Hypnosis as a Vestige of the Bicameral Mind

Marcel Kuijsten, Contemporary Hypnosis & Integrative Therapy, September 2012, 29, 3, 213.

Abstract: Biological theories of the origin of consciousness are unsupported by evidence and fail to account for altered states of consciousness such as hypnosis. Julian Jaynes’s theory of the origin of consciousness and a previous mentality called the bicameral mind better explain both the nature of consciousness and hypnosis. Evidence suggests that hypnosis may be a vestige of the bicameral mind. Hypnosis and bicameralism both involve compliance to an externally perceived voice, both are thought to involve right hemisphere dominance, several personality characteristics are associated both with individuals who are highly susceptible to hypnosis and Jaynes’s characterization of bicameralism, and historical accounts suggest hypnosis was even more effective in ancient history than it is today.