On one of the email discussion lists I belong to, Jonathan Chase has stirred up some controversy – as he often does – with his assertion that self-hypnosis is not the same as hypnosis that is, when folks use self-hypnosis they are not really entering hypnosis as the classic signs of somnambulism are not present . . . so, one can’t really enter hypnosis without a hypnotist to lead one. Some folks felt that Jon’s take is too hypnotist-centrist (at least one person felt it was a cliched and outdated stereotype of an overbearing hypnotist dominating the wills of others).

I wasn’t reading Jon’s take that the hypnotist “having some overbearing control over another person.” I was reading it that somnambulism is achieved through heterohypnosis, that for a person to really let go, and get there, they need a guide.

Of course, I may be over-simplifying Jon’s take and that’s not my intention. I’ll agree with the parts I agree with and disagree with the ones I disagree with and go happily about my way in a trance-induced euphoria of some sort.

Some folks may feel that Jon’s definition of hypnosis is too exclusive, but the points are still valid and worth considering when you think about the effects that are possible. Jon is calling somnambulism hypnosis while others have a wider definition of what hypnosis is. Some folks buy “light trance” or “relaxation” as hypnosis. I can buy the wider definition of hypnosis, but that doesn’t invalidate Jon’s statements as I think he’s onto something. For me, the “working level” is somnambulism (Jon, not the Esdaile State whish is different and pretty much completely useless for suggestion as at that point a person is so zoned out they don’t do much of anything but lie there in whatever position you put them in and think happy thoughts while you start carving hunks out of their body – at least that’s the distinction I learned, I’ve never carved huge hunks out of a person’s body as far as anyone knows).

I find myself agreeing with Jon to some extent here. In order to achieve somnambulism, then a guide is needed. While I believe that a person can be taught to enter that state via self-hypnosis through hypnotic suggestion. That is, the person is first brought to the level to recognize what it is and then post-hypnotic cues are built and conditioned to allow the person to go back on their own (Gerald Kein’s “Light Switch” Self-Hypnosis method works great for that). Even then, most folks report that they go “deeper” with a hypnotist guiding them.

“All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.” Yes, this is true. However, real hypnosis, working hypnosis, somnambulism, is still achieved with a hypnotist, a guide. To really let go, folks need to turn off their critical factor and let someone else do the driving. You can’t really let go of the wheel and drive at the same time . . . well, you can, I used to do it all the time on those long commutes in my university days . . . but then, one or two crashes into something on the side of the road will demonstrate that it’s a really bad idea and doesn’t work very well.

When Jon uses somnambulism as his bottom line on what hypnosis is, he may be being “old-fashioned” in sticking to Braid’s conceptions or in Hull’s ideas of deep trance . . . but he’s certainly right in that it’s the only level a stage hypnotist can work with (unless, as some folks on this forum have advocated, they use shills or just ask people to play along with no real trance phenomenon). Elman-based hypnotherapists would think of somnambulism as the working level for therapy as well . . . this does NOT mean you can’t do therapy with lighter trances or that self-hypnosis to a non-somnambulistic state is not valid or of any value . . . but it certainly gets things done better faster . . . in my opinion.

For those of you who hold the position that any reasonably intelligent person can use self-hypnosis from the get-go, please do an experiment. In self-hypnosis, give yourself the suggestion to feel no pain as you jab a needle through the flesh of your arm. Or, if you’d rather not do that . . . and I certainly wouldn’t . . . give yourself the suggestion that when you open your eyes you will forget that you have given yourself the suggestion to remove your underpants when you walk outside or that when you open your eyes, a little purple dragon will be flying around the room and land happily on your shoulder or you can feel that you have wings and a tail . . . or demonstrate the various depth tests on yourself. Or, run yourself through a full-on revivification of a past event, not hypermnesia but an actual re-experience. Of course, some so-called depth tests aren’t really about depth but about imaginative involvment. However kinesthetic hallucinations and suggested amnesia are pretty common phenomena for somnambulism.

Now, once a person has been trained to go into somnambulsim, she can return there easily by use of sense memory or post-hypnotic triggers. However, this is not the same as straight on self-hypnosis by an unschooled untrained person TRYING from the get-go with no guide.

In my opinion . . . today . . . I might change my mind in a week. 🙂

All the best,
Brian