More Research into hypnosis

Enhancing thought suppression with hypnosis

AUTHOR(S): Bryant, R., Wimalaweera, S.DATE: October 2006
SUBJECTS: 39 high- and 40 low-hypnotisable participants

OBJECTIVE: On the premise that hypnosis may permit more effective management of cognitive load, it was hypothesized that hypnosis may enhance more effective thought suppression. The research examined whether the obstacle of cognitive load could be bypassed using hypnosis to facilitate successful thought suppression.

INTERVENTIONS: Participants were hypnotized and received either a suppression instruction or no instruction for a memory of an embarrassing experience and subsequently completed a sentence-unscrambling task that indexed accessibility of embarrassing thoughts.

RESULTS: Low hypnotisables instructed to suppress displayed a delayed increase in suppressed thoughts, whereas highly hypnotisables did not.

CONCLUSIONS: Hypnosis facilitates thought suppression.

SOURCE: The International Journal Of Clinical And Experimental Hypnosis 54 (4): 488-499