Hypnosis-Myths and Misconceptions-4

Hypnosis-Myths and Misconceptions-4

by | Oct 21, 2015 | About Hypnosis, Blog

Myths and Misconceptions about Hypnosis

If you read my post “What is Hypnosis”, you probably concluded that hypnosis has been widely misunderstood. Most people’s perceptions of hypnosis come from the entertainment industry, particularly the media and Hollywood. Below are common myths and misconceptions about hypnosis.

Myth #1: A hypnotist is a person gifted with unique, mystical, or unusual powers.

Fact: A hypnotist is an ordinary person without unusual or mystical powers. A well-trained hypnotist understands that individuals hypnotize themselves. The hypnotist delivers suggestions effectively to facilitate an altered state of mind and teaches clients to self-induce the hypnotic state. Hypnotherapists come from all walks of life, with no special traits, typically driven by a desire to help others.

Myth #2: A person may not be easily awakened and may remain in the hypnotic state for a long time or get “stuck” in this state.

Fact: No one has ever remained indefinitely in a hypnotic state. The state can be terminated at will, as simply as opening your eyes. You cannot get stuck in hypnosis or fail to “wake up.” You do not lose consciousness or fall asleep. Hypnosis induces deep relaxation, but you remain fully in control. It involves enhanced communication between the conscious and subconscious mind. During hypnosis, you actively participate and may even direct the session. You enter hypnosis voluntarily and can exit it at any time.

Myth #3: Hypnosis effects a cure in just one or two sessions.

Fact: In some cases, one or two hypnosis sessions may help a person break a habit. However, most cases require several sessions to achieve a favorable result. Hypnosis is not a panacea; it cannot cure all human problems or do so instantly.

Myth #4: Many people cannot be hypnotized.

Fact: Approximately 90% of people can be hypnotized. Studies show that higher intelligence often correlates with a greater likelihood of entering a hypnotic state. If you believe, “I cannot be hypnotized,” you may be reinforcing that belief, as your own suggestion can block attempts to enter hypnosis.

Myth #5: Only the gullible or weak-minded can be hypnotized.

Fact: Hypnosis is not suitable for individuals with limited cognitive abilities. It requires imagination, cooperation, and a willingness to accept suggestions. More intelligent and imaginative individuals are often easier to hypnotize. While gullible people may be easily deceived, creativity and intelligence facilitate hypnosis, not gullibility. Conversely, highly analytical or controlling individuals may find hypnosis more challenging to achieve. The best candidates are those with a clear reason or motivation for wanting to be hypnotized.

Myth #6: When in hypnosis, you are out of control.

Fact: You cannot be hypnotized against your will; you must want to be hypnotized for it to occur. Successful hypnosis requires the following:

  1. A desire to be hypnotized.
  2. Confidence in the hypnotist.
  3. Willingness to accept suggestions.
  4. Freedom from fear.
  5. Freedom from the need to control.

As hypnotist Dave Elman stated, “Remove fear, the biggest block of all, and you’ll be able to hypnotize one hundred people out of a hundred.” The notion that you lose control of your senses or memories is a myth perpetuated by Hollywood to sell movies.

Myth #7: Hypnosis involves a surrender of one’s will to the hypnotist, where a “stronger soul” has power over a “weaker soul,” or allows the hypnotist to control the subject to do or say anything, including committing crimes or acting against their moral principles.

Fact: A hypnotist does not have power over the client. In hypnosis, a person will not act against their moral principles or commit antisocial or illegal acts. They retain the ability to accept or reject suggestions, dismissing any that are improper. Hypnosis involves heightened awareness, connecting the conscious and subconscious mind simultaneously, and the client remains fully conscious, never “unconscious.” This dual nature of the mind ensures the client’s autonomy. Suggestions, including posthypnotic ones, cannot override a person’s moral principles. Modern hypnotherapy uses the term “in hypnosis” to describe the hypnotic state, avoiding phrases like “under hypnosis” or “down into hypnosis,” which falsely imply the hypnotist’s dominance. In this approach, the hypnotist and client are equals, with the hypnotist acting as a facilitator, not a controller. Clients resolve their issues using their inner resources, primarily from the subconscious.

Myth #8: Hypnosis is a sleep-like, unconscious state in which a person is unaware of their surroundings.

Fact: Hypnosis involves heightened awareness, not sleep or unconsciousness. When in hypnosis, you are fully aware of your surroundings and everything being said to you. While it may resemble sleep, hypnosis is a state of expanded awareness, allowing you to reject any suggestion at any time. Your ego remains present, ensuring you never act against your ethical principles. In the hypnotic state, your senses are enhanced (hyper-acuity), making you more, not less, aware of sounds and activities around you. As one hypnotist put it, “I am not here to put people to sleep; I am here to assist in waking them up.”

Myth #9: A person must be deeply hypnotized to benefit from it.

Fact: You do not need to be in a deep state of hypnosis to experience its benefits. Positive results can be achieved by accepting suggestions during a light trance.

Myth #10: Hypnosis is unnatural or supernatural.

Fact: Hypnosis is a natural, altered state of mind that offers numerous benefits.

Myth #11: Hypnosis is merely relaxation and nothing more.

Fact: Hypnosis is distinct from relaxation. You can be relaxed without being hypnotized, and you can be hypnotized without being relaxed. Relaxation is just one aspect of certain trance states. Everyone experiences hypnosis differently. If you are very tired, particularly when practicing self-hypnosis before bedtime, you may fall asleep.

Myth #12: Hypnosis is catalepsy, and a person cannot move in that state.

Fact: Catalepsy, a medical condition involving trance-like states, loss of sensation, and bodily rigidity, is distinct from hypnosis. It can occur with or without a trance and is not hypnosis itself. The so-called “hypnotic coma” is not an unconscious or cataleptic state but a state of profound relaxation in which a person may choose not to move, think, or speak. They remain fully conscious and can end this state at any time.

Myth #13: The eyes must be closed for hypnosis to occur.

Fact: Closing the eyes is not a prerequisite for hypnosis. You can be in a hypnotic state with your eyes open. For example, when you “zone out” while driving, your eyes remain open, yet you are in a trance-like state.

Myth #14: Hypnosis is brainwashing.

Fact: Brainwashing, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, involves “intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person’s basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs,” often through deprivation. Hypnosis is fundamentally different. A hypnotist cannot force someone to act against their will; instead, they empower clients to access a natural, altered state of mind and make positive changes. Hypnosis enhances your control over your body and mind, tapping into a power we all possess. You always retain the ability to choose what to do, say, or think.

Myth #15: Hypnosis is anti-religious.

Fact: Hypnosis has no religious connotations. It is a tool used to alleviate pain, overcome fears, phobias, addictions, and other issues. While a few religious sects have historically objected to hypnosis, most religious groups today, including Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christian churches, as well as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, accept its ethical use for helping people. Hypnosis is not tied to any world religion. A professional and ethical hypnotist respects clients’ faith and does not use hypnosis to influence their religious beliefs.

Myth #16: When hypnotized, repressed memories of trauma always emerge.

Fact: Hypnosis can be used to uncover repressed memories, but the hypnotic state does not automatically cause them to surface. Memories will only emerge if the client is ready and if the client or hypnotist intentionally seeks to access them. Clients remain in control and will not confront memories they are not prepared to face.

Myth #17: In hypnosis, will I become deaf or lose my memory?

Fact: The notion that you lose control of your senses or memories during hypnosis is a myth perpetuated by Hollywood to sell movies. When emerging from hypnosis, you will feel rested, refreshed, and relaxed, and you will remember the session in its entirety.

Myth #18: Hypnosis is not an effective modality.

Fact: Hypnosis is highly effective, as demonstrated by a comparison study reported in American Health Magazine: psychoanalysis achieved a 38% recovery rate after 600 sessions, behavior therapy a 72% recovery rate after 22 sessions, and hypnotherapy a 93% recovery rate after 6 sessions.

