Hypnosis

File:Charcot and Blanche Wittman.jpg

Professor Charcot was well-known for showing, during his lessons at the Salpêtrière hospital, "hysterical" woman patients – here, his favorite patient, "Blanche" (Marie) Wittman, supported by Joseph Babiński. The neurologist endorsed hypnotism for the treatment of hysteria.

Hypnosis is a natural psychological process in which critical thinking faculties of the mind are bypassed and a type of selective thinking and perception is established. Although some individuals experience an increase in suggestibility and subjective feelings of an altered state of consciousness, this is not true for everyone. In fact, some supposed hypnotic indicators and subjective changes can be achieved without relaxation or a lengthy induction by means of simple suggestion or waking hypnosis, a fact that increases the controversy and misunderstandings surrounding hypnosis and the hypnotic state.

History

Hypnosis has a long history from ancient times to the present. Many of its techniques were used by early peoples. Its current uses have been scientifically studied by a host of both practitioners and researchers.

Indian & Egyptian sleep temples

Hypnotism as a tool for health seems to have originated with the Hindus of India who often took their sick to sleep temples to be cured by hypnotic suggestion. This technique was also used in Egypt and Greece. The Law of Manu, which was the ancient Sanskrit book on the Science of the Indian people, categorized different states of hypnosis discerning different levels of gradation: the "Sleep-Waking" state, the "Dream-Sleep" state, and the "Ecstasy-Sleep" state. Hypnotic-like inductions were used to place the individual in a sleep-like state, although it is now accepted that hypnosis is different from sleep.

Magnets and other healing objects

Paracelsus (1493-1541) was the first physician to utilize magnets in his work. Many people claimed to be healed after he passed magnets (or lodestones) over their body. Around 1771, a Viennese Jesuit named Maximilian Hell (1720-1792) was using magnets to heal by applying steel plates to the naked body. One of Father Hell's students was a young medical doctor from Vienna named Franz Anton Mesmer.

Western scientists first became involved in hypnosis around 1770, when Dr. Franz Mesmer (1734-1815), a physician from Austria, started investigating an effect he called "animal magnetism" or "mesmerism". Mesmer found that, after opening a patient's vein and letting the patient bleed for a while, by passing magnets over the wound it would stop bleeding.

In the early 19th century, An Indo-Portuguese priest, Abbé Faria, revived public attention to animal magnetism by introducing oriental hypnosis to Paris. Unlike Mesmer, Faria claimed that it 'generated from within the mind’ by the power of expectancy and cooperation of the patient. Mesmerism in its later guise of hypnotism contained a clear implication that many saints might be hysterics, leading The Roman Catholic Church to ban hypnotism until the middle of the 20th century.

Beginnings of Formal Medical Research

The evolution of Mesmer's ideas and practices led James Braid (1795-1860) to coin the term and develop the procedure known as hypnosis in 1842. Popularly titled the "Father of Modern Hypnotism," Braid rejected Mesmer's idea of magnetism inducing hypnosis, and ascribed the creation of the 'mesmeric trance' to a physiological process—the prolonged attention on a bright moving object or similar object of fixation. He postulated that "protracted ocular fixation" fatigued certain parts of the brain and caused the trance, "nervous sleep." At first he called the procedure neuro-hypnosis and then, believing sleep was involved, to hypnosis. Realizing that hypnosis was not sleep, he later tried to change the name to monoideaism, but the term hypnosis had stuck.

A report in 1842 described an amputation performed on a hypnotized participant without pain. The report was widely dismissed and there was strong resistance in the medical profession to hypnotism, but other successful reports followed. For example, Dr. James Esdaile (1805-1859) reported on 345 major operations performed using mesmeric sleep as the sole anesthetic in British India. However, the development of chemical anesthetics soon saw the replacement of hypnotism in this role. The deaths of Braid and Esdaile curbed the interest in hypnotism. Experimentation was revived into the 1880s, mainly in continental Europe where new translations of Braid's work were circulated.

Beginnings of Formal Psychological Studies

The neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) endorsed hypnotism for the treatment of hysteria. La méthode numérique ("The numerical method") led to a number of systematic experimental examinations of hypnosis in France, Germany, and Switzerland. The process of post-hypnotic suggestion was first described in this period. Extraordinary improvements in sensory acuity and memory were reported under hypnosis.

From the 1880s the examination of hypnosis passed from surgical doctors to mental health professionals. Charcot had led the way and his study was continued by his pupil, Pierre Janet. Janet described the theory of dissociation, the splitting of mental aspects under hypnosis (or hysteria) so skills and memory could be made inaccessible or recovered. Janet provoked interest in the subconscious and laid the framework for reintegration therapy for dissociated personalities.

Objections had been raised by some theologians stating that, if not applied properly, hypnosis could deprive a person of their faculty of reason. Saint Thomas Aquinas specifically rebutted this, stating that "The loss of reason is not a sin in itself but only by reason of the act by which one is deprived of the use of reason. If the act that deprives one of his use of reason is licit in itself and is done for a just cause, there is no sin; if no just cause is present, it must be considered a venial sin."

