 |
 |
          |
|
Vol.
4 No. 1 March 1983 ABSTRACT Mild degrees of dissociation are not uncommon in everyday life. Most people have experienced absent-mindedness, or have “lost” themselves in thought, in music, in a book and so forth. Less common is the Dissociative Reaction which interferes significantly with everyday life. One form of this is the Somnambulistic Trance. In contrast to simply walking and talking in ones sleep, the Somnambulistic Trances involves the carrying out of complex and meaningful activities and conversations during the ‘sleeping’ state which are not recalled in the ‘waking’ state. The example of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth is given by L. West (1967 p.892): she was unaware during the day that she “nightly relived in detail the murder of Duncan and verbalised her own guilty musings”. West also suggests that somnambulistic trance may be viewed as expressions of feelings and thoughts which are of “great significance” to the person. (Altrocchi 1980). As the conscious ego appears to be totally unaware of the somnambulistic activity it seems reasonable to treat the dissociated state as a separate entity in the attempt to recall (or to discover) details of the persons activities while in that dissociative state. A method in which an “alter-ego” is called forth in this manner is described by Hansen (1982) - “Isogenic Function Theory” - and also, not so dissimilarly, by the exponents of neuro-linguistic programming (Cameron-Bandler 1978) and others. Taking this idea further, have dissociated the ego in this way and achieved the desired results, it then seems feasible that one could reintegrate the two ego-states by the adaptation of an ‘anchoring’ and ‘collapsing’ technique similar to that described by Cameron-Bandler (1978) in the attempt to achieve not only full association of that particular incident, but lasting amelioration of the recurrent problem. In the case report which follows such a procedure is illustrated with interesting results. Only one therapy session was required. The length of time the client was in hypnosis was 30 minutes exactly. CASE
REPORT Her history revealed recurrent somnambulistic episodes since childhood. On occasion she had woken to find herself sitting on the balcony or in the garden smoking or drinking coffee; once on holiday in Asia she had woken to discover herself walking down the street in her pyjamas, and on another occasion she had found, in the morning, her clothes in a heap on the floor which led her to suspect she had been out during the night she knew not where. Her family had also given her accounts of other - described as “eerie” - sleepwalking events which had taken place during her childhood and adolescent years. She was always completely amnesic regarding the somnambulistic state the following day. Her mother had also been prone to somnambulism when younger. This young woman presented as pleasant, casual and intelligent. She admitted to habitual procrastination, said she lacked concentration and was often absent-minded and forgetful. She coped with this by telling others where she had put things - so they would remember if she forgot; and by getting her family, friends and workmates to remind her of engagements, appointments etc. Being this way did not concern her greatly as she’d “always been like it” and knew from experience that “things usually sorted themselves out”. Miss. L. was inn good health and planned to be married in a few months. THERAPY: Although Miss. L. had never been hypnotised for therapy before, she was at ease and her expectations were positive. She was instructed to take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds before breathing out slowly. She was then told “to be aware of relaxed feelings. . .in your legs. . .in your arms. . .your back. . .chest and abdomen. . .relaxed feelings in your head. . .and in your mind. . .drift deeper into the relaxed feelings in your mind. . .” (This is based on a meditational technique described by Meares 1979). As the relaxation response was good and I expected Miss. L. to be a good subject, it was decided to use a quick induction method similar to the one described by Matheson & Graham (1979). The subject’s right arm was picked up by the wrist and held in a horizontal position, contact was slowly released and the arm remained elevated without any further support. . .”Your arm. . .” she was told. . .”is floating. . .easily. . .and you drift deeper into the calm state of your mind. . .” With the right arm elevated, the following suggestion was hen given: “shortly your right arm will begin to lower itself gently. . .as soon as the hand touches the arm of the chair. . . and the arm relaxes against it. . .you will find yourself in that state of mind you were in on Monday night last. . .when you removed the ring from its box. . .”As her arm came to rest she was instructed to. . .”recall the thought in your mind. . .the thought you have in that state of activity during sleep. . .what is the thought?” (note the change from past to present tense). Client (frowning). . .”The ring is not in a safe place. It must be moved to a safe place.” (long pause) Therapist: “What will you do about it?” Client: “My mind is blank. I don’t know.” (Comment: it appeared that at this stage she had not reached a depth of trance stable enough to maintain contact with her somnambulistic state.) Therapist: “That’s fine. . .okay. . .even as you breath, you drift deeper. . .and deeper. . .and you feel that familiar lightness in the right arm. . .as the arms begins to lift off the chair. . .to float higher and higher. . . and you drift deeper and deeper. . .deeper. . .as the arm floats higher. . .and all the while the thought stays with you, growing stronger. . .the ring is not in a safe place. . .it must be moved to a safe place. . .hold the