Pranav Bhat asked:


Hypnosis

Introduction:

When you hear the word hypnosis, you may picture the mysterious hypnotist figure popularized in movies, comic books and television. This ominous, goateed man waves a pocket watch back and forth, guiding his subject into a semi-sleep, zombie-like state. Once hypnotized, the subject is compelled to obey, no matter how strange or immoral the request. Muttering “Yes, master,” the subject does the hypnotist’s evil bidding.

This popular representation bears little resemblance to actual hypnotism, of course. In fact, modern understanding of hypnosis contradicts this conception on several key points. Subjects in a hypnotic trance are not slaves to their “masters” — they have absolute free will. And they’re not really in a semi-sleep state — they’re actually hyper attentive.

Our understanding of hypnosis has advanced a great deal in the past century, but the phenomenon is still a mystery of sorts. In this article, we’ll look at some popular theories of hypnosis and explore the various ways hypnotists put their art to work.

Why the name “Hypnosis”?

James Braid, a 19th-century Scottish surgeon, originated the terms “hypnotism” and “hypnosis” based on the word hypnos, which is Greek for “to sleep.” Braid and other scientists of the era, such as Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault, Hippolyte Bernheim and J.M. Charcot, theorized that hypnosis is not a force inflicted by the hypnotist, but a combination of psychologically mediated responses to suggestions.

In the proper nomenclature, hypnosis refers to the trance state itself, and hypnotism refers to the act of inducing this state and to the study of this state. A hypnotist is someone who induces the state of hypnosis, and a hypnotherapist is a person who induces hypnosis to treat physical or mental illnesses.

History of Hypnotism:

People have been entering hypnotic-type trances for thousands and thousands of years; various forms of meditation play an important role in many cultures’ religions. But the scientific conception of hypnotism wasn’t born until the late 1700s.

The father of modern hypnotism is Franz Mesmer, an Austrian physician. Mesmer believed hypnosis to be a mystical force flowing from the hypnotist into the subject (he called it “animal magnetism”). Although critics quickly dismissed the magical element of his theory, Mesmer’s assumption, that the power behind hypnosis came from the hypnotist and was in some way inflicted upon the subject, took hold for some time. Hypnosis was originally known as mesmerism, after Mesmer, and we still use its derivative, “mesmerize,” today.

So what is Hypnosis?

People have been pondering and arguing over hypnosis for more than 200 years, but science has yet to fully explain how it actually happens. We see what a person does under hypnosis, but it isn’t clear why he or she does it. This puzzle is really a small piece in a much bigger puzzle: how the human mind works. It’s unlikely that scientists will arrive at a definitive explanation of the mind in the foreseeable future, so it’s a good bet hypnosis will remain something of a mystery as well.

But psychiatrists do understand the general characteristics of hypnosis, and they have some model of how it works. It is a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination. It’s not really like sleep, because the subject is alert the whole time. It is most often compared to daydreaming, or the feeling of “losing yourself” in a book or movie. You are fully conscious, but you tune out most of the stimuli around you. You focus intently on the subject at hand, to the near exclusion of any other thought.

In the everyday trance of a daydream or movie, an imaginary world seems somewhat real to you, in the sense that it fully engages your emotions. Imaginary events can cause real fear, sadness or happiness, and you may even jolt in your seat if you are surprised by something (a monster leaping from the shadows, for example). Some researchers categorize all such trances as forms of self-hypnosis. Milton Erickson, the premier hypnotism expert of the 20th century, contended that people hypnotize themselves on a daily basis. But most psychiatrists focus on the trance state brought on by intentional relaxation and focusing exercises. This deep hypnosis is often compared to the relaxed mental state between wakefulness and sleep.

In conventional hypnosis, you approach the suggestions of the hypnotist, or your own ideas, as if they were reality. If the hypnotist suggests that your tongue has swollen up to twice its size, you’ll feel a sensation in your mouth and you may have trouble talking. If the hypnotist suggests that you are drinking a chocolate milkshake, you’ll taste the milkshake and feel it cooling your mouth and throat. If the hypnotist suggests that you are afraid, you may feel panicky or start to sweat. But the entire time, you are aware that it’s all imaginary. Essentially, you’re “playing pretend” on an intense level, as kids do.

