Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Chet Lesniak

Abstract

The increased intensity of modern life and the experiences in combat situations has brought on enormous stress and has led many individuals to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hypnosis is one of the treatment methods available to professionals and has been proven to provide fast, reliable results in multiple studies. Despite these results, the lack of understanding of the physiological effects of hypnosis on the brain has prevented its use as a common treatment method for PTSD. By examining the differences between the effectiveness of hypnosis in military and civilian populations, the aim of this meta-analysis was to isolate the ideal personal characteristics and causes of the trauma that make hypnosis an effective treatment. The first 2 research questions compared the mean effect sizes and their ranges between the 2 populations and extracted the personality characteristics that would make treatment of PTSD by hypnosis successful based on the comparison itself and analysis of the populations from the currently available research and the biases in the studies. The final research question was aimed at comparing the success of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in combination with hypnosis and the duration of the treatment method. The analyses based on the quantitative results led to the conclusion that military personnel experience a higher successful rate of treatment for PTSD through hypnotherapy combined with CBT. This suggests that hypnotherapy can be recommended for individuals who have respect toward authority and schedules. The provided guidelines were intended to increase the popularity of hypnosis, and if implemented, will produce positive social change because more people will be able to find faster, more reliable relief from PTSD, improving not only the patient's quality of life but also the quality of life of those around him.

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