When we mention the word hypnosis, the strangest thing happens: even the most educated people associate it with witchcraft, stage shows or some inborn powers that only holy people possess. Some people also have the opposite view and that is that some demonic forces are involved when hypnosis is used as a healing modality.

 

Well, let's see what hypnosis really is and how to best use it to help most of the people most of the time.

 

Would you be surprised to know that you are in the state of hypnosis at least twice daily and sometimes even more than that? Those two times that we are in hypnosis every day are just before going to sleep and  slightly after waking up. In fact, every time we access our long term memory we briefly go into hypnosis. It is very difficult for the individual who is entering hypnosis to know that he or she is "there". There is no special feeling that tells you that you are in hypnosis and that's why we, professional hypnotists have to use different tests that we call "convincers". Some of those tests are similar to the things that stage hypnotists use on their volunteers. You probably saw some of them: hand-clasp test, eye-closure, time-distortion, arm levitation, amnesia, positive or negative hallucinations. A lot of people believe that when you are hypnotized that you lose consciousness, that you can't hear anything and that you are totally under control of the hypnotist. They even call the process of being hypnotized as "going under".

The hypnotists who know what they are doing never put anybody under anything. Anybody who isn't happy about suggestions that he or she is receiving can open their eyes and leave and even when you are in deepest trance you hear everything around you. There is frequently an association with sleep and hypnosis and sometimes you can hear the infamous words: "You are getting sleepy..." Very often people who are otherwise in deep trance, open their eyes and get up, because they realize that they are not asleep and therefore believe that they were never hypnotized. The only similarity with sleep is for the people who observe the hypnotized person, because they look relaxed, their breathing is deeper and their eyes are closed. The reality of the state of consciousness called hypnosis is that when experiencing it, the person is more alert than when that person is in the normal wakefulness.

 

Let's now discuss those tests that are used to confirm that the person is hypnotized.

 

One of the "convincers" that are frequently used in hypnotherapy is a so called time-distortion. Before getting people in the state of hypnosis I usually ask them to note the time on their watches and slightly before emerging from hypnosis (hypnosis is not equal to sleep so there is no waking up) I ask them to guess how long they were in hypnosis. Very often many people are surprised to note that the duration that they have guessed is always shorter than the actual time that passed and sometimes that number is almost double their guessed value. Another "convincer" is the apparent inability to open their eyes when asked to test for that. What is actually happening is that once deeper states of hypnosis are reached, the eyes roll up and in that position it is physically impossible to open the eyes. When asked to test for that (in non-authoritative way) most people are surprised that their eyes remain closed. Here, it is important to note that number one reason that will prevent the attainment of a very deep hypnotic state is a four-letter word, starting with an f: "F.E.A.R.". When the fear is eliminated, people tend to go very deeply into hypnosis.

 

Scientifically-bent people frequently use their analytical mind too much and since we are trying to shut down the left-side activity of the brain during hypnosis, this can interfere with the process. Some special techniques are developed that are based on mental confusion and thus analytical people can be successfully hypnotized, too. Inadequately trained hypnotists very often see analytical people as non hypnotizable and they try to stay away from them.

 

Unfortunately a great majority of practicing hypnotherapists use techniques that originate from the 19th century and many schools that teach hypnotherapy leave the practitioners with only one or in rare occasion two techniques of inducing hypnosis. Contrary to popular belief, medical doctors are usually quite poorly trained in hypnosis. Medical schools (if they even spend some time on hypnosis) dedicate at best few hours on discussing theoretical aspects and that leaves almost no time to teach future doctors on how to hypnotize people. General population is left with belief that only doctors should be allowed to use hypnosis, since they understand human mind and body and this is the same logic as saying that we should only allow car mechanics to drive.