On July 28, 1847, a decree from the Sacred Congregation of the Holy office (Roman Curia) declared that "Having removed all misconception, foretelling of the future, explicit or implicit invocation of the devil, the use of animal magnetism (Hypnosis) is indeed merely an act of making use of physical media that are otherwise licit and hence it is not morally forbidden provided it does not tend toward an illicit end or toward anything depraved."

Later, in 1956, Pope Pius XII gave his approval of hypnosis. He stated that the use of hypnosis by health care professionals for diagnosis and treatment is permitted. In an address from the Vatican on hypnosis in childbirth, the Pope gave these guidelines:

1. Hypnotism is a serious matter, and not something to be dabbled in.
2. In its scientific use, the precautions dictated by both science and morality are to be followed.
3. Under the aspect of anaesthesia, it is governed by the same principles as other forms of anaesthesia.

Hypnosis was used by field doctors in the American Civil War and was the first extensive medical application of hypnosis. Although hypnosis seemed to be very effective in the field^{[citation needed]}, with the introduction of the hypodermic needle and the general chemical anesthetics of ether in 1846 and chloroform in 1847 to America, it was much easier for the war's medical community to use chemical anesthesia than hypnosis.

Ambroise-Auguste Liébault (1864-1904), the founder of the Nancy School, first wrote of the necessity for cooperation between the hypnotizer and the participant, for rapport. He also emphasized, with Bernheim, the importance of suggestibility.

First International Congress for Experimental and Therapeutic Hypnotism was in Paris, France August 8-12, 1889. Attendees included Jean-Martin Charcot, Hippolyte Bernheim, Sigmund Freud and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault. The second was in August 12-16, 1900.

The Annual Meeting of the BMA, in 1892, unanimously endorsed the therapeutic use of hypnosis and rejects the theory of Mesmerism (animal magnetism). Even though the BMA recognized the validity of hypnosis, Medical Schools and Universities largely ignored the subject.

Boris Sidis (1867-1923), a Ukraine-born American psychologist and psychiatrist who studied under William James at Harvard formulated this law of suggestion:

Suggestibility varies as the amount of disaggregation, and inversely as the unification of consciousness

Disaggregation refers to the split between the normal waking consciousness and the subconscious.

Emile Coué (1857-1926), a French pharmacist, popularized the following laws of suggestion:

The Law of Concentrated Attention

Whenever attention is concentrated on an idea over and over again, it spontaneously tends to realize itself.

The Law of Reversed Effect

The harder one tries to do something, the less chance one has of success.

The Law of Dominant Effect

A strong emotion/suggestion tends to replace a weaker one.

The German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz adapted the theories of Abbe Faria and Emile Coué and identifying certain parallels to techniques in yoga and meditation. He called his system of self-hypnosis Autogenic training.

Modern Applications

Gustave Le Bon's study of crowd psychology compared the effects of a leader of a group to hypnosis. Le Bon made use of the suggestibility concept.

Hypnosis, which at the end of the 19th century had became a popular phenomenon, in particular due to Charcot's public hypnotism sessions, was crucial in the invention of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, a student of Charcot. Freud later met Liébault and Hippolyte Bernheim. Back in Vienna he developed abreaction therapy using hypnosis with Josef Breuer. When Sigmund Freud discounted its use in psychiatry, in the first half of the last century, stage hypnotists kept it alive more than physicians.

Russian medicine has made extensive use of obstetric hypnosis. Platanov, in the 1920s, became well known for his hypno-obstetric successes. Impressed by this approach, Stalin later set up a nationwide program headed by Velvoski, who originally combined hypnosis with Pavlov techniques but eventually used the latter almost exclusively. Ferdinand Lamaze, having visited Russia, brought back to France "childbirth without pain through the psychological method," which in turn showed more reflexologic than hypnotic inspiration.

The use of hypnosis in the treatment of neuroses flourished in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Hypnosis techniques were merged with psychiatry and was especially useful in the treatment of what is known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The modern study of hypnotism is usually considered to have begun in the 1930s with Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952) at Yale University. An experimental psychologist, his work Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933) was a rigorous study of the phenomenon, using statistical and experimental analysis. Hull's studies emphatically demonstrated once and for all that hypnosis had no connection with sleep. The main result of Hull's study was to rein in the extravagant claims of hypnotists, especially regarding extraordinary improvements in cognition or the senses under hypnosis. Hull's experiments did show the reality of some classical phenomena such as hypnotic anaesthesia and post-hypnotic amnesia. Hypnosis could also induce moderate increases in certain physical capacities and change the threshold of sensory stimulation; attenuation effects could be especially dramatic.

In the 1940s, Andrew Salter (1914-1996) introduced to American therapy the Pavlovian method of contradicting, opposing, and attacking beliefs. In the conditioned reflex, he has found what he saw as the essence of hypnosis. He thus gave a rebirth to hypnotism by combining it with classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov had himself induced an altered state in pigeons, that he referred to as "Cortical Inhibition," which some later theorists believe to be some form of hypnosis.

