The Effects of Hypnosis on Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Reexamination of the Evidence

Powell, Russell A.; Gee, Travis

doi:10.1177/070674379904400908

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…It is unclear why they did not give credence to the more parsimonious explanation they offered but discounted: that therapists who use hypnosis receive more referrals for DID patients because hypnosis is a useful adjunctive modality for treating DID (ISSTD, 2011). Powell and Gee (1999) dismissed another study that found no differences in numbers of self-states according to whether patients had been hypnotized or not (Putnam et al, 1986), arguing it may have been underpowered due to using Bonferroni corrections, which are widely used to correct for error rates, particularly in large data sets to avoid spurious correlations (Kirk, 1982). Elsewhere, Powell and Howell (1998) criticize another DID treatment study (Ellason & Ross, 1997) for not controlling for error rates.…”

Section: Strained Logic and Lack Of Parsimony In Interpretations Of Datamentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In a brief report that purports to find that hypnosis has iatrongenic effects on DID, Powell and Gee (1999) examined Ross and Norton's (1989) study that found that the number of self-states did not differ between patients who had been hypnotized versus those who had not. Despite the equivalence of means, Powell and Gee compared the groups' standard deviations for the number of self-states.…”

Section: Strained Logic and Lack Of Parsimony In Interpretations Of Datamentioning

confidence: 98%

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Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment: An Empirically Based Approach

Brand¹,

Loewenstein²,

Spiegel³

2014

Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes

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The evidence demonstrates that carefully staged trauma-focused psychotherapy for DID results in improvement, whereas dissociative symptoms persist when not specifically targeted in treatment. The claims that DID treatment is harmful are based on anecdotal cases, opinion pieces, reports of damage that are not substantiated in the scientific literature, misrepresentations of the data, and misunderstandings about DID treatment and the phenomenology of DID. Given the severe symptomatology and disability associated with DID, iatrogenic harm is far more likely to come from depriving DID patients of treatment that is consistent with expert consensus, treatment guidelines, and current research.

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Section: Strained Logic and Lack Of Parsimony In Interpretations Of Datamentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Strained Logic and Lack Of Parsimony In Interpretations Of Datamentioning

confidence: 98%

Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment: An Empirically Based Approach

Brand¹,

Loewenstein²,

Spiegel³

2014

Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, the number of alters per DID individual tends to increase substantially over the course of DID-oriented psychotherapy (Piper, 1997). Curiously, psychotherapists who use hypnosis tend to have more DID patients in their caseloads than do psychotherapists who do not use hypnosis (Powell & Gee, 1999), and most DID diagnoses derive from a small number of therapy specialists in DID (Mai, 1995), again suggesting that alters may be created rather than discovered in therapy.…”

Section: The Sociocognitive Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders

Lynn

Lilienfeld

Merckelbach

et al. 2012

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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Conventional wisdom holds that dissociation is a coping mechanism triggered by exposure to intense stressors. Drawing on recent research from multiple laboratories, we challenge this prevailing posttraumatic model of dissociation and dissociative disorders. Proponents of this model hold that dissociation and dissociative disorders are associated with (a) intense objective stressors (e.g., childhood trauma), (b) serious cognitive deficits that impede processing of emotionally laden information, and (c) an avoidant information-processing style characterized by a tendency to forget painful memories. We review findings that contradict these widely accepted assumptions and argue that a sociocognitive model better accounts for the extant data. We further propose a perspective on dissociation based on a recently established link between a labile sleep-wake cycle and memory errors, cognitive failures, problems in attentional control, and difficulties in distinguishing fantasy from reality. We conclude that this perspective may help to reconcile the posttraumatic and sociocognitive models of dissociation and dissociative disorders.

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“…For example, most diagnoses of DID derive from a relatively small number of therapists, most of whom are DID specialists (Mai, 1995); therapists who use hypnosis tend to have more DID patients in their caseloads than therapists who do not use hypnosis (Powell & Gee, 1999); and laboratory studies indicate that nonclinical participants provided with appropriate cues can readily reproduce the core features of DID (Spanos, Weekes, & Bertrand, 1985).…”

Section: Dissociative Identity Disorder (Did)-oriented Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Treatments That Cause Harm

Lilienfeld

2007

Perspect Psychol Sci

783

612

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The phrase primum non nocere (“first, do no harm”) is a well-accepted credo of the medical and mental health professions. Although emerging data indicate that several psychological treatments may produce harm in significant numbers of individuals, psychologists have until recently paid little attention to the problem of hazardous treatments. I critically evaluate and update earlier conclusions regarding deterioration effects in psychotherapy, outline methodological obstacles standing in the way of identifying potentially harmful therapies (PHTs), provide a provisional list of PHTs, discuss the implications of PHTs for clinical science and practice, and delineate fruitful areas for further research on PHTs. A heightened emphasis on PHTs should narrow the scientist-practitioner gap and safeguard mental health consumers against harm. Moreover, the literature on PHTs may provide insight into underlying mechanisms of change that cut across many domains of psychotherapy. The field of psychology should prioritize its efforts toward identifying PHTs and place greater emphasis on potentially dangerous than on empirically supported therapies.

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The Effects of Hypnosis on Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Reexamination of the Evidence

Abstract: Objective: To examine the possibility that hypnosis has significant iatrogenic effects on dissociative identity disorder (DID) (Can J Psychiatry 1999;44:914-916)

Cited by 18 publications

References 11 publications

Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment: An Empirically Based Approach

Dispelling Myths About Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment: An Empirically Based Approach

Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders

Psychological Treatments That Cause Harm

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