thought. . .it’s all there is. . .the thought.” (this was repeated) (Comment: It was important for her to hold the thought to reach the desired state quickly, because it was that thought which obviously triggered the subsequent action) When the arm was at about shoulder level the next instruction was given. . .”Soon. . .in just a moment. . .your arm will begin to drift down towards the arm of the chair. . .so soon as your hand touches the arm of the chair. . .and the arm relaxes against it. . .you will be. . .that part of yourself which acts while you are asleep. . .” As her arm came to rest on the arm of the chair, she was asked: Therapist: “How will you act? The ring is not in a safe place. . .what will you do?” Client: (frowning) “I don’t know. . .I’m thinking about it. It’s difficult to find a really safe place. . .somewhere where no-one will find it. . .maybe. . .under the lounge. No-one would look there. . .I don’t know. . .” (pause) Therapist: “Where is the ring now?” Client: “Oh, I’m holding it, I have it in my hand. I’m thinking what to do. I just don’t know where to put it. . .the cupboard in the spare room would be safe. . .no-one would ever look there. . .” (pause) Therapist: “That is safe?” Client: “I’m thinking. . .yes I’ll put it in the cupboard in the spare room. . .” (pause) Therapist: “Do you put it there?” Client: “Yes, I’m doing it now. . .I’ve opened the bottom door and I’m climbing up the shelves. Now I open the top door and I put it right at the very back in the left hand corner. . .there! Now I close the door and I’m climbing down. I close the bottom door.” Therapist: “The ring is safe now?” Client: “Yes” (she visibly relaxes at this stage) Therapist: “You feel at ease in your mind?” Client: “Yes” (nods) Therapist: “What do you do now?” Client: “I have a drink of water and go to bed. I sleep.” Therapist: “Do you get up again during the night?” Client: “No.” Therapist: “You sleep. When you wake what sort of day is it?” Client: “A nice day, sunny.” (Comment: A noticeable change in tone of voice - it became much lighter.) Therapist: “What are you thinking?” Client: “My ring” (frowns) “Thinking about my ring. I have a feeling it’s not in the box.” Therapist: “Is it there?” Client: “No. . .it’s gone.” Therapist: “Do you know where it is?” Client: “No. . .I wonder. . .I might have put it somewhere - to be safer. . .I meant to. I might have given it to Dad to put in the safe. I’ll ask him later. . .It couldn’t have been stolen. . .not just that. . .money is still there. . .” Therapist: “Relax now. . .I’m going to touch your left hand. . .as I do this you will return to that part of yourself which acts when you sleep. . .be aware of yourself as that part. . .in your left side.” (I touched her left hand). . .”Are you there now?” Client: (inclined head to the left) “Yes” (deeper tone of voice) Therapist” :Where is the ring?” Client: “In the cupboard in the spare room.” Therapist: “Fine. . .now relax. . .In a moment I will touch your right hand and as I do so you will be aware of being yourself as you are when awake. . .be aware of that self in your right side” (I touched her right hand). . .”Are you there now?” Client: “Yes” (inclining her head to the right and speaking in the lighter tone) Therapist: “Where is the ring?” Client: “I don’t know - I think I may have put it somewhere safe but I can’t remember where. . .” (frowns) This process was repeated to “anchor”, by associating the idea with a touch (See Cameron-Bandler 1978), to separate states of awareness and ascertain that the dissociation was complete. It remained so. In effect the right side of her body was a different “person” from the left side. Now it remained to “collapse” the “anchors” (Cameron-Bandler 1978) and blend or integrate the two parts: Therapist: “Now. . .” (touching the right and left hands simultaneously). . .”let’s put both parts together to make a whole.” Client: “Oh!” (laughing) Therapist: “Where is the ring?” Client: “I put it in the cupboard in the spare room.” (laughs again) - “In the top at the back - that’s what I did with it!” Therapist: “Fine. . .excellent. . .now I want you to relax. . .deeper. . .” Suggestion was then given with the aim of improving concentration and memory and of encouraging her to be. . .”more aware of yourself and things around you. . .more aware of your actions, your desires, your needs. . .more motivated to do. . .to attend to. . .those things you think ought to be done. . .to be attended to. . .in everyday life. . .more at ease with yourself, more in contact with yourself both in the inner and outer worlds. . .”etc. On completion, when she was woken, Miss. L. reported feeling: “Great! Very relaxed and relieved.” She had total recall of her activities during the somnambulistic trance of Monday night. Later in the day she called and confirmed the whereabouts of the ring - It WAS in the cupboard in the spare room. DISCUSSION Apart from the confirmation of the whereabouts of the ring, there has not yet been any follow-up on this client; therefore it is not known whether the integrative technique and subsequent suggestive therapy has had an effect in preventing the recurrence of somnambulistic trances. However, the procedure achieved the immediate purpose of bringing to full consciousness the entire sequence of events in this particular episode of somnambulism which was, after all, all that was asked for and expected by the client. It would be interesting to gauge the effects of this type of integrative technique as an adjunct to psychotherapy and hypnotherapy in a case of Multiple Personality - the most dramatic manifestation of Dissociative Reaction.* * See the article by Kluft R.P. “Varieties of Hypnotic Interventions in the Treatment of Multiple Personality” The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 1982 (April) 24(4) 230-240. REFERENCES |