The phenomena and characteristics of self-hypnosis

Hypnotic aspects of spiritual experience

“…As comfort with the process and the state increases, tess time is spent worrying about failures or difficulties with self-suggestions, and the ability to enter trance quickly and easily increases, as does the fading of the general reality orientation. 17 As one considers the phenomenological nature of both hetero-hypnosis and self-hypnosis, a parallel to religious and spiritual experiences can be seen. Many religious activities bear considerable similarity to the characteristics of hetero-hypnosis with processes for achieving increased absorption and the narrowing of focused concentration and responsivity to one external stimulus (e.g.…”

Current research in self-hypnotic phenomenology: The Chicago paradigm

“…Indeed, when the tasks are not predefined, one is hard put to imagine how 'behavioral comparisons could be made at all. Phenomenological comparisons should still be quite possible, as the section of Fromm et al (1981) reporting the self-hypnosis versus hetero-hypnosis comparisons shows5, although not easily linked to the same suggestions for each state.…”

“…Consequently, subtle differences may become lost in the structural similarities (i.e., the identical suggestions may make the phenomena of the self-directed response definition of selfhypnosis more similar to hetero-hypnosis than the self-initiated suggestions experience would be). It is clear that this bias was purposely avoided by Fromm et al (1981). Thus, there are implications which bear on the probable results, depending on the operational definition adopted.…”

“…I would like to discuss the self-hypnosis -hetero-hypnosis part of the Fromm et al (1981) paper first, since it is most relevant to my work. The Fromm et al (1981) self-hypnosis -hetero-hypnosis comparisons given represent the most informative study of phenomenology to date.…”

How Hypnosis May Potentiate Psychotherapy

“…(I) Attention changes in two ways during hypnosis, becoming either more focused or more free-floating (Fromm, Brown, Hurt, Oberlander, Boxer & Pfeifer, 1981). Both types of changes can facilitate psychotherapy .…”