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The effects of suggestion on airways of asthmatic subjects breathing room air as a suggested bronchoconstrictor and bronchodilator.

Thirty-three asthmatic subjects were told they were receiving, alternately, an inhaled bronchoconstrictor and inhaled bronchodilator, although they actually were only breathing room air. No subjects showed suggestion-produced effects on FEV1, although two (of the 19 on whom FEF50 was measured) showed effects of greater than 20% on measures of maximal midexpiratory flow. The incidence of the effect is smaller than reported previously, possibly because some subjects in previous studies inhaled saline, a mild bronchoconstrictor, and reversal of effect was not required for classification as a reactor. Higher percentages of subjects in this study showed decreased MMEF in response to the 'bronchoconstrictor', but this appeared to reflect fatigue rather than suggestion effects. However, the fact that the effect occurred in a relatively non-effort-dependent measure suggests that real changes occurred in bronchial caliber, not just in test effort. Suggestion had a significant effect on perception of bronchial changes, but the correlation between actual and perceived changes was minimal. There was an increase in FVC prior to administration of the 'bronchoconstrictor', possibly reflecting a preparatory response to the expected drug. Correlations among self-report variables suggested the existence of three personality dimensions among our population related to suggestion and asthma: cognitive susceptibility to suggestion of bronchial change; feeling of physical vulnerability; and anxiety. However, there was no significant relationship between airway response to suggested changes and hypnotic susceptibility, as measured by the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility.

Airway Resistance

Durability of "posthypnotic suggestions" as a function of type of suggestion and trance depth.

3 types of "posthypnotic suggestion," based upon factor analytic studies, were administered to high hypnotizable Ss (reals) and to low hypnotizable Ss instructed to simulate hypnosis (simulators) (N = 12 high and 6 low hypnotizable Ss per suggestion). The "posthypnotic suggestions" consisted of instructions given to Ss following a hypnotic induction that, when the posthypnotic cue was later given, they would re-enter the hypnotic state and perform a certain task at that time. Ss were then tested 6 times for durability of "posthypnotic response" during an 8-week period. Responses to the "suggestions" were rated by research assistants (objective scores) and by Ss themselves (subjective scores). There was a significant Trials x Type of "Suggestion" interaction for both types of scores for the reals but not for the simulators, indicating different rates of decline with time for the different "suggestions" for the hypnotic Ss. Depth of reported hypnotic trance during the assessment sessions was found to be strongly related to performance of the "posthypnotic suggestion" for both real and simulating Ss.

Adolescent

Hypnosis, suggestion type, and subjective experience--the order-effects hypothesis revisited: a brief communication.

In a replication and extension of Field, Evans, and Orne's (1965) research, no support was found for the hypothesis that suggestion order is related to hypnotic responding. Confirming earlier findings, Ss were no more responsive to suggestions ordered from easy-to-difficult than they were to suggestions ordered from difficult-to-easy. Measures of subjective involvement in suggestions, involuntariness, and archaic involvement with the hypnotist were no more sensitive to order effects than was the measure of objective responding. Nor were order effects more apparent with Ss who received direct versus indirect suggestions. Direct suggestions facilitated suggestion-related involuntariness and response to the hypnotic amnesia item after cancellation, whereas indirect suggestions enhanced fears of negative appraisal by the hypnotist. Finally, female Ss were more involved in suggestions than were the males, particularly in response to more difficult test items.

Adolescent

Hypnosis, suggestions, and altered states of consciousness: experimental evaluation of the new cognitive-behavioral theory and the traditional trance-state theory of "hypnosis".

Sixty-six subjects were tested on a new scale for evaluating "hypnotic-like" experiences (The Creative Imagination Scale), which includes ten standardized test-suggestions (e.g. suggestions for arm heaviness, finger anesthesia, time distortion, and age regression). The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (Think-With Instructions, trance induction, and Control), with 22 subjects to each group. The new Cognitive-Behavioral Theory predicted that subjects exposed to preliminary instructions designed to demonstrate how to think and imagine along with the suggested themes (Think-With Instructions) would be more responsive to test-suggestions for anesthesia, time distortion, age regression, and so on, than subjects exposed to a trance-induction procedure. On the other hand, the traditional Trance State Theory predicted that a trance induction would be more effective than Think-With Instructions in enhancing responses to such suggestions. Subjects exposed to the Think-With Instructions obtained significantly higher scores on the test-suggestions than those exposed either to the traditional trance-induction procedure or to the control treatment. Scores of subjects who received the trance-induction procedure were not significantly different from those of the subjects who received the control treatment. The results thus supported the new Cognitive-Behavioral Theory and contradicted the traditional Trance State Theory of hypnosis. Two recent experiments, by De Stefano and by Katz, confirmed the above experimental results and offered further support for the Cognitive-Behavioral Theory. In both recent experiments, subjects randomly assigned to a "Think-With Instructions" treatment were more responsive to test-suggestions than those randomly assigned to a traditional trance-induction treatment.

