This study investigated the relationship between the depressive attributional style described by Beck and Seligman and elevation of mood. It was proposed that mood elevation would reduce the level of depression and, in addition, would reduce the number of negative attributions. The reduction of negative attributions was assumed to be a more cognitively mediated process and was proposed to occur subsequent to mood change. These assumptions are contrary to the current cognitive theories of depression and attribution which view attributional style as a prerequisite to both the development and reduction of depression. Subjects were 30 undergraduate students between the ages of 19 and 40 years old who volunteered to participate in the study. They were screened on the basis of demonstrated depression (13 and above on the Beck Inventory) and susceptibility to hypnosis (high susceptibility on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) . Subjects were randcmly assigned to one of three groups; (1) hypnosis with mood elevation, (2) hypnosis with relaxation, and (3) no treatment control. The results supported the hypothesis that mood elevation would reduce level of depression. The mood elevation group demonstrated a lowering of depression. The effects of the treatment procedure did not appear until the fourth session. As anticipated, reduction in negative attributions did not precede or coincide with reduction in depression. It was not possible to determine the change in the attributional style of subject during the time period of this study. The results were discussed in terms of Bower's Associative Network Theory in which activation of mood facilitates the access to memories, behaviors, and interpretation of events which are congruent with the mood state.

Cognitive therapy for the treatment of depression has generated substantial research indicating its effectiveness and it is currently considered among the most viable conceptualizations of depression. However, it has remained controversial because its methods do not directly address emotional symptoms in depressed persons. Treatment of depressed emotions is a primary focus of hypnotic mood elevating techniques. These techniques enable depressed persons to experience positive emotions during hypnosis sessions and to re-experience them daily concurrent with performance of certain specified behaviors. This study evaluated the efficacy of a multicomponent treatment which combines the techniques of cognitive therapy and hypnotic mood elevation in the treatment of depressed persons. The three treatment conditions constructed for this investigation were cognitive therapy plus hypnotic mood elevation, cognitive therapy plus pseudo-biofeedback, and no treatment waiting list.

This study evaluated the efficacy of hypnoticallyinduced mood elevation techniques for individuals exposed previously to an experimental learned helplessness condition. The treatment conditions in this investigation included the mood elevation with hypnotic induction group as well as a mood elevation group without the benefit of hypnotic induction. As experimental controls, a group was exposed to hypnotic relaxation and an attention-only treatment group was used. Measures of treatment success included the administration of•the Depression Adjective Checklist, backward digit span, and five—letter anagrams. In a series of factorial analysis of variance procedures no significant interaction was noted although the main effect for the presence of hypnotic induction was significant with the Depression Adjective Checklist. Post hoc analysis to examine gender differences demonstrated no significant performance discrepancy between the sexes. Limitations of the study were explored and avenues of further research discussed.