Beliefs and opinions regarding hypnosis and its applications among Chinese professionals in medical settings

Abstract

Following the earlier report (see Yu, 2004) on how Chinese college students perceive hypnosis, this second paper proceeds to examine specifically the beliefs and opinions of Hong Kong Chinese health professionals regarding the notion of hypnosis and its clinical applications. In addition to the 457 college students initially reported in the first paper, 75 professionals working in medical settings are included in this study. The present findings indicate that while the professionals share similar beliefs and misconceptions about the general nature of hypnosis with the college students as a whole, the professionals very much resemble those students without psychology training who hold noticeably different opinions on the dimensions of the worth and transcendence-achieving quality of hypnosis. Copyright © 2004 British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis