The Electroencephalogram During Hypnotic Age Regression (to Infancy) in Epileptic Patients

What, if anything, is regressed about hypnotic age regression? A review of the empirical literature.

“…Early clinical reports of the return of abnormal EEG, shifts in visual field, and fainting during age regression (Erickson, 1937; Ford & Yeager, 1948; LeCron, 1952; Weitzenhoffer & Andre, 1957) have not been replicated in the laboratory (Mesel & Ledford, 1959; Schwartz et al, 1955). In Schwarz et al's study, 16 patients with organically based seizure disorders and 10 patients referred for EEG were hypnotized and regressed.…”

“…Although Young (1926), Stalnaker and Riddle (1932), True (1949), and Reiff and Scheerer (1959) reported dramatic increases in recall of childhood events for hypnotically age-regressed subjects, serious methodological weaknesses have been documented (Barber, 1962; O'Connell et al, 1970). Indeed, investigators who have carefully used conditions in which the experimenters do not know the hypotheses and proper motivational control groups have found no evidence for increased accuracy of recall of childhood events uniquely attributable to hypnotic-age-regression procedures (Barber, 1961; Best & Michaels, 1954; Mesel & Ledford, 1959; O'Connell et al, 1970).…”