ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the classic hypnotic phenomena the foundational ingredients for the therapeutic applications of hypnosis. The various hypnotic phenomena represent valuable but typically underdeveloped capacities of human beings. Each person is generally regarded as capable of developing these hypnotic phenomena to one degree or another in the formal hypnotic interaction because they are, in a sense, clinically structured amplifications of everyday experiences. Age regression is defined as an intensified absorption in and experiential utilization of memory. One general approach to age regression employs suggestions that involve the use of structured and imaginative imageries as the trigger to recapture past experiences. Other approaches involve more naturalistic, everyday approaches to immersion in memory. In contrast to age regression’s focus on the past, age progression is a utilization of projections. Age progression can be used in at least two general, complementary ways. One is as a therapeutic intervention, and the other is as a check on one’s clinical work.
