Name:

Hypnosis Case Studies Period:

Directions: You will be given a case study of a patient that might benefit from hypnosis. Read through the
case study and answer the questions below. You will need to read pp. 218-222 in the textbook to be able to
answer the questions.

1) (a) How susceptible is the patient in your case study to hypnosis?

(b) What is hypnotic ability? (see p. 220)

2) (a) What kids of memories might you attempt to retrieve from your patient (focus on memories that
would help them with their problem)?

(b) Explain why hypnotically-refreshed memories combine fact and fiction. (see p. 220)

3) Will you be able to hypnotize this person to act against their will? Explain why/why not. (see p. 220)

4) How will you use posthypnotic suggestions to help your patient? (see pp. 220)

5) How will you use hypnosis to relieve your patients pain? (see p. 221)

6) Your patient asks you, Why might hypnosis work for me? Answer your patient, first by
summarizing the social influence theory, then by summarizing the divided consciousness theory.
(see pp. 221-222)

(a) social influence theory:

(b) divided consciousness theory/dissociation:

7) Because psychologists take an empirical approach, some of your colleagues question the method
and/or effectiveness of hypnosis.

(a) What might be some of their specific questions or criticisms?

(b) How would you use the biopsychosocial approach to address their questions/criticisms? (see
Figure 22.3 on p. 222)
 CLASS SET

Hypnosis Case Studies

Case Study 1: Brad is a 33-year-old high school French teacher, who also coaches the schools
football team. Recently, Brad has had trouble sleeping. He is anxious about the upcoming
football game, since the team has lost three games in a row. In addition, he has been fighting with
his wife a lot. Brads parents had a messy divorce when he was very young, and he never had
good role models for a successful marriage. Physically, Brad has been experiencing pain in his
shoulder from an injury he received playing college football. Medications have not worked to
alleviate his pain, and this is also contributing to his difficulty sleeping. Brad is not sure about
hypnosis. He has tried it a couple of times, and so far he has not been susceptible. He is willing to
try again, though, since he is really tired and would love to address some of his physical and
mental issues.

Case Study 2: Yvette is an 18-year-old college student. She is seeking hypnosis to recover what
she believes are repressed memories of bad Girl Scout camp experience when she was young.
Yvette is having difficulty making friends in college, and she believes this might stem from her
camp experience. She just cant remember what the traumatic event was. Yvette is also
experiencing testing anxiety, and she has been flunking almost every test she has taken, despite
studying for hours. Yvette also suffers from migraine headaches, and medication has so far been
ineffective. Yvette is highly suggestible. In high school, her friends used to have fun trying to
hypnotize her, and she scored high on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale when she took it
in her psychology class.

Case Study 3: Ronald is a 75-year old retired grandfather of 10-year old twin boys. He has been
experiencing extreme pain in his back, which has not been alleviated through surgery. He loves
to play sports with his grandkids, but the pain has been keeping him from enjoying it. His wife
keeps urging him to try hypnosis, because it helped her to quit smoking 5 years ago. Ronald does
not believe in hypnosis, and he thinks his wife is a silly hippy. Ronald also has a fear of doctors,
since he had a bad experience during his back surgery and recovery; some of these memories are
vague, and he cant quite pinpoint what he is afraid of. As a result, Ronald has not set foot in a
doctors office once since his surgery a year ago.

Case Study 4: Juliette is a forty-five year old single mother of two teenage girls. Recently, she
has been having nightmares that wake her up two or three times a night. Her nightmare is
always the same: she walks into the house to find her children missing. She searches frantically
for them, but cant every find them. Juliette has been sleeping poorly, and as a result, she fell
asleep while driving and injured her right knee in a car accident. Her knee has been bothering
her quite a bit in recent weeks. Juliettes mother reminds Juliette that when Juliette was three
years old, she got lost in a train station and was not found for several hours. Juliette has no
memory of this event. After her mother encourages her to see a therapist for hypnosis, Juliette
agrees to give it a try. She has no experience with hypnosis and doesnt know what to expect.
She is keeping an open mind, though.