Subject 1 - What is Hypnosis?

Question 1

What is the definition of hypnosis?

Answer 1

A state of consciousness involving focused attention and a decrease in peripheral awareness; it involves an enhanced capacity for suggestion

Question 2

What is hypnotic induction?

Answer 2

A procedure used to induce hypnosis (such as using the keyword “sleep”)

Question 3

Why is hypnosis gaining popularity?

Answer 3

It is gaining popularity due to an increased interest in mindfulness techniques

Question 4

What is hypnotizability?

Answer 4

An individual’s ability to experience suggestion (this varies from person to person)
- measured on a 12 point scale from 0 (not at all suggestible) to 12 (completely suggestible)

Question 5

What is hypnotherapy?

Answer 5

The use of hypnosis in treating medical or psychological problems

Question 6

How is hypnosis social-psychological?

Answer 6

It is social due to the interaction between the hypnotherapist and the individual; psychological due to individual differences

Question 7

Describe what a ritualistic procedure is? Why would hypnosis be induced by a ritualistic procedure?

Answer 7

A ritualistic procedure is an unchanging procedure; this allows little or no thought or effort on the part of the individual

Question 8

In what ways does hypnosis change our perception?

Answer 8

It affects changes in our thinking, memory (such as false memories) and behaviour (acting against what we would have normally done).

Question 9

Above all else, what is hypnosis in its simplest form?

Answer 9

A response to suggestion
- this does not mean that every time you act on a suggestion that you are, in fact, hypnotized; this simply means that suggestion is a necessary component of hypnosis (and not vice versa)

Question 10

What is dissociation?

Answer 10

It is the splitting of normal mental, emotional, or behavioural function
- it is an altered self-awareness in some capacity (ex. identity, memory, perception of reality)

Question 11

What is suggestion?

Answer 11

Verbal or non-verbal communication aiming at influencing attention
- an example of suggestion in hypnosis would be to direct someone’s attention to their right foot, which, up until this point, they were not paying too much attention to

Question 12

How are hypnosis and dissociation linked?

Answer 12

They are linked historically

- dissociation was used as a description of the processes at play during hypnosis (Pierre Janet, 1889)

Question 13

Where can we trace the origin of hypnosis to?

Answer 13

We can find the origin of hypnosis in the Anton Mesmer’s animal magnetism movement (1780’s)

Question 14

What is the response of conscious suggestion similar to?

Answer 14

The response is similar to accepting advice EXCEPT if it is deemed involuntary (which means that you don’t will for it to happen - it just does)

Question 15

What is an example of an involuntary response?

Answer 15

DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT
- what is the first thing you think of? Thinking immediately of a pink elephant happens without conscious effort (or intention)

Question 16

What is the difference between hypnosis and hypnotizability?

Answer 16

• hypnosis is a context (like being in therapy)

- hypnotizability is an ability that varies from person to person

Question 17

How is hypnosis a top-down process?

Answer 17

It starts in the brain and then affects behaviour and that, in turn, affects the environment

Question 18

What is a non-conscious suggestion?

Answer 18

A subliminal suggestion (like creating a false memory)

Question 19

What does the word subliminal mean?

Answer 19

Stimuli that are placed (often by an advertiser) below the threshold of conscious attention (but are still processed unconsciously)

Question 20

What is post-hypnotic suggestion?

Answer 20

The suggestion is made while the person is still hypnotized, but the response is carried out after the individual is released from hypnosis

Question 21

What does the word “involuntariness” highlight?

Answer 21

The bypassing of our sense of agency - it is not them “doing” something, but rather something “happening” to them
- involuntariness is the hallmark of hypnosis and the most important aspect of the hypnotic response **

Question 22

What is reflective consciousness?

Answer 22

self-awareness and introspection

Question 23

What is primary consciousness?

Answer 23

inner speech, feelings and memories

Question 24

What is peripheral awareness?

Answer 24

conscious of only when attended to

- vaguely aware of stimuli

Question 25

Is consciousness black and white, or does it operate on a spectrum?

Answer 25

It operates on a spectrum; you are not either conscious or not
- you move from primary consciousness all the way to completely non-conscious

Question 26

What are irretrievable memories?

Answer 26

Memories that are very difficult or impossible to remember

Question 27

When do we begin gaining primary consciousness?

Answer 27

When we are able to form clear memories (self-awareness begins approximately around 1 year old)
- self-consciousness is dependent on memories

Question 28

What does the word primitive denote?

Answer 28

It is a way of referring to non-medical treatment and interventions

Question 29

What is the definition of a ritual?

Answer 29

Regulated behaviours expected to bring a desired outcome

Question 30

What is primitive healing based on?

Answer 30

They are based on the concept of suggestion

Question 31

What is the aim of primitive healing rituals?

Answer 31

They aim to create cathartic reactions

- many therapeutic techniques today have the same goal

Question 32

What is the definition of catharsis?

