questions we’ve asked, questions we should ask
8. Repressed Memory, Memory Wars, and the Battering of Hypnosis: Hypnosis in the 1990s
3.6. Concluding comments
Laurence (1997) eloquently argued that ‘we should not be afraid to take a position and clearly state that any theory of hypnosis should be based on or substantiated by reliable
scientific evidence. To do so, however, we have to be willing to eliminate from our own theories concepts that have no reason to survive other than their traditional or historical link to hypnosis research’ (p. 287). A couple of years before these comments, Kirsch and Lynn (1995) in their important article in American Psychologist said ‘there are broad areas of agree-ment among all serious hypnosis researchers and theoreticians, as popular myths about hypnosis have been dispelled by research and clinical observation’ (p. 856). Kihlstrom (1997), however, commented ‘it would be a grave mistake for the community of hypnosis researchers to settle on one or another false consensus that obscures differences in approach and sweeps areas of conflict under the rug’
(p. 329).
As Kihlstrom (1992) and others have argued,
‘a satisfactory theoretical account of hypnosis must invoke both social-psychological and cognitive-psychological constructs. Individual investigators may wish to focus their efforts in one direction or another, as their preferences dictate, but the ultimate goal must be a kind of synthesis out of which comprehensive understanding will emerge’ (p. 311). This kind of synthesis can be seen in the Australian approach to hypnosis research, where the hypnotized individual is seen as an active participant who employs appropriate cognitive strategies to resolve the multiple problems posed by the hypnotic setting (Sheehan and McConkey, 1982; McConkey, 1991).
Hypnotized individuals develop a commitment to the phenomenal reality of their suggested experience, and they make attributions about their experiences during hypnosis that appear to protect the integrity of their hypnotic responses.
So, to genuinely assist the field in this early part of the twenty-first century, what do we need to do? First, we need to continue to strive for rigorous scientific research in our field. If we do not champion scientific investigation and evidence-based clinical approaches, then there will be a quick backslide down the slope of non-sense inside and outside the field in terms of views, attitudes and uses of hypnosis. Let us not be seduced by the short-term attractions of trite theory and popular therapy. And let us not Concluding comments · 73
mistake the tyranny of the majority as leadership of the field. Coe’s (1992) provocative socio-polit-ical analysis of hypnosis was correct in the sense that some people have a need to hold onto and to promote the notion that hypnosis is some-thing much more special than it is. Second, we need to move away from doing more of the same in terms of research, and we must try to do some things differently. We need transforma-tional as well as incremental advances in knowl-edge. This is easier said than done, of course, but we are at a natural point in the evolution of gen-erations and landscapes that provides an oppor-tunity to transform our field in very positive and major ways.
Third, we need to be more adventurous and collaborative in our hypnosis research for the sake of the relevant disciplines and professions as a whole. We need to reach outside the field for inspiration and perspiration, and we need to better ensure that the methods and findings of our field are appreciated and used in our broader disciplines and professions. Fourth, there is a special need in hypnosis with the pass-ing of many of the Titans of the last 50 years of hypnosis research—and with the aging of their immediate successors—to think about how to stimulate, encourage and reward those who are earlier in their careers to engage further in hypnosis research. Ours is a tough field in which to work, and we have to make sure the rewards are worth it.
In the traditions of the volumes that have come before (Shor and Fromm, 1972, 1979;
Fromm and Nash, 1992), the chapters in this volume allow us to evaluate the field via the con-tributions of both established and emerging researchers as they consider the essence, the explanations and the evidence of hypnosis.
As we read these contributions, consider the questions they ask and the answers they offer.
They are all products of the generations and landscapes that came before, and they are all shaping those that will follow.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Jacquelyn Cranney for a critical reading of this chapter, and to Amanda Barnier for her collaborations over many years and her thoughtful assistance and perseverance.
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