Self-Hypnosis: In Search of the Inner Resource

Journal title IPNOSI
Author/s Giuseppe De Benedittis
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/1 Language Italian
Pages 16 P. 5-20 File size 194 KB
DOI 10.3280/IPN2022-001001
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Self-hypnosis is a generalization of hetero-hypnosis, of which it represents the necessary integration. Although widely applied in the clinical setting, little is known about its phenomenology, its relationship with hetero-hypnosis and mindfulness, its neurophysiological and neuropsychological mechanisms, its clinical efficacy and its safety profile. The literature on the subject is surprisingly sparse and anecdotal. Self-hypnosis constitutes an important self-regulatory and therapeutic inner resource, qualitatively different from hetero-hypnosis, but probably of no different clinical efficacy in numerous areas of application. The neurophysiological and neuropsychological correlates of self-hypnosis remain virtually unknown due to the lack of dedicated studies and comparison with hetero-hypnosis. It is still debated whether the self-hypnotic experience can be autogenous or induced by hetero-hypnotic suggestion, while a positive correlation between hypnotizability and the depth of the self-induced trance seems to be established. The safety profile also remains largely unknown, because the vast majority of clinical studies omit the prevalence and type of adverse events and / or side effects dependent on hypnotic practice in general. Axiomatically, we tend to consider self-hypnosis as a highly safe practice with virtually no side effects. In conclusion, the clinical importance of self-hypnosis paradoxically corresponds to a substantial lack of clinical-experimental studies. Self-hypnosis is therefore a Terra Incognita that is urgently waiting to be explored.

Keywords: Self-hypnosis, hetero-hypnosis, self-hypnosis mechanisms, mindfulness, technique and clinical efficacy.

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Giuseppe De Benedittis, AUTO-IPNOSI. Alla ricerca della risorsa interiore in "IPNOSI" 1/2022, pp 5-20, DOI: 10.3280/IPN2022-001001