Phenomenology of Hypnotic Interactions

Researchers from the Budapest Hypnosis Laboratory approach hypnosis as an interactional process, a special encounter between hypnotist and subject. That means that not only the subject but the hypnotist is also studied at a multilevel approach. Katalin Varga and her colleagues extended the concept of interactional synchrony to the phenomenological data. In this book, methodological developments and results are presented, as are special techniques of eliciting subjective reports, paper/pencil tests suitable for interactional use, and ways to analyse interrelating phenomenological data. The special possibilities of the interactional approach of phenomenological data are exemplified by recent empirical results, including non-hypnotic interactions. All of these empirical results seem to add special new possibilities to the understanding of hypnosis in particular, and human dyadic interactions in general. The book encourages researchers to follow this interactional approach and methodology. Though the book is based on experimental hypnosis sessions with healthy volunteers, but many clinical implications and clinically relevant findings are also presented.