Milton Erickson, the premier hypnotism expert of the 20th century, claims that people hypnotize themselves on a daily basis. Tom Harris, author of “How Hypnosis Works”, explains that during the process of hypnosis, the subject’s conscious mind becomes less active and gives way to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind, being more creative and impulsive, receives suggestions from the hypnotist, and without the conscious mind to put on the brakes, the subconscious mind responds, “why not?” thus, the subject willingly does the suggestions given. Nineteenth century Scottish surgeon, James Braid, originated the terms “hypnotism” and “hypnosis” from the Greek word “hypnos”, which means “to sleep”. Hypnosis is characterized by deep relaxation, and it is during this state that the subject focuses intently on the hypnotist, the hypnotist’s words or a subject at hand, tunes out every other stimulus around him or her to the near exclusion of any other thought and opens his or her subconscious. During hypnosis, physical changes cannot be seen on the subject. Electroencephalographs, measurements of the electrical activity of the brain, show that a subject under hypnosis has brainwaves higher than those sleeping and lower than those fully awake. Milton Erickson, the premier hypnotism expert of the 20th century, claims that people hypnotize themselves on a daily basis. So when it comes to the matter of when a person is hypnotized, you can scratch out “when that person is kidnapped and forced to do the bad guy’s evil bidding.” Hypnotism can range from therapy to just watching television at home. Psychiatrists explain that when a person is so preoccupied and immersed
in a television show or a book, that person blocks out the outside world and enters into a trance-like state where only the movie or the book exists. Researchers have discovered that not only does the subconscious mind take control during hypnosis, but the right hemisphere, the creative side of the brain, also becomes more active than the left hemisphere, the logical side. Hypnosis has been used in many fields of life for centuries, from making babies sleep, to treating people psychologically. In forensic hypnotism, hypnosis is used to identify suspects or to fill in details about a case. By gaining access into a victim or a witness’ subconscious, a hypnotist can open deep and repressed memories. In psychiatric and medical hypnotism, hypnosis is used to treat psychological or even physical problems among patients. The therapeutic abilities of hypnosis may range from dealing with a patient’s personal problems, fixing a vice or habit by reprograming the mind, or healing the body by making the subconscious mind think that the illness does not exist. But since hypnotists may lead the subject to form false memories, or tamper with the subject’s habits, phobias, or any other psychologically related matter, hypnosis remains a very controversial technique and is not often used. In the end, hypnosis’ effect on a person is determined by that person’s willingness to follow. So, if you wind up clucking like a chicken in front of everyone, don’t blame the hypnotist. Blame that computer game you’ve been playing for several days now.
January 2013 THESPECTRUM
36