Active-Alert Hypnotic Induction Methods: The Relationship Between Phenomenological Experience, Pleasantness and Hypnotic Suggestibility

Two induction methods, Bányai, Zseni and Túry (1993) Active-Alert method, and Capafons’ Waking-Alert (alert hand) method (1998a) were used to investigate the role of induction method in predicting test suggestion responses. The results of this study demonstrate that a) responses to the intra-hypnotic suggestions of the Active-Alert hypnotic inductions predict the pleasantness of the methods, b) the higher the number of suggestions responded in the induction methods (in this case, suggested sensations), the higher the scores on the Barber Suggestibility Scale. Such results have the following repercussions: 1) They support the importance of subjective experience from a cognitive-behavioral point of view about hypnosis, 2) they emphasize the artificial separation between inductions and test suggestions, 3) they underscore the relevance of the pleasantness variable in the understanding of hypnotic responsiveness.