Glossary
Dissociation (in hypnosis research)
Listen instead of reading · 35 minDirty Mind: Dirty Talk Hypnosis – Find Your Own WordsNo script, no borrowed lines: a trance that lets your own words out – in a lower, slower voice. Also known as: neodissociation
In short
In hypnosis research, dissociation means: something happens, but it does not feel as if you are doing it – like an arm that seems to rise by itself.
What does it mean for you?
Maybe you know this: you are so absorbed that something feels as if it happens by itself – a movement, a breath, a feeling. In trance this happens more often, and that is exactly what makes it so relaxing. It is a research term, not a mental illness.
What research says
Dissociation theories, starting with Hilgard's neodissociation theory, say that hypnosis divides control or awareness. Newer versions, such as dissociated control and cold control theory, focus on how suggested actions can be intended without being felt as intended.
This is a research concept and not the same as dissociative disorders in clinical psychology.
Related topics
- Is hypnosis a special state – or expectation at work? The oldest debate in hypnosis research – state or expectation? With Orne's simulators, Hilgard's hidden observer and Kirsch's expectancy theory.
- Sexual fantasies: how common and normal are they? How common sexual fantasies are, what they are about and what they say about you – and what they do not. What research shows, in plain words.
Studies on this page
- Theory · 1973 A neodissociation interpretation of pain reduction in hypnosis Hilgard, E. R. (1973). A neodissociation interpretation of pain reduction in hypnosis. Psychological Review, 80(5), 396–411.
- Review · 2017 Hypnosis and top-down regulation of consciousness Terhune, D. B., Cleeremans, A., Raz, A., & Lynn, S. J. (2017). Hypnosis and top-down regulation of consciousness. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 81, 59–74.
Glossary
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