Cognition

Response of asthmatics to methacholine and suggestion.

Effects of diluent, methacholine, and suggestion on pulmonary function were studied in 9 asthmatic subjects. On day 1, flavored diluent was given as a control preparation. On day 2, increasing concentrations of similarly flavored methacholine were administered. On day 3, the effect of flavored diluent plus suggestion was studied. Although all variables were affected, the dose-response relationships for methacholine were most pronounced for specific airway conductance and airway resistance, in contrast to maximal mid-expiratory flow, forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, and forced vital capacity. Suggestion toward bronchoconstriction significantly affected only the plethysmographic parameters, specific airway conductance, and airway resistance, and not the spirometric variables. Both airway resistance and 1-sec forced expiratory volume showed slight, but significant, changes as a result of bronchodilator suggestion, which was used to overcome the suggestion toward bronchoconstriction. Because suggestion had a greater effect on large airways than peripheral airways, a role for the vagus is implied. Thus, any protocol using body plethysmography must consider a possible effect of suggestion on results.

Adolescent

Autokinetic illusion as affected by suggestions of experimenter and observer.

Two experiments were done to examine whether an experimenter's suggestion and self-suggestion could affect the autokinetic illusion and to specify that effect. Exp. I compared the effect of a facilitative suggestion with a suppressive one, by measuring the moving latency, duration, frequency, and by analyzing the movement trace. Time and frequency did not detect any effects of marked individual differences. Trace analysis, on the other hand, showed that suggestions were effective in the expected direction for some subjects. Exp. II gave the suggestion for and against subjects' dominant direction of the movement and was designed to specify the effect. While effects indicated by time and frequency measures were not consistent, the movement trace showed the effect in suggested directions, which was more distinct for subjects whose nonsuggested illusion was not so markedly directed. These findings indicate that suggestion could affect the spatiotemporal aspect of the illusion, so the trace analysis may be useful for studies in this field.

Adult

[The psychological reasons for the varying efficacy of suggestion in an experiment].

In 86 neurotic patients, judgements about TAT pictures were defined before a session of hypnosis. Later other judgments about the same pictures were suggested after the patients entered the hypnotic state. 34 patients who were in a deep enough hypnotic state manifested the lack of suggestion realization, which can be accounted for by image and intellectual activity that occurred at the moment of suggestion. Suggestibility increased whatever the depth of the hypnotic state, on condition that at the moment of suggestion the image and intellectual perception of TAT pictures could be rearranged. The given study made it possible to explain the occasionally occurring difference in suggestibility and hypnability which is of practical value.

Adult

[Susceptibility to suggestion in patients with hysterical neuroses].

It is common knowledge that patients with hysteric neurosis demonstrate selective suggestibility in respect of different methods of suggestion, namely from high to extremely low. To specify the nature of such selectivity, a study was made of the dependence of hysteric neurosis patients' suggestibility on their personality and typological traits and the clinical manifestations of neurosis. It has been shown that suggestibility of patients suffering from hysteric neurosis depends on the premorbid (hysteroid, excitable and inhibitory) types of the patients' personality and the clinical picture of neurosis. It has been also discovered that patients belonging to the premorbid hysteroid type are most suggestible whereas those belonging to the premorbid inhibitory type are least suggestible.

Adolescent

[Psychoanalysis and suggestion].

In the history of psychoanalysis the problem of suggestion has been a central one. At first it involved the necessity to establish the psychoanalytic technique as independent scientific paradigm in contrast to persuasion and hypnosis. However, it was not only the symptom-oriented suggestion that had to be given up for scientific reasons and reasons of treatment technique. Since professional and human factors as well could have influenced the psychoanalytic situation to revert to the traditional "suggestion", Freud has given some technical considerations (e.g. the mirror-analogy), that were meant to counteract the confusion of the psychoanalytic technique with the persuasive one that had to come up to late. The discovery of the transference phenomena has further complicated the problem. It became obvious that the capacity of the analyst to exert an influence and to have impact, originated in very basic human categories and their specific psychogenetic developments and distortions. This understanding contributed to the development of psychoanalytic theories of suggestibility. Until the present day the discovery of the transference phenomena has determined the discussions of psychoanalytic technique in term of the relationship between the special and general therapeutic factors (i.e. interpretation versus relationship). The departure from the therapeutic mode of persuasive suggestion and the introduction of psychoanalytic technique signaled the revolutionary paradigm of Sigmund Freud, i.e. the active participation of the patient and the process of observation. Often scientific problems related to this pradigm and suggestion are discussed concurrently.

