Hypnotic recall and flashback: the remembrance of things present.

There are two kinds of flashbacks: the self-programed or intra-individual variety and pre-programed or inter-individual flashbacks re-presenting mythical and narrative event structures which contribute to the survival of the species. Both types of experiences are arousal-state bound and stage (set and setting) or culture bound. Flashbackers may be characterized by (1) their variability (large SD) on perceptual-behavioural tasks pointing to their extensive cognitive or interpretive repertoire, (2) they are minimizers (or reducers) of sensory input (particularly at the peak of a hallucinogenic drug experience), (3) as a group they display high resting heart rates, (4) are hypnotizable and experience), (3) as group they display high resting heart rates, (4) are hypnotizable and hence (5) prefer righ cerebral hemispheric cognition, (6) displaying EEG-alpha dominance in the resting, waking state. Flashback and hypnotic recall differ only in the ways and means by which they are induced. Hypnotic induction, however, is not to be confused with the induced state that may be any ordinary or non-ordinary state of consciousness on the perception-hallucination-meditation continuum which the subject has a least once experienced before. If mind is an open system comprising the individual's mind and the minds of his total environment, i.e. his past and present sets and settings, then for many of us thoughts and actions are hypnotically induced, and memories are flashbacks of those experiences.