Looking at the trance syndrome from another perspective

By Franckline Benjika W
To aver that the trance syndrome in certain schools greatly moderated the choices of some parents this academic is no fallacy. Some of these parents last academic year were on the horns of a dilemma when a series of trances happened in schools they had enrolled their children in.

They were caught in the web of the tragic happenings and did not know what to do: sacrifice the education of their progenitors by withdrawing them from affected schools or take the risk of allowing them to study in an environment that seemed "trance infested".   In as much as a cross section of the Cameroonian society might condemn and shun trance, science and certain religions will bow for it.

It is quite difficult to establish an exact definition of trance. Most definitions seem fluid and hard to pin down. Generally, a trance is defined as a mental state which is clearly disassociated from normal consciousness. A person in a trance may still experience very intense brain waves and intellectual activity, but the individual is also clearly not entirely awake. Nevertheless there are a number of different types of trances.

Many a time's people fall on trance after exorcist(s) (priests) administer very strong prayers. Christians can be said to be going into a trance when they reach a deeply introspective state of prayer. Paradoxically the people who fall on trance in such situations are not rushed to the hospital like what obtains in schools but they later on regain consciousness. At times when people go into a trance a priest is called upon to deliver them. This has led to so many unjustified conclusions such as "people that go on trance are bewitched or evil". The bottom line is that the scenario is always very frightful especially to people seeing it for the first time.

A trance will however not provoke fear in all cases because in certain religious practices, people meditate, intake various substances, or pray to reach a trance-like state. This state is supposed to facilitate communication with the Divine. In many religious traditions, holy men and women also enter trances, and it is believed that they are gifted with divine communications during these trances. Such trances are therefore seen by believers as positive and they become less frightful and accepted.

It has also been revealed that spiritual mediums also use the trance state in much the same way that religious people do. In order to reach the spirits, the medium enters a trance; and while in the trance people can ask him various questions. It is believed that when the medium answers these questions, it is with communication from the spirit world.  Psychics also claim to be able to use the trance state to communicate with "the other side."

Trances are also used therapeutically by people like hypnotherapists, whereas some people attempt to enter trance states on their own. In therapy, a hypnotic state can be very valuable for the treatment of various conditions. Hypnotherapists entrance their patients to make them more suggestible; for example, trances can be used to assist patients who are trying to quit smoking, or to gather information about a patient's past while he or she is relaxed and calm. Many techniques for inducing therapeutic trance states rely on using a calm voice and relaxing music to calm the patient and open his or her mind.