Humans

The effect of specific hypnotic suggestions on blood pressure in normotensive subjects.

Twenty normotensive subjects participated on a voluntary basis in an experiment designed to study the effects of specific suggestions on blood pressure (BP). After an induction procedure, the experimental group received suggestions presumed to be relatively nonactivating, although capable of lowering or raising BP. A control group was used to record the BP changes over time. All subjects met for one session. Eight subjects from the experimental group met for a second session. Both adaptation and induction resulted in significant BP decreases. A specific suggestion to increase BP gave a significant result when compared to the induction point. There was no significant change from induction to the BP decrease suggestion. Both systolic and diastolic BP behaved in the same way. A second experimental session resulted in no significant change compared with the first session. Also, no significant difference was found in suggestibility scores from the first to the second session. The results are in line with previously published studies.

Adult

Antarctic wintering--over, suggestion and transient olfactory stimulation: EEG evoked potential and electrodermal responses.

EEG evoked potential and electrodermal responses to real and suggested olfactory stimulation were recorded on a team of nine men who wintered-over at Scott Base, Antarctica. Multi-variate analysis of variance findings indicated some consistent trends despite adverse conditions and marked inter-individual differences. Consistent with studies of secondary afferentation olfaction-related EEGs were evidenced in the occipital area (O1 and O2) as well as the temporal area (T3 and T4). Skin conductance (SC) showed significant responses for real and suggested odorants pre and post wintering-over. Suppression of EEG amplitudes for real and suggested stimuli was evidenced prior to wintering-over. Following wintering-over experience suppression of EEG amplitudes for real stimuli showed a decrease while suppression increased for suggested stimuli. The implications of the suggestion findings are discussed in possible explanation of the apparent conflict between different sources of information about human responses to isolation in the Antarctic environment.

Alpha Rhythm

Modulation of shock-elicited pain by acupuncture and suggestion.

An experimental investigation of acupuncture's analgesic potency, separated from suggestion effects, is described, in which judgments of shock-elicited pain of the forearm were recorded along two separate scales: intensity and aversiveness. Data from experimental subjects, who received electrical acupunctural stimulation through surface electrodes located over acupuncture points and were given explicit counter-suggestions of sensitization, were compared to those obtained from control subjects, who received such stimulation over incorrect loci and were given explicit suggestions of analgesia. No alterations in the perception of pain intensity, either by acupunctural stimulation or suggestion, could be detected at any time during the experiment, but stimulation of the correct points produced a significant analgesic reduction in aversiveness which was specific to the arm so stimulated, overcame the counter-suggestion of sensitization, and persisted after stimulation was discontinued. No significant reductions were recorded from control subjects. These findings are interpreted in light of other experimental acupuncture research, and of the demonstrated mode of action of analgesics of proven efficacy.

Acupuncture Therapy

Efficacy of therapeutic suggestions for improved postoperative recovery presented during general anesthesia.

There have been claims that the postoperative course of patients may be improved by presentation during general anesthesia of therapeutic suggestions which predict a rapid and comfortable postoperative recovery. This study evaluated the effectiveness of such therapeutic suggestions under double-blind and randomized conditions. A tape recording predicting a smooth recovery during a short postoperative stay without pain, nausea, or vomiting was played during anesthesia to about half the patients (N = 109), while the remaining, control patients were played a blank tape instead (N = 100). The patients were primarily undergoing operations on the fallopian tubes, total abdominal hysterectomy, vertical banding gastroplasty, cholecystectomy, and ovarian cystectomy or myomectomy. The anesthesia methods consisted of either isoflurane with 70% nitrous oxide in oxygen to produce end-tidal concentrations of 1.0, 1.3, or 1.5 MAC; or 70% nitrous oxide in oxygen combined with high or low doses of opioids. Assessments of the efficacy of the therapeutic suggestions in the recovery room and throughout the postoperative hospital stay included: the frequency of administration of analgesic and antiemetic drugs; opioid doses; the incidence of fever; nausea, retching, and vomiting; other gastrointestinal and urinary symptoms; ratings of pain; ratings of anxiety; global ratings of the patients' physical and psychological recoveries by the patients and their nurses; and length of postoperative hospital stay. There were no meaningful, significant differences in postoperative recovery of patients receiving therapeutic suggestions and controls. These negative results were not likely to be due to insensitivity of the assessments of recovery, as they showed meaningful interrelations among themselves and numerous differences in recovery following different types of surgery. Widespread utilization of therapeutic suggestions as a routine operating room procedure seems premature in the absence of adequate replication of previously published positive studies.

Adult

Effects of post-hypnotic suggestions on muscular endurance.

