Despite ongoing efforts by clinicians, researchers, and theorists to resolve fundamental disagreements about what hypnosis is and how it works, a diversity of theories and approaches remains. For example, experts still disagree about whether hypnosis constitutes a special or altered state, whether hypnotizability is best conceived of as a stable trait, and whether the clinical application of hypnosis is appropriately conceptualized as hypnotherapy. Drawing on the ideas of Gregory Bateson, Daniel Siegel, and others, the author articulates a relational characterization of mind and self as a vantage from which to reexamine common assumptions about hypnosis and to reconsider several questions still animating the field.

尽管临床医生，研究人员和理论学家一直在努力解决关于催眠是什么以及催眠如何起作用的根本分歧，但是仍然存在多种理论和方法。例如，专家们对于催眠是否构成特殊状态或改变状态，是否将催眠能力最好地视为稳定的性状以及是否将催眠术的临床应用恰当地概念化为催眠疗法，仍持不同意见。作者利用格雷戈里·贝特森（Gregory Bateson），丹尼尔·西格尔（Daniel Siegel）等人的思想，阐明了精神和自我的关系特征，以此作为重新审视催眠的常见假设并重新考虑仍使该领域充满活力的若干问题的有利条件。