BY JEFFERSON M. FISH
EARLY IN MY CAREER AS A PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL psychology, I explored relaxation, hypnosis, placebo (and other expectancy effects), along with various forms of social influence, in helping people to deal with their psychological problems. When therapists use these interventions, clients often experience various degrees of alteration in their conscious experience. For example, in response to hypnotic suggestions, a client may experience the therapist’s voice as far away and having deep meaning, and may change his or her behavior. Two different kinds of explanations are offered for the therapeutic change:
1. Hypnotic suggestions lead the client to enter an altered state of consciousness, and this “hypnotic state” enables the client to change his or her behavior, or;