The “Third Eye”: A Psychoendocrine Model of Hypnotizability

Abstract

Several well-known hypnotic induction procedures and one major hypnotizability index all make use of an eye-roll maneuver of forced upward gaze. No neurophysiological mechanism can adequately account for this seemingly fortuitous association. However, an ancient Eastern psychophysiological paradigm based on introspectively discovered “energy centers” (which correspond strikingly in anatomic location to the endocrine glands) relates this so-called “third-eye” region between the eyebrows (and its associated pituitary gland) to various dissociative phenomena. Modern clinical data also link some hypnotic phenomena, including the eye-roll maneuver, to pituitary gland function and to psychoendocrine feedback loops. Several preliminary clinical examples support the notion that optimum pituitary gland function underlies the biologically based capacity for hypnosis that is measured by the eye-roll test. Several simple but testable clinical predictions are presented for future study.