American Psychological Association
01-04-2024
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Uncovering the new science of clinical hypnosis
With decades of data and new research supporting its effectiveness, practitioners are embracing hypnosis to treat certain conditions
Years ago, as a psychology grad student, Amanda Barnier, PhD, did a pair of experiments in which she gave people a pile of stamped postcards and asked them to send her one each day for the next few months. She asked a group of people to mail the cards as a favor to her; for another group, she administered a posthypnotic suggestion to send the cards. Both groups were equally likely to mail the cards, day after day, until their stacks ran out. But their motivations and experiences, she found, were quite different (Psychological Science, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1998). The people she asked to do her a favor had an internal explanation for the action. “They felt they made a decision to comply with my social request,” said Barnier, now professor of cognitive science and pro vice-chancellor of research performance and development at Macquarie University in Australia. “The hypnotized people felt it was a compelling urge they had to meet. Hypnosis made the action feel more involuntary.”
That reduced sense of personal agency may be precisely what makes clinical hypnosis such a powerful tool in psychotherapy and behavior change, said Barnier, who has studied the power of hypnosis ever since. “By changing the person’s sense of authorship, the effort becomes external to them. Hypnosis kick-starts the process by making it easier to change.”
Hypnosis is as old as the field of psychotherapy itself, but today, advocates pointing to its evidence base say it deserves a fresh look—and a much wider audience. “Hypnosis has a certain historical mystique that can sometimes make it difficult for practitioners to understand its modern relevance,” said David Godot, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Long Beach, California, and president of APA’s Division 30 (Society of Psychological Hypnosis). In fact, clinical hypnosis has clear benefits in psychotherapy, improving outcomes in areas such as pain management, anxiety, depression, sleep, and more. “Over the past few decades, there have been tremendous advances in understanding hypnosis and its benefit for research and practice,” Godot said.