Human Development
Cataleptic trance
Description:
The characteristics of this deep trance are rigidity of the limbs and insensitivity to pain. Even if the limbs may be moved, they remain exactly where they are placed. The person is unconscious (as opposed to the cataplexic state) and may remain in the state for several days. Catalepsy may arise in a number of nervous disorders, being characteristic of hysteria; it also occurs in some forms of schizophrenia or it may result from emotional shock. Intentional cataleptic states may be induced by pressure on certain arteries, by occult techniques or by drugs. As opposed to suspended animation or coma, respiration and heart rate are virtually normal. In psychic terms, this is a deliberately desired trance-like state when a medium is in a state of deep hypnosis and taken over by some other intelligence, which uses the medium's body to speak and act. On returning to normality there is no memory of what has occurred during the trance. It is not clear whether there is a complex inner fantasy life at this time or total unconsciousness.Broader:
Trance