The Modes of the Ego in Self-Hypnosis

Abstract

In this study, the diary entries of thirty subjects who practiced self-hypnosis for twenty-eight consecutive days were analyzed carefully with regard to manifestations of four ego modes: ego activity, ego receptivity, ego passivity, and ego inactivity. Results snowed that ego activity (decision making, structuring of the experiences) and ego receptivity (openness to stimuli rising from within) are essential elements in self-hypnosis, while ego inactivity (“nothing happens”) and ego passivity (feeling overwhelmed) rarely occur in the self-hypnotic experiences of healthy subjects. Ego receptivity is central to self-hypnosis. It is strongly positively related to vivid imagery, absorption, self-hypnotic trance depth, and also to hetero-hypnotic susceptibility. Personality characteristics of subjects who demonstrate high ego receptivity are: a need for independence, self-reliance, and trust in one's own unconscious. On the other hand, a greater preponderance of ego activity in self-hypnosis is to be found in subjects who have a need for structure, certainty, and control in their lives. These subjects cannot allow themselves to let imagery emerge naturally or to become deeply absorbed in the self-hypnotic process.