On April 23, 1955, the British Medical Association (BMA) approved the use of hypnosis in the areas of psychoneuroses and hypnoanesthesia in pain management in childbirth and surgery. At this time, the BMA also advised all physicians and medical students to receive fundamental training in hypnosis.

In 1958, the American Medical Association approved a report on the medical uses of hypnosis. It encouraged research on hypnosis although pointing out that some aspects of hypnosis are unknown and controversial. Two years after AMA approval, the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a branch of psychology.

Recent Innovators and Current Applications

Studies continued after the Second World War. Ernest Hilgard and André Weitzenhoffer created the Stanford scales in 1961, a standardized scale for susceptibility to hypnosis, and properly examined susceptibility across age-groups and sex. Hilgard went on to study sensory deception (1965) and induced anesthesia and analgesia (1975).

In 1967, Harry Arons, a self-taught professional hypnotist, wrote a textbook, Hypnosis in Criminal Investigation, dedicated to the application of hypnosis in the judicial system. Chapters include such applications such as memory, age regression, induction techniques and confabulation. Arons also traveled the country training law enforcement agencies. His teaching created national acceptance in the legal community and increased positive awareness to the practice of hypnosis for trial applications. He is best known today for introducing a scale that is used for measuring the 'depth' of trance in hypnosis, called the Arons scale, which recognizes six levels of trance depth: Hypnoidal, Light trance, Medium trance, Profound trance, Somnambulism, and Profound Somnambulism.

Dave Elman (1900-1967) was one of the pioneers of the medical use of hypnosis. Elman's definition of hypnosis is still widely used today among many professional hypnotherapists. Although Elman had no medical training, he is known for having trained the most physicians and psychotherapists in America, in the use of hypnotism. He is also known for introducing rapid inductions to the field of hypnotism. One method of induction which he introduced more than fifty years ago, is still one of the favored inductions used by many of today's masters.

Theories of Hypnosis

Some theories of hypnosis attempt to describe hypnotic phenomena in terms of brain activity while others concentrate more on the phenomenological experience. There is a fundamental distinction between "state" and "non-state" theories of hypnosis. State theorists believe that an altered state of consciousness is a core part of hypnosis, whereas non-state theorists believe that more mundane psychological processes such as focused attention and expectation are sufficient to explain hypnotic phenomena. The precise definition of what constitutes an altered state of consciousness is a matter of some debate.

The American Psychological Association remains neutral in the argument between 'state' and 'non-state' theorists. However, this controversy may be decreasing as modern brain-imaging techniques offer hope for an increased understanding of the nature of hypnosis, and as the value of both perspectives is increasingly recognized.

Alpha- and Theta-state theories

Through data collected by Electroencephalography (EEGs), four major brain-wave patterns—frequency of electrical impulses firing from the brain—have been identified. The Beta state (alert/working) is defined as 14–32 cycles per second (CPS), the Alpha state (relaxed/reflecting) as the 7–14 CPS, the Theta state (drowsy) as 4–7 CPS, and the Delta state (sleeping/dreaming/deep sleep) as approximately 3–5 CPS.

One physiological definition of hypnosis states that the brainwave level necessary to work on issues such as stopping smoking, weight management, reduction of phobias, sports improvement, etc., is the alpha state. The alpha state is commonly associated with closing one's eyes, relaxation, and daydreaming.

Another physiological definition states that the theta state is required for therapeutic change. The theta state is associated with hypnosis for surgery, hypnoanesthesia (the use of hypnosis to numb sensation of pain), and hypnoanalgesia (the use of hypnosis to decrease sensitivity to pain), which occur more readily in the theta and delta states. Anesthetics, sedatives and hypnotics disrupt neuronal synchrony, thought to underlie theta waves, in both humans and animals, as well as in simple neuronal circuits (see: http://www.stanford.edu/group/maciverlab/Theta.html). It should be noted that hypnoanalgesia of the skin is a common test for somnambulism. Arm and body catalepsy are one of a few tests done to determine readiness for these surgical applications. ^{[citation needed]}

However, it is important to reflect upon the fact that both arm and body catalepsy can be induced in normal non-hypnotized subjects. Indeed, arm catalepsy is a standard stage-hypnotist's test of susceptibility. Moreover, normal, non-hypnotized subjects can be found in any of these states of cortical arousal without also displaying any of the behavior, traits or the enhanced suggestibility associated with being hypnotized. Reading, watching movies, and meditating may be also forms of hypnosis.^{[citation needed]}

Social constructionism / Role-playing theory

This theory suggests that individuals are playing a role and allowing the hypnotist to create a reality for them. This relationship depends on how much rapport has been established between the hypnotist and the subject (see Hawthorne effect, Pygmalion effect, and the Placebo effect).

Generally, during the hypnotic process people become more receptive to suggestion, causing changes in the way they feel, think, and behave. Some psychologists such as Robert Baker claim that what we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned social behavior, a complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation, and suggestibility that can account for many esoteric behavioral manifestations. Psychologists, such as Sarbin and Spanos, have suggested that strong social expectations are played out by subjects, who believe they are in a state of hypnosis, behaving in a way that they imagine a hypnotized person would behave.

