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HYPNOSIS AND ANXIETY Gerard V. Sunnen
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HYPNOSIS AND ANXIETY: Anxiety and anxiety-related conditions are the most
common psychological afflictions of man and account for a major percentage of
initial complaints to psychiatrists as well as to general practitioners.
Although it is estimated that some 5% of the population may suffer from acute or
chronic anxiety, with women outnumbering men two to one (Cohen and White, 1950),
the numbers are probably significantly higher.
As a symptom, anxiety is a final common pathway for many conditions, physical as
well as psychological. As syndromes, anxiety disorders are under intensive study
to define more precisely their etiologies and clinical outcomes. Recent studies,
showing disturbances of lactate metabolism in certain anxious individuals, point
to the possibility that some anxiety states, like some depressive states, have
strong biological and genetic determinants.
Hypnosis finds its most common clinical utilization in the treatment of anxiety
and its related states, not only because of anxiety's prevalence, but because
hypnosis has such a clear role as a potent anti-anxiety agent. In this chapter,
we will examine hypnotic behavioral approaches to anxiety, while
hypnopsychotherapeutic approaches will be discussed in Chapter 14.
EVALUATION OF ANXIETY: The first task of the hypnotherapist is to
evaluate the anxiety condition. At the end of the initial interview, several
questions must be asked. Is the anxiety organically determined? Is there a
medical, physiological, or otherwise somatic basis for its existence? The list
of medical conditions which, as a by-product, contain anxiety is long:
hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, anemia, hypoglycemia, withdrawal from
sedative hypnotics (including alcohol), and caffeinism, cocaine, and
psychostimulant abuse, among others. Anxiety is also sometimes confused with
medical conditions which, in their presentation, share its expressions. Coronary
artery disease, with chest pain, respiratory distress, and cardiac symptoms can
mimic anxiety states; so can hyperthyroidism, pheochromocytomas and Meniere's
disease. The treatment, while not obviating adjunctive psychotherapeutic or
hypnotherapeutic intervention, will of course be mainly aimed at treating the
primary medical condition.
Is the anxiety an aggravating component of a chronic medical syndrome? Most
psychosomatic conditions are intimately connected to anxiety and stress.
Flare-ups of such diseases as peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, or hypertension
produce anxiety. Conversely, difficulties with psychosocial adjustment bring
exacerbations in these conditions. Anxiety control is important to ease the
interactive play of psyche and soma.
Is the anxiety a part of another psychiatric syndrome? Anxiety weaves into most
psychiatric syndromes. Major depression is rarely seen without it, and so is
mania. Schizophrenia, especially in the decompensation phase, as the individual
experiences ego fragmentation, can be marked by fright--as can organic brain
syndromes with their cognitive disruptions. Treatment of anxiety in these
conditions is centered on correcting the global psychiatric syndrome.
When medical conditions and major psychiatric syndromes are eliminated as
reasons for anxiety, we are left with more functional causes.
It is useful, in our therapeutic approach, to see patients' experiences of
anxiety as falling into three general categories:
(1) individuals reporting chronic, free-floating feelings of fear (generalized
anxiety disorder); \(2) individuals manifesting discreet episodes of panic, but
who, in between attacks, are relatively anxiety free (panic disorders); and
(3) mixed syndromes.
There are other syndromes which contain anxiety as a core experiential
manifestation. Phobias are differentiated by the fact that they happen in the
context of identifiable situations. They are marked by anxiety and avoidance.
Thus agoraphobia is manifested in environments where the individual feels
trapped and unable to return to safety, ie, common places include elevators,
subways, planes, tunnels and bridges. Social phobias appear in interpersonal
situations; and simple phobias are persistent, irrational fears of specific
objects or animals. Phobias may be mildly bothersome or severely incapacitating.
There are individuals who stay imprisoned in their homes because they fear the
anxiety they may experience if they venture outside.
Posttraumatic stress disorders, acute or chronic, have generalized anxiety as a
major component of a constellation of somatic and psychological disturbances
following an accident, a loss, or any other disaster.
Obsessive compulsive disorders are characterized by tension stemming from the
conscious emergence of thoughts, desires, and wishes to perform certain actions,
and attempts to deny, ignore, undo, or suppress them. When severe, the anxiety
becomes generalized, chronic, and incapacitating.
Adjustment disorders represent maladaptive responses to identifiable
psychological stressors. Predominant symptoms in adjustment disorders with
anxious mood, are nervousness, worry, and jitteriness.