In this special mental state, people feel uninhibited and relaxed. Presumably, this is because they tune out the worries and doubts that normally keep their actions in check. You might experience the same feeling while watching a movie: As you get engrossed in the plot, worries about your job, family, etc. fade away, until all you’re thinking about is what’s up on the screen.

In this state, you are also highly suggestible. That is, when the hypnotist tells you do something, you’ll probably embrace the idea completely. This is what makes stage hypnotist shows so entertaining. Normally reserved, sensible adults are suddenly walking around the stage clucking like chickens or singing at the top of their lungs. Fear of embarrassment seems to fly out the window. The subject’s sense of safety and morality remain entrenched throughout the experience, however. A hypnotist can’t get you to do anything you don’t want to do.

Myths and Misconceptions:

There are many myths and misconceptions concerning hypnosis, for example, that a client is completely under the hypnotist’s control. A hypnotist cannot make an individual do anything under hypnosis that they do not want to do. Hypnotic subjects are totally alert under hypnosis and can remember everything that happened while they were in trance. And if an emergency were to occur during a session, such as a fire, the subject would simply snap out of trance, and attend to the problem at hand.

The Role of unconscious mind:

Often the conscious mind and the unconscious mind are in conflict or disagreement. For example, consciously you may want to stop smoking, but unconsciously you may still associate smoking with being macho or looking sophisticated. Or you may consciously want to eat better food and smaller portions, but unconsciously may associate eating with a positive experience like being nurtured or loved.

During a hypnotic session, clients are helped to progressively relax. As they do so, their conscious mind lets go more and more and the unconscious mind starts to play a more active, more dominant role. The same thing happens in the early stages of sleep; however, in the hypnotic state the unconscious mind maintains a peculiar ability to remain extremely alert and to receive whatever suggestions the client has asked to receive, without normal conscious resistance. In this way, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind are finally able to agree on the desired results. The hypnotist is the facilitator or guide during the journey.

Methods of Hypnotism:

Hypnotists’ methods vary, but they all depend on a few basic prerequisites:

1.The subject must want to be hypnotized.

2.The subject must believe he or she can be hypnotized.

3.The subject must eventually feel comfortable and relaxed.

If these criteria are met, the hypnotist can guide the subject into a hypnotic trance using a variety of methods. The most common hypnotic techniques are:

Fixed gazed Induction or Eye Fixation:

This is the method you often see in movies, when the hypnotist waves a pocket watch in front of the subject.

The basic idea is to get the subject to focus on an object so intently that he or she tunes out any other stimuli. As the subject focuses, the hypnotist talks to him or her in a low tone, lulling the subject into relaxation. This method was very popular in the early days of hypnotism, but it isn’t used much today because it doesn’t work on a large proportion of the population.

Rapid Induction:

The idea of this method is to overload the mind with sudden, firm commands.

If the commands are forceful, and the hypnotist is convincing enough, the subject will surrender his or her conscious control over the situation. This method works well for a stage hypnotist because the novel circumstance of being up in front of an audience puts subjects on edge, making them more susceptible to the hypnotist’s commands.

Progressive Imagination and Imagery:

This is the hypnosis method most commonly employed by psychiatrists.

By speaking to the subject in a slow, soothing voice, the hypnotist gradually brings on complete relaxation and focus, easing the subject into full hypnosis. Typically, self-hypnosis training, as well as relaxation and meditation audio tapes use the progressive relaxation method.

Loss of Balance:

This method creates a loss of equilibrium using slow, rhythmic rocking.

Parents have been putting babies to sleep with this method for thousands of years.

Before hypnotists bring a subject into a full trance, they generally test his or her willingness and capacity to be hypnotized. The typical testing method is to make several simple suggestions, such as “Relax your arms completely,” and work up to suggestions that ask the subject to suspend disbelief or distort normal thoughts, such as “Pretend you are weightless.”

Depending on the person’s mental state and personality, the entire hypnotism process can take anywhere from a few minutes to more than a half hour. Hypnotists and hypnotism proponents see the peculiar mental state as a powerful tool with a wide range of applications. In the next section, we’ll look at some of the more common uses of hypnotism.

