ect's own psychic
processes which is enlarged to include the voice of the hypnotist or his
own thoughts or voice. Incidentally, an excellent book along these
theoretical lines is _Hypnotism--An Objective Study in Suggestibility_
by Andre M. Weitzenhoffer, Ph.D.

The newest theory in the field is of particular interest to those
reading this book inasmuch as it postulates that all hypnosis is
self-hypnosis, that the patient always hypnotizes himself and that it is
a wise hypnotist who knows who is hypnotizing whom. This is a logical
conclusion and it disperses any ideas that hypnotic patients become
dependent on their therapists. Actually, hypnotists today always teach
their subjects self-hypnosis so that any chance of dependency is
obviated.

Milton V. Kline, professor of psychology at Long Island University,
postulates that hypnosis is primarily retrogressive. He has written that
the organism functions differently on various levels of behavior
(regression), and that the behavior breaks down into component parts.
The theory that regression can spotlight personality disorders found in
more infantile states is also widely held. He also is a proponent of the
idea that hypnosis is an abnormal manifestation of a normal process, an
opinion he shares with many.

Dr. Kline thinks that retrogression and regression alter perceptions and
feelings, and, in the case of the latter, causes us to go backward in
time to the point where re-education may be employed. This is a
legitimate use of regression although it is not used so much these days
to uncover past traumatic incidents. Actually, regression, by
duplicating the exact earlier age, manner of speech and thought, etc.,
makes us once more as little children, a condition to be desired for
certain forms of therapy.

An atavistic theory, held to some extent by Dr. Jerome M. Schneck,
clinical associate professor of psychiatry, State University of New York
College of Medicine, is that hypnosis should be equated with states of
immobilization on the basis of his observation that some subjects equate
hypnosis with "death." He suggests this is comparable to the
"death-feint" of animals to avoid danger. Others, primarily Europeans,
have pointed out the analogy between the hypnotic state of animals and
man.

Another widely-held theory is that hypnosis is a state of dissociation,
meaning that it constitutes a group of unconscious memories and
activities which may be dredged up to replac