First Degree

The patient feels a heaviness of the eyelids and a general drowsiness.

Second Degree

This is characterized by suggestive catalepsy. When the operator places the arm in a certain position, and says it is to remain there, it is impossible for the patient to put it down. It remains rigid and fixed for a much longer time than would be possible in a natural state. In these two degrees consciousness remains almost complete, and often the patient denies having been in the hypnotic state because he has heard and remembers every word which has been spoken to him. A very large proportion of people never pass beyond this stage.

Third Degree

-In this the subject is also conscious of everything going on around him to a certain extent, and hears every word addressed to him; but he is oppressed by great sleepiness. An action communicated to a limb is automatically continued. If the arm is rotated to begin with, it goes on turning until the operator directs its stoppage. The term ' hypotaxis' is applied to these second and third degrees.

Fourth Degree

In the fourth degree of hypnotic sleep the patient ceases to be in relation with the outer world. He hears only what is said to him by the operator.

The Fifth and Sixth Degrees, according to Liebeault, constitute somnambulism. In the former, recollection of what occurred during sleep is indistinct and recalled with difficulty; in the latter, the patient is unable to recall spontaneously anything which has occurred while asleep. All the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion can be induced in this condition, and it presents features of extraordinary interest to the psychologist.