Nicholas Spanos states “hypnotic procedures influence behavior indirectly by altering subjects’ motivations, expectations and interpretations” and hypothesized that the behaviors associated with hypnosis are acted out knowingly by the person. He alleged that there are two reasons that cause people to misconstrue their state of consciousness as hypnosis. One of the reasons being that people believe that their behavior is caused by an external source instead of the self. The second is related to the way hypnotic rituals are performed. The hypnotist says certain things which are first interpreted as voluntary and then later on in the procedure as involuntary. An example being “relax the muscles in your legs” and then later “your legs feel limp and heavy.”

Spanos’ findings were not to prove that the hypnotic state did not exist at all but to prove that the behaviors exhibited by those individuals are due to “highly motivated” individuals.

Much experimental work has demonstrated that the experiences of hypnotized subjects can be dramatically shaped by expectations and social nuances. This view is often misunderstood: it does not discount the claim that hypnotized individuals are truly experiencing suggested effects, just that the mechanism by which this has taken place has in part been socially constructed and is not necessarily reliant on the idea of an altered state of consciousness. It is

Dissociation and neodissociation theories

Pierre Janet originally developed the idea of dissociation of consciousness, as a result of his work with hysterical patients. He believed that hypnosis was an example of dissociation: areas of an individual's behavioral control are split off from ordinary awareness. In this case, hypnosis would remove some control from the conscious mind and the individual will respond with autonomic, reflexive behavior. Weitzenhoffer describes hypnosis via this theory as "dissociation of awareness from the majority of sensory and even strictly neural events taking place."

Neuropsychological theory of hypnosis

Neuropsychological theories of hypnosis attempt to explain hypnotic phenomenon in terms of alterations in brain activity. Gruzelier, based on large amounts of EEG research, proposed that hypnosis is characterized by a shift in brain activity from anterior (front) to posterior (back).

Hypnosis as a conditioned process leading to sleep

Ivan Pavlov believed that hypnosis was a "partial sleep." He observed that the various degrees of hypnosis did not significantly differ physiologically from the waking state and hypnosis depended on insignificant changes of environmental stimuli. Pavlov also suggested that lower brain stem mechanisms were involved in hypnotic conditioning.

Some modern well-known hypnotherapists subscribe to this theory, since in hypnosis, the subject typically appears to be asleep because of eye closure that is typically part of the induction procedure. However, there is quite a bit of literature on blood pressure, reflexes, physiochemical and EEG studies which indicates that hypnosis more closely resembles complete wakefulness.^{[citation needed]}

Hyper–suggestibility theory

Currently a more popular theory, it states the subject focuses attention by responding to the suggestion of the hypnotist. As attention is focused and magnified, the hypnotist's words are gradually accepted without the subject carrying any conscious censorship of what is being said. This is not unlike the athlete listening to the last pieces of advice from a coach minutes before an important sport event: Concentration filters out anything that is unimportant and magnifies what is said about what really matters for the subject.

It would be a complete misinterpretation to conclude from this that only gullible or weak-minded people are suggestible. Hypnotized subjects will go along with the suggestions of the hypnotist as long as this does not violate their beliefs and will wake up otherwise.

Informational theory

This theory applies the concept of the brain-as-computer model. In electronic systems, a system adjusts its feedback networks to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for optimum functioning, called a "steady state." Increasing the receptability of a receptor enables messages to be more clearly received from a transmitter primarily by trying to reduce the interference (noise) as much as possible. Thus, the object of the hypnotist is to use techniques to reduce the interference and increase the receptability of specific messages (suggestions).

Systems theory

This theory may be regarded as an extension of James Braid's original conceptualization of hypnosis as involving a process of greatly enhancing or depressing the activity of the nervous system. It takes and establishes the necessary organization of the nervous system into interacting subsystems. On that basis it develops a picture of hypnotic phenomena as involving not only increasing or decreasing of the activity of particular subsystems, but on their interaction. As a result it brings into centre stage the phenomenon of feed-back loops, familiar in systems theory, and thereby throws light on a mechanism for creating the more extreme of hypnotic phenomena.

Research on hypnosis

There is a long tradition (over a century) of hypnosis research which has allowed scientists to test key ideas in the debate. Much research has been conducted into the nature and effects of hypnosis and suggestion, and hypnosis continues to be a popular (if somewhat peripheral) tool in contemporary psychological research. A number of different strands of hypnosis research are apparent: that which examines the "state" of hypnosis itself, that which examines the effects and properties of suggestions in and out of hypnosis, and that which uses hypnotic suggestion as a tool to research other areas of psychological functioning.

Recently, there are reports that efforts to reduce obesity with hypnosis (when used in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy, exercise, and a low-fat diet) may be effective.

Clinical Studies

In 1996 The National Institutes of Health technology assessment panel judged hypnosis to be an effective intervention for alleviating pain from cancer and other chronic conditions. A large number of clinical studies also indicate that hypnosis can reduce the acute pain experienced by patients undergoing burn-wound debridement, enduring bone marrow aspirations and childbirth. An analysis published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, for example, found that hypnotic suggestions relieved the pain of 75% of 933 subjects participating in 27 different experiments.

