Another type of dccp-trancc induction may be termed the rehearsal or repe- tition technique. This can and often should be used for deep hypnosis and for individual phenomena. It can be employed in a variety of ways both experi- mentally and in therapeutic work, especially the latter. It consists of seizing upon some one form of behavior that apparently gives a promise of good de- velopment and having the subjects rehearse it and then repeat it in actuality. Thus subjects who make little response to hypnosis but who seem to be potentially good subjects may make abortive responses to suggestions of auto- matic writing. This partial, tentative response can be seized upon as an instance of actual success. Then a series of suggestions is given, leading the subjects to rehearse mentally what must have been done to achieve that particular success. Then they are asked to rehearse mentally how ii could be done on plain paper,
162 Nature of Hypnosis & Suggestion on ruled paper, with a pen, a pencil, or a crayon. Next (hey are asked io perform what has been rehearsed mentally in the various permutations possible with thai equipment. This can be followed by further rehearsals and repetitions intra ducing as new variables hallucinatory paper and writing instruments and new letters, words, and sentences. As this procedure is followed, the subjects pro gressively develop a deeper and deeper trance, especially if the rehearsal and repetition are applied to other forms of hypnotic behavior
Sometimes this technique can be applied in an entirely different fashion. For example, before a class of senior medical students, the author undertook to produce amnesia in a volunteer subject who wished both to go into a trance and to disappoint the author. The student expressed the opinion that he doubted if he could develop amnesia, and declared that he himself would propose hi own pr>of of amnesia, namely the removal of his right shoe. Should this occur, he explained, it would constitute proof to him that he had developed an amnesia He developed a fairly good trance, and a whole series of instructions was given him, emphatically and repetitiously, thai he perform several acts such as borrowing one student's cigarettes, another's glasses, etc. Repetitious command wo aiso given to forget each simple task. Slipped unobtrusively into these suggestions was the statement that, after awakening, while discussing with the class the presence or absence of an amnesia for the assigned tasks, he would cross the room, write a sentence on the blackboard, and sign his name, still Lontinuing his di cussion
Upon awakening, he declared that he recollected everything said to him and that he had done. His statement was challenged, whereupon he heatedly gave a running account of the tasks and his performance of them. Without interrupting his argument, he wrote the sentence and signed his name. After he had returned to his seat, his attention was called to the writing which he disclaimed, empha- sizing that his narration proved his remembrance, and he extended his right foot with the shoe on to prove conclusively that he had no amnesia. He then continued his remarks, absentmindedly removing his shoe as he did so. This he did not discover until the class was dismissed. Systematically appraising the situation, he recognized that he had developed an amnesia with no conscious knowledge of the fact. The class was reconvened, and he was asked to duplicate the writing. As he was doing this, a few suggestions elicited a profound trance, and an extensive demonstration of the psychopathology of everyday life was conducted. Thus the subject had been given a long, repetitious list of simple performances apparently to lead to amnesia, but actually to permit him to succeed over and over in accord with his personal needs. Hence the failures were really successful performances which could actually favor another successful performance, namely the development of amnesia. The unobtrusive slipping in of the suggestion of writing permitted him to set it apart from the other more urgent suggestions. Then, as he achieved his numerous successes of no amnesia, the pattern of response was completed for more successes by his proving the lack of amnesia, by exhibiting his shoe on his fool. This, however, left unsatisfied his actual
Deep Hypnosis 163 desire for still more success, namely his demonstration of an amnesia by the removal of his shoe, an item of behavior he himself had selected. This he achieved by a double amnesia for the writing and the shoe removal, an even greater success than he had anticipated. Then, as he repeated the writing, he found himself again in the situation thai had led to his most satisfying accom plishment. The situation led easily to a deep trance state by virtue of a repetition or rehearsal procedure.
Still another form of this technique has been found useful in inducing deep trances and in studies of motivation, association of ideas, regression, symbol nilysis, repression, and the development of insight. It has proved a most ef- fective therapeutic procedure and is primarily a matter of having the subject: repeat over and over in the trance state a dream or, less preferably, a fantasy, in constantly differing guises. That is, they repeat a spontaneous dream or an induced dream with a different cast of characters, perhaps in a different setting, but with the same meaning. After the second dreaming the same instructions are given again, and this continues until the purposes to be served are ai.com plished. To illustrate, a patient offered this spontaneous dream of the previou night: "I was alone in a grass-covered meadow. There were knolls and curving rises in the ground. It was warm and comfortable. I wanted something dread fully—I don't know what. But I was scared—paralyzed with fear. It was hor- rible. I woke up trembling.
Repeated, the dream was: "1 was walking up a narrow valley. 1 was looking for something I had to find, but I didn"t want it. I didn't know what I wa looking for, but I knew something was forcing me to look for it, and I wa ifraid of it, whatever it was. Then I came to the end of the valley where the wills came together and there was a little stream of water flowing from under a thick bush. That bush was covered with horrible thorns. It was poi onou Something was pushing me closer, and I kept getting smaller and smaller and I still feel scared.
