The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between anxiety, depression, and physiological activity in a small group of psychiatric patients diagnosed as suffering from anxiety, depression, and phobia, who were being treated by hypnotherapy. Hypnosis seemed to offer a very suitable means for the manipulation of these emotional states for a variety of reasons. Previous work has shown the effectiveness of hypnotically induced anxiety in significantly increasing Ss scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale,6 and also in raising the plasma hydrocortisone level in normal subjects.5,11 A further advantage is that intense emotion and deep relaxation can be alternated rapidly, so that several repetitions of the emotion/relaxation schedule can be carried out within a single experimental session.
In the normal waking state there are many extraneous variables which can affect the measurement of physiological concomitants of anxiety such