HYPNOTIC TREATMENT OF SYNDROMES MANIFESTING GENERALIZED ANXIETY:
Generalized anxiety disorder (DSM-III, 300.02) is characterized by pervasive,
persistent anxiety, manifested by motor tension--strained facies, fidgeting,
restlessness, fatigueability; autonomic hyperactivity-sweating, palpitations,
light-headedness, paresthesias, upset stomach, lump in the throat, high resting
pulse and respiratory rate; apprehensive expectation--worry, rumination,
anticipation of misfortune to self or others; hyperattentiveness resulting in
distractibility, difficulty in concentrating, insomnia, irritability, and
impatience. To meet diagnostic criteria, the anxious mood has to have lasted at
least a month.
Approaches to chronic generalized anxiety, which may incorporate hypnotic
intervention, may be roughly grouped into analytic or behavioral types.
Hypnoanalytic methods will be explored in a later chapter. Behavioral techniques
do not necessarily exclude the importance of psychodynamic factors but rather,
as in the case of anxiety, treat them as incidental to the illness itself, ie,
anxiety is not a reflection of an underlying disorder, it is the illness; as a
learned maladaptive response it needs to be unlearned. In this model, anxiety,
once removed, is not replaced by other symptoms. In clinical practice, however,
it is observed that some symptoms occur in a learned maladaptive model, others
in a conflict-generated model, and the rest as admixtures of the two. Hypnosis
may be woven into most behavioral techniques. In this way, the therapeutic
potential of both disciplines may act additively, if not synergistically.
The following methods can be applied to the treatment of the generalized anxiety
syndrome.
* Hypnotically Induced Relaxation: While neutral hypnosis already assumes
generalized relaxation, special hypnotic procedures can allow for its
amplification. The therapist will want to know the anxiety's signature in his
particular patient. Where is the anxiety in the body? With what words can it
best be described? Does it restrict breathing, speaking clearly, thought, motor
performance, or coordination? These notions are important because, during the
course of relaxation training, the therapist may choose wording and imagery
accordingly. The subject who feels, for example, a burning sensation in the
abdomen as an anxiety equivalent, may be asked to imagine sensations of coolness
to counteract it; to someone whose anxiety comes out as tightness in the neck
muscles, sensations of warmth in these areas may be suggested.
It may be explained to the patient before the induction that relaxation is both
a physical and a mental state. It is pointed out that the body, in relaxation,
feels slowed down and reluctant to move, the visceral spaces are experienced as
comfortably rested, and breathing and heart rate attain natural baseline
rhythms. Psychologically, the mind progressively feels detached from concerns,
worries, and current stressful emotions.
Asking the subject, "What would you feel like if you were totally and deeply
relaxed?" is a useful avenue to explore. In addition to misconceptions in need
of modification, the responses may point to useful avenues for tailoring the
hypnotic process to powerful preconceived notions.
Knowing that the purpose of hypnotherapy for our patient is relaxation training,
the induction is geared to maximizing it. Suggestions are given for feelings
which regularly accompany relaxation, ie, restful heaviness of the body.
Similarities are drawn to states of mind the subject is already familiar with,
which in themselves contain relaxed feelings, ie, daydreaming, reveries, or
sleep. At the end of the induction, when the subject has already achieved
significant tension reduction, appropriate deepening procedures are used.
The therapist should have at his disposal several procedures for the
amplification of relaxation. Some may turn out to be much more effective than
others; however, since there is no reliable way to predict beforehand which
deepening technique will be most efficient, a trial-and-error approach often has
to be attempted. The following techniques are commonly used to dissolve anxiety
in the context of the hypnotic trance.
* Direct suggestion. Direct suggestions for generalized relaxation in the
subject who achieves a light to medium trance is often sufficient to attain
desired results. Suggestions for total body relaxation, for letting go of
tensions, physical and mental, are most effective when rhythmically timed with
respiration.
In the same way that anxiety is experienced differently by each individual, so
is relaxation. It is important, at the end of the first session, to ask how
relaxation manifested itself. If, for example, feelings of floating or drifting
were elicited, these same feelings can be directly searched for, brought forth,
and expanded in the following sessions for faster induction and further
deepening.
* Counting method. Some individuals respond best to a counting technique. Many
variations of this technique exist. It is explained, for example, that as slow
counting progresses from 1 to 20, relaxation will become more and more profound,
20 representing the deepest level of relaxation the subject can attain during
the session.
