Feasibility of Attachment-Focused Self-Hypnosis to Change Insecure God Attachment

Secure God attachment is related to less psychological distress and greater well-being, while insecure God attachment is associated with higher levels of psychological distress and various forms of maladaptive coping. Cognitive resistance may arise, however, when therapists directly address insecure attachment beliefs through overt cognitive-behavioral techniques. Based on principles of the dual process model of cognition, the authors hypothesized that self-hypnosis may be a theoretically sound and feasible treatment to alter insecure attachment, since hypnosis addresses the emotional, experiential cognitive system rather than the analytical, deliberative cognitive system. To test this hypothesis, 35 college students practiced a prerecorded, self-guided hypnotic script for 6 weeks. The treatment group's scores indicated significant postintervention decreases in insecure attachment compared to a wait-list control. Qualitative responses also indicated that the majority of participants (62.8%) noticed these relationship changes and attributed them to the intervention.