Showing papers by "David Spiegel published in 1981"

Group support for patients with metastatic cancer. A randomized outcome study.

Abstract: • The effects of weekly supportive group meetings for women with metastatic carcinoma of the breast were systematically evaluated in a one-year, randomized, prospective outcome study. The groups focused on the problems of terminal illness, including improving relationships with family, friends, and physicians and living as fully as possible in the face of death. We hypothesized that this intervention would lead to improved mood, coping strategies, and self-esteem among those in the treatment group. Eighty-six patients were tested at four-month intervals. The treatment group had significantly lower mooddisturbance scores on the Profile of Mood States scale, had fewer maladaptive coping responses, and were less phobic than the control group. This study provides objective evidence that a supportive group intervention for patients with metastatic cancer results in psychological benefit. Mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this group intervention are explored.

Vietnam Grief Work Using Hypnosis

Abstract: Problems unique to the veteran of the Vietnam War are discussed, and a new strategy using hypnosis for assisting some of these veterans in coming to terms with their psychological and physical losses is presented. Many Vietnam veterans suffer from losses common to any war: of friends, of body parts, of a sense of self as hero. Putting these losses into perspective has been made more difficult by the absence of a sense of national purpose for the war. This deprives the suffering of a sense of meaning, giving rise to a delayed stress response syndrome. Treatment should take into account the lack of social support for these veterans. Previous uses of hypnosis in treating traumatic neurosis have focused on abreaction. The limitations of this technique are discussed in relation to Freud's conception of psychotherapy as “remembering, repeating, and working through.” The working through can be conceptualized as a kind of grief work in which the patient puts losses into perspective, and it is this elemen...

Hypnotic responsivity and the treatment of flying phobia.

Abstract: Systematic follow-up data are reported for 178 consecutive flying phobia patients treated with a single 45-minute session involving hypnosis and a problem restructuring strategy. One hundred fifty-eight (89%) of the patients completed follow-up questionnaires between six months and ten and one half years after treatment. Results showed that hypnotizable patients were over two and one half times more likely to report some positive treatment impact than those who were found to be nonhypnotizable on the Hypnotic Induction Profile. In addition, the patients’ previous experiences with psychotherapy were found to be significantly associated with treatment outcome. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Hypnosis and the unhypnotizable: a reply to Barber.

Abstract: Barber (1980) has recently implied that if low hypnotic responsivity scorers respond favorably to treatments which include a hypnotic induction ceremony, then hypnotic responsivity scores are potentially misleading predictors of therapeutic gain. The logic of Barber's argument and the questionable evidence he presents in support of it are critically examined. Barber has confounded the different yet related issues of hypnotic responsivity and treatment responsivity. An explanation which simultaneously takes into account Barber's data and reaffirms the diagnositic utility of hypnotic responsivity scores is offered.

Man as timekeeper.

Abstract: Today I am persuaded, more than ever, that a whole series of psychopathological manifestations can be understood and examined more thoroughly from the vantage of the phenomenon of time⋯ .1,p.8