A COMPARISON OF SUGGESTED DREAMS OCCURRING IN HYPNOSIS AND SLEEP1

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1994

In Study 1, virtuoso (n = 13; passed more than 10 suggestions on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A [HGSHS:A] and Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C), high hypnotizable (n = 14; passed more than 8 suggestions on the HGSHS:A), and medium hypnotizable (n = 17; passed 4-8 suggestions on the HGSHS:A) Ss were administered a hypnotic dream suggestion followed by a "dream hidden observer" suggestion (i.e., access hidden part; have new thoughts and images pertinent to dream). The majority of Ss reported dreams (81.8%) and hidden observers (80%), with hidden reports being characterized by more personal content, less primary processes, and poorer recall than dream reports. Study 2 replicated major findings. Although hypnotized (n = 18) and low hypnotizable simulating Ss (n = 17) responded comparably on most measures, hypnotizable Ss' dreams contained more primary process than did simulating Ss, providing support for M. R. Nash's (1991) psychoanalytic model.

SLEEP, 2014

Frontiers in Neurology, 2020

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2006

Theories about dreams have shaped our thinking about mind-body unity and the influence of thought on the body. In this article, the authors review the sparse literature regarding the use of hypnosis with children's dreams and nightmares, summarize how hypnotically induced dreams have been used to resolve psychological symptoms, and note five themes in the literature worthy of further investigation. Building on the value of both dreams and hypnosis for working through conflicts, the authors united mind-body medicine and hypnotically induced dreaming in a pediatric pulmonary practice. A case series is presented of 11patients who were offered an opportunity to review their reported nightmares through hypnosis in order to uncover their potential meaning. The recurrent nightmares among these patients decreased greatly in frequency or resolved following the hypnosis enhanced dream review. Thus, we demonstrate that hypnotically induced dream review may be useful in a pediatric population.

International Journal of Psychophysiology, 1993

EEG was recorded monopolarly at frontal (F3, F.,), central CC,, C,) and posterior (in the middle of O,-P,-T, and O,-P,-T, triangles) derivations during the hypnotic induction of the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale (SHCS) and during performance following suggestions of hypnotic dream and age-regression as expressed in the before-mentioned scale. 10 low-hypnotizable and 9 highly-hypnotizable and right-handed female students participated in one experimental session. Evaluations were Fast-Fourier spectral analyses during the following conditions: waking-rest in eyes-open and eyes-closed condition; early, middle, and late phases of hypnotic induction; rest-hypnosis in eyes closed condition; hypnotic dream and age regression. After spectral analysis of 0 to 44