Applications of Hypnotism:

Habit Control:



In this application, a hypnotist focuses on one particular habit that is embedded in your unconscious (smoking or overeating, for example). With the “control panel” to your mind open, the hypnotist may be able to reprogram your subconscious to reverse the behavior. Some hypnotists do this by connecting a negative response with the bad habit. For example, the hypnotist might suggest to your subconscious that smoking will cause nausea. If this association is programmed effectively, you will feel sick every time you think about smoking a cigarette. Alternatively, the hypnotist may build up your willpower, suggesting to your subconscious that you don’t need cigarettes, and you don’t want them.



Psychiatric Theory:

In a therapy session, a psychiatrist may hypnotize his or her subject in order to work with deep, entrenched personal problems. The therapy may take the form of breaking negative patterns of behavior, as with mass habit-control programs. This can be particularly effective in addressing phobias, unreasonable fears of particular objects or situations. Another form of psychiatric hypnotherapy involves bringing underlying psychiatric problems up to the conscious level. Accessing fears, memories and repressed emotions can help to clarify difficult issues and bring resolution to persistent problems.

Law Enforcement/Forensic Science:

Hypnotists may also tap dormant memories to aid in law enforcement. In this practice, called forensic hypnotism, investigators access a subject’s deep, repressed memories of a past crime to help identify a suspect or fill in details of the case. Since hypnotists may lead subjects to form false memories, this technique is still very controversial in the forensics world.

Medical Hypnotherapy:

Doctors and spiritual leaders all over the world claim that hypnotic suggestion can ease pain and even cure illness in some patients. The underlying idea behind this is that the mind and body are inextricably intertwined. When you suggest to the subconscious that the body does not feel pain, or that the body is free of disease, the subconscious may actually bring about the change.

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence to support this idea. Using only hypnotic suggestion as an anesthetic, thousands of women have made it through childbirth with minimal pain and discomfort. Countless cancer patients swear by hypnosis, claiming that it helps to manage the pain of chemotherapy, and some former patients credit their recovery to hypnotherapy.

The success of hypnotherapy is undeniable, but many doctors argue that the hypnotic trance is not actually responsible for the positive results.

• Conclusion:

Thus it is clear from the above topic that hypnotism though seems like hypothetical concept hypnotism is present in our life almost every day.



Hypnosis Melbourne

George asked:


HYPNOTIC RELAXATION

**************************** Hypnotic psychotherapy is the oldest of all psychotherapies. People who even not hear the name of hypnotism may be well versed with the name “hypnotism”. This is because of the visual medias, which presented hypnotic seen. We should say that the concept of hypnotic therapy and hypnotizing are most misunderstood among all other psychotherapies because of the afore said reason; but it is very effective way to remove problems in the subconscious and I would like to mention here what is the effect of hypnotic suggestions. Two cases of hypnotic induction in my clinic and different methods people use under this broad connotation of hypnotism are also mentioned.

What is hypnotism?

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We know that man has given special inherent qualities than all other living beings, which are, intellectual ability, morality and will power. These qualities help man to aim at and to work for the betterment of others, for the betterment of living beings, and for the nature in which we live. To join together for the common welfare, give suggestions for that and act according to a direction for more goodness. In this we have said, give suggestions, wishfully at for the betterment and join together, all these are in a way foundations of hypnotism. Bernheim says”[Bernheim(1957),Suggestive therapies, Westport.] “I define hypnotism as the introduction of a peculiar physical condition which increases the susceptibility to suggestion”. The hypnotic form is again called alternative form of consciousness. This alternate form of consciousness is very similar to sleep. So we call it as hypnotic sleep.

Imagine a small child sleep when she hears her mother singing. In the song of the mother the child get a suggestion to sleep. In the song of the mother the child get a suggestion to sleep. And this suggestion may not be that much effective in the child while she hears other person singing. Imagine a situation while you go to church. There the preacher is delivering a monotonous and dull message. You may start sleeping. Why you are sleeping? You may tell that one may sleep while he is tired. This is not applicable to a person who hears a message in the church. Here the person who sleeps is a passive hearer only. He has no involvement and this makes him feel boring. So he tells himself that you have nothing to do and the message is boring so you sleep. This is self hypnosis. You may have experienced that you have to go to a distant place early in the morning. You will adjust alarm of the clock and sleep, but before you hear the sound of alarm you may rise up. Here in all this we see the effect of self-hypnosis.

