ABSTRACT
Age regression is typically regarded as a hypnotic task that is highly demanding of susceptible persons in terms of their skills, capacities, and involvement. The subject is routinely instructed by the hypnotist to return to some earlier age and is usually coaxed by the hypnotist, who creates an appropriate situation for the subject to display his or her imaginative talents. In the sense that the hypnotist returns the subject to the past, the phenomenon can be viewed as a special case of memory distortion (Orne & Hammer, 1974), although argument exists in the literature as to how much memory is, in fact, distorted and how much memories and past experiences are revived just as they actually occurred. To classify age regression simply in terms of memory, however, does little justice to the richness of ideation and experience that accompanies the phenomenon. Age regression is often associated with strong affect, especially as it occurs in the therapeutic setting, and may involve the subject or client in a wide range of hypnotic experiences (e.g., incorporating positive or negative hallucinations that are compatible with the suggested regression). LeCron ( 1948) argues that there may be temporary amnesia for present events, hypermnesia for past events, and possibly physiological changes as well.
