Effectiveness of an hypnotic imagery intervention on reducing alexithymia

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.