International Journal of Psychoanalysis. XXXIII, 1952. Part I.: Spontaneous Fluctuations in Depth of Hypnosis and Their Implications for Ego-Function. Margaret Brenman, Merton Gill, Robert P. Knight. Pp. 22-33.

We have presented some of the results of our studies of patients' reports of spontaneous fluctuations in the 'depth of hypnosis', with special emphasis on a method of research which attempts to implement clinically derived hypotheses with a relatively more objective technique. Our hypothesis is that patients report a 'change of depth' in hypnosis when an existing psychological equilibrium is threatened, and we have listed some of the indices both of a threatening disruption and of a stable impulse-defense balance.

These data have been used to extend the existing psychoanalytic theories of hypnosis to include the idea that the hypnotic state involves not only the gratification of pregenital and Oedipal libidinal needs but also a constantly changing balance between such needs and expressions of hostility with defenses against both these sets of instinctual impulses.

We have indicated some of the relationships seen between our findings and the more general problems of ego functioning, with special reference to rapidly changing ego states that involve increases and decreases in regression.