Dental professional, hypnotherapist and lecturer at UCL in Dental Hypnosis Linda Bromage will be presenting “Hypnosis is Phenomenal – Introducing Neurophenomenology to hypnosis” at this year’s convention.
Although the social interaction is basic to some definitions of hypnotic procedures (Barnier & Nash, 2008), very little, if anything, is written about it in research reports. A formal induction technique never works in isolation.
Having been on both ends of the hypnotic dyad, I know that my willingness to remain open to suggestions depends largely on how much I like and trust the hypnotist. Treating research volunteers as ‘subjects’ who just are there to produce data may very easily affect the willingness to engage in the process- and to adopt a hypnotic mindset.
Hypnosis is a human cognitive interaction and yet none of the theories or definitions of hypnosis captures the aspects of a first-person perspective such as experiencing thoughts, images, emotions, or sensory perceptions. Nor do they capture the sense of agency that comes with an altered sense of awareness.
On that understanding should we be challenging the results of many acclaimed results in hypnosis research?
Likewise, how can we debate the theory of hypnotic response and the sense of involuntariness without understanding the subjective experience of the action response?
Neurophenomenology attempts to synthesise systematic introspective enquiry with measures of brain functioning.
Hear what Linda has to say here….
Further information on this presentation and details about how to purchase tickets can be found on this website.