The Metapsychology of the Hypnotic Dream

Much of the older theory and practice of hypnotherapy was based upon the concept of an active will, that of the hypnotist, enforcing itself upon a passive and compliant subject. Earlier analytic formulations sometimes carried over this idea into an image of the hypnotist as an omnipotent parental figure dominating the world of a helpless infant. Ferenczi (1908), whose work has contributed to the popularity of such a picture, nevertheless made it clear that the hypnotic subject is by no means a merely passive instrument, but rather is the 'real active agent' in utilizing the hypnotist as an object from whom he accepts, through 'suggestion', the verbalization of his own unconscious sexual wishes.

This contention is further substantiated by the recent observations of Brenman, Gill and Knight (1952) on a hypnotized woman who imagined herself to be a snake coiled about the ankles of a rabbit—i.e. of the hypnotist. Quite obviously, this reflected an unconscious awareness of the proceedings, with the relationship to the psychiatrist defensively reversed. In the regressive omnipotence of thought prevailing under such circumstances, this woman presumably sought to use the hypnosis so as to fascinate the psychiatrist and to utilize his interest for her own latent aggressive purposes.

Other observations confirm the prevalence of this motive (Kanzer, 1945), which has as its counterpart important determinants of the transference between analysand and analyst. Moreover, it may be seen that under such circumstances there is a split in the ego which results in the projection of active impulses onto the figure of the hypnotist. In submitting to the latter, the subject anticipates a vicarious means of gratifying his own desires. Active and passive partners in the hypnotic alliance therefore constitute a single psychological entity—a fact strikingly indicated by the reactions of the patient, described above, who complained that she felt as though separated from some part of herse