Effectiveness of an hypnotic imagery intervention on reducing alexithymia
Abstract
Abstract The therapeutic potential of the use of mental representations, such as mental images, might be an interesting approach in the treatment of people who are severely impaired with respect to the processing of emotion, and in particular the activation of mental images. That is the case of alexithymia, which is a multifaceted construct comprising (a) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal; (b) difficulty describing feelings to others; (c) a restricted imagination, as evidenced by a paucity of fantasies; and (d) a cognitive style that is literal, utilitarian, and externally oriented (Taylor and Bagby, 2000). Thirty‐one alexithymic female students were randomly distributed into two conditions: hypnotic imagery condition and control condition. Participants in the hypnotic imagery condition took part in an 8‐session individual training programme. The findings indicate that hypnosis is an effective technique for obtaining a decrease in alexithymic scores. The findings also indicate that changes in mood states are not involved in the change in alexithymia scores. This suggests that hypnosis has exerted a direct effect upon alexithymia (not attributable to anxiety or depression), and consequently demonstrates that it is possible to exert an effect (i) upon alexithymia without targeting a decrease in anxiety or depression scores, (ii) upon alexithymic people with no anxiety or depression problems, as anxiety and depression are not the therapeutic determinant of the therapeutic response. Copyright © 2008 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Recent studies found that specifically focusing on alexithymia during treatment improved treatment outcomes in terms of symptom reduction and general functioning.
“Recent studies found that specifically focusing on alexithymia during treatment improved treatment outcomes in terms of symptom reduction and general functioning (5–9), but the results of a 2013 systematic review (10) were inconclusive, and was suggested that development of evidence-based treatments are necessary (10).”
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- Authors
- Gay, M., Hanin, D., & Luminet, O.
- Affiliations
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- UCLouvain (BE)
- Fund for Scientific Research (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Gay, Marie‐Claire
- Venue
- Contemporary Hypnosis
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-02-15
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-13
- ISSN
- 0960-5290 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-0711
- OpenAlex
- W2170022003
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Contemporary Hypnosis (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Libraries (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), l'Université de Namur (UNamur) and the Université Saint-Louis (USL-B)) (submittedVersion)
- Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- alexithymia, hypnosis, mental imagery, emotional processing, mood states, anxiety, depression, female students
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