Theodore Barber Dies; Was Major Critic of Hypnosis
from the NY Times:
Dr. Barber developed what became careerlong studies of hypnosis in the 1960's, while conducting research at the Medfield Foundation, a private psychiatric research center in Massachusetts.
Earlier, in a series of experiments performed door to door, he and other researchers found that they could induce sleepiness by suggestion alone, without the swinging watches or formal protocols used by hypnotists. Power of suggestion worked effectively on about 20 percent of the people tested, although another 25 percent had no reaction.
The results stimulated Dr. Barber's interest in the hypnotic state, and he examined people who could be easily or deeply hypnotized. In the 1970's, he helped identify a small minority - 2 percent to 4 percent of the population - who were especially responsive, and he then studied the group. With other researchers, he found that the people most susceptible to hypnosis included those who were "gifted fantasizers" or "amnesia prone."
Dr. Barber was 78.
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