Who Am I Hypnotizing? ($)

We are more complex than we present ourselves to be, and unfamiliar parts of ourselves often respond.

“Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it, but can describe it only from a distance.”
— Charles Lindbergh

Hypnosis is a State, Not a Process

There has long been a discussion about what hypnosis is. This is generally resolved by noting the difference between the process of being hypnotized and the state of being in hypnosis. We describe the first with reference to many mechanical procedures, but the second, the internal state, continues to defy any complete description.

The state of hypnosis is not a process; it is not the assured result of any process. We’ve recently gained new insight into the hypnotic state through neurological profiles of the brains of people in hypnosis. Some neuropsychologically inclined practitioners think this has brought us close to understanding the hypnotized state, but I feel that it has not done much to enlighten us.

A question that’s not asked is who are we hypnotizing? There is some recognition that the notion of a person is ambiguous. In the 1970s, Ernest and Josephine Hilgard proposed that a “hidden observer” was present in the mind of someone in a hypnotic state. This hidden observer was said to be always present and more aware than our conscious self. Since the 1980s, little has been little written about our normal, multiple identities.

“Dissociation can no longer be viewed only like a pathological 'entity' to be gotten 'rid of,' but as a basic given which we should learn to use more effectively.”
— John O. Beahrs M.D. (1983)

This topic is overlooked. If our personalities are normally multiplicative, and hypnosis is selective about how it affects them, then who is getting hypnotized? Are we, as facilitators, in control of who we are hypnotizing, and are we even aware of who is hypnotized?

More Than One Observer

The hidden observer is noticed when a hypnotically insensate person responds cogently. That happens when a person who appears to be in a non-responsive trance responds using some unusual form of communication. Then, after emerging from their hypnotic trance, has no knowledge that they heard or saw anything, or responded to anything.

This does not establish the existence of two levels, it establishes at least two levels. It shows there is more than one awareness present, but it doesn’t show there are two. It is likely there are others. A person under general anesthesia is also aware of what’s going on around them. They can’t speak or respond, and they may not recall, but sometimes they can recall, and recall details. It’s unclear if the awareness a person maintains when comatose is the same that persists in a waking trance, but I suspect it’s not the same. This brings us back to the notion of identity.

We identify people as aware and responsible beings. We excuse the many autonomous actions performed by people who are distressed, deranged, or asleep. Such people are “not entirely there,” we say, yet that’s where many people spend most of their time. Our personalities are layered structures, but the layers are often incomplete.

In many of our games where we throw things back and forth across a net—tennis, badminton, volley ball, ping pong—we are challenged to be wherever the ball arrives in order to return it. We are everywhere behind our net, until we fail, and then it’s clear we were not “there.”

Compare this to our personality. We are expected to return a comment with thoughtful presence. Even if we don’t speak or act, we’re expected to understand. It’s presumed that we “are” everywhere behind our “net.” When we’re not—because we cannot hear or think—we are suspected of being disabled, dysfunctional, or otherwise “out to lunch.” It’s expected that we can serve any idea and return any volley. We’re excused for lack of knowledge, lapses of memory, or in cases of extreme upset.

In truth, this “complete personality” of ours is little more than a moving tennis racket, a small focal point of awareness that shapes itself to appear to understand whatever concept you throw at it, but which has little existence beyond that. You rarely think more than one thought at one time, and you rely on an internal integrity to maintain consistency in what you remember and how you act.

This “tennis racket” of yours, the “who” who you present yourself to be, is traded off between personalities. You respond to superficial comments from shallow personalities by making off-handed comments. You display reflex reactions that take little thought and leave few traces in your memory. Tough questions and emotional remarks call forward different aspects of your personality. Aspects that are rarely present under normal circumstances.

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