Another camp believes that under hypnosis, the brain functions just as it would at any other time while awake, and that other, normal processes - like an active imagination - are at work. Some believe these things happen because of a change in brain activity that alters a person's state of consciousness. After a session ends, the person doesn't remember it, according to study researcher Sakari Kallio, an associate professor at the University of Skövde in Sweden and University of Turku in Finland. If no suggestions are given, a hypnotized person will sit still and his or her mind will enter a calm state, like that associated with meditation. New research offers a clue.īy recording the eye movements of a hypnotized woman, and comparing them with those of nonhypnotized people, researchers say they have found evidence that hypnosis involves a special mental state, fundamentally different from normal consciousness.įirst some basics: When under hypnosis, a person becomes more capable of hallucinationand susceptible to suggestions, perhaps intended to help him or her stop craving cigarettes, say, or prompt him or her to hear music that isn't actually playing.
It's clear people can be hypnotized, but it's not clear how this happens. A hypnotist can't get you to do anything you don't want to do.īut what is it that makes this happen? In the next section, we'll look at the most widely accepted theory of what's going on when you become hypnotized.The true nature of hypnosis has eluded scientists. The subject's sense of safety and morality remain entrenched throughout the experience, however. Fear of embarrassment seems to fly out the window. Normally reserved, sensible adults are suddenly walking around the stage clucking like chickens or singing at the top of their lungs. This is what makes stage hypnotist shows so entertaining. That is, when the hypnotist tells you do something, you'll probably embrace the idea completely. In this state, you are also highly suggestible. fade away, until all you're thinking about is what's up on the screen. You might experience the same feeling while watching a movie: As you get engrossed in the plot, worries about your job, family, etc. Presumably, this is because they tune out the worries and doubts that normally keep their actions in check. In this special mental state, people feel uninhibited and relaxed. Essentially, you're "playing pretend" on an intense level, as kids do. But the entire time, you are aware that it's all imaginary. If the hypnotist suggests that you are afraid, you may feel panicky or start to sweat. 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 your tongue has swollen up to twice its size, you'll feel a sensation in your mouth and you may have trouble talking. In conventional hypnosis, you approach the suggestions of the hypnotist, or your own ideas, as if they were reality. This deep hypnosis is often compared to the relaxed mental state between wakefulness and sleep. But most psychiatrists focus on the trance state brought on by intentional relaxation and focusing exercises. Milton Erickson, the premier hypnotism expert of the 20th century, contended that people hypnotize themselves on a daily basis.
Some researchers categorize all such trances as forms of self-hypnosis. 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). 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. You focus intently on the subject at hand, to the near exclusion of any other thought. You are fully conscious, but you tune out most of the stimuli around you. It is most often compared to daydreaming, or the feeling of "losing yourself" in a book or movie. It's not really like sleep, because the subject is alert the whole time. It is a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination. 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.īut psychiatrists do understand the general characteristics of hypnosis, and they have some model of how it works. This puzzle is really a small piece in a much bigger puzzle: how the human mind works. We see what a person does under hypnosis, but it isn't clear why he or she does it. People have been pondering and arguing over hypnosis for more than 200 years, but science has yet to fully explain how it actually happens.
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