Conclusion

Now that you understand what hypnosis is not, consider exploring it first hand. Try a guided hypnosis recording to experience its benefits. Click here to listen.

The Biology of Belief!

by | Oct 8, 2015 | Blog

My clinical Hypnotherapy practice is based on these principles, Epigenetic’s. That your cells perceive your environment thus producing your disorders. Disease is caused by that perception! Change your beliefs, change your health!

 

What is Hypnosis?

What is Hypnosis?

by | Oct 4, 2015 | About Hypnosis, Blog

Understanding Hypnosis: A Natural State of Transformation

 

What Is Hypnosis?

When you hear the word “hypnosis,” you may envision a mysterious, shadowy figure from television or movies—a stage hypnotist performing feats of influence on “willing” subjects, using a swinging watch or hand motions to induce a zombie-like trance, seemingly controlling their every action. From quacking like a duck to robbing a bank, myths and misconceptions abound. Perhaps you recall black-and-white Dracula films with Bela Lugosi, where his hypnotic gaze paralyzes victims into submission. These Hollywood and pop culture depictions are far from reality, fostering misconceptions that obscure the true nature of hypnosis.

Defining Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a natural state of awareness with numerous therapeutic benefits, such as supporting weight loss, quitting smoking, or overcoming negative behaviors. It is an altered state of consciousness where communication with the subconscious mind is enhanced, and the critical factor of the conscious mind—a filter that analyzes information—is relaxed, allowing selective thinking, or focused concentration, to predominate. This state facilitates a stronger connection between the conscious and subconscious minds, enabling transformative change.

Nature and Mechanisms of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a universal human capacity, accessible under the right circumstances. It connects you with your subconscious mind’s problem-solving intelligence. The critical factor, part of the conscious mind, operates during waking hours, analyzing information passing between the conscious and subconscious. In hypnosis, this filter softens, enhancing responsiveness to suggestions. Selective thinking involves concentrating on a focal point, such as a hypnotist’s voice, a pendulum, or a phrase like “Look into my left eye,” initiating the shift from external reality to your inner world.

Definitions from Key Figures

Several pioneers have shaped modern hypnotherapy’s understanding of hypnosis:

  • Gil Boyne: Defined hypnosis as a natural state with distinct characteristics:
    • An extraordinary quality of relaxation.
    • An emotionalized desire to act on suggestions, provided they align with the individual’s belief system(subconscious conditioning).
    • Self-regulation, normalizing the central nervous system (subconsciously controlled).
    • Heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell) and perceptions (hyper-acuity, time, space, body relation).
    • Softening of the critical factor, reducing psychic defenses. From Transforming Therapy: A New Approach to Hypnotherapy (Boyne, 1989) [1]. (Bold terms reflect expanded explanations.)
  • Milton H. Erickson: Described hypnosis as “a state of intensified attention and receptiveness and an increased responsiveness to an idea or to a set of ideas” [2].
  • Dave Elman: Defined it as “a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking established” [3].
  • Encyclopedia Britannica: Calls hypnosis “a unique, complex form of unusual but normal behavior… primarily a special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state” [4].
  • Dictionary Definition: “Hypnosis: the induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction… typically to recover suppressed memories or modify behavior” [5]. Derived from the Greek Hypnos (sleep), though hypnosis is not sleep but an active, focused state.

Hypnosis Occurs in Everyday Life

Hypnosis is so natural that we experience it frequently, often without awareness. Many of us slip in and out of hypnosis multiple times daily. For instance, have you ever driven on the freeway, absorbed in a favorite song? The music evokes positive memories of a person or event, causing you to “zone out” and miss your exit, possibly driving over the speed limit. Initially, you managed multiple mental inputs: monitoring speed, navigating, and staying in your lane. Then, the song captured your attention, acting as a mental anchor linked to a person or place, with the person or situation as the psychological trigger, capable of eliciting positive emotions or negative ones like anger, sadness, or fear [6]. Your conscious awareness narrowed to a single point—the song—while your subconscious mind, drawing on skills from driver’s education or repeated driving, took over. This sustained focus induced a hypnotic state.

