

Hypnotized people have been induced to do apparently dangerous activities

Post-therapeutic suggestions- a suggestion made during

ahypnsosi

session to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotize; used by some clinicians to help control undersized symptoms and behaviors

Helps with headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disordersSlide9

Why?

Two general correlations (weak)

Absorption and imaginativeness

People who are more susceptible usually can become more deeply absorbed in an intense experience and a vivid imagination

New research: exceptional sensory and perceptual gating abilities that permit them to block certain stimuli from awarenessSlide10

Hypnotic PhenomenaSlide11

1) Anesthesia

Some people can handle considerable pain

Some physicians and dentists have used hypnosis as a substitute for anesthetic drugs

Drugs are more reliable

Still used for some acute and chronic painSlide12

2) Sensory Distortions and Hallucinations

People can be led to believe auditory and visual hallucinations

Can also work with tastesSlide13

3) Disinhibition

Can sometimes reduce inhibitions

May occur because individuals may feel that they cannot be held responsible for their actionsSlide14

4) Posthypnotic Suggestions and Amnesia

Influence on someone’s later behavior

Remember nothing…Slide15

5) Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapists try and have their patients harness their own healing powers

Postyhypnotic

suggestions have helped alleviate headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disorders

18 studies

Therapy supplemented with hypnosis shows greater improvement than 70% of the other therapy patients

obesitySlide16

Theories of HypnosisSlide17

It is a popular view that participants are put into a special, altered, state of consciousness called a hypnotic trance

EEG patterns are not irregular

Leads some people to believe that it is a normal state that is simply characterized by dramatic role playingSlide18

Hypnosis as Role Playing

Social theory of hypnosis

Subjects “role expectations” produce hypnotic effects, rather than a special state of consciousness

1) many of the “fancy” tricks people can do in hypnotized states can be reproduced in people in regular conscious states, or have simply been exaggerated

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjU-d0LHArs

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIby-BofARo

Hypnosis doesn’t enhance memory either, even though patients feel more confident

2) Hypnotized patients are often simply “acting” out a role

Memory recalls are often incorrect or exaggerated Slide19

Hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness

Despite these things, some people maintain that hypnotic effects are attributable to special altered states of consciousness

Role play cannot explain all aspects

Sometimes patients continue to display these hypnotic responses even when they are alone and unobserved

Hypnotized subjects experience changes in brain activity that appear consistent with their reports of hypnosis-induced hallucinationsSlide20

Dissociation

Dissociation- is a splitting off of mental processes into two separate, simultaneous streams of

awareness

1) one stream is in communication with the hypnotist and the external world

2) one stream is a difficult to detect hidden observer

==== a divided consciousness

Very appealing-> highway hypnosisSlide21

MeditationSlide22

Meditation

A family of practices that train attention to heighten awareness and bring mental processes under greater voluntary control

Yoga, Zen and transcendental meditation (TM)

Meditation is practiced throughout history with religious beliefsSlide23

Most meditation is deceptively simple

Sit in a comfortable position with eyes closed and silently focus attention on mantra- assigned Sanskrit word

Twice daily for 20 minutesSlide24

Physiological correlates

Alpha and Theta waves become more prominent in EEG recordings

Heart rate, skin conductance, respiration rate, and oxygen consumption,

c

arbon dioxide elimination decline

Potentially beneficial physiological state characterized by suppression of bodily arousal

However, this also comes through with relaxation techniques…. Slide25

Long-term benefits

Reduces the effects of stress

Lowers stress hormones

Enhanced immune response

Reduces anxiety and drug abuse

Blood pressure

Sense of control

Increased creativity and intelligence in high school students

Seem too good to be true?

Many mediation studies are not done with rigorous research design

SO- mediation is a potentially worthwhile relaxation strategies but with a healthy amount of skepticism