Research Design
The study used a survey as a research design in undertaking a study to determine how people perceive hypnosis and its effectiveness in treating some psychological disorders.
Table 1. Attributes of Research Design.
Data Collection
In collecting the data, the study selected 150 (65 males and 85 females) students in the school-aged between 15 and 20 years. The study employed a simple random sampling method in selecting students who participated in the study. Before their participation, the researchers informed the students about the essence of the study and requested their informed consent. Moreover, the researcher designed the questionnaire in the form of a Likert scale to rate the responses of participants regarding their perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in treating psychological disorders. The collected data were analyzed and used in testing the hypothesis that people have a positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in treating psychological disorders.
Prepared Questionnaire
The researcher designed a questionnaire with 20 survey questions to measure the perception and effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of psychological disorders.
Please indicate the following demographic information
Name…………………………………………………………………………………..
Gender………………………………… Age…………………………………………
Read the following questions and offer appropriate answers, which effectively rate your perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of various psychological disorders, using numbers 1-5 representing a rating scale of not at all, slightly, somewhat, moderately, and very much respectively.
Table 2. Likert Scaled Questions.
Results
Overall Frequency of Responses
The results exhibit notable trends and patterns of distribution of responses regarding the perception and effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of diseases. The distribution of responses shows that most participants (45) have a greatly positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, grief, and other diseases. Moreover, 41, 35, and 22 participants have moderately, fairly, and slightly positive perceptions of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders respectively. However, 8 participants do not have any positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders as shown in Table 3 below.
Table 3. Frequency of Responses.
Figure 1 below illustrates the percent distribution of responses and provides a clear picture of the trends and pattern of perceptions and effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of psychological disorders. 30%, 27.33%, and 23.33% of participants have greatly, moderately, and fairly positive perceptions of hypnosis and its effectiveness respectively. In contrast, those who have slight and no positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness comprise 14.67% and 5.3% accordingly.
Gender Distribution of Responses
The gender distribution of responses reveals that 40% (26), 21.5% (14), 15.4% (10), and 12.3% (8) of male participants have greatly, moderately, and fairly positive perception and effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of psychological disorders. Only 10.8% (7) of male participants have no positive perception and effectiveness of hypnosis.
Gender Frequency of Responses
Table 4. Distribution of Male Responses.
Comparatively, female responses show that 40% (34), 30.6% (26), 25.9% (22), and 3.5% (3) of female participants have greatly, moderately, fairly, and slightly positive perceptions and effectiveness of hypnosis. None of the female participants lacks positive perception and effectiveness of hypnosis.
Table 5. Distribution of Female Responses.
Discussion of Results
The analysis of the data provided significant findings, which indicated how participants perceive hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders. There is a skewed distribution of responses towards positive perception and effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of psychological disorders. Regarding the overall distribution of responses, it is apparent that 67.3% of participants have great and moderate positive perceptions of hypnosis and its effectiveness while the remaining 22.3% have fairly, slightly, and no positive perceptions. These findings support the hypothesis that participants have a positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders. In their study, Untas et al. (2013) found out that hypnosis is effective in the treatment of psychological disorders because it decreased depression, anxiety, sleepiness, and fatigue among patients under hemodialysis. The perceptions of participants in this study reflect earlier findings, which have proved that hypnosis is not only effective but also a favorable form of treatment.
Furthermore, as the perception of people determines their degree of susceptibility to hypnosis, Ludwig et al. (2014) found out that post-hypnotic suggestions influence decision-making ability and assessment of options. These findings, therefore, show that the participants are susceptible to hypnosis because they believe that it is effective in the treatment of psychological disorders. According to Cangas, Luciano, Perez-Alvarez, Ruiz-Sanchez, and Eisenbeck (2015), a positive perception of hypnosis makes individuals adopt rule-following behavior, which is integral in the treatment of psychological disorders.
Comparative analysis of gendered responses reveals that male and female participants have a slightly different perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness in the treatment of psychological disorders. The findings show that 61.5% of male participants have a greatly and moderately positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness while 70.6% of female participants have a greatly and moderately positive perception and effectiveness of hypnosis. The findings imply that females have a higher positive perception of hypnosis and its effectiveness than male participants. Kolto, Gosi-Greguss, Varga, and Banyai (2013) established that men are less hypnotizable than women in group settings. In essence, the pattern of perception reflects the degree of hypnotizability of male and female participants.
References
Cangas, A., Luciano, C., Perez-Alvarez, M., Ruiz-Sanchez, L., & Eisenbeck, N. (2015).
Disruption of hypnotic behavior. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 15(1), 3-15.
Kolto, A., Gosi-Greguss, A., Varga, K., & Banyai, E. (2013). The influence of time and gender on Hungarian hypnotizability scores. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 62(1), 84-110.
Ludwig, V., Stelzel, C., Krutiak, H., Magrabi, A., Steimke, R., Paschke, L.,…Walter, H. (2014). The suggestible brain: posthypnotic effects on value-based decision-making. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(9), 1281-1288.
Untas, A., Chauveau, P., Dupré-Goudable, D., Kolko, A., Lakdja, F., & Cazenave, N (2013). The effects of hypnosis on anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleepiness in people undergoing hemodialysis: A clinical report. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 61(4), 475-483.