Trance Types and Amnesia Revisited: Using Detailed Interviews to Fill in the Gaps

Unconscious trance states which involve complete amnesia, and conscious trance states which involve dissociation from the body's sensory process and failure to recall speech or body sensation or movement, both occurred among North American yogis and Spiritualist mediums. Exceptions to statistically established cross-cultural associations between mediumistic trance and amnesia are examined in terms of community and individual reportage of trance experience. The relationship between dissociation and amnesia within this sample is discussed.