Similarly, you enter hypnosis when engrossed in a TV show or movie, as physical reality fades and you focus on the characters or events. Daydreaming illustrates this: concentrating on a pleasant thought to escape tedious work tasks, you lose awareness of your surroundings, entering an altered state of consciousness. This can occur while reading a book, listening to music, or in the liminal moments before waking or falling asleep. These natural trance states demonstrate how focused attention induces hypnosis, a phenomenon leveraged in therapy.

Your conscious awareness is active when awake—while eating, working, or enjoying a shot of Captain Morgan, unless excessive alcohol renders you medically “unconscious” (anesthetized or unresponsive). In contrast, the subconscious mind is always active, like the Energizer bunny, tirelessly storing every experience and lesson, accessible 24/7, even during sleep.

All Hypnosis Is Self-Hypnosis

You enter hypnosis through your conscious intention. Even in a hypnotherapy session, by following the hypnotherapist’s guidance, you actively induce your own hypnotic state. The hypnotherapist facilitates the experience, guiding you. To enter hypnosis, you must be willing. You remain fully aware, hearing the therapist’s voice and ambient sounds, and can move any part of your body, though minor sensations, like an itch, may go unnoticed due to your focus on the therapist’s words. You can exit hypnosis at any time and leave the session if you choose.

Anyone can experience hypnosis, though experiences vary. Colleagues describe it diversely, from deep relaxation to an out-of-body experience, yet all fall under hypnosis. Hypnotherapists and stage hypnotists use tools like pendulums, hand waves, or phrases such as “Look into my left eye” to help you concentrate on a single point, initiating the shift from external reality to your inner world.

When I refer to actions or processes as “unconscious,” I am not using the medical term (anesthetized state) nor solely the psychological term (repressed memories, accessible via hypnosis) [2]. Instead, I encompass automatic reactions—like catching a glass, dodging a ball, or swerving to avoid a car, guided by subconscious defense mechanisms shaped by life experiences—and the broader subconscious mind, often synonymous with the “subconscious mind,” a reservoir of learned responses and experiences. In hypnotherapy, anchors and triggers, derived from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), are used to physically anchor positive emotions for therapeutic change [3].

Hypnosis enhances the subconscious mind’s responsiveness to positive suggestions, enabling you to achieve goals, quit smoking, lose weight, or transform negative beliefs and behaviors. The benefits are numerous, offering a powerful tool for personal transformation. Change your mind, change your life—this is the power of hypnosis, a power you hold, activated by your willingness to engage. It is the power of the subconscious mind. Gil Boyne, whose Transforming Therapy is taught at schools founded by his students, recognized these natural trance states, repressed memories, and the always-active subconscious as opportunities to reprogram patterns, using techniques like age regression, parts therapy, and emotional anchoring to resolve challenges such as phobias, habits, or suppressed traumas [1].

References

  1. Boyne, G. (1989). Transforming Therapy: A New Approach to Hypnotherapy. Westwood Publishing. Describes Boyne’s methods, including subconscious reprogramming.
  2. Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237(4821), 1445–1452. Discusses repressed memories and hypnosis.
  3. Bandler, R., & Grinder, J. (1975). The Structure of Magic. Science and Behavior Books. Introduces NLP anchoring (note: efficacy debated).
  4. Encyclopedia Britannica (2023). Hypnosis entry. Defines hypnosis as a psychological state.
  5. Oxford English Dictionary (2023). Hypnosis definition. Describes hypnosis as a state of heightened suggestibility.
  6. Dilts, R. (1990). Changing Belief Systems with NLP. Meta Publications. Discusses anchors and triggers in NLP, adapted in hypnotherapy.