* Counting with imagery. Counting may be combined with imagery. For example: "As
I count from 1 to 20, you can see yourself walking down 20 steps into the garden
of your subconscious mind. In your garden, you will find wonderful feelings of
total relaxation flowing throughout your body."
Progressive relaxation. Some subjects are most responsive to a stepwise and
methodical method. Individual muscle groups are focused on, starting from the
lower extremities or from the head and neck, until all muscle groups are
relaxed.
* Autogenic training. The production of relaxation in many individuals is
facilitated by suggestions or feelings of heaviness and sensations of warmth in
the body (see autogenic training, below).
* Pure imagery. Imagery techniques for relaxation are the most idiosyncratic of
all methods. While, for example, the image of a beach may be attractively
soothing for one person, it may leave another indifferent. Preliminary
discussions will give the hypnotherapist some idea of what constitutes positive
imagery for his patient. During hypnosis, the art of giving imagery suggestions
resides in good part on the utilization of multiple sensory modalities--in a
beach image, for example, a more engrossing effect can be created by talking
about the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations one is likely to experience in
such a setting.
* Use of touch: Touch, properly used and timed, is a powerful focusing modality
for the patient. In the same way that touch may be used to induce analgesia in
parts of the body, it may also be applied to suggest deep feelings of
relaxation. For example: "As I touch your shoulder, your entire arm becomes
deeply relaxed, all the way down to your fingertips. I'll touch your other
shoulder and now your forehead; as I do, feelings of deep relaxation begin to
drift throughout your body."
* Autogenic Training: Autogenic training is a method of psychophysiological
self-education containing elements of both hypnosis and meditation. The first of
many editions of Autogenic Training appeared in 1932. Its author, J.H. Schultz,
a German psychiatrist and neurologist, was influenced by research on sleep and
hypnosis performed by Oskar Voght at the Berlin Institute some 30 years before.
Voght observed that some subjects could produce in themselves states of mind
similar or identical to hypnosis by performing certain exercises; and that these
self-induced states had therapeutic value--subjects reported improvements in
well-being, disappearance of headaches, lowering of anxiety level, and reduction
of fatigue and tension. Voght called these exercise "prophylactic
rest--autohypnosis."
* Schultz streamlined the exercises. He found that most deeply hypnotized
subjects invariably experienced sensations of heaviness and warmth in various
parts of their bodies and postulated that the creation of these sensations, in a
reverse psychophysiological process, could bring about the experience of the
trance state.
A series of exercises was designed, in a format of increasing difficulty, and
their practice gathered many followers throughout the world. The first of these
are physiologically oriented, focusing on the neuromuscular and visceral
systems. Subjects are asked, in exercises of introspective creative imagination,
to produce sensations of heaviness and pleasant warmth in the limbs--it is
easiest initially to produce them in these areas--then in the chest and the
abdominal regions. Once mastered, usually after six to 12 months of training,
subjects graduate to meditative exercises, which focus on the development of
certain higher mental functions.
Preliminary instructions are for the use of a quiet dimly illuminated room, free
of disturbances. The subject, in loose clothing, may adopt a fully reclined,
semireclined, or a simple sitting posture.
* First stage--eyes are gently closed. A gentle bodily introspection eliminates
obvious internal muscular tension. The sensations of heaviness of the dominant
arm, as it lies on its support, is brought to awareness. Some people find it
helpful to repeat silently "my arm feels heavier and heavier." When heaviness is
experienced throughout the arm, the same feeling is extended into the other arm
through, as Schultz described, a process of generalization; the legs come next,
the back, and the regions of the head and neck. When the whole body is
experienced as being heavy, the second stage is attempted.
* Second stage--warmth. For most people, feelings of heaviness are more easily
conjured than those of warmth. The same process used to create feelings of
heaviness is applied to feelings of warmth, first starting on one extremity,
then progressing to the whole body, except for the forehead and temples which
are imbued with sensations of coolness. Autosuggestions may help, ie, "my arm
feels warmer, pleasantly warm," and imagery may be used, "my body feels like it
is resting on the warm sands of the beach."
