Trance behaviours and phenomena

The phenomena involved in trance

With
Chris Wood - Certified Trainer of Hypnosis / NLP
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Trance occurs when you focus attention.

Questioning that guides attention induces trance

Using words that have no fixed meaning makes people ‘go

inside’ their mind to find out meaning.

Relaxation is not needed for hypnosis or trance, although

states of relaxation will be the primary focus of this course.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Trance phenomena

There are a wide range of hypnotic phenomena, some of

which we will be utilizing for therapeutic purposes.

In the next few slides I go through the ‘classic’ list, as

described in Dr. William S. Kroger’s seminal text

“Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis” - 1963

Trance behaviour and phenomena

Suggestibility

Suggestibility is probably the most well known phenomenon

of hypnosis. Suggestibility is heightened under hypnosis.

Suggestions can also take the following forms:

- Preverbal (sounds)
- Nonverbal (gestures)
- Intraverbal (modulation of the voice)
- Extraverbal (meanings and implications of words and
phrases)
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Post hypnotic suggestion

A posthypnotic suggestion is a suggestion delivered in

hypnosis that is carried out afterward.

Some theories see the carrying out of a posthypnotic

suggestion as a self-induced miniature replica of the original
hypnotic situation, different only in the depth of trance.

Some subjects carry out the posthypnotic suggestion as a

conscious act, and others do so automatically. Some subjects
have amnesia of the posthypnotic act, or remember it only
after it is carried out.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Ideosensory responses

The brain under hypnosis has the capacity to experience or

block sensory activity.

These can be

• Visual
• Auditory (hearing)
• Tactile/kinesthetic (feeling)
• Olfactory (smelling)
• Gustatory (tasting)
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Ideomotor responses

Automatic Writing. “Doodling” while talking or listening is

the most common manifestation of automatic writing. On a
more advanced level, a hypnotized subject can be told that
the writing hand is dissociated from the rest of their body,
and engage in a normal conversation while the hand is
writing about something completely different.

Some techniques then take the subject back into hypnosis to

interpret what was written.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Somnabmbulism.

Somnambulism is one of the deepest stages of hypnosis. It is

what sleepwalkers experience. Generally, after the
experience the person has no recollection of it.

Hypnotic suggestions that are given in this state become

convictions automatically because the subject does not
remember them.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Catalepsy.

Catalepsy is one of the most interesting of all hypnotic

phenomena.

It is the involuntary tonicity of the muscles. The limbs remain

in almost any position in which they are placed. During
eyeball catalepsy, if you turn the head slowly, the eyes will
remain fixed. Catelepsy is possible even in light and medium
states of hypnosis.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Amnesia.

Many people think that the indication of whether they were

under hypnosis is whether they “blank out” and have
amnesia.

However, amnesia may or may not occur spontaneously

during hypnosis. When amnesia does occur spontaneously, it
usually indicates the deep state of hypnosis known as
somnambulism.

Most of the time, amnesia is the result of specific hypnotic

suggestions to have amnesia, and is only temporary.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Hypermnesia (Memory Recall).

Hypnosis enables memory recall greater than at non-hypnotic

levels. However, the material can be inaccurate or false.

Age Regression (Pseudorevivification).

Age regression is a form of hypermnesia. The subject

experiences events as past, but identifies with them in the
first person. Recall is improved greatly when a memory has a
strong emotional component.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Pseudo-regression.

This is similar to age regression in that recall is improved, but

instead of identifying with the experiences as directly, it is as

if the subject is watching the events from another

perspective (as if on a television or movie screen). Much of
our everyday experience of memory is like this.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Revivification.

Revivification is the reliving of an incident at the time at

which it occurred, in the present tense.

In a true revivification, the memories after the age to which

the subject is regressed are eliminated.

Under hypnosis a subject may even demonstrate the

personality traits or handwriting of the earlier age.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Retrogression (Dynamic Regression).

Retrogression is a spontaneous age regression with some

element of revivification mixed in.

Age Progression.

During age progression the subject hallucinates living in the

future. Interestingly, he or she still retains the present
chronologic age. Age progression can be a great tool in
hypnotherapy to understand how a person might react to a
situation in the future.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Dissociation.

Dissociation is the inherent ability of a subject to detach from

the immediate environment. Dissociation is used frequently
for hypnoanesthesia, to separate the subject from the
portion of the body that is the source of pain.

It is also a useful tool in dissociating someone from

kinaesthetics surrounding traumatic events
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Depersonalization.

In hypnosis a subject can experience depersonalization,

forget his own identity, and even assume that he is another
person.

Using depersonalization in hypnotherapy a person can see

things from a new perspective, which can have a profound
effect on thoughts, feelings, or behaviours afterward.
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Time distortion.

Time Expansion/Lengthening is when time seems longer (2

minutes seems like 20 minutes). An everyday example of time
expansion is when a boring lecture or wait seems much
longer than it actually was.

Time Contraction is the opposite (making 20 minutes seems

like 2 minutes), just like the old saying goes that “time flies
when you’re having fun.”
Trance behaviour and phenomena

Hypnosis involves many complex aspects of human

experience, including the senses, thoughts, actions,
memories, sleep, emotions, and even the perception of time
and space.

Hypnosis truly utilizes and demonstrates the power and

mystery of the human mind.
End of section