In a hypnotic treatment session the therapist and the client enters in to a deep and special kind of relationship. In psychotherapy this kind of relationship is called the therapeutic relationship.

We need sleep and at the time of our sleep our body and mind are relaxed. The rapid eve movement stage [REM sleep] or the dream stage is the time when our mind is being relaxed. At the time of dream feelings in our subconscious moves to the conscious. This is done not as the direct image. Thing is that in that way our emotions are relaxed and that is what happening in the hypnotic relaxation too.

There may be people who suspect that this is against to the Christian faith. The work of Jesus Christ can be divided as, preaching, teaching and healing. Those who came with physical problems to Christ went back healed not only physically but psychologically and spiritually too. Jesus taught, “Everything is possible to those who believe”.

Before going deep into the concept of hypnotism I should narrate one or two examples and this will help you to understand the therapy. Names and situations I tell here are different.

Case1: -

Saji 23 years old was bright in his high school class but he failed in BSC[degree class]. His parents scolded him for the same reason. Once one of his friends ridiculed him and for this they quarreled each other. When his parents’ heard about this they questioned. Saji wanted to have a job, but he couldn’t find. Once his father had a quarrel with his neighbor and this ended in physical aggression. Saji intervened in the fight. So he became guilty of the act that made a change in his behavior. Aggressive nature and sudden retaliation, all gave him a bad name. Slowly he lost his sleep. Once he felt as if his right arm and leg paralyzed. He couldn’t walk or do anything without the help of others. Treatment in different places made no good. Then his parents brought him for a prayer meeting that a minister prays for him. I was there and they requested me to talk to him. We talked and gave him a hypnotic relaxation. As O. Anna patient of J. Bruer and S. Freud said, “this was a talking cure” Saji also got a talking cure from the same conversion hysteria. Even in the first session we got a sign of cure.

Case2: -

Emily 27 years is unmarried and sometimes she feels difference in her body and mind. When this occurs she forgets everything even her name. It happened that a long time back a women who was neighbor of her expired and Emily says in her trance that she is the died person. Amnesia problem makes her forget certain things. Her neighbors told that this is because of evil spirit and this worsens her problem. Her marriage proposals are cancelled. By hypnotism she got above the problems and cured.

We can say that people under go hypnotism can be categorized in to three groups 1. The first group remembers everything that happened in the session. Every suggestion is remembered. 2. The second group does not remember everything but they will say that they heard the therapists talk. 3. The third group may no5t be able to remember what is happened in the session. In my experience some clients express indifference at the first stage and then go in to the sleep. We cannot hypnotize 100% people. To my understanding there are three kind of hypnotic relaxation programme.

1. Mental Relaxation Programme[Mass Relaxation]

In prayer, meditation, or mass hypnotism therapists, religious leaders or experienced persons do this. They give suggestion to one person or a group of people to boost mental energy and or spiritual energy. In different religions people use it in different way.

2. Hypnotic Treatment.

Here a therapist comes to an agreement with a client to help him in his discomfort, adopt techniques of personal hypnotism for the betterment of the client. Mostly this is treatment based.

3. Past Life Regression Therapy.

This is in the style of hypnotic therapy, but most religions do not agree with this practice. In this, a therapist act as a medium and he leads the client to arouse his psychic level to enter into a mind vibration of a person lived long ago. Then the client identifies himself with that person to find answer to his questions of maladjustment. The therapist explains that the maladjustment is because of those person’s vibrations. This is not advisable as far as I understand this therapy. This is based on the “karma” theory of Hinduism.

Hypnotism has immense potentials. So we can use it and develop it, by continuous research. Systematic mass relaxation programme is very good and it can be used by different religions for spiritual and mental awakening.

Article by: Revd.Chacko.P.George.

