There is growing literature to support the use of hypnosis as an evidence-based behavioral medicine intervention to manage a wide variety of symptoms and side effects associated with cancer and its treatment (e.g., pain, nausea, fatigue). However, formal training in hypnosis is often lacking among cancer care providers. The purpose of this study is to identify common paraverbal errors among hypnosis trainees in order to inform future training efforts. In a sample of 196 hypnosis trainees, paraverbal errors (i.e., tone, pacing, and phrasing) were tracked across hypnotic intervention components. Results revealed that trainees had most difficulty with hypnotic tone, particularly during the Induction, Deepening, and Alerting components. Individual trainee characteristics were unrelated to paraverbal errors.
Keywords: Hypnosis; paraverbal communication; training.