* Third stage--regularization of cardiac rhythm and respiration. The object of
this stage is not to seek control of cardiac rhythm, as is the aim of some yoga
exercises, but to effect a slowdown and regularity of heart function which is
congruent with total relaxation. Deep hypnotic and meditative states are
accompanied by lowered metabolic work, decreased oxygen consumption, a slow (50
to 60 beats per minute) heart rate, and slower, more abdominal respiration. In
the practice of the third stage, awareness is centered on the internal
sensations of cardiac pulsations--a hand may be placed over the precordium--and
self-instructions are given to help these desired results.
* Fourth stage--centering on the upper abdominal region. Borrowing from ancient
meditative exercises, the subject, having mastered the previous steps, is guided
to center a relaxed attentiveness on the upper abdominal regions.
Reported effects of autogenic training. Effects of autogenic training are
subjective as well as objective. Veteran practitioners talk about a generalized
sense of well-being, feelings of energy and stamina, and relative freedom from
symptoms commonly associated with stress. Objectively, during autogenically
induced states as in meditative states, there is evidence of autonomic and
metabolic slowdown.
Jacobson's Method Of Relaxation: While Schultz elaborated his method in Berlin,
Germany, Jacobson in the United States worked towards similar goals but through
different routes. His method is based on observations that the mere thought of a
muscular action brings on electromyographic changes. This, he pointed out,
bespeaks of a direct relationship between muscular tonus and psychological
tension. For the purpose of achieving relaxation at cortical levels, Jacobson
developed a methodical technique involving the progressive relaxation of all
muscular groups in the body. Jacobson's method, for proper execution, requires a
minimum of six months of training.
Methodology. Starting from the tip of one extremity--the right hand, for
example--the individual is guided to move his awareness to the wrist, the
forearm, in deliberate succession, to cover eventually the totality of the
musculature. To help in focusing awareness and to enhance the experience of
relaxation, each muscle group is sometimes tensed, then relaxed.
Hypnosis may be used with Jacobson's or modified Jacobson's techniques to
stimulate progress. Conversely, and much more frequently practiced, are modified
Jacobson techniques used in the context of the hypnotic trance to achieve
progressively deeper states of relaxation.
BIOFEEDBACK AND RELAXATION: Through modern biotechnology, many methods of
self-monitoring have been developed and applied to the treatment of conditions
such as tension headaches, anxiety, neuromuscular rehabilitation, enuresis,
hypertension, Raynaud's disease, migraine, asthma, cardiac arrhythmias, bruxism,
and epilepsy, among many others.
Applications to anxiety control and to the learning of relaxation states include
electromyographic (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR), thermal, and EEG
biofeedback. Due to the fact that anxiety has different manifestations in
different individuals, one physiological parameter may be much more useful for
anxiety control than another. In some subjects, for "ample, whose surface
expressions of anxiety are translated into muscle activity, EMG training will
have greater applicability than, let us say, thermal feedback.
While some individuals do well with biofeedback for anxiety control, others have
difficulty generalizing the effects of training to the totality of their
experience. Some investigators point out that certain subjects may be able to
learn deep muscle relaxation, yet continue to report significant anxiety. Orne
and Paskewitz (1974), in studying EEG feedback showed, similarly, that patients
could generate high alpha rhythm and still experience debilitating anxiety.
These results contradicted the idea that low EMG or high alpha were always
incompatible with anxiety.
Some investigators, for purposes of increasing the efficacy of biofeedback
treatment, have combined it with hypnosis (hypnobiofeedback). Since hypnosis can
facilitate restriction of the field of awareness and promote introspective
centering, it is theorize that biofeedback learning can be enhanced and
accelerated in the context of a hypnotic state. While this turns out to be true
for some subjects, it is not so for all. More sophistication is awaited in this
potentially fruitful field, since there is still a paucity of studies using
these treatment combinations.
MEDITATIVE TRAINING: In the past three decades, systems of self-training
adapted from Eastern cultures, have been practiced on an increasingly large
scale in the Western world. The process of meditative training can be seen from
different perspectives. From the viewpoint of state theorists, meditation can be
understood as a body of methods designed to guide the individual into special
conditions of consciousness. Seen from a behavioral perspective, meditation can
be conceptualized as a physiological learning process, designed to bring about
autonomic slowdown and anxiety control.
In 1935, Dr. Therése Brosse, a Frenchwoman, traveled to India with a portable
ECG machine. She hooked up her machine to a veteran meditator and demonstrated
that cardiac rhythm could be influenced by willfulness. The ECG showed a
complete volitional stoppage of the heart for a few seconds. Modern experiments
have not only replicated the above effects, but have shown wide-ranging bodily
manifestations of meditative training: a toning down of all physiological
functions (decrease in heart rate and respiratory rate among others), and of
metabolism itself (decrease in oxygen consumption and lactate production)
(Wallace 1970).