Brain Imaging

With the recent advent of new brain imaging techniques (chiefly MRI scans, with EEG and PET contributing to a lesser extent) there has been a resurgence of interest in the relationship between hypnosis and brain function. Any human experience is reflected in some way in the brain – seeing colors or motion is underscored by activity in the visual cortex, feeling fear is mediated by activity in the amygdala – and so hypnosis and suggestion are expected to have observable effects upon brain function. An important issue for researchers conducting brain imaging is to separate the effects of hypnosis and suggestion — knowing that a suggestion given during hypnosis affects brain area X does not just tell us about hypnosis, it tells us about the effects of the suggestion too. To account for this, experiments need to include a non-hypnotic-response-to-suggestion condition —only this way can the specific effects of hypnosis be examined.

A number of brain-imaging studies have been conducted on hypnotized subjects. A selection of these studies are explained and summarized below:

One controlled scientific experiment postulates that hypnosis may alter our perception of conscious experience in a way not possible when people are not "hypnotized," at least in "highly hypnotizable" people. In this experiment, color perception was changed by hypnosis in "highly hypnotizable" people as determined by positron emission tomography (PET) scans (Kosslyn et al., 2000). (This research does not compare the effects of hypnosis on less hypnotizable people and could therefore show little causal effect due to the lack of a control group.)

Another research example, employing event-related fMRI and EEG coherence measures, compared certain specific neural activity "...during Stroop task performance between participants of low and high hypnotic susceptibility, at baseline and after hypnotic induction." According to its authors, "the fMRI data revealed that conflict-related ACC activity interacted with hypnosis and hypnotic susceptibility, in that highly susceptible participants displayed increased conflict-related neural activity in the hypnosis condition compared to baseline, as well as with respect to subjects with low susceptibility." (Egner et al., 2005).

Skeptics dispute the significance of such findings, claiming that such changes cannot be shown to be particular to the hypnotized state, and that any other action such as daydreaming is also likely to alter brain activity in some manner. However, recent studies have shown that hypnotized subjects suggested to experience auditory hallucinations demonstrated via PET scans, regional blood flow in the same areas of the brain as real hearing, whereas in subjects merely engaged in vividly imagining hearing noises, this did not occur. The subject is still a matter of current research and scientific debate.

Hypnosis methodologies and effects

General methods

The act of inducing a hypnotic state is referred to as an induction procedure. Currently, there is not a consensus for which method is the most effective induction procedure. Some practitioners use simple calming techniques, while others use complex triggers (for example mechanical devices).

Many experienced hypnotists claim that they can hypnotize almost anyone. They also claim it is a myth that people with strong will power cannot be hypnotized, as they claim these generally make the best participants. This is based on the idea that those who are most intelligent are also the most creative and as such they will make strong associations with the structure of language used by the hypnotist and by the visual or auditory representations inside of their mind. On the other hand, there is a common claim that no one can really be hypnotized against his or her will. The counter-claim given by many hypnotists is that while you cannot make someone do anything against their will, you can change what it is that they wish to do.

Many religious and cultural rituals contain many similarities with techniques used for hypnotic induction and induce similar states in their participants.

General effects

Focused attention

This school of thought holds that hypnosis as a state is very similar to other states of extreme concentration, where a person becomes oblivious to his or her surroundings while lost in thought. Often suggested as an example is when a driver suddenly finds his or her self much further down the road without any memory of driving the intervening distance (see highway hypnosis), when a person is watching television and focuses so intently on the program that he or she ceases to be aware of the sides of the screen, or when a person is thinking about another subject while reading, then realizes that he or she has read several pages without consciously doing so, or taking in any of the content.

The act of hypnotizing, is, in effect, the act of deliberately and mechanically inducing a similar state.

Suggestibility

Psychologists have developed studies that show a strong correlation between the ease of putting someone in a state of hypnosis and their level of suggestibility. Some of these studies have produced the Harvard scale, Stanford scale, and eye-roll test; all of which are supposed to predict how easily a person can be put in a hypnotized state.

Hypnosis has further been described as "The suspension of the critical factor" which expands on the idea of "increased suggestibility." A person who claims to be hypnotized may accept statements as true that he or she would normally reject.

For example, when told "you have forgotten your name," the subject in a normal state would react with disbelief, but hypnotized individuals have claimed that they have, indeed, forgotten their own names.

It often appears as if the hypnotized participant accepts the authority of the hypnotist over his or her own experience. When asked after the conclusion of such a session, some participants appear to be genuinely unable to recall the incident, while others say that they had known the hypnotist was wrong but at the time it had seemed easier just to go along with his instructions. (Richard Feynman describes this in his memoir Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! as his own hypnotic experience.) The mechanism of this effect is however disputed: Some hypnotists would claim that this showed the difference between a deep and a shallow hypnotic trance, while skeptics would question the validity of this conclusion, citing that such effects can be duplicated in other circumstances where an agent holds authority, such as the Milgram experiment, and suggest that unreliability in results discredits a scientific theory of hypnosis.