Email: revchacko@gmail.com



Hypnotherapy Australia

John Howard asked:


Hypnotism basically is the scientific and clinical use of hypnosis. Hypnosis, or a hypnotic state, is a temporary condition of altered attention in an individual. A hypnotist is a person who uses hypnotism. Scientific evidence suggests that hypnotism is useful when it is practiced by qualified professionals. For example, some professionals use hypnotism to treat patients who have certain medical or psychological problems.

People have used hypnotic techniques since ancient times. But the practice of hypnotism has been condemned at times because of its misuse or because of ignorance, mistaken beliefs, and overstated claims. Today, professional organizations accept hypnotism when it is used for valid medical or scientific purposes.

What hypnotism is

Scientists have shown that hypnosis is a natural part of human behaviour that affects psychological, social, and physical experience. There is no magic connected with hypnotism, and the hypnotist has no special power. The effects of hypnotism depend on the willingness and motivation of the person being hypnotized. In hypnosis, a change in the quality and focus of a person’s attention alters his or her internal and external experience.

Hypnotism has been compared to dreaming and sleepwalking. The term hypnosis comes from the Greek word hypnos, which means sleep. However, hypnotism is not actually related to sleep. It involves a more active and intense mental concentration. Hypnotized people can talk, write, and walk about. They are usually fully aware of what is said and done.

A hypnotist uses certain methods to induce (guide) hypnotism in another person. As the person responds to the methods, the person’s state of attention changes. This altered state often leads to various other changes or phenomena. For example, the person may experience different levels of awareness, consciousness, imagination, memory, and reasoning or become more responsive to suggestions. Additional phenomena may be produced or eliminated. Such phenomena may include sensations, blushing, sweating, paralysis, tensing of muscles, and anesthesia (loss of pain sensation). Scientists have shown that changes in almost every body function and system may occur with hypnotism.

None of the experiences of hypnotism are unique. Some or all of the phenomena can occur without the use of hypnotic techniques. For example, people who are very responsive to hypnosis show an increased responsiveness to suggestions before they are hypnotized. This responsiveness increases during hypnotism.

People once believed that hypnotists could force their subjects to perform criminal acts or other actions against the subjects’ will. There is no clear evidence to show that hypnosis causes such behavior. Hypnotized people can and do resist suggestions. They do not lose control of their actions and can distinguish between right and wrong.

Public performances of hypnotism are responsible for many popular misconceptions about hypnosis. Many people are first exposed to hypnotism through a magic show or a film. Such presentations often make hypnotism appear simple. They may tempt untrained people to try to perform hypnotism on themselves or on other people.



Melbourne Hypnotherapy

Paul asked:


In order to know how to hypnotize someone it is important to understand what hypnosis is, the subject who is being hypnotized, techniques to influence the subject and using these techniques to make the subject react in the way you want. Anyone can learn to hypnotize but it is imperative that a training course is done.

If you want to know how to hypnotize someone you must first understand what hypnosis is. Common misconception is that the subject is unconscious but this can not be further from the truth. Here is an official definition according to the father of hypnosis James Braid:

[...] the real origin and essence of the hypnotic condition, is the induction of a habit of abstraction or mental concentration, in which, as in reverie or spontaneous abstraction, the powers of the mind are so much engrossed with a single idea or train of thought, as, for the nonce, to render the individual unconscious of, or indifferently conscious to, all other ideas, impressions, or trains of thought. The hypnotic sleep, therefore, is the very antithesis or opposite mental and physical condition to that which precedes and accompanies common sleep [...]

Therefore hypnosis is about interaction between you and the subject, giving the subject information to process in order for them to react in the way you desire. This is the most important thing to understand when you want to know how to hypnotize someone, that it is an interaction between two conscious persons.

If you want to know how to hypnotize a subject it is important to understand who that subject is. The reason being for this is because we need to understand what their thought patterns are like in order to be able to influence these thought patterns. This is actually not as hard as it sounds. About 95% of the population have the same thought patterns (e.g. you scratch you arm equals pain and discomfort) and the remaining 5% are very rare. Once you understand how the subject will react to certain information given then it is much easier to use the correct techniques of hypnotism to influence these reactions to the outcome you desire. Remember understand your subject before beginning the next step of hypnotism.