In spite of considerable interest in meditative training, there remains some
confusion in the face of the number of techniques available; there have also
been difficulties applying methods meant to be practiced in a sociocultural
context so different from our own. In the United States, most of the
experimental work has been done with transcendental meditation (TM).
In the technique of transcendental meditation, the subject sits comfortably,
eyes closed, for 20 minutes twice a day and maintains persistent awareness of a
rhythmically repetitive--usually unspoken--mantra or sound. A universally used
sound is "Om," but the word one, which has a similar symbolic meaning, may be
substituted.
Studies of TM demonstrate that it stabilizes autonomic functioning and lowers
physiological arousal. In addition to its somatic effects, TM is reported to
produce ongoing psychological changes such as the positive restructuring of
self-concepts, the attainment of feelings of inner peace, and the stabilizing of
mood. In addition, veteran meditators describe experiencing poorly definable or
describable feelings of mood states, which may be termed states of
transcendence.
To be effective, this meditative technique needs to be practiced on a long-term
basis. Studies have shown that short-term meditation is no more effective than
placebo.
RELATIONSHIP OF HYPNOSIS TO MEDITATION, SELF-HYPNOSIS, AND NEUTRAL HYPNOSIS:
In describing the subjective experience of the hypnotic trance, mention was
made of alterations in the sense of time flow and of sensations of relative
removal from the bonds of the external reality situation. Usually, there is less
or no perceived need to move physically, attention is withdrawn from concerns
with bodily motion and balance, and there is less or no need to interact
socially. Yet, in hypnosis the individual still feels a presence and has
awareness of the rapport with another person--that being the hypnotist. In
hypnosis, the elements of this relationship are intertwined with the experience
of the trance. In hypnosis, part of the patient's psyche is linked to the
hypnotist's psyche, in a process of dynamic communication. The hypnotist may
communicate with one part of the subject's self, then with another, but there is
always a bridge. In the subjective experience of the subject, he or she is not
"free." Although the hypnotist may be very permissive, very choice-giving, the
confines of the relationship remain.
Self -hypnosis brings more autonomy. The link of rapport is broken and a more
conscious part of the psyche gives suggestions to another more unconscious part.
Usually, self-instructions are fairly specific and invite or reinforce personal
change.
Sometimes the individual enters a hypnotic state and does not give himself or
herself specific suggestions or directions. This is called neutral hypnosis, a
state marked by relaxation, free-floating imagery, and dream fragments or
sequences. In neutral hypnosis, the sense of control floats, undirected. The
subject may observe and remember or not observe and not remember. It is an
unstructured trance state.
If we add one ingredient to this trance state, we have meditation. That
ingredient is directed watchfulness. The meditative trance is similar in quality
to the self-hypnotic trance. In meditation, however, the individual starts out
with no overt trance-inducing signal, but rather, the resolve to begin, and
focuses the observing ego on a part of the body (eg, the solar plexus), a sound
(mantra), a symbolic image (mandala), a spiritual feeling, or a universal idea.
Indications for meditative training. Although, like most therapies, meditative
training has been claimed to relieve many somatic and psychological disorders,
its clearest and best documented indication is in the treatment of generalized
anxiety.
Demands of meditative training. Meditative training takes dedication,
motivation, daily practice, patience, and requires a certain soundness of mind
from the practitioner. It is not for everyone because it demands an ability to
develop a certain mind set of internal relaxed watchfulness, an ability to learn
to deal with thought intrusions, and a capacity to accept intermittent progress.
THE FOLLOWING CASE HISTORY ILLUSTRATES THE USE OF CLINICAL MEDITATION. A
48-year-old businessman came for treatment of anxiety. He mentioned distressing
tightness in his chest and an uncomfortable feeling of heat in the upper
abdomen. He described a clinical picture typical of a generalized chronic
anxiety disorder which he had tried to live with for over a year. He could not
recount any significant antecedent changes in his life. A complete medical check
had shown no abnormality--even his blood pressure was normal. Surprisingly early
during the course of the evaluation, he wanted to talk about treatment options;
he had done some thinking and reading on his own and had already come to some
decisions about what he did not want. He would refuse medications and was not
prepared to spend much time with analytical methods. When hypnotic relaxation
training was mentioned, he replied that he did not like the idea of it either.