This study examined the effects of post-hypnotic suggestions upon maximal endurance capacity, Borg ratings of perceived exertion, and heart rate. Experimental subjects were administered post-hypnotic suggestions to improve or decrease performance, and control subjects were given similar instructions during the awake state. Endurance time could be decreased significantly when the fatigue suggestion was given to experimental subjects, but performance could not be enhanced with the facilitating suggestion. Control subjects showed no significant changes across conditions. The Borg ratings indicated that experimental subjects experienced subjective changes as suggested by the hypnotist. In addition, analysis failed to find any significant differences for the heart-rate data.

Adult

Integrin alpha 6/beta 4 complex is located in hemidesmosomes, suggesting a major role in epidermal cell-basement membrane adhesion.

The alpha 6/beta 4 complex is a member of the integrin family of adhesion receptors. It is found on a variety of epithelial cell types, but is most strongly expressed on stratified squamous epithelia. Fluorescent antibody staining of human epidermis suggests that the beta 4 subunit is strongly localized to the basal region showing a similar distribution to that of the 230-kD bullous pemphigoid antigen. The alpha 6 subunit is also strongly localized to the basal region but in addition is present over the entire surfaces of basal cells and some cells in the immediate suprabasal region. By contrast staining for beta 1, alpha 2, and alpha 3 subunits was very weak basally, but strong on all other surfaces of basal epidermal cells. These results suggest that different integrin complexes play differing roles in cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion in the epidermis. Immunoelectron microscopy showed that the alpha 6/beta 4 complex at the basal epidermal surface is strongly localized to hemidesmosomes. This result provides the first well-characterized monoclonal antibody markers for hemidesmosomes and suggests that the alpha 6/beta 4 complex plays a major role in epidermal cell-basement membrane adhesion. We suggest that the cytoplasmic domains of these transmembrane glycoproteins may contribute to the structure of hemidesmosomal plaques. Immunoultrastructural localization of the BP antigen suggests that it may be involved in bridging between hemidesmosomal plaques and keratin intermediate filaments of the cytoskeleton.

Animals

Possible function of human brown adipose tissue as suggested by observation on perirenal brown fats from necropsy cases of variable age groups.

In 134 out of 180 perirenal fat samples (74%) derived from Japanese necropsy cases aged from 1 month to 86 years, the brown fat tissue persisted in variable amounts. Brown fat cells were classified into 6 types: Type 1 cells are fat-depleted cells filled with granular cytoplasm and are believed to be produced after oxidation of fat for heat production. Type 2 cells are small-locular cells suitable for rapid oxidation of fat droplets. Type 3 (middle-locular) and 4 (large-locular) represent fat-storage cells containing large amounts of fat. Type 5 cells are thought to be transitional forms between multilocular brown fat cells and monolocular white fat cells. Type 6 (cytoplasm-rich multilocular) cells, usually found together with Type 1 cells, are thought to be fat-depleting or -consuming cells, since in them fat droplets are reduced in number and size probably in consequence of oxidation of fat, but by contrast granular cytoplasm is increased in amount separating the individual fat droplets by thick cytoplasmic septa. The occurrence of Types 1 and/or 6 cells that has been revealed in 65 out of the total 180 samples (36%), suggests that the oxidation of fat for the thermogenesis proceeds in the brown fat tissue and that brown fat cells partially undergo fat depletion. In the present study, the thermogenesis of human brown fat tissue was suggested chiefly with regard to the occurrence of Types 1 and/or 6 cells. In the majority of perirenal fat samples from infants (1-11 months) relatively numerous Types 1 and 6 cells were frequently revealed together with Type 2 cells, suggesting rapid and active heat production in support of the view that in human infants the brown fat tissue may be thermogenetically active to maintain body temperature. In the same manner, marked ability to produce a considerable amount of heat was evidenced in brown fat tissue of children and teenagers. In younger and elderly adults the frequency of occurrence and the amount of the perirenal brown fat tissue were decreased but Types 1 and/or 6 cells could be found in 17-40% of them, infrequently together, with Type 2 cells, suggesting persistence of the thermogenic activity with occasional large heat production especially in younger adults (20-39 years). Thus, the results obtained in this study have clarified that the human brown fat tissue can respond to stimuli given to the body by oxidation of stored fat even in the latest decades of life. In cases of death from burning, drowning, bleeding, drug poisoning etc., numerous Types 1 and/or 6 cells were found, suggesting that an active fat oxidation would take place in brown fat tissue assumedly as the result of the raised noradrenalin level in this tissue. The so-called small cytoplasmic cells found in perirenal fats from cases of death from liver cirrhosis and other causes were assumed to be atrophic fat-depleted brown fat cells.

Adipose Tissue, Brown