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Theodore Barber Dies at 78; Was Major Critic of Hypnosis
September 23, 2005
Theodore Barber Dies at 78; Was Major Critic of Hypnosis
By JEREMY PEARCE
Theodore X. Barber, a psychologist who became a leading critic of hypnosis after his scientific studies concluded that the power of suggestion often worked nearly as well, died on Sept. 10 at a hospital in Framingham, Mass. He was 78 and lived in Ashland, Mass.
The cause was a ruptured aorta, his family said.
Dr. Barber developed what became careerlong studies of hypnosis in the 1960's, while conducting research at the Medfield Foundation, a private psychiatric research center in Massachusetts.
Earlier, in a series of experiments performed door to door, he and other researchers found that they could induce sleepiness by suggestion alone, without the swinging watches or formal protocols used by hypnotists. Power of suggestion worked effectively on about 20 percent of the people tested, although another 25 percent had no reaction.
The results stimulated Dr. Barber's interest in the hypnotic state, and he examined people who could be easily or deeply hypnotized. In the 1970's, he helped identify a small minority - 2 percent to 4 percent of the population - who were especially responsive, and he then studied the group. With other researchers, he found that the people most susceptible to hypnosis included those who were "gifted fantasizers" or "amnesia prone."
John F. Chaves, a psychologist at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, said Dr. Barber's studies "took a lot of the magic away from hypnotism," but explained a great deal about phenomena traditionally associated with hypnosis, including memory and concentration.
In 1969, Dr. Barber published a book, "Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach," that Dr. Chaves said "placed hypnotic phenomena in the mainstream of social psychology." Also in the 1960's, Dr. Barber's research introduced the Barber Suggestibility Scale, a method of evaluating patients and measuring their responsiveness to a range of suggestions. The scale is still in use.
Theodore Xenophon Barber was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He earned his doctorate in social psychology from American University in 1956, and after a period of research at Harvard, he joined the Medfield Foundation in 1961. He became director of research there in 1973, and served as chief psychologist at Cushing Hospital in Framingham from 1978 to 1986. He was also a former chief psychologist at Medfield State Hospital.
Dr. Barber is survived by a son, X. Theodore Barber of Manhattan; two daughters, Elaine Barber of Silver Spring, Md., and Rania Richardson of Manhattan; a brother, John Barber of San Antonio; and two sisters, Angela Fardy of Westwood, N.J., and Mary Brillis of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/natio ... arber.html