A self-hypnosis programme raises the concentration and emotional control archers report
2 studies · 17 archers measured
The summary today
There is one piece of evidence, from 2025, and it measures only what archers write on a questionnaire. Ten archers from South Sulawesi, measured before and after a self-hypnosis programme with no comparison group, raised their emotion score from 52.0 to 71.3 and their concentration score from 55.7 to 67.7; they had started just above half of the theoretical maximum, 90 points for emotions and 100 for concentration. The more telling figure is another one, though: the ranking among the ten stays almost identical, with a correlation between before and after of 0.99, meaning they all rose by a similar amount, as one would expect when everyone fills in the same questionnaire again after a period of dedicated attention. The score on the target was never looked at. Before this study, hypnosis appeared in the bibliography only in the account of one woman archer with target panic, the only one of seven who had found something that worked.
Also phrased as: "self-hypnosis in archery"; "hypnosis for concentration"; "hypnosis and target panic"; "sport self-hypnosis"
In practice
Among the mental techniques that circulate in archery, self-hypnosis is offered as a way to reach competition focus more quickly and to switch off nerves before an end.
Evidence
-
2019
Context Archers Published later
7 British archers with target panic interviewed in depth: only one, a woman, describes a strategy that worked, hypnosis, which in her words made her more focused, relaxed and confident, while attempts to talk themselves round or rationalise did not help. It is an account, not a test of self-hypnosis.
Archers’ experiences of target panic: an interpretative phenomenological analysis · Erin E. Prior, Janine K. Coates
-
2025
For Archers Published later
10 archers from South Sulawesi, a single group before and after a self-hypnosis programme, no control: the emotion questionnaire score rose from 52.0 to 71.3 and the concentration score from 55.7 to 67.7. The published t values, 64.3 and 28.5 on ten people, are so high because everyone rose by almost the same amount: they show that the change was uniform, not that it was large or that it came from the self-hypnosis.
The Effect Of Self-Hypnosis Training On Improving The Ability To Concentrate And Emotions Of South Sulawesi Archery Athletes · Nur Islam, Nukhrawi Nawir, Himad Hakim, Muh. Adnan Hudain, Sahabuddin Sahabuddin
-
2025
Context Archers Published later
After self-hypnosis the ranking among the archers stays almost identical: the correlation between before and after is 0.986 for emotions and 0.990 for concentration, meaning they all improved by a similar amount, the signature of an effect shared by everyone, attention received included.
The Effect Of Self-Hypnosis Training On Improving The Ability To Concentrate And Emotions Of South Sulawesi Archery Athletes · Nur Islam, Nukhrawi Nawir, Himad Hakim, Muh. Adnan Hudain, Sahabuddin Sahabuddin
-
2025
Context Archers Published later
The emotion scores drew closer together (standard deviation from 3.65 to 2.87, range from 12 to 9 points), while the concentration scores spread out (from 4.79 to 5.89, range from 13 to 16 points).
The Effect Of Self-Hypnosis Training On Improving The Ability To Concentrate And Emotions Of South Sulawesi Archery Athletes · Nur Islam, Nukhrawi Nawir, Himad Hakim, Muh. Adnan Hudain, Sahabuddin Sahabuddin
-
2025
Context Archers Published later
Before the programme these regional-level archers sat just above half of the theoretical maximum: concentration 55.7 out of 100 (20 items scored 1 to 5), emotions 52.0 out of 90 (18 items scored 1 to 5). The maxima are worked out from the stated number of items.
The Effect Of Self-Hypnosis Training On Improving The Ability To Concentrate And Emotions Of South Sulawesi Archery Athletes · Nur Islam, Nukhrawi Nawir, Himad Hakim, Muh. Adnan Hudain, Sahabuddin Sahabuddin
Status history
- 2019 Not studied No study had yet put self-hypnosis to the test in archers. The only trace is in a qualitative study of seven British archers with target panic: only one archer, a woman, describes a strategy that works, and it is hypnosis, while attempts to talk themselves round did not help. It is an account, not a measurement: not studied.
- 2025 Reported The first study arrives: ten archers from South Sulawesi, before and after a self-hypnosis programme with no control group. Emotion scores rose by 19 points and concentration scores by 12, both starting just above half of the theoretical maximum, but the ranking among the archers stays almost identical: they all move together by a similar amount, as one would expect when everyone fills in a questionnaire again after a period of dedicated attention. A before and after without a control, on ten people and without the score, goes no further than reported.
Related
Related articles
- Meditation, mindfulness and yoga in archers: what moves and what does notWhat meditation, mindfulness and yoga change in archers: the studies find more effect on attention and on how archers feel than on the score.
- Mental skills training in archery: what the measurements on archers showWhat has been measured on archers' mental training: score, confidence, anxiety, programme length, mock competitions and each of the tools in turn.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). A self-hypnosis programme raises the concentration and emotional control archers report (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/self-hypnosis-concentration-emotions
@misc{campagna2026_autoipnosiconcentrazioneemozioni,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {A self-hypnosis programme raises the concentration and emotional control archers report},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/self-hypnosis-concentration-emotions},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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