Dr. Jesse J. Norris
Dr. Jesse J. Norris published an article, "Hypnosis-based intervention for mystical experiences: a qualitative analysis," in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
Dr. Norris is an associate professor of Criminal Justice at SUNY Fredonia.
The article, which was co-authored with four researchers at Baylor University, includes a qualitative analysis of data from a recent experiment designed to determine whether hypnosis could achieve the same types of mystical experiences often associated with psychedelic drugs.
The researchers' previous article reported on the study's quantitative findings, which showed that participants had mystical experiences of the same intensity as produced by psilocybin, as measured by the Mystical Experiences Questionnaire.
In this study, Norris and his co-authors analyzed interviews with the hypnosis participants, indicating that they had a variety of mystical experiences closely corresponding to previous findings in research on psychedelic experiences. Their results raise the question of whether hypnosis may be a safer, drug-free alternative to psychedelics that is capable of producing the same type of mystical experience and hopefully the same therapeutic effects.
