Hypnosis Without Empathy? Perspectives From Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Stage Hypnosis

Abstract

Despite volumes of published studies supporting the efficacy of hypnosis for ego-strengthening, performance, and physical and psychological disorders, the precise nature of hypnosis, and in particular, the neurobiological underpinnings of trance-phenomenon, remains tenuous at best. With his empathic involvement theory of hypnosis, Wickramasekera II (2015) brings us closer to an understanding of the elusive nature of hypnotic processes by proposing a bridging of two long-standing and seemingly incongruent theories of hypnosis (i.e., neodissociative versus socio-cognitive). Borrowing from neuroscientific studies of empathy, the empathic involvement theory maintains that empathy, beyond any other human dynamic (including emotions, behavior, personality, and imagination), facilitates and enhances hypnotic experiences for both recipient and provider alike. By the same token, one can reasonably infer from the empathic involvement theory that non-empathic individuals are less likely to benefit from hypnosis. With this perspective in mind, the empathic involvement theory’s identification of empathy as an apparent “Holy Grail” of the neural underpinnings and precise nature of hypnosis may be challenged on a number of grounds. Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder, especially those suffering from alexithymia, have been identified as empathy deficient, and therefore according to the empathic involvement theory would be classified as “low-hypnotizable,” yet empirical studies, albeit limited in number, suggest otherwise. Furthermore, hypnotic inductions of audience volunteers by stage hypnotists challenge the empathic involvement theory’s supposition that empathy is a required component of hypnosis. It is this author’s contention that empathy is a beneficial, though not essential, element of successful hypnosis.