Answer 32

An emotional or behavioural reaction that is explosive that is purging for the individual
- can be emotional (psychological) purging, physical purging and/or spiritual purging

Question 33

What are the three conditions of a primitive healing ritual?

Answer 33

1. the healer must believe in his/her own power
2. patient must believe in healer’s power
3. there has to be social support from both sides

Question 34

What are some examples of things that might have happened to someone in order to justify a primitive healing ritual?

Answer 34

1. loss of soul
2. possession
3. sorcery
4. disease-object intrusion
5. breach of taboo

Question 35

What is psychic surgery?

Answer 35

An operation of some ailment via psychic powers (without the use of instruments)

Question 36

Describe disease-object intrusion. What is the cause/cure?

Answer 36

It is caused by the presence of a harmful foreign substance (but not necessarily a spirit)
It can be cured by a medicine man (via psychic surgery)
- the belief in the powers of the medicine man cause a healing effect like a placebo

Question 37

Describe loss of soul. What is the cause/cure?

Answer 37

The loss of soul can occur by accident (like after you sneeze)
- the diagnosis of the loss of soul was based on naturalistic observations (such as sleepwalking or dreaming)
The soul could be retrieved by a shaman who could travel to the spirit world and bring it back, or by reciting special incantations

Question 38

Describe possession. What is the cause?

Answer 38

Possession had two possible causes:

1. artificial possession (which was a willing act on the individual’s part)
2. spontaneous possession (in which the individual does not will the possession to take place)

Question 39

What were three subtypes of spontaneous possession?

Answer 39

1. somnambulistic - involves possession that spurs depersonalization and amnesia (i.e. the “classic” possession we think of when we watch horror movies today)
2. lucid - involves an obsession that becomes a conscious struggle (no amnesia; most common during the witch hunting period - characterized by hearing voices)
3. circumsessio - possession that mimics a natural illness (but because the doctors couldn’t figure out the cause, it was believed to be a possession)

Question 40

How can the subtypes of spontaneous possession be linked to contemporary illnesses?

Answer 40

1. somnambulistic has many similarities to dissociative identity disorder
2. lucid possession shares common traits with schizophrenia
3. circumsessio possession appears to be very similar to somatoform and psychosomatic disorders

Question 41

What is the cure for possession?

Answer 41

1. Mechanical extractions (such as bleeding, whipping, introducing different noises and smells, etc)
2. Transference (often times to an animal)
3. Exorcism - releasing the spirit through chanting and prayers

Question 42

How is possession and exorcism linked to animal magnetism?

Answer 42

As in exorcism, the practise of chanting and praying was used as a tool in the animal magnetism movement

Question 43

Why is possession seen as a social and cultural phenomenon?

Answer 43

Because of the zeitgeist, symptoms were mistaken as possession.
Later zeitgeists claimed hysteria was to blame; later on, even such things as alien abductions were used to explain the exact same symptomoloy
- this proves that changes in possession mentality are directly related to changes in social and religious values of the time, and that this also varies from culture to culture

Question 44

Why were women thought to be possessed more often than a man, and more likely to be a witch than a man?

Answer 44

Women are associated with Eve, and due to Eve’s conversations with the devil in the garden of eden, it was believed that the woman was directly associated with the devil
- if a male became possessed, it was at the fault of a female

Question 45

Describe what a zeitgeist means?

Answer 45

It is the social, political, personal, etc. spirit of the time
- example: the zeitgeist of the witch hunt era was the idea that women who were associated with the devil must be eradicated

Question 46

What is an ortgeist?

Answer 46

It is the social, political, personal, etc. spirit of the place

(i. e. the zeitgeist of a specific location)
* *the zeitgeist and the ortgeist both heavily influence our beliefs and expectations**

Question 47

How has possession been traditionally depicted in art? How does the depiction change depending on the zeitgeist?

Answer 47

Traditionally, a devil was depicted as sitting on the woman’s chest while she slept (causing a feeling of breathlessness)

• later, the uterus was believed to be the culprit of this symptom, as it wandered away from the lower abdomen and into the throat of the affected woman, then because of the ovaries being overactive
• still later, this feeling of breathlessness was attributed to alien abductions while the individual (in this case, not always a woman) slept

Question 48

What techniques were used to interrogate a witch?

Answer 48

The woman’s head would be shaved (this would prevent the devil from hiding in her hair, and also to prevent the woman from seducing the tribunal) and then she was to be examined by a physician for any “Devil’s Marks”, which were believed to be present if the woman had had sex with the devil

Question 49

How did the Devil’s Marks change into hysterogenic and erotogenic zones?

Answer 49

Due to the move from supernatural causes to more anatomical causes

• if the physician put pressure on a hysterogenic zone, the woman would go into a hysterical fit
• if the physician put pressure on an erotogenic zone, the woman would apparently try to seduce her physician