Dream deprivation and facilitation with hypnosis.

Abstract

We attempted to modify sleep and dreaming through the administration of various posthypnotic suggestions. Subjects were 17 male undergraduates who were selected for high susceptibility to hypnosis. After two adaptation nights, 5 subjects were given a dream-deprivation suggestion, 8 were given a suggestion of dream-facilitation, and the remaining 4 subjects were administered a neutral posthypnotic suggestion. Subjective dream reports were dramatically affected in the predicted directions. Electrophysiological changes were also noted in certain subjects, although these results were not nearly as consistent as the subjective data. The dream-deprivation group had significantly more Stage 1 sleep than the other two groups; and certain of these subjects had much less REM sleep. Schroetter (1911) and Nachmansohn (1925) demonstrated that nocturnal dream reports may be influenced by hypnotic suggestion. These investigators noted that morning recall of dreaming was often consistent with presleep suggestions administered during hypnosis. In recent years, this basic observation has been replicated and amplified by other investigators (Barber, Walker, &Hahn, 1973;Stoyva, 1965;Tart, 1964;Tart & Dick, 1970). According to Tart (1965), "Posthypnotic suggestion seems to be the most powerful and precise method for affecting dream content, although its use is restricted to a minority of subjects" (p. 85).Stoyva (1965) reported that subjects' dream reports were in accordance with administered suggestions. He also noted thatpresleephypnotic suggestions resulted in a reduction of REM sleep time. The intensity of this "shortening" effect was related to the number of elements in the dream suggestion, but the emotional tone of the suggested topic did not appear to influence the degree of reduction. Hypnotic relaxation without suggestion failed to reduce REM time. Barber, Walker, and Hahn (1973) gave subjects a presleep suggestion to dream about the assassination of President Kennedy. Au-

A cognitive-behavioral approach to the control of dream content

“…Stoyva implied that if a posthypnotic suggestion was effective and subjects did dream on assigned themes, there would be a reduction in REM time. In contrast to this, Albert and Boone (1975) noted reductions in %REM time for 2 out of 5 subjects given an unpleasant posthypnotic suggestion not to dream, but normal amounts of %REM were found in subjects presented a pleasant posthypnotic suggestion to dream as much as possible. Thus, it was not just compliance with the suggestion which elicited reductions in REM time, but rather topic pleasantness did appear to be a factor in these reductions.…”

Dreams as the reflection of our waking concerns and abilities: A critique of the problem-solving paradigm in dream research.

“…Certainly, in the study of Breger et al (1971) the subject Jackie, who did not hold to the sensitivity assumptions of the therapy group, had, in her dreams following the first and second therapy sessions, little emotion, and “a lack of regressive or childhood material” (p. 79), which was congruent with her waking beliefs. We must beware the ignoring of experimenter effects and subject expectations in our field of dream psychology, given the widespread popular theorizing and wishful-thinking about dreams and dream function (see Domhoff, 1985), as well as when subjects are specifically instructed to dream in a certain way (e.g., Albert & Boone, 1975; Belicki & Bowers, 1982; Walker & Johnson, 1974).…”

Case Report: Visualization for treatment of insomnia, anxiety, and depression caused by PTSD

“…Sometimes insomnia is due to the presence of a constant and compulsive idea in the sleeper's visualization. This idea is that sleep is impossible, and insomnia is measured through self-reports of the duration of time taken to enter sleep, the actual duration of sleep, the depth of sleep, and periods of interruption during sleep (Albert & Boone, 1975;Beck-Little & Weinrich, 1998).…”