Unexplained skin reactions during hypnosis or abreaction

Walker, M. "Bodily Changes During Abreaction." The Lancet 249(6442):270 (1947)

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Moody, R. L. "Bodily Changes During Abreaction." The Lancet 251(6512):964 (1948).

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On the subject of skin reactions, I came across this post on another forum:
Weirdest memories - Am I crazy?
it refers to recall of a tattoo of a triskelion, accompanied by an actual mark on the skin in the same shape.

On the subject of skin reactions, I came across this post on another forum:
Weirdest memories - Am I crazy?
it refers to recall of a tattoo of a triskelion, accompanied by an actual mark on the skin in the same shape.

That reminds me - Sciborg wrote on another thread "In childhood it seemed to me there was a softness between this world & the world of dreams.  I believe I received a birthmark (that's now faded almost completely) in a dream when I was 4":
http://psiencequest.net/forums/thread-35...ml#pid6106

Really nice work here, Chris, thank you.

I looked for some more up-to-date commentary on blister formation under hypnosis, and found a relatively recent literature review in "The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis" by Michael R. Nash and Amanda J. Barnier (2008), pp. 401, 402. The conclusion is decidedly sceptical, though the negative evidence comes from just two studies, conducted in 1976 and 1982. (In one of those studies, a subject did show "an irregular pattern of inflammation" at the site being tested, but as the subject was only moderately hypnotizable, the authors felt this was the result of an "individual idiosyncratic response" rather than hypnotic suggestion.)

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=...d&pg=PA401
[Image: Nash_401-402.jpg]

One of the reviews cited in that handbook is available online. Admittedly it's nearly 55 years old. But then again, there's nothing wrong with being 55 years old.

Gordon L. Paul
The Production of Blisters by Hypnotic Suggestion: Another Look
Psychosomatic Medicine 25:233-244 (1963)
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/dow...1&type=pdf

Paul's conclusion is:
A survey of the literature to 1962, has revealed 21 reported attempts to produce nonherpetic skin blisters by hypnotic suggestion. Of these 21 reports, only 14 were found to be at all satisfactory in accounting for their methodology, procedures, and controls. Even these "experiments" were found to suffer from poor experimental designs, a small select population, and gross lack of controls, both in control Ss and experimental controls. Three of these reports were sufficiently free of alternative explanations for positive skin reactions to conclude that skin anomalies had been produced by suggestion. Several additional studies on psychogenic vascular changes were reported which add credence to the possibility of central control of these phenomena. It was tentatively concluded that the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system possess the necessary characteristics for such reactions to occur, but that certain idiosyncratic predispositions of the Ss may be a necessary component to demonstrate such phenomena. The reactions do not appear to be limited only to hypnotized Ss; however, all results to date can be viewed only as pilot studies. In this area, as in so many others, the well-controlled, carefully reported, parametric study is still waiting to be done.

Years ago I read about a man named Jack Schwartz.who could allegedly could pass a sail makers needle thru his bicep. And control weather it bled or not.
I think he was referenced in Michel Talbots Holographic Universe.

Years ago I read about a man named Jack Schwartz.who could allegedly could pass a sail makers needle thru his bicep. And control weather it bled or not.
I think he was referenced in Michel Talbots Holographic Universe.

There's a casual note in Hadfield's paper explaining why the poor patient has a safety pin in his arm - "to indicate the reality of the hypnosis and the analgesia produced by suggestion"!

And if I'm not mistaken. I think Tim, produced a link to one of the most interesting characters I've ever encountered. Miriam Dajo.
In the Patricia Churchland thread. Which alas is no more.