Hypnosis (redirected from Hipnotism)

hypnosis

State that resembles sleep but is induced by a person (the hypnotist) whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject. The hypnotized individual seems to respond in an uncritical, automatic fashion, ignoring aspects of the environment (e.g., sights, sounds) not pointed out by the hypnotist. Even the subject's memory and awareness of self may be altered by suggestion, and the effects of the suggestions may be extended (posthypnotically) into the subject's subsequent waking activity. The history of hypnotism is as old as that of sorcery and magic. It was popularized in the 18th century by Franz Anton Mesmer (as “mesmerism”) and was studied in the 19th century by the Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795–1860). Sigmund Freud relied on it in exploring the unconscious, and it eventually came to be recognized in medicine and psychology as useful in helping to calm or anesthetize patients, modify unwanted behaviours, and uncover repressed memories. There remains no generally acceptable explanation for hypnosis, though one prominent theory focuses on the possibility of discrete dissociative states affecting portions of consciousness.

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hypnosis

an artificially induced state of relaxation and concentration in which deeper parts of the mind become more accessible: used clinically to reduce reaction to pain, to encourage free association, etc.

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hypnosis [′hip′nō·səs]

(psychology)

An altered state of consciousness in which the individual is more susceptible to suggestion and in which regressive behavior may spontaneously occur.

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Hypnosis

A presumed altered state of consciousness in which the hypnotized individual is usually more susceptible to suggestion than in his or her normal state. In this context, a suggestion is understood to be an idea or a communication carrying an idea that elicits a covert or overt response not mediated by the higher critical faculties (that is, the volitional apparatus).

Hypnosis cannot be physiologically distinguished from the normal awake state of an individual, and for this reason its existence has been questioned by some investigators. There are few phenomena observed in association with hypnosis, if any, that are specific to the hypnotic state. Most are directly or indirectly produced by suggestions. Through suggestions given to hypnotized individuals, it is possible to induce alterations in memory, perception, sensation, emotions, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and muscular state. Such changes can be, and usually are, incorporated into the complex behavior of the individual, resulting in amnesias and paramnesias, fuguelike conditions, paralysis, loss of sensory functions, changes in attention, personality alterations, hallucinatory and delusional behavior, and even physiological changes. Enhanced recall is sometimes possible. Although sometimes remarkable, the effects produced through hypnosis with the majority of individuals are much less spectacular than popularly believed.

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Hypnosis 

a special type of sleeplike state in humans and higher animals. Hypnosis has been known since remote antiquity. However, until the mid-19th century the notion of hypnosis was based on the spiritualistic assumption of special “fluids” or magnetic waves—special currents that were supposedly disseminated by the hypnotist.

At the end of the 19th century scientific elaboration of the problems of hypnotism was begun, the therapeutic value of hypnotism was established, and the role of suggestion as a method of psychotherapy was elucidated by the works of the Russian scientists V. M. Bekhterev, O. O. Mochutkovskii, and A. A. Tokarskii, the French scientists C. Richet, H. Bernheim, and J. Charcot, the English scientist J. Braid, and the Swiss scientist A. Forel. The work of I. P. Pavlov and his pupils showed that hypnosis is based on the process of inhibition, which affects the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres. This inhibition has a divided character—it is distributed to various sections of the brain at different depths and embraces different sections of the brain. Between the inhibited sections lie wakeful ones in which the cortex and subcortical formations function actively. These sections— so-called guard posts—ensure in particular the possibility of contact (rapport) between the patient and the physician-hypnotist and the possibility of the therapeutic effect of his words (suggestion). At the same time, the guard posts isolate other stimuli that come from the patient’s outer and inner worlds while he is immersed in the hypnotic state. Inhibition in hypnosis is similar to inhibition during physiological sleep.

In the waking state the intensity of excitation of the cortical cells corresponds to the intensity of the stimulus. The varying depth of inhibition in various regions of the brain is linked to the presence in them of phase states that are transitional between sleep and waking. Phase states are characterized by a change in the reaction of the cells to the effect of the stimulus; in the leveling phase both weak and strong stimuli act identically. (For example, the doctor’s word, whether spoken softly or loudly, produces the identical effect.) Under deeper inhibition, the paradoxical phase occurs, in which weak stimuli (for example, words) act identically to or even more effectively than strong ones such as pain, which sometimes elicit no reaction at all. The result is that verbal suggestion in the hypnotic state may have a salutary effect.

In humans hypnosis is achieved by the effect of rhythmic, monotonous, for the most part weak stimuli to the organs of touch (stroking) and hearing (quiet, soothing music or the monotonous speech of the doctor) and by prolonged rhythmic and monotonous influence on other sense organs. These rhythmic, monotonous stimuli in hypnosis are accompanied by verbal suggestion, which produces in the patient a feeling of calmness, the desire to fall asleep, a growing feeling of heaviness in the eyelids, torpor, falling asleep, and subsequent deepening of sleep. Through a combination of these stimuli and verbal suggestion to fall asleep, the development in the cerebral cortex of more or less extensive inhibition of varying depths is ensured. This is manifested by growing sleepiness. (The first stage of hypnosis is a sensation of heaviness in the body, difficulty in opening the eyes, speaking, and thinking coherently—hypotaxia.) If the session is prolonged, a shallow sleep occurs, which is accompanied by a peculiar torpor of the muscles, in which the hand, foot, and other parts of the body freeze in the position in which they are placed by the physician (catalepsy). Ideas and phenomena suggested by the physician in this state are not only grasped but also well remembered and assimilated by the patient, and they are subsequently reproduced by him. The heightened suggestibility, hypotaxia, catalepsy, and somnambulism that arise under hypnosis are included in the concept of hypnotism.

In the stage of deep hypnosis (somnambulism) the patient is completely cut off from any perceptions and ideas of the outside world and his own body, and he maintains contact only with the physician. After the session, he is unable to communicate what happened to him during hypnosis. However, he subsequently fulfills what was suggested to him by the physician. The effect of suggestion and the depth (stage) of hypnosis are not always equivalent. A high effect of suggestion is possible even in the first stage of hypnosis and even in the nonhypnotic state (suggestion while awake). Conditions for receiving and subsequently realizing suggestions are usually more favorable in the somnambulistic stage of hypnosis.

The sleep that develops under hypnosis is itself a salutary factor (regulation by the brain of the functions of metabolism, the internal organs, and the activity of the cardiovascular system and other body systems). Hypnosis may be used as an independent form of treatment, or it may be part of a therapeutic complex (in addition to medications, physiotherapeutic procedures, diet, and other therapeutic methods). Hypnosis is used for treatment of some forms of neuroses, psychopathy, and reactive states. Any human being can feel the effect of hypnosis. However, the speed and the stage of depth achievable in hypnosis (hypnotizability) vary with the individual. It is not advisable to conduct hypnotic treatment contrary to the patient’s desire. The notion of the universal benefit of hypnotic treatment for any patient with any disease is erroneous. The use of hypnosis for purposes beyond the scope of medical treatment is inadmissible and its use by nonphysicians (for example, for stage demonstrations) is prohibited by Soviet law.

REFERENCE

Lebedinskii, M. S. Ocherki psikhoterapii. Moscow, 1959. (Bibliography.)
Platonov, K. I. Slovo kak fiziologicheskii faktor, 3rd ed. Moscow,1962. (Bibliography.)

B. S. BAMDAS