Out-of-Body Experience induced by hypnotic suggestion: phenomenology and perceptual characteristics

The aim of this study is the investigation of the perceptual and cognitive characteristics of Out-of- Body Experiences (OBEs) induced by hypnotic induction.Five participants selected for their experience with hypnotic inductions were induced into an OBE and were requested to verbally describe six selected images, either one or two per session, that were located in two different rooms that were hundreds of kilometers from the place where they were under hypnosis.Furthermore, their real-time phenomenological experience was investigated with respect to the minimal phenomenal selfhood (MPS) and the similarities with the characteristics of spatial and temporal perception reported in near death experiences (NDEs).On average, the participants correctly identified 46.7% of the images, whereas two independent judges correctly identified 66.7% of them, compared to a probability of 25% expected due to chance.The phenomenology of their out-of-body perceptual and cognitive experiences revealed a general commonality among all participants. All participants reported a phenomenological experience of a disembodied personal selfhood able to perceive simply by an act of will without the physical limitation of eyesight, to move in the environment instantaneously and exist in a sort of three dimensional world with no awareness of time.The validity of these first person verbal reports was discussed to determine whether they were due to real OBEs or to the participants’ or the hypnotist’s previous knowledge about OBE.

French norms for the online Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability

This paper presents French norms for the online version of the Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability. This scale is an online adaptation of the well-established Waterloo-Stanford Group C scale of hypnotic susceptibility with both behavioural and subjective scores. Insofar as hypnotizability (the ability to respond to suggestions in a hypnotic context) varies substantially in the general population and remains generally stable throughout life, it is important to measure it in experiments using hypnotic suggestion. However, these scales are time consuming, as they often require multiple sessions in order to achieve a suitable sample size for subsequent participant screening. One promising route for overcoming this inconvenience is to perform hypnotizability assessment online. The Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability is the first to have demonstrated the viability of online measurement. We show that our translation of this scale yields similar statistics. Alongside recent critics of the classic scales of hypnotizability, we point to limitations of this scale and discuss ways of accommodating some of its drawbacks.

Recruitment Process in Salafi-Jihadist Groups in the Middle East (A Qualitative Study)

Studies on the psychology of terrorism and fundamentalism place great importance on the role of groups, with a central concept of “us” versus “them.” The present study examines how and why Salafi-jihadist groups in the Middle East have attracted typical citizens. The participants in this qualitative study were unremarkable Kurdish people living near the western borders of Iran with an allegiance toward Salafi-jihadist groups. We selected 12 people for the purposes of this study. Findings indicate that “group adaptation” and “rejection of the other” are the two overarching themes pointed out by the participants. Group adaptation included four sub-themes: (a) Idealization of, plus identification and assimilation with the leader, (b) developing strong group bonds, (c) direct and nonhierarchical agency of the individual in the group, and (d) group hypnotic suggestion. The “rejection of the other” included two sub-themes: (a) in-group rejection (reducing legitimate Islam to Salafism) and (b) out-group rejection (rejection of non-Muslims). The results of the study highlight the importance of a sense of belonging to the group in the process of recruitment and assimilation of individuals into jihadist groups. Findings also indicate that the concepts of adaptation and rejection play a pivotal role in the formation of fundamentalist Salafi-jihadist groups and resultant violence. We discuss the implications of group analysis for possible ways to counterterrorism.

Suggestion in a communicative system of “The Lay of Igor`s campaign”

The paper explores suggestiveness in a communicative system of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” including the analysis of the literary term “suggestion”, which characterizes poetic images and plots, literary techniques and motives. The suggestive image in literature makes the reader’s imagination work, poetically influencing him. The suggestiveness comes as a type of speech act in a communicative model of literary text. In the communication system of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”, the phenomenon of suggestiveness allows us to understand the relationship between the characters. In the monument under study performative-rhetorical speech genres of Christian discourse provide suggestiveness of the communicative phenomenon. Suggestiveness is not limited to the emotional “charging” of the text and hypnotic suggestion. Here the performative suggestion carries an ontological function of the ritual-magic word. Performative suggestion served as a communicative revelation involving the medieval addressee in an actual communicative event. Christological constructions and ecclesiastical pathos, as well as the end of the work concluding with a rhetorical formula “Amen” once again indicate that the rhetorical structure of the text is of a religious and magical nature. Since “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” has a unique and complex communicative system, each group of poetic legends is organized in accordance with its form of expression and functions in a general structure of the author’s poetic world allowing his thoughts to penetrate the world of intention in the form of a plan.

Application of hypnotic suggestion in one case of childbirth

The patient suffered from hysteroepilepsy. The use of metal therapy together with suggestion significantly improved the patient's condition; then the patient became pregnant.

Difficult Turned Easy: Suggestion Renders a Challenging Visual Task Simple

Suggestions can cause some individuals to miss or disregard existing visual stimuli, but can they infuse sensory input with nonexistent information? Although several prominent theories of hypnotic suggestion propose that mental imagery can change our perceptual experience, data to support this stance remain sparse. The present study addressed this lacuna, showing how suggesting the presence of physically absent, yet critical, visual information transforms an otherwise difficult task into an easy one. Here, we show how adult participants who are highly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion successfully hallucinated visual occluders on top of moving objects. Our findings support the idea that, at least in some people, suggestions can add perceptual information to sensory input. This observation adds meaningful weight to theoretical, clinical, and applied aspects of the brain and psychological sciences.

Dr. Ed. Bérillon. Hypnotism and mental orthopedics. — Paris, 1898

In this brochure, the author continues to defend and develop further his view on the meaning of hypnotism in its application to pedagogy, a view expressed by him back in 1886 at the Nancy congress. Dr. Brillon is an advocate of the belief that hypnosis can be of great service to the interests of pedagogy. Numerous experiments carried out on two different classes of society convinced the author that children from 5 to 15 years old generally quite easily fall into hypnosis. It is difficult for hypnosis to be given to those who have severely expressed signs of severe neuropathic inheritance. Children-idiotes do not fall into hypnosis; Although feeble-minded children fall asleep, their sleep is usually not deep, it is impossible to induce automatism in them, and it is also impossible to achieve the fulfillment of suggestion after hypnosis. Children with the stigmata of hysteria succumb to hypnotic suggestion, but it is possible to evoke deep sleep in them only after a series of preparatory sessions.