Remembrance of hypnosis past.

The history of the most enduring experimental design in hypnosis research is reviewed. More than 75 years of research converge to indicate that: (1) all of the phenomena produced in hypnosis by suggestion also can be produced by suggestion without the induction of hypnosis, (2) the induction of hypnosis produces a relatively small increase in responsiveness to suggestion, and (3) hypnotic and waking suggestion are highly correlated, in many cases rivalling the reliability of the suggestibility measure. The importance of these data to both clinical and experimental hypnosis is emphasized.