Clinical observations of various depths of hypnosis

Breuer's absent pupillary reflex sign

An objective sign of hypnosis can be observed by a pupillary reflex test, which demonstrates a response that is opposed to the normal physiological response. When subjects are in a profound hypnotic state, they are asked to remain in hypnosis and open their eyes. The subjects' pupils are usually dilated and remain dilated or react poorly when a penlight is shone into them—the normal non-hypnotic response is a contraction of the pupil.

The esoteric publication Hypnotism, by Danish hypnotist Carl Septus, is an early reference work that notes the absent pupillary reflex sign. More specifically, it states that after subjects have been asked to open their eyes during a deep trance, light shone into the eyes does not cause pupil contraction. The hypnotist may use suggestion to keep the subject in hypnosis, but the hypnotist must avoid suggestions relating to eyes, visual focus, light, and the pupils' dilation or contraction.

Hypnosis applications

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a term to describe the use of hypnosis in a therapeutic context. Hypnotherapy can either be used as an addition to the work of licensed physicians or psychologists, or it can be used in a stand-alone environment where the hypnotherapist in question usually owns his or her own business. The majority of certified hypnotherapists (C.Hts in the US, Diploma. Hyp in the UK) today earn a large portion of their money through the cessation of smoking (often in a single session) and the aid of weight loss (body sculpting). There is no evidence that 'incurable' diseases are curable with hypnosis (such as cancer, diabetes, and arthritis), but pain and other body functions related to the diseases are controllable. Some of the treatments practiced by hypnotherapists, in particular so-called regression, have been viewed with skepticism.

The American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have both cautioned against the use of repressed memory therapy in dealing with cases of alleged childhood trauma, stating that "it is impossible, without other corroborative evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one", and so the procedure is "fraught with problems of potential misapplication". (See also false memory). This is why forensic hypnosis is not widely used in many countries' legal systems. Hypnosis is used a lot in modern life and is very helpful to some people.

Clinical hypnosis

The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis is an organization that "promotes greater acceptance of hypnosis as a clinical tool with broad applications." Hypnosis is applied to a great range of both physical and psychological ailments, rather than being restricted to purely psychological phenomena. The society was founded by Milton Erickson, a physician who succeeded in helping to put hypnosis on a firm footing. Milton H. Erickson was opposed to non-board-licensed health care professionals performing therapeutic hypnotism, to protect the public from so called "certified laymen" eager to practice. To get around this in the United States, "certified" lay hypnotists now claim to perform "non-therapeutic issue-resolution hypnotism," rather than "hypnotherapy."

Medical and Dental application

One of the major initial applications of hypnotism was the suppression of pain during medical procedures; this was supplanted (in the late 19th century) by the development of more reliable chemical anesthetics.

The use of hypnosis in dentistry has a long history. Dealing with hypnodontia – the use of hypnosis in dentistry – has attested to the increasing sophistication of hypnotic procedures to deal with the special problems of the dental patient. Besides smoothing out dental procedures by way of its generalized anti-anxiety effects, it can increase overall patient comfort, make the dental experience acceptable and bearable, decrease resistance to future intervention, and through posthypnotic suggestions, encourage more rapid recovery.

Educational Applications

In a lecture to the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) during their annual conference at the State University Of New York, Dr. Milton Erickson taught the process of indirect hypnosis while Dr. Robert W. Habbick spoke of his research on the use of hypnosis in enhancing learning and reducing anxiety. Dr. Habbick explained the use of a triad of suggestions "(a) enhancing confidence, while (b) strengthening focused interest in the work and (c) improving energy to do the studying necessary." The results of his controlled research pointed the way toward the need to apply hypnosis especially with students having trouble studying. In a more recent lecture, Dr. Habbick spoke in Boston to ASCH of the positive effects of using his suggested hypnosis triad with students at the Bureau of Study Council at Harvard University.

Forensic application

Scientific knowledge of hypnosis applied to Legal problems is called forensic hypnosis. Courts prior to 1968 consistently excluded post-hypnotic testimony on the grounds that it was unreliable and apt to influence a jury unduly. Now hypnosis practice is admissible in courtroom testimonies as long as the stringent criteria and guidelines are met. American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code specifies Crime done by hypnotic Suggestion & Witness evidence in court after Hypnotic suggestion are not valued. In the U.S., Oregon, Texas, Indiana, Nevada, and California states have separate hypnotic investigation acts. Nevada courts accept hypnotically refreshed statements as evidence for judgment. Russia generally uses hypnosis in criminal investigations.

Forensic hypnosis is not widely used in many legal systems due to concerns about false memory

Entertainment/Stage application

Professor G.F. Wagstaff, of the University of Liverpool, carried out research around the phenomenon of stage hypnotism or hypnotism for entertainment. He surmised that rather than the subject being in an 'altered state' rather they were affected significantly more by social factors and expectations.

