less dependent on physiological senescence than on a perceptual frame of reference having little to do with the physiological changes con- comitant with aging. † This, however, is a mere supposition. Actually no further conclusions will be possible until more definite experiments are made in this area. Summary and Conclusions As we review the results that have been described in this chapter, it would appear, in general, that suggestions aimed at altering the personality of the subject can bring about changes in overt responses, in responses to such tests as the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach test, and, to a certain degree, at times in physiological reac- tions. Evidence increasingly shows that the subject can exhibit two types of behavioral responses. In one, he "acts out" the suggestions, or, to use the words of Erickson and Kubie, dramatizes his present understanding of the suggested situation and of related facts. ‡ In the other, the subject undergoes actual changes of a psychophysiological nature which affect his personality structure and content. In such in- stances his responses, instead of being the result of acting, are genuine responses to stimuli as organized by the new personality structure and content. It should be understood that even in these instances nothing new is really brought into being in the sense that elements of the personality already present are utilized. Thus, in induced multiple personalities the secondary personalities are found to be substructures of the total waking personality. Again, in regression type III, and presumably in type II, the younger personality is constructed out of elements that are part of the older personality. The extent to which psychophysiological changes can be brought about, and hence to which the changes may be made genuine, appears to depend directly on the depth of trance attained, an observation that is not entirely unexpected. ____________________ | † | We should not overlook the possibility of psychosomatic effects. | | ‡ | Although this formulation was made by Erickson and Kubie in a more re- stricted sense in reference to regressions in general, it appears to have a much wider application. | -195- |