Neutral (minimal suggestion) hypnosis (2025)

Etzel Cardeña

Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology
Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Correspondence: etzel.cardena@psy.lu.se

Keywords: neutral hypnosis, minimal suggestion hypnosis

A conundrum of hypnosis is that, with responsive participants, you get the experiential/behavioral/physiological effects you ask for (suggest). Just using the term hypnosis carries a strong communication (Wagstaff, 2014) and produces greater responsiveness to suggestions than the same procedure presented as meditation (Gandhi & Oakley, 2005). Thus, to investigate what occurs during the hypnotic context, independent of specific suggestions, one must minimize demand characteristics and implicit or explicit suggestions. Neutral (minimal suggestion) hypnotic procedures seek to minimize the effects of explicit and implicit suggestions and describe the, set, setting, and procedure used.

In his classic paper, Martin Orne (1959) described experiments in which he tried to separate the artifact of hypnosis (i.e., hypnotic role-playing and increased motivation) from the essence of hypnosis (subjective experience changes). Although he sought to decrease demand characteristics and specific suggestions, he gave little information on the hypnotic induction procedure employed (e.g., “in a manner that appeared to be the initial trance induction,” p. 279), even though an induction is a source of explicit and implicit suggestions.

A clearer example of neutral hypnotic inductions is found in Edmonston’s work from the 1970s (e.g., Kihlstrom & Edmonston, 1971). In one strategy, he used a rapid induction signal, without specific suggestions,  after a previous experience with a longer induction (eye closure with relaxation). Although the later induction was minimal, its effect was probably influenced by previous experiences.

Tart (1970) took another approach in his studies. He plotted spontaneous changes in various psychological dimensions (e.g., time perception) according to self-experienced hypnotic depth, without specific suggestions for these changes. His results have been replicated by other experimenters (for a review, see Cardeña, 2005). To further reduce the demand characteristics of previous studies, I (Cardeña, 2005; Cardeña et al., 2013) used a count (1-30) induction, with the sole suggestion of going deep into hypnosis (which is a suggestion, but a vague one since hypnotic depth was never defined). It must be acknowledged that participants had been exposed to standardized hypnotizability scales, so they were not naïve. This method exemplifies how inductions can be modified so as to minimize the impact of explicit suggestions embedded within inductions (e.g., relaxation, focus, etc.) although an absolutely neutral induction is arguably impossible given participants’ pre-existing beliefs and the cultural context of hypnosis.

Despite this line of research, the term “neutral hypnosis” is sometimes incorrectly applied when a hypnotic induction is used with explicit suggestions (e.g., of well-being, regular deep breathing, and muscular relaxation, as in Conversa et al., 2019). Relaxation is not a defining feature of hypnosis since hypnosis can be induced through verbal suggestions to be active and alert and/or in the midst of physical activity such as pedalling a stationary bike (Bányai & Hilgard, 1976; Cardeña et al., 1998; Cardeña, 2005). A review of neutral hypnosis studies noted that this technique has been overlooked despite its important implications for the study of consciousness alterations (Fingelkurts & Fingelkurts, 2025), a conclusion supported by various intriguing results so far.

References

Bányai, E. I., & Hilgard, E. R. (1976). A comparison of active-alert hypnotic induction with traditional relaxation induction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 218-224. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/767390

Cardeña, E., Alarcón, A., Capafons, A., & Bayot, A. (1998). Effects on suggestibility of a new method of active-alert hypnosis: Alert hand. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 46, 280–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207149808410008

Cardeña, E. (2005). The phenomenology of deep hypnosis: Quiescent and physically active. International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis, 53, 37-59. Doi: 10.1080/00207140490914234

Cardeña, E., Jönsson, P., Terhune, D. B., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (2013). The neurophenomenology of neutral hypnosis. Cortex, 49, 375-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2012.04.001.

Conversa, G., Facco, E., Leoni, M. L. G., Buonocore, M., Bagnasco, R., Angelini, L., Demartini, L., & Spiegel, D. (2019) Quantitative sensory testing (QST) estimation of regional cutaneous thermal sensitivity during waking state, neutral hypnosis, and temperature specific suggestions. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 67, 364-381. Doi: 10.1080/00207144.2019.1613864

Fingelkurts, Andrew A., & Fingelkurts, Alexander A. (2025). Echoes of the self: A neurophenomenological journey into the shifting realms of selfhood in neutral hypnosis. International Review of Neurobiology, 184, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2025.06.001

Gandhi, B., & Oakley, D. A. (2005). Does “hypnosis” by any other name smell as sweet? The efficacy of “hypnotic” inductions depends on the label “hypnosis.” Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 304–315.

Kihlstrom, J. F., & Edmonston, W. E., Jr. (1971). Alterations in consciousness in neutral hypnosis: Distortions in semantic space. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 13, 243-248. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.1971.10402120

Orne, M. T. (1959). The nature of hypnosis: Artifact and essence. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 277-299.

Tart, C. T. (1970). Transpersonal potentialities of deep hypnosis. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2, 27–40.