PositiVibes Hypnotherapy

Master's Research - The Methods

 

 

Participants

     There will be three different recruitment strategies. (1) The psychology research participation pool at Humboldt State University. It has been run for numerous years and is a very organized system for obtaining participants who are enrolled in psychology classes at Humboldt State University. Students receive extra credit for their participation in studies during the semester, and those unwilling to participate in research have alternative methods for extra credit. Seventy-five participants will be recruited utilizing this strategy. Due to the demographic distribution in the psychology pool, these participants will be predominately Caucasian and female. The participants in the psychology pool are undergraduates. They will typically be between 18-21 years of age. (2) Tabling on the HSU quad (an area in the center of campus) with a sign that reads “interested in participating in exciting new research about hypnosis and genetics?” Permission to table during the beginning weeks of the 2013 Fall Semester at HSU has been approved by the head of Clubs and Services, Tanza Triggs, and authorized by the Dean of Students, Randi Darnall Burkein. Another seventy-five participants will be recruited utilizing this strategy. (3) Inviting HSU students to participate by making announcements at the beginning or end of classes offered at Humboldt State University. Course instructors will be emailed by the experimenters to ask permission to make an announcement about the study in their course. Courses relating to psychology and biological sciences will be targeted since these students are expected to be more interested in the topic of the research and therefore more likely to participate. The announcement in class will be “My name is Kyle Wannigman. I am recruiting participants for my Master’s thesis research on genetic factors that influence hypnosis. The study takes about 120 minutes and participants can enter a raffle for 3 $50 Amazon gift cards. If you are interested, you can learn more and schedule a time to participate by emailing me at wannigmanhypnosisstudy@gmail.com.” The last fifty participants will be recruited using this strategy. The demographic distribution using the second two recruitment strategies is expected to result in predominately Caucasian ethnicity (due to the diversity distribution at HSU). However, the gender ratio will likely be better balanced. The mean age will likely be younger than 24.

 

Instrumentation

     Shor and Orne (1963) developed the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS-A) to simultaneously test multiple individual’s susceptibility to hypnosis. This test was developed to save research time. It has a Kuder-Richardson reliability of .80 (Shor & Orne, 1963), although more recent studies have shown slightly less reliability: .74 in 1990 and .72 in 1996 (Angelini, et al., 1999). This reliability is comparable to that of Stanford’s (SHSS-A) individual susceptibility scale (α = .83). The two scales are significantly correlated (r = .78). The HGSHS-A involves participants in a series of 12 tests with the possibility of getting one point for each passed test. An example of one of these tests is eye or arm catalepsy. After the group is induced into hypnosis, the participants are told that they cannot open their eyes or bend their arm and the harder they try, the stronger the hold. Those more susceptible will perform more of the tasks compared to those who are less susceptible. Thus, higher scores relate to higher susceptibility. The authors estimate a predictive validity coefficient of .74, assuming homoscedasticity and linearity of relationships (Shor & Orne, 1963). At the end of the session the participants will fill out a subjective experience response booklet which will also be scored from 0-12.

 

Procedure

      Phase 1. Two-hundred and fifty college students from HSU will be genotyped and assessed for hypnotic susceptibility. In the initial phase of the experiment, participants will first fill out the informed consent forms. Next, participants will complete the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), which takes about 5 minutes to complete. Then participants will then be given an informational sheet about hypnosis (Appendix A) – to standardize expectations – and will be asked to provide a DNA sample in the form of a cheek swab for later analysis. The entire cheek swab process takes approximately 2 minutes to complete, using a commercial kit (Whatman EasiCollect). Each cheek swab will then be given a unique alphanumerical code. This will ensure participant confidentiality. However in the unlikely case that somehow the information gets taken, the participants are federally protected under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. This act passed by congress protects individuals from being discriminated against because of their genetic profile, specifically with health insurance companies and employers. Thus, any damage that could come from the theft of genetic information is extremely limited. It is necessary to keep track of the participant’s identity so they can be contacted for phase 2 of the study. Genotyping will be done here at HSU in the bio-core lab facility with the help of Reggie Blackwell. The Genotyping results will be used to divide our initial participants into two 5HTTLPR groups, those with one or more S allele (S/S or S/L) designated the “S Group” and those homozygous for the L allele (L/L) designated the “L Group”. Additionally, our participants will be divided into two COMT groups, those with one or more Val allele (Val/Val or Val/Met) designated the “Val Group” and those homozygous for the Met allele (Met/Met) designated the “Met Group”. Since all humans have both genes, it is important to note that some individuals in the COMT comparison groups will be the same as those in the 5HTTLPR comparison groups.

     Individuals will then be invited back to populate the four comparison groups in Phase 2 of the study. To control for experimenter and participant bias this will be a double blind study. Groups will be divided by the faculty supervisor (Gahtan) to ensure the experimenter performing the hypnotic induction (Kyle Wannigman) is blind to which participant has which alleles.

     Phase 2. In the second part of our study, participants will complete the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS-A) to simultaneously test multiple individual’s susceptibility to hypnosis. The entire process will take approximately one hour. The twelve point objective scoring for the HGSHS-A will be documented and the individuals will fill out the corresponding subjective response booklet. Those highly susceptible should have higher subjective and objective scores than those who are less susceptible. Once all of the participants have undergone their testing sessions, data collection will be complete and the double blind code can be broken for data analysis.

     Groups of no more than 10 will come in for a two-hour session to receive 4-5 units of extra credit (those in the class announcement will be put into the raffle instead of receiving extra credit). First, they will read and sign the informed consent sheets. Then they will complete the TAS, read the hypnosis information page, and provide a cheek sample. At this point there will be an opportunity to ask questions before the group hypnosis induction testing. Then the groups will be tested on their hypnotic susceptibility. Participants will fill out the corresponding response booklet and be given a list of low cost mental health treatment centers in the unlikely case that their experience in this study will elicit a desire to have psychological counseling. Free counseling is available by trained professionals in HSU’s Student Health Center.

 

    

This initial experiment could pave the way for future studies to emulate with a lager sample base. If significant effects contribute largely to predicting susceptibility, than larger studies or meta analyses may validate these findings for some truly remarkable advances in personalized therapy – particularly hypnotherapy.