I have for at least ten years wanted to write about what I had learned about this subject, both from my own healing work and from research. This post is intended merely as a quick survey and introduction to the topic.
There are as many different kinds of survivors of trauma as there are forms of trauma. There are war vets and others who experienced severe trauma in adulthood, who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are those who suffered traumas throughout childhood or in adulthood that were not severe enough to cause dissociative problems, but who developed any number of other symptoms: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, psychosis, and socio-psychopathic disorders. Then there are those who suffered sufficiently severe and prolonged physical trauma so early in their lives that it affected the way their brains and personalities developed. And there are those who were intentionally subjected to such early trauma for the purpose of creating mind-controlled slaves.
There are three main things that interested persons need to learn about if they are going to understand the effects of early trauma.
The first one is Ericiksonian hypnosis.
The second is early childhood trauma-based programming.
The third is dissociation and dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder).
Ericksonian HypnosisThe master hypnotist, Milton Erickson did not develop his skills in hypnosis in order to harm anyone, but the fact is, those practices can be so used and they have been.
It is perhaps harder to hypnotize an adult to act against his or her own best interests, but it is not hard to do so with a child, if the hypnosis is connected with the child's survival. In that case, hypnotic suggestions acquire nearly absolute power over the child, even well into and through adulthood.
Erickson's techniques are most thoroughly described in Stephen G. Gilligan's book, "Therapeutic Trances: The Cooperation Principle in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy."
While Erickson utilized a multitude of methods, the basic approach is as follows:
(1) establishing rapport and pacing, (2) disorientation (incongruency, dis-association, confusion), and (3) the command (to go into a trance and/or to engage in some particular action).
These are very simple steps, but they are not easy to master. The hypnotist must genuinely feel and express empathy for the "subject" and must work hard to establish the rapport which causes the person to lower his/her defenses. The hypnotist must then actively set about to cause the subject's disorientation and then must know the exact right moment to give the command.
But, if these steps are done with the proper finesse, hypnotic trance and suggestibility are not that hard to bring about.
Early Childhood Trauma-Based Programming
Trauma-based programming means hypnosis is induced through, or is used in conjunction with, actual physical and psychological trauma. Trauma tends to induce trance. Whether the trance is induced through trauma or is coincident with it, the connection becomes engraved onto the psyche of the child, so that any later reminder ("trigger") of the connection will again induce the same level of trance. If post-hypnotic suggestions were made, the trigger will revive them and cause them to be re-enacted, outside the will (and maybe even outside the conscious awareness) of the subject (who, by now, may be well into adulthood).
The prime ingredient of trauma-based programming is the fear of annihilation.
Dissociation
All trance causes dissociation. Dissociation is a disconnection of some kind. Some kinds of dissociation just disconnect the person from the task she was engaged in a moment before. Some kinds disconnect the person from shared activities with others. Some disconnect the person on a deeper level: one experience of the self from another, such that the person develops multiple but disconnected experiences of the self.
Severe dissociation usually points to trauma. Mild dissociation, on the other hand, is often found in those who engage in artistic endeavors of any kind. Dissociation and heightened but relaxed focus on something are often found together.
This ends my introduction. Later posts will depend, in part, on questions and responses I get from readers.