The next repetition was; "This seems to have something to do with part of the last dream. It was spring, and the logs were in the river and all the lum berjacks and all the men were there. Everybody owned one of the logs, me too. All the others had big hardwood logs, but mine, when I got it, was a little rotten stick. I hoped nobody noticed and I claimed another, but when I got it, it was just like the first."
Again repeated: "I was in a rowboat fishing. Everybody was fishing. Each of the others caught a great big fish. I fished and fished and all I got was a little sickly fish. I didn't want it, but I had to keep it. I felt horribly depressed."
Again: "I went fishing again. There were lots of big fish shooting around in the water, but I caught only miserable little fish that would fall off the hook and float dead on the water. But I had to have a fish, so I kept on fishing and got one that seemed to have a little life in it. So I put it in a gunny sack because 1 knew everybody should put his fish in a gunny sack. Everybody else did, and their fish always filled their gunny sacks completely. But my fish was just lost
164 Nature of Hypnosis & Suggestion in the gunny sack, and [hen 1 noticed my gunny sack was all rotten and there was a hole in it, and a lot of slime and filth gushed out, and my fish floated away in that horrible slime, belly up, dead- And I looked around and I was on that meadow I told you about, and the gunny sack was under that bush with all those thoms and my good-for-nothing fish was floating down that stream of water I told you about, and it looked just like a rotten stick of wood."
A series of repetitions finally resulted in the breaking down of extensive amnesias and blockings and his disclosure that, at puberty, under circumstances of extreme poverty, he had acted as a nurse for his mother, who had rejected him completely since infancy and who had died of an extensive neglected cancer of the genitals. Additionally, he told for the first time of his profound feelings of inferiority deriving from his lack of phallic development, his strong homo- sexual inclinations, and his feeling that his only protection from homosexuality would be a yielding to the "horrible pressure and force society uses to shove you to heterosexuality."
This instance from a case history illustrates unconscious processes clearly: tained trance, at the same time giving the patient greater freedom in his thinking and in his use of less abstruse symbolism.
A necessary caution in utilizing this type of procedure for experimental or demonstration hypnosis is that dreams of a pleasant character should be em- ployed if possible. If not, the implantation of an artificial complex, thereby limiting the extent of unpleasant emotions, is desirable. In all instances care should be taken to discontinue the work should it tend to lead to a situation which the hypnotist is not competent to handle. Otherwise, acute emotional disturbances and active repressions may result in a loss of the subject's good regard for the hypnotist and cause emotional distress to the subject.
Another variation of the rehearsal method is that of having subjects visualize themselves carrying out some hypnotic task and then adding to the visualization other forms of imagery such as auditory, kinesthetic, etc. For example, a patient under therapy for neurotic maladjustment had great difficulty in developing and maintaining a deep trance. By having her, as an induction procedure, mentally rehearse the probably general course of events for each exploralory or therapeutic session and then hallucinate as fully as possible the probable experiences for each occasion, it was possible to elicit and maintain satisfactorily deep trances. By giving her "previews," she was able to develop and maintain a profound trance. After exploration of the underlying causes of her problem, the next step in therapy was to outline in great detail, with her help, the exact course of activity that she would have to follow to free herself from past rigidly established habitual patterns of behavior. Then she was reoriented to a time actually three months in the future and thereby was enabled to offer a •'reminiscent" account of her therapy and recovery. A wealth of details was given, affording an abun- dance of new material which could be incorporated into the final therapeutic procedure.
Deep Hypnosis f66 A comparable instance is that of a girt who was a most competent subject—except before an audience. Then ii was impossible to induce a deep trance or to maintain one induced in private. By having her rehearse a fantasized public demonstration for the future and rhen reorienting her to a date several weeks further in the future, she was able to regard the fantasy as an actual successful accomplishment of the past, much to her satisfaction. Immediately she was asked to "repeat" her demonstration before a student group, which she willingly and successfully did. There was no recurrence of the difficult even after she was given a full underslanding of how she had been manipulated
Subjects reoriented from the present to the actual future, and instructed to look back upon proposed hypnotic work as actually accomplished, can often by their "reminiscence," provide the hypnotist with understandings that can readily lead to much sounder work in deep trances. In therapy, as well as experimentally, the author has found this measure highly effective, since it permits elaboration of hypnotic work in fuller accord with the subject's total personalities and unconscious needs and capabilities. It often permits the cor- rection of errors and oversights before thev can be made, and it furnishes a better understanding of how to develop suitable techniques. Subjects employed in this manner i.an often render invaluable service in mapping out procedure; and techniques to be employed in experimentation and therapy