ABSTRACT
We have referred earlier to a paradox found when pain is reduced by hypnosis: felt pain may be reduced while the involuntary physiological indicators of pain may persist at nearly normal levels. Does this mean that pain is registered at some level but ignored? Is the person who is successful at reducing pain through hypnosis merely deploying his attention away from the pain? Is the pain felt but immediately forgotten through some sort of amnesic process? Is the subject in an unusual state in which some subconscious part feels the pain, but the rest of him is unaware of it? These puzzling questions are intimately involved with the organization of mind and consciousness; the answers are of more than academic interest. The realities underlying the answers bear upon the practical treatment of pain, the nature of postoperative shock, and the recovery from painful episodes.