Wagstaff's work explores how a hypnotist carefully chooses volunteers from the audience, puts them into a trance using hypnosis and then plants suggestions for them to perform. The critical factor in all stage hypnosis shows is the choice of enthusiastic and credulous individuals. Various techniques exist for discerning whether an individual is a likely candidate for a hypnosis stage act showing a higher than normal susceptibility. Often, the sheer willingness of audience members to volunteer is a sign that they will cooperate with the hypnotist's suggestions during the show, whether or not they ever really become hypnotized in the first place.

The process used to ensure participants presenting themselves as adequate for the stage starts with the initial call for volunteers from the audience. The hypnotist will use carefully selected terms in the initial call for volunteers. There will be a certain number of chairs, or spots on the stage which will usually be less than the number of initial volunteers. This will set up an unconscious sense of competition among those volunteers who *really do* want to participate.

For example, the volunteers may be made to believe they are drunk, aliens speaking a strange alien language, naked or seeing others naked, 6-year-old children, ballet dancers etc. Such suggestions are designed to be temporary, lasting the duration of the show. Stage hypnosis is a unique performance in that it involves "real" people from the audience responding in a variety of ways, making no two shows the same. There has been debate over the years as to whether some degree of fraud or collusion may be involved in some stage hypnosis acts.

Sometimes a stage hypnosis begins with an induction in which the hypnotist asks the entire audience to close their eyes and listen to his words. He lulls everyone participating into a relaxed state with which he may observe who is more susceptible to be hypnotized. Often people are simply unable to relax and "go with" the hypnotist's instructions due to inability to relax and allow the mind to follow instructions without conscious thought or simply determination to not be induced.

There are many observations that can be made of those who do "go under": slumping in their seat, head lolling to the side, falling into the lap of someone next to them, eye lids flickering, and inability to wake when spoken to or prodded unless done so by the hypnotist himself. For those who are simply watching this show and seeing the person next to them become induced, it can be frightening to witness.

The people whom the hypnotist saw to be easily induced the deepest are approached individually. He will speak briefly to the person and learn their name at which time he may say a few words to them and command them to sleep. For example: "Are you tired, Jane? Would you like to sleep now? Go ahead - SLEEP." Normally this action will cause the individual to immediately appear to have fallen asleep, accompanied by the individual falling to the side. The hypnotist will then speak once more to the person and in the same manner command the person to wake. If this person seems to have been deeply hypnotized but can also wake easily seems unaware of what happened, he or she will be asked to go on the stage.

Once several people are assembled, the hypnotist will begin with inducing each of them and testing them to make sure they are perfectly under. If someone is not working well enough they may be asked to leave. Those who remain are the ones who cannot be woken, even by loud audiences and shouts. They only respond to the hypnotist. He will begin with small commands for action and move up to grand requests. For example, the subjects may first be told to act as if they were cold in a relatively warm room, and by the end of the night, they are showing the audience what their first kisses were like.

Self-hypnosis

Self-hypnosis (or autosuggestion) hypnosis in which a person hypnotizes himself or herself without the assistance of another person to serve as the hypnotist — is a staple of hypnotherapy-related self-help programs. It is most often used to help the self-hypnotist stay on a diet, overcome smoking or some other addiction, or to generally boost the hypnotized person's self-esteem. It is rarely used for the more complex or controversial uses of hypnotism, which require the hypnotist to monitor the hypnotized person's reactions and responses and respond accordingly. Most people who practice self-hypnosis require a focus in order to become fully hypnotized; there are many computer programs on the market that can ostensibly help in this area, though few, if any, have been scientifically proven to aid self-hypnosis.

Some people use devices known as mind machines to help them go into self-hypnosis more readily. A mind machine consists of glasses with different colored flashing LEDs on the inside, and headphones. The LEDs stimulate the visual channel while the headphones stimulate the audio channel with similar or slightly different frequencies designed to produce a certain mental state. A common occurrence is the use of binaural beats in the audio which is said to produce hypnosis more readily.

Walking Hypnosis

Also known as environmental hypnosis, this, as defined by hypnosis online, is a naturally occurring trance that one can enter whilst performing a monotonous repetetive task, such as walking or gardening, or in sedentary pursuits such as listening to a lecture or reading, in which one's attention drifts from the task into a trance-like state, often known as "zoning out." This natural reaction to boredom is often harnessed by athletes to render them oblivious to distractions, especially physical symptoms of pain and fatigue, and the state is known in this context as being "in the zone."

Waking Hypnosis

This phemomenon, as expounded by Melvin Powers in 1955, involves altering the behaviour of a subject by suggestion without inducing a trance. Related to the placebo effect, a subject becomes subconsciously convinced that what they are being told is inevitable reality, for example that the air in the room will cause them to swallow. They can be convinced that a completely benign substance is actually a drug that will induce whatever effect is suggested. In order to work, the subject must completely trust the source of the suggestion or be subconsciously convinced by a calm authoritative tone.

Well trained hypnotherapists and hypnotists know that people are constantly in a state of waking hypnosis. For example, when a person asks someone to "have a seat" and the person sits in the chair offered, this is the same process by which a subject will accept or reject a hypnotists suggestion.

