TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ciaramella, Antonella
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/03/17
TI  - Sociodemographic Variables and History of Trauma and Disease Influence Consciousness after Hypnotic Induction
JO  - OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
SP  - 014
VL  - 05
IS  - 01
AB  - Over the last 30 years, several neuroimaging and neurophysiological experiments have lent support to the neuropsychology of consciousness, and several definitions have followed to describe it. The phenomenological perspective of consciousness facilitates the description of the individual’s awareness experience of internal states (e.g., perception, sensations, emotion, volition, or memories), thus helping us to better understand the relationship between the brain and mind. Although significant research has been aimed at evaluating the neurobiological aspects underlying the phenomenon of consciousness, there is a lack of information regarding the effect of clinical and sociodemographic factors on the modification of the altered state of consciousness in hypnosis. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate how the variables of demographic and clinical history affected the alteration of consciousness during hypnotic induction. Consciousness was investigated within a single session using the PCI (Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory) Italian translation, during the administration of the hypnotic susceptibility scale HGSHS:A (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A) Italian translation. Three hundred and forty-nine subjects from the general population (aged 19–72 years; 112 male and 237 female) were investigated in a single session. Twenty-six subjects (7.4%) reported a history of recent psychological trauma, 6.6% reported a history of substance misuse, 7.7% had a history of psychiatric disorder, and 9.7% had a history of medical disease. Age was observed to be a negative predictor of hypnoidal state, intended to be a general measure of trance (β=–0.12; p=0.01). However, age also contributed to changing the phenomenology of consciousness, predicting greater vividness of imagery, reduction in time sense, fear, arousal, anger, negative affect, and perception. Females were more hypnotizable than males (β=0.18; p=0.000), with a reduced memory of suggestions, and an increase in the altered state. Subjects with perceived psychological trauma were more prone to have reduced memory of suggestions (β=0.14; p=0.01). A hypnotic state is the result of a combination of several individual predisposing traits and variables that are contextual to a specific situation. Age, gender, and perceived psychological trauma play a critical role in the hypnotic state, making the experience more subjective and influencing the quality of sensation, emotion, volition, and thought (consciousness phenomenology), which are fundamental for an appropriate response to suggestions.
SN  - 2573-4393
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.icm.2001014
DO  - 10.21926/obm.icm.2001014
ID  - Ciaramella2020
ER  -