🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec7.210057.430@nrc.com> Mike Goodglick
<mikey@nrc.com> writes:

   What she did was she started to rock in circles and then started
   chanting what sounded like satanic chants...(no kidding).
   Following that she started laughing uncontrollably & then
   immediatly following screemed a blood curdling screem that was so
   piercing the paint could peel off the wall.....I looked into her
   eyes & she was definatly NOT THERE.  After this, the hypnotist took
   her into a back room to try and calm her down.

   In the past four years he has been doing this show the
   reaction..(thou not this intense) has happen six times.  I was
   wondering what the hell causes this & is there anyway that you can
   tell that a psychosomatic reaction could occur before the induction
   is started???

I believe the appropriate term for this is "abreaction";
"psychosomatic" general refers to a bodily reaction or symptom brought
on by a mental belief or influence (seriously, not to be pedantic).

Abreaction is a possibility in any hypnotic induction, though
something like this is fortunately rare.  Pardon some jargon that I am
not sure I understand; however, this comes closest to explaining
things for me.  Repressed experiences or emotions can come to the
surface unexpectedly as part of a hypnotic induction, as unconscious
processes (which may be largely influenced by the repressed
experience).

There is no way to predict in all cases whether an abreaction will
occur.  Looking out for terminology oriented around a particular
subject is one indication.  Conflicting verbal / physical responses
(the patient saying "yes" while unconsciously shaking his or her head)
is an indication that some repression is taking place.

In fact, abreaction is not something to be avoided in a theraputic
situation; it can be a gold mine of information, and provide a lot of
opportunities for different procedures.  In any case, the thing to do
is to "back off" from whatever procedure you were doing, re-establish
rapport (lost rapport is a characteristic of abreactions), and start
from there when rapport has been re-established.

For a stage hypnotist, of course, it is an interference.  I have
little sympathy.

					Dave Barton
					dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com