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Affect and hypnosis: on paying friendly attention to disturbing thoughts
1Silvan S. Tomkins Institute and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania19103-6224, USA. nathanson@tomkins.org
The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
|February 26, 2010
Summary
Hypnosis induction is simple because trance states leverage innate neural systems. Understanding affect-linked cognitions is key to altering emotional responses during hypnosis.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Affective Science
Background:
- Hypnosis induction is remarkably simple and natural.
- Trance states suggest underlying, normal neural mechanisms.
- Silvan Tomkins' affect-language theory provides a framework for understanding emotion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explain the naturalness of hypnosis through affect theory.
- To connect Tomkins' affect theory to contemporary neuroscience.
- To explore how affect influences cognition and its alteration in hypnosis.
Main Methods:
- Review and integration of Silvan Tomkins' affect theory (1960-1991).
- Application of affect theory to explain hypnosis induction and trance states.
- Conceptual framework linking facial affect displays, innate mechanisms, and conscious awareness.
Main Results:
- Hypnotic trance is a natural phenomenon facilitated by programmed affective responses.
- Affective states, linked to cognitions, dictate how individuals understand and react.
- Unpleasant emotion-cognition links can be modified by altering the affective environment during hypnosis.
Conclusions:
- Hypnosis leverages innate neural systems related to affect and emotion.
- Tomkins' theory offers a scientific basis for understanding hypnosis and emotional processing.
- Hypnotherapy can be effective by modifying affect-cognition linkages within a trance state.
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