John G. Watkins

The most famous example of the use of ego-state therapy was the interrogation of the Hillside Strangler, in which Watkins solicited a confession by revealing the killer's multiple personalities.

Watkins also published research suggesting that hypnotic techniques for pain reduction may work by displacing the pain into “covert” ego states. Accordingly, the pain is not eliminated by the hypnotic intervention but is dissociated from conscious awareness and fully experienced by an underlying ego state. The underlying ego state may suffer trauma as a result experiencing the pain.

Watkins graduated from the University of Idaho and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He was professor emeritus at the University of Montana, where he taught for many years.

John G Watkins died on 12 January 2012. He was 98 years old.