Options were dwindling. He had heard of meditation, and he felt interested and
comfortable with this suggestion. The fact that during training he would be "in
control" especially appealed to him.
After a preliminary relaxation exercise--a shortened Jacobson technique--he was
asked, as he sat calmly, eyes closed, to send his awareness into his upper
abdominal region and simply to leave it there for a few minutes. Thought
intrusions, he was told, were frequent and were best dealt with by noticing
them, letting them pass, and returning to the focus of meditation. He was asked
to terminate the experience himself, at his discretion, by simply deciding to do
so. Five minutes later, he opened his eyes. The gnawing burning feeling in his
abdomen had decreased "by at least half," and his chest cavity felt considerably
"lighter." Home. practice consisted of two 10-minute sessions a day (this form
of meditation is more demanding than TM because more thought intrusions are
usually experienced). Six weeks later, he reported a very satisfactory
diminution of anxiety symptoms with frequent periods of total clearing.
HYPNOTIC TREATMENT OF PANIC DISORDERS: The most frequently treated phobic
disorder is reported to be agoraphobia. The first episode typically occurs in
the teens or early 20s. It is so dramatically frightening that all the details
of the experience as well as the exact date of occurrence are clearly
remembered. A second episode usually occurs several weeks or months thereafter,
and increasing anticipatory anxiety, avoidance, and progressive withdrawal
develop to the point where, several years later, it is not unusual for the
patient to have assumed psychological invalidism. The patient may remain
confined, chronically fearful, and depressed. In such patients, there is
reported a much higher incidence of alcoholism, hypertension, cardiac illness,
and suicide.
Treatment of this disorder has been shown to be most successful if it is
multimodal. Pharmacotherapy may include tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine
oxidase inhibitors, or alprazolam for the panic attacks; and benzodiazepines for
anticipatory anxiety. In addition, beta blockers may be used. Psychotherapy and
family therapy address themselves to support, insight and working through.
Finally, behavior therapy and hypnosis round out the overall treatment process.
Hypnosis is used to decrease anticipatory anxiety, improve self-esteem, raise
motivation, and teach the patient that he may regain control over the relaxation
process.
SUGGESTED READING AND REFERENCES: Benson H: The Relaxation Response. New
York, Avon Books, 1975. Brosse T: A psychophysiological study of yoga. Main
Currents in Modern Thought July 1946:77-84.
Cohen ME, White PD: Life situations, emotions, and neurocirculatory asthenia.
Assoc Res Nerv Dis Proc 1950;29:832.
Deikman A: Experimental meditation, in Tart C(ed): Altered States of
Consciousness. New York, Doubleday, 1972, pp 203-223, Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, ed 3. American Psychiatric Association, 1980.
Goldfried M, Davidson GE: Clinical Behavior Therapy. New York, Holt, Rhinehart &
Winston, 1976.
Jacobson E: Progressive Relaxation. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Luder M: Behavior and anxiety: Physiologic mechanisms. J Clin Psychiatry
1983;44(11, Sec 2): 5-10.
Langen D: Autogenic training and psychosomatic medicine, in Burrows G,
Dennerstein L (eds): Handbook of Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine. Amsterdam,
Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, 1980.
Morse DR, Morton S, Furst ML, et al: A physiological and subjective evaluation
of meditation, hypnosis, and relaxation. Psychosomat Med 1977;39:304-324.
Orne MT, Paskewitz DA: Aversive situational effects on alpha feedback training.
Science 1974;186:458.
Schultz JH, Luthe W: Autogenic Training. A Psychophysiologic Approach in
Psychotherapy. New York, Grune and Stratton, 1959.
Seyle H: The Stress of Life, ed 2. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1976. Schuchit M:
Anxiety related to medical disease. J Clin Psychiatry 1983;44(11, Sec 2):31-36.
Voght 0: Zur Kenntnis des Wesens und der pscyhologischen Bedeutung des
Hypnotismus. Zeitschift fur Hypnotismus 1894-95:3,227;1896:4,32,122,229. Wallace
R: Physiological effects of transcendental meditation. Science
1970;167:1751-1754.
Walsh R: Meditation practice and research. J Hum Psychol 1983;23(l):18-50.
Sussen's website: http://www.triroc.com/sunnen/ for several articles.
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