Hypnotists use the word "somnambulism" to refer to what is traditionally thought of as deep trance or what those of us in the experiential model would consider experiential trance (nothing to do with "depth" per se but more with intensified experiential imaginative involvement in the experience). A "somnambule" is a person who is considered a natural experiential trance partner.
The more generally used definition of "somnambulism" is sleep walking and hypnotists adopted the word because prior to the Twentieth Century most hypnotists believe hypnosis was a form of nervous sleep (Braid, the coiner of "hypnosis" did recognize his mistake in the Nineteenth Century but by the time he tried to get folks to use "monoideism" instead, the misimpression had stuck).
According to some hypnotic scales and hypnotizeability tests, there is a correlation between folks who have had genuine somnambulistic (sleep walking) experiences and the ability to go into experiential trance easily. However, the one is not the other despite the correlation being evident.
Sometimes, when folks sleep walk, they do indeed do some very interesting things that indicate a trancelike state that is very similar to some of the things that can be accomplished via hypnosis.
The folks at Oddee have compiled a fascinating list of Ten Unbelievable Sleepwalking Stories at http://www.oddee.com/item_96680.aspx which folks will find fascinating.
Of particular note are the stories of Lee Hadwin who drew amazing works of art while asleep with no recollection of having lifted a single pencil to paper (this reminds me of David Gerrold's tale of writing The Trouble with Tribbles while high one evening, waking up to a typewriter and a stack of script pages which became one of Star Trek's most beloved episodes). Those familiar with hypnotic deep trance identification, the vicarious experiential machine, or artificial reincarnation hypnosis processes will recognize some of the mechanism.
Kenneth Parks killed his in-laws while sleepwalking. There was no apparent motive for his action, but given his difficulties at the time, there was likely an unconscious driver for the actions, albeit far from conscious awareness.
I've reported on cases of sleepwalking sex here before.
An amusing element in the Oddee list is the video of Bizkit, the sleepwalking dog. Here's the video:
You can find more videos of Bizkit sleep walking at http://www.youtube.com/user/MarinaHD2001.
Our own family dog, Quanah, is a sleep walker (albeit, he is more of the lay-on-the-floor moving his legs and barking sort . . . Quanah doesn't bark when awake but every once in awhile he will get excited in a dream and bark while sleeping and moving his legs, albeit never quite so violently as Bizkit).
In any case, some aspects of sleepwalking can be harnassed via formal guided hypnotic trance, to very good effect. For the folks who suffer from sleepwalking because of unconscious drivers, hypnotherapy can help them deal with those issues and release the emotional pressures so that they can live more productive and healthy lives.
All the best,
Brian
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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
