Frequently Asked Questions
The subject of hypnosis has accumulated a mass of
misinformation.. Here are some of the most common
fallacies concerning hypnosis and the facts based on the
best medical and psychological authorities and many years
of study and practical experience.
When Hypnotized – you always tell the truth
Hypnotism is of the occult or supernatural
A hypnotist, with the use of soothing words and
soft music -simply lulls clients off to sleep.
It’s unnatural
Weak-willed people make the best clients.
Only a small portion of the population can be
hypnotised.
Very few people can hypnotise.
The essence of hypnotism is that the operator’s
will “dominates” that of the client.
A person can be hypnotised against his will.
The hypnotist has absolute control over the
client’s mind and body.
Hypnotherapy requires a deep trance.
A client may not awaken after hypnosis.
Hypnosis is dangerous.
A person knows nothing when he is hypnotised.
Orthodox medicine condemns hypnotism.
Hypnotherapy requires many lengthy sessions.
Hypnotism is a new age cult thing, like crystals
and pyramids and all that.
The Subconscious will ALWAYS protect the
individual – and can repeat the lie (though there is no
truth or lie to the subconscious). However at deeper
levels, we believe, – tapping into ‘higher levels of mind
that are more connected to – let’s call it – the source of all
energy – the truth will be revealed
Hypnotism is scientific. It is not supernatural or of
the occult, but a purely natural manifestation of the
powers of the mind. People enter hypnosis many times a
day, awake or asleep, watching TV, driving, reading or day
dreaming.
In the state of hypnosis, the conscious mind is
completely relaxed and rested but not asleep. Whereas in
sleep the conscious mind is to some extent tense and
alert.
Hypnotism occurs in all humans at all times. The
word ‘hypnosis’ means, in lay terms, when you change
your state of mind or consciousness. You don’t change
your condition, you change your state. When you are
happy, sad, aroused, sad, frightened, tired, hyper alert – all
of these are different states of awareness or
consciousness. All of these are forms of hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy is where hypnosis is used deliberately –
either by a practitioner Hypnotist or by yourself to
deliberately use the state change to get the desired result
The best hypnotic clients are people with strong
wills and above average intelligence. Hypnosis actually has
nothing to do with the will: it depends upon imagination, a
faculty that is vastly stronger than the will. Therefore
bright imaginative people make by far the best clients.
90-95% of adults can be hypnotised to some degree.
Some people respond more rapidly than others. In an
average group, enjoying their first experience with
hypnosis, about 1 in 5 will promptly enter a deep enough
trance to get used by a stage hypnotist. There are two
classes of people who cannot be hypnotised 1) the insane
and 2) infants that are too young to understand the words of the operator – though up until the age of approximately 7 years, kids are in almost permanent hypnosis.
Any normally intelligent person can learn to
hypnotize. BUT this does not mean that everyone should.
Just as some make better doctors than others, or better
golfers, so some make better hypnotists. Moreover,
success in this skill, as in any other, demands intense study
and practice.
There is no “domination” or “submission’ in
hypnosis. The hypnotist actually helps the client to release
and express his or her own latent or hidden abilities. E.G. A
man unaccustomed to speaking in public can when
hypnotized, speak fluently to an audience of thousands.
He already had the ability to do this, but suppressed it
with his own doubts and fears; and the hypnotist releases
that ability. A teacher of elocution could do the same, but
would take months to do it. Hypnosis produces a desired
result quickly.
For all practical purposes, a person must consent to
do this before he can be induced to enter the state.
However, the spoken word does not always indicate real desire. A skeptic, loudly denying the possibility of
hypnosis might have an unspoken wish to experience it or
vice versa.
This is the most absurd and injurious of all the
fallacies concerning hypnosis. NO hypnotist can make
anyone do or say anything contrary to their deep-rooted
principles. A girl who perhaps would not normally be seen
on the dance floor, in hypnosis, may cast off her
inhibitions and dance a vigorous twist. But a normally
modest girl certainly could not be made to disrobe
completely in front of any person, including the hypnotist.
Any suggestion that arouses sincere moral indignation or
repugnance immediately causes the client to break the
trance, by coming out of it. Thus hypnosis is not an
anaesthetic that renders the person helpless. It is a means
of releasing and intensifying a person’s own powers and
abilities.
Hypnosis has many therapeutic uses, but results do
not depend on the depth of trance. Some nervous
disorders may be completely cured in the lightest state of
trance while another client with the same complaint may
need a deeper level of trance to receive the same benefits.
There is not the slightest danger of this. If the client
were left to himself, he would fall into an ordinary sleep
and awaken normally.
An automobile is not in itself dangerous, food is not
dangerous, and tranquilizers are not dangerous. But if
misused those things can all be dangerous. Hypnotism in
the hands of an amateur can be dangerous, but when used
properly, by a properly trained practitioner is perfectly
safe.
In light and medium levels of hypnosis the client is
fully aware of what is being said and done. He may actually
deny that he was hypnotized at all. Even in deep trance
you are able to hear all that is happening.
The American (June 1958) and Canadian and British
((April 23, 1955) Medical associations accepted the
therapeutic value of hypnosis. Hypnosis is used in dentistry
and by surgeons to produce a drugless state of anesthesia
without anxiety or suffering by the client. Many orthodox
psychologists and psychiatrists use hypnosis today. The
Mayo clinic has been using hypnosis as an adjunct to
anesthesia and has as a result never had a death
attributed to the anesthetic.
With many patients, complete relief can be obtained
in a very short time. On some occasions only a couple of
sessions are needed, most require several.
Hypnotism has been around since humans have had
a conscious (and therefore unconscious mind). It has been
used deliberately as a therapy of one sort or another since
before written history.