What is Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a distinctive, often trance-like mental state that is induced by an organized pattern of suggestions, usually verbal in nature, beginning with the suggestion of relaxation. The suggestions may be directly induced by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, but may be also be self-induced (self-hypnosis or autohypnosis).
Although the long held popular view was that hypnosis is form of unconsciousness, the informed contemporary view is that it is actually a wakeful state of focused attentionand heightened suggestibility, with diminished peripheral awareness.
According to the American Psychological Association’s Division 30, hypnosis may bring about “…changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior.” The hypnotic state may also facilitate change in the body: it has been successfully used as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, as an alternative to chemical anaesthesia, and it has been studied as a way to soothe skin ailments.
Skeptics point out the difficulty distinguishing between hypnosis and the placebo effect, proposing that the state called hypnosis is
“so heavily reliant upon the effects of suggestion and belief that it would be hard to imagine how a credible placebo control could ever be devised for a hypnotism study.”
Self-hypnosis is popularly used by people who want to quit smoking and reduce stress,while stage hypnosis can be used to persuade people to perform unusual public feats.
Franz Mesmer in the 1700s believed that there was a magnetic fluid that surrounds the body. He experimented with magnets to influence this field and so cause healing. He later found that the same effects could be created by waving the hands in front of someone’s face. Although his theories were later discredited, the effects he was able to achieve with subjects may shed light on modern day hypnosis. The word mesmerize originates from the name of Franz Mesmer.
The word ‘hypnosis’ itself is the invention of 19th century Scottish physician James Braid.
Hypnosis
Tags: Health, Hypnosis, mental health