What are the hypnosis techniques used if you want to know how to hypnotize someone? A hypnotic induction is the beginning (but not always necessary), which is a way of putting the subject in a suggestive state. Usually this is about relaxing the subject so their mind is not a “clutter” of thoughts but processing one piece of information at a time. The next step is to use analogies, indirect suggestion, confusion techniques to name a few, in order to use the subjects thought patterns to steer their usual reactions in your desired way. Depending on your level of experience and training your desired outcome can be achieved without a hypnotic induction. If you want to know how to hypnotize without hypnotic induction the techniques stemmed from Milton Erickson are the best to use. They can be found at the link below.

Using the correct hypnotic techniques is the goal that everyone has when they want to know how to hypnotize someone. Let us begin with the hypnotic induction. To relax someone and clear their thoughts can be as simple as lying them down, closing their eyes, taking a few deep breaths, giving them an analogy of lying in a field with a cool breeze. You have probably had a point in your life where this has been used on you simply to clear your thoughts. When it comes to hypnotizing someone you must use their thought patterns to your advantage. An example is of someone who has to work tomorrow so they do not want to go out tonight. Use the fact that ‘work’ has a negative reaction and ‘go out’ and ‘fun’ has positive reactions. They key is to use the positive as much as possible and link one analogy to another for example: Going out is a time of great memories with good friends that lasts forever. This stimulates memories of other great times of going out and creates a reaction of wanting to recreate those feelings. There are many other techniques but the principle is the same so when you want to know how to hypnotize someone you must train these techniques in order to achieve your desired outcome.

In order to know how to hypnotize someone you must understand hypnosis, your subject, the hypnotic techniques and knowing how to implement them. If you are interested in learning these techniques the best training course available is the “power of conversational hypnosis” which can be found at http://howtohypnotize-polski.blogspot.com/. I highly recommend it and if you take the time to follow the steps and train yourself you will not only know how to hypnotize someone you will be able to hypnotize them.



Melbourne Hypnosis

Paul Schmitt asked:


There are many sites were you can find courses and ways to find instruction so you can learn how to hypnotize. I have been reviewing many products and will post some reviews here on how to hypnotize.

You might be interested in learning how to hypnotize. You have come to the right place. Learning how to hypnotize people can be fun. Many people enjoy doing this as a hobby were they have a talent that no one else has. If you become good enough you can hypnotize almost anyone.

Hypnotizing people can be fun but should always be done in a nice way. The individual being hypnotized should never be upset by anything you have them do or say while they are in an hypnotic state. You can be the life of a party if you have willing people that will allow you to hypnotize them. People will always find out if you have done something with them that that would not approve of. Therefore stay out of trouble and keep it fun an simple. When you do it this way everyone will have fun and think you’re the life of the party.

You can also take advantage of this unique skill by having some one quit smoking or loose weight. These are two of the biggest topics that have had a proven affect on people while being hypnotized. I feel that if you are going to learn how to hypnotize people you should put your new talents to work for the good of your friends and family.

At parties you can have people who don’t mind having a little fun do funny things. If you master the art you can have them cluck like a chicken or crawl around like a mouse. They won’t know what they did after. There friends will tell them and they should laugh and not believe when they are told they did funny acts and can’t remember.

Learning how to hypnotize people is easy if you have the correct instruction. I have found one very good book that offers more than just the basics when learning how to hypnotize people. Some how to books on hypnotizing are either old or out of date with very poor techniques. This book is written by one of the best. It is not often that you find a professional hypnotist willing to share his techniques. If you are serious about learning how to hypnotize I would strongly recommend you take a look at this book. I have placed a link at the top of this site where you can go and look at this book.

Some people might be seeking how to hypnotize just for fun or even make a career out of. When you have learned how to hypnotize you can help people to do things like quitting smoking and loosing weight. I will post more articles on how to learn how to hypnotize here soon. In the mean time you may want to check out the book at the top of my web site.

Feel free to visit this site from time to time, as I will be posting more articles on how to hypnotize.

Please visit some of my sites Hypnotise and How To Hypnotize



Melbourne Hypnosis