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WHAT IS HYPNOSIS ? Manoj Dash

Submitted By:

MANOJ DASH, BHMS, Ph.D.(Yoga)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yoga_Meditation_International/
Bangalore, India, manoj_dash@hotmail.com, Asia-India

Hypnosis is a process involving a hypnotist subject who agrees to be hypnotized. Being hypnotized is usually characterized by: (a) intense concentration (b) extreme relaxation (c) high suggestibility The versatility of hypnosis is unparalleled. Hypnosis occurs under dramatically different social settings: the showroom, the clinic, the classroom, and the police station and so on. Showroom hypnotists usually work bars and clubs. Their subjects are usually people whose idea of a good time is to join dozens or hundreds of others in a place where alcohol is the main social bonding agent. The subjects of clinical hypnotists are usually people with problems who have heard that hypnotherapy works for relieving pain or overcoming addiction or a fear, etc. Others use hypnosis to recover repressed memories of sexual abuse or of past lives. Some psychologists and hypnotherapists use hypnosis to discover truths hidden from ordinary consciousness by tapping into the unconscious mind where these truths allegedly reside. Finally, some hypnotic subjects are people who have been victims or witnesses of a crime. The police encourage them to undergo hypnosis to help them remember details from their experiences. Hypnosis: the common view The common view of hypnosis is that it is a trance-like altered state of consciousness. Many who accept this view also believe that hypnosis is a way of accessing an unconscious mind full of repressed memories, multiple personalities, mystical insights, or memories of past lives. This view of hypnosis as an altered state and gateway to occult knowledge about the self and the universe is considered a myth. There are two distinct, though related aspects to this mythical view of hypnosis: the myth of the altered state and the myth of the occult reservoir. Those supporting the altered state theory often cite studies that show that during hypnosis (1) the brain’s electrical states change and (2) brain waves differ from those during waking consciousness. The critics of the mythical view point out that these facts are irrelevant to establishing hypnosis as an altered state of consciousness. The experience of each will show electrical changes in the brain and changes in brain waves from ordinary waking consciousness. Those supporting the unconscious occult reservoir theory support their belief with anecdotes of numerous people who, while hypnotized, (a) recall events from their present or past life of which they have no conscious memory, or (b) relate being in distant places and/or future times while under hypnosis. Most of what is known about hypnosis, as opposed to what is believed, has come from studies on the subjects of hypnosis. We know that there is a significant correlation between being imaginative and being responsive to hypnosis. It is know that hypnotic subjects mind is not controlled by their hypnotists. We know that hypnosis does not enhance the accuracy of memory in any special way. We know that a person under hypnosis is very suggestible and that memory is easily “filled-in” by the imagination and by suggestions made under hypnosis. We know that confabulation is quite common while under hypnosis and that many states do not allow testimony which has been induced by hypnosis because it is intrinsically unreliable. We know the greatest predictor of hypnotic responsiveness is what a person believes about hypnosis. Hypnosis in its socio-cognitive context If hypnosis is not an altered state or gateway to a mystical and occult unconscious mind, then what is it? There is an entrenched tradition of hypnotherapists who have faith in the myth, make a good living from it, and see many effects from their sessions, which from their point of view can only be called “successes.” The hypnotist and subject learn what is expected of their roles and reinforce each other by their performances. The hypnotist provides the suggestions and the subject responds to the suggestions. The rest of the behavior--the hypnotist’s repetition of sounds or gestures, his soft, relaxing voice, etc., and the trance-like pose or sleep-like repose of the subject, etc.--are just dressing, part of that makes hypnosis seem mysterious. When one strips away these dramatic dressings what is left is something quite ordinary, even if extraordinarily useful: a self-induced, “psyched-up” state of suggestibility. “Hypnotic procedures influence behavior indirectly by altering subjects motivations, expectations and interpretations.” Hypnosis is a learned behavior, which can accomplish the same things in a variety of ways: going to college or reading a book, taking training courses or teaching oneself a new skill, listening to liked voice or music, enrolling in motivation courses or simply making a willful determination to accomplish specific goals. In short, what is called hypnosis is an act of social conformity rather than a unique state of consciousness. The subject acts in accordance with expectations of the hypnotist and hypnotic situation and behaves as he or she thinks one is supposed to behave while hypnotized. Hypnosis: good and bad parts Hypnosis is used in a wide variety of contexts, not all of which are beneficial. Using hypnosis to help people quit smoking or stick to a diet may be useful, and even if it fails it is probably not harmful. Using hypnosis to help people remember some numbers of cars used in crimes may be useful, and even if it fails it is probably not harmful. Using hypnosis to help victims or witnesses of crimes remember what happened may be useful, but it can also be dangerous because of the ease with which the subject can be manipulated by suggestions from the hypnotist. Overzealous police hypnotists may put conviction of those they think are guilty above honest conviction by honest evidence presented to a jury. Hypnosis is used to encourage patients to remember and then believe events, which probably never happened. If these memories were not of such horrible and painful events, they would be of little concern. But by nurturing delusions of evil suffered, therapists often do irreparable harm to those who put their trust in them. And they do this in the name of healing and caring, as did the priests of old when they hunted witches and exorcised demons.

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