BCH Hypnotic Phenomena & Classical Phenomena 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In hypnosis, catalepsy most accurately refers to which of the following?
- A state of complete unconsciousness induced by deep trance
- Muscular rigidity or waxy flexibility where a body part maintains a suggested position (Correct answer)
- The spontaneous recall of forgotten memories under hypnosis
- An involuntary verbal response triggered by direct suggestion
Correct answer: Muscular rigidity or waxy flexibility where a body part maintains a suggested position
Catalepsy in hypnosis refers to muscular rigidity or waxy flexibility in which a body part remains in whatever position it is placed, demonstrating a key classical hypnotic phenomenon.
Question 2: Hypnotic amnesia is BEST described as:
- The inability to speak or respond verbally during trance
- The forgetting of events or content from the trance experience, spontaneously or by suggestion (Correct answer)
- Enhanced memory recall for past traumatic events
- Confusion about one's identity while in the hypnotic state
Correct answer: The forgetting of events or content from the trance experience, spontaneously or by suggestion
Hypnotic amnesia involves forgetting events that occurred during hypnosis, which can arise spontaneously in deep trance or be deliberately induced through direct suggestion.
Question 3: An ideomotor response in hypnosis is best described as:
- A verbal reply given to the hypnotist's question while in trance
- An unconscious, automatic physical movement triggered by an idea or mental image (Correct answer)
- A deep emotional release during age regression therapy
- A form of post-hypnotic suggestion that alters motor coordination
Correct answer: An unconscious, automatic physical movement triggered by an idea or mental image
An ideomotor response is an unconscious, automatic physical movement — such as finger signaling — that occurs in response to an idea without deliberate conscious motor effort.
Question 4: During hypnotic age regression, a client is MOST likely to experience:
- Complete physiological reversal to a younger biological state
- Reliving past events with the subjective sense of being at that younger age (Correct answer)
- Accurate recall of events from before conscious memory formation
- Enhanced physical strength associated with their younger self
Correct answer: Reliving past events with the subjective sense of being at that younger age
In age regression, the client subjectively relives past experiences as though occurring in the present, feeling emotionally and perceptually as if they are at that younger age — it is experiential, not physiological.
Question 5: Hypermnesia in hypnosis refers to:
- Temporary memory loss following a hypnotic session
- Enhanced or heightened memory recall facilitated by hypnosis (Correct answer)
- The inability to form new memories during trance
- The creation of false memories by hypnotic suggestion
Correct answer: Enhanced or heightened memory recall facilitated by hypnosis
Hypermnesia is the phenomenon of enhanced memory recall that can occur under hypnosis, potentially allowing access to memories not readily available in the normal waking state.
Question 6: A positive hallucination in hypnosis occurs when a subject:
- Fails to perceive something that is actually present in the environment
- Perceives something that is not actually present in the environment (Correct answer)
- Experiences an intensified perception of real stimuli around them
- Recalls a vivid memory so clearly it feels as though it is happening now
Correct answer: Perceives something that is not actually present in the environment
A positive hallucination involves perceiving something that is not actually there — such as seeing a suggested person or object — adding a perception that has no external basis.
Question 7: Time distortion as a hypnotic phenomenon means that the subject:
- Can accurately estimate the passage of time down to the second while in trance
- Experiences time as passing either faster or slower than actual clock time (Correct answer)
- Is able to mentally project themselves into future events that have not yet occurred
- Remains in trance indefinitely without any subjective sense of time passing
Correct answer: Experiences time as passing either faster or slower than actual clock time
Time distortion is the alteration of subjective time experience under hypnosis, in which time may seem to pass more quickly or more slowly than actual elapsed clock time.
BCH Hypnotic Phenomena & Classical Phenomena 1
In hypnosis, catalepsy most accurately refers to which of the following?