Sleep and Hypnosis - International Journal, 2016

The posthypnotic command is issued in deep hypnosis when a subject's brainwaves are in theta mode of 4-7 cycles per second. This is the same frequency that the dream state features. It suggests that dreaming and deep hypnosis are equivalent states. The word hypnosis, meaning a condition of sleep, suggests that the ancients understood this equivalence. When a subject in deep hypnosis is commanded to execute a certain task at a given time after 'waking up', the subject will do so at exactly the designated time. When asked for a reason for his action, the answer will never be correct, for while under hypnosis he was asked by the hypnotist to forget the command. But the subject will certainly have a perfectly rational explanation no matter how absurd the order may have been. This is precisely the case when we are asked to give an explanation for any action we have executed. If my hypothesis is right, our answer to the same question is equally wrong, yet perfectly rational. Indeed, while we have no idea where our motivation arises and where our ideas come from, we are in the same position of darkness as the hypnotised subject. My research in dreams has convinced me that dreams are the source of our inspiration and motivation. Evidence for this comes from creative people who have received ideas from their dreams or have been presented with solutions by them to their problems. Famous scientific discoveries have been made with the help of dreams by Thomas Edison, Kekulé, Otto Loewi and Elijah Howe, for instance. Among the men of creative writing Robert Louis Stevenson stands out, for he deliberately invoked his dreams to provide him with new plots for stories. But he also suspected that the honing and reworking of his dream plots was also done for him by his "Brownies and Little People" of the night. Like the posthypnotic suggestion, the dream has a timing device determining when a dream or part of it should manifest in waking time. Perhaps the most convincing evidence for this is Michael Barnsley's twenty-year nightmare that taunted him to put the wires of a matrix in order. Since he had no idea of what the matrix was supposed to do, he was naturally unable to solve the problem posed to him. The nightmare only ceased after he met Benoit Mandelbrot who had by then invented a computer program for fractal math, a program that provided all the necessary information for Barnsley to understand the dream that ended the nightmares by providing him with the solution of the confused wires of the dream matrix. This dream gave him the circuitry that led to the invention of image compression software. The wet dream, which occurs at the end of the night of dreams and is a heightened sexual state, indicated by morning erections, shows that the sexual content of the dream forces the dreamer, who by then is free of the nightly muscle inhibitors, to act it out. This leads us to surmise that the sexual aspect of the dream tends to manifest on the dream day. A thorough investigation of this circumstance proved the inference right. This led me to devise a test of the dream's power to compel us to execute its content. It entails the interpretation of the sexual meaning of the dream and making a prediction on account of it. The corresponding manifestations verify my theory. I found support in my view that dreams were posthypnotic commands in the experimentations of Professor Libet, who found that our decisions were made unconsciously up to half a second before we became conscious of them. They demonstrate that our decisions are made unconsciously. There is no better explanation of this process than the dream. In short, the subjects tested by Libet would have dreamt the experiments ahead of time, thus providing them with the appropriate dream memory. It was this that determined the unconscious choices of the experimentees, registering half a second before becoming conscious fact. The somnambulist provides another factor that supports the hypothesis that dreams are posthypnotic commands. He, like the wet dreamer, is in a state of reduced muscle inhibition and is consequently free to act out his dreams. I realise that there is considerable controversy with regard to the causes of sleepwalking. But the difference between the wet dreamer and the somnambulist is minimal. Indeed, why would the dream state be constrained by muscle inhibition if it were not for the prevention of acting out what the dreamer experiences? Clearly somnambulism is a most illustrative case of dreams being posthypnotic commands. There can be little doubt that the dream is very much a posthypnotic command, signalling that our life is in the hands of a Master Hypnotist of infinite capacity.

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2007

The history of the most enduring experimental design in hypnosis research is reviewed. More than 75 years of research converge to indicate that: 1) all of the phenomena produced in hypnosis by suggestion also can be produced by suggestion without the induction of hypnosis, 2) the induction of hypnosis produces a relatively small increase in responsiveness to suggestion, and 3) hypnotic and waking suggestion are highly correlated, in many cases rivalling the reliability of the suggestibility measure. The importance of these data to both clinical and experimental hypnosis is emphasized.

Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 2008

Hypnosis can be defined as a procedure during which changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings or behaviour are suggested. Hypnosis can be used to amplify whatever it is about therapy that makes it therapeutic. It permits a wide range of choices regarding where and how to intervene in the patient's problems. In this paper, we set out to examine the rationale of using hypnotherapy to manage various types of sleep disorders, and to explore the techniques, strategies and hypnotic scripts employed by various hypnotherapists. We also examine the research data available on the efficacy of hypnosis in the treatment of sleep disorders. Acute and chronic insomnia often respond to relaxation and hypnotherapy approaches, along with sleep hygiene instructions. Hypnotherapy has also helped with nightmares and sleep terrors. There are several reports of successful use of hypnotherapy for parasomnias, specifically for head and body rocking, bedwetting and sleepwalking. Hypnosis is ...

Contemporary Hypnosis, 1998

Neuropsychophysiological evidence is reviewed testing a three-stage, top-down working model of the traditional hypnotic relaxation induction involving: (1) a thalamocortical attentional network engaging a left frontolimbic focused attention control system underpinning sensory fixation and concentration on the induction; (2) instatement of frontolimbic inhibitory systems through suggestions of tiredness at fixation and relaxation whereby anterior executive functions are suspended and directed by the induction; (3) engagement of right-sided temporoposterior functions through passive imagery and dreaming. A selectivity of action in high susceptibles was a hallmark of the studies. Increased Stroop interference coincided with maintenance of error detection and abolition of error evaluation potentials, interpreted as dissociation of cognitive and affective executive systems of the anterior cingulate. Verbal, category and design fluency tasks were dissociated with hypnosis centring on left anterior processes as seen in left lateral and medial reduced EEG connectivity. Limbic modulated electrodermal orienting responses and frontal modulated mismatch negativity waves were inhibited. Asymmetries in electrodermal and electrocortical responses to tones shifted to favour the right hemisphere, an asymmetry also seen in visual sensitivity. Haptic processing and visual sensitivity disclosed more distributed changes in medium susceptibles, while low susceptibles were characterized by poorer attentional functions at baseline and improvements through the induction.