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EITAN G. ABRAMOWITZ ET AL.
hypnotic susceptibility that involves hypnotic inductions followed by
five hypnotic suggestions (hand lowering, age regression, dream, post-
hypnotic suggestion, and posthypnotic amnesia). Each item is scored
by the hypnotist as “passed” or “failed” on the basis of the observed
and reported response of the subject. Scale scores are normally distrib-
uted and correlate strongly with established measures of hypnotizabil-
ity. Patients were informed that the SHSS:C was administered to assist
“our understanding of how combat trauma influences the way people
feel and sleep.”
According to our clinical experience, moderately hypnotizable
patients are best suited to hypnotherapy for insomnia. For that reason
we chose patients with midrange scores only and randomized them
between the two groups; the mean hypnotizability score in both groups
was 6.5.
The IES, PDS, and BDI were administered again to both groups at
the end of the study and 1 month after the study ended.
This study was approved by the Ethical Committee for Experimen-
tation in Human Subjects of the Israel Defense Forces. After a detailed
description of the study, patients’ written informed consent was
obtained.
Procedure
During the treatment period and 1 month after the study patients
completed a daily Morning Questionnaire. This is a visual analog scale
ranging from 0 to 100 assessing the following parameters: quality of
sleep, total sleep time, number of awakenings during the night, ability
to concentrate upon awakening, and morning sleepiness (Saletu-
Zyhlarz et al., 2002).
Sleep hygiene instructions consisting of maintenance of a reason-
ably constant bedtime, no napping during the day, no alcohol use, and
no food or caffeinated beverages after 7 p.m. were given to all partici-
pants and encouraged throughout the study.
Patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to
receive zolpidem 10 mg (Group 1,
n
= 16) or symptom-oriented hypno-
therapy (Group 2,
n
= 17).
The treatment period for the zolpidem group was 14 nights; each
patient received 14 tablets of zolpidem (10 mg). One patient experienced
drowsiness after the first treatment with zolpidem and discontinued
after the second day of treatment.
Hypnotherapy was administered in two 1.5-hour sessions per week
for 2 weeks by a specialist in psychiatry, who was certified experi-
enced in hypnotherapy. In a pretreatment interview, details relevant
for age-regression were collected and an ideomotor response channel
of communication using finger-signaling was established. At the begin-
ning of each hypnotherapy session, 15 to 20 minutes were focused on
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