Mass application

Influencing the crowds of common longings and yearnings by a demagogue is called mass hypnosis. Generally, mass hypnosis is applied to religious sessions. Many forms of music and dance can be used to create religious trance.

Indirect application

In addition to direct application of hypnosis (that is, treatment of conditions by means of hypnosis), there is also indirect application, wherein hypnosis is used to facilitate another procedure. Some people seem more able to display 'enhanced functioning', such as the suppression of pain, while utilizing hypnosis.

Possible Dangers of Hypnosis

Abreaction

Some psychologists and other mental health professionals are concerned that practitioners of hypnosis who are unlicensed health professionals might evoke intense emotions in their clients that they are untrained to handle. These abreactions might occur when spontaneously or purposefully recalling traumatic events or, some believe, spontaneous mental breakdowns.

False Memory

False memory obtained via hypnosis has figured prominently in many investigations and court cases, including cases of alleged sexual abuse. There is no scientific way to prove that any of these recollections are completely accurate.

Many individuals can and have been led by an errant hypnotist to believe in things that they later were able to show did not happen have retracted allegations of such abuse (for instance, [4]).

The American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association have both cautioned against the use of repressed memory therapy in dealing with cases of alleged childhood trauma, stating that "it is impossible, without other corroborative evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one", and so the procedure is "fraught with problems of potential misapplication". (See also false memory).

Hypnosis and the Law

Governmental authorities and qualifications

Governmental authorities, such as state licensing agencies, may establish minimum requirements for credentials that must be earned before one may practice hypnosis within their jurisdiction. Such credentials typically are called certificates or licenses.

In 1955, the British Medical Association, in 1958 the American Medical Association, and in 1960 the American Psychological Association all approved the medical uses of hypnosis. Even though they recognized the validity of hypnosis, medical schools and universities largely ignored the subject. As a result, the private sector became the provider of hypnosis training. This lead to a very interesting state of affairs; with so few physicians and dentists being able to train others in hypnosis, the private hypnotherapy school was born.

There was no authentic degree or diploma in hypnosis issued in either Great Britain, the United States, nor in any other country in the world. There was no such thing as a qualified hypnotherapist. There were only a few training courses for qualified doctors, dentists and clinical psychologists.

The World Health Organization has included hypnotherapy in procedure-based therapies of traditional medicine with an emphasis that hypnosis sits astride official and unofficial medicine. [5]

Since the early 1990s two UK universities, Sheffield University and University College London, have sanctioned degree programs in hypnosis for medically, dentally, or psychologically qualified hands.

In 1998 there was great change in UK. It was the development of National Occupational Standards[6] [7]for hypnotherapy. The UK recognized hypnotherapy as a stand-alone therapy. There is a profession wide program of trying to secure National Qualifications Framework for hypnotherapy. City & guilds a national awarding body have been employed to accredit training program in hypnotherapy and counseling. In June 2002 NCFE, a UK national awarding body, started external accreditation for the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma courses supervised by the National Council for Hypnotherapy. They have to study the psychology and psychotherapy relevant to their subject. In their syllabus hypnotism is to psychology as surgery is to medicine. As a surgeon must be expert in medicine, a hypnotherapist must be in counseling psychology.

So there is an accredited qualification in UK, but the practice has not been yet regulated.

Things are the reverse in the USA. The practice is regulated to certain extent. But there is no an accredited qualification. There is an explicit law in 16 states of US that regulates the practice of hypnotism. They are California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington and Nevada (forensic hypnosis only). Connecticut, New York and Minnesota states have changed their status in 2006 or are undergoing change in the existing regulation.

But Hypnotherapy (hypnosis) is recognized as a legal stand-alone profession by the US Department of Labor. It is listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (079.157.010). The US Department of Education lists "Hypnotherapy-hypnotherapist" (9CIP 2000, 51.3603) under instructional programs. The Office of Administrative Law Judges Law Library lists "Hypnotherapist" as a "legal profession."

According to the Federal Dictionary of Occupational Titles published by the United States Department of Labor under Hypnotherapist 079.157.010 it is defined as follows: "Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior patterns: Consults with client to determine nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic state by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degree of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client, using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client's problem. May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning." GOE: 10.02.02 STRENGTH: S GED: R4 M3 L4 SVP: 7 DLU: 7

In 2003, India also restricted the practice of hypnotherapy to Registered Medical Practitioners of recognized systems and appropriately trained personnel.[8]

In Ontario, Canada, the Hypnosis Act of 1964 was struck down apparently due to the ongoing difficulty of defining and proving hypnosis or a hypnotic state, rendering hypnosis and hypnotherapy an unregulated industry in the province.

The Judiciary System

Recollection of knowledge via hypnosis has been used in many cases, but its effectiveness is disputed. Proponents claim that recovered memories have aided in the solving of many crimes, often corroborating with physical evidence which would have been impossible to obtain otherwise. Skeptics suggest that such successes are a function of simple chance, pointing to cases where its use on victims of rape or attempted murder to help them jog their memory in identifying an accused has caused sentences to be doled out to the wrong person. This is because the hypnotist might make suggestions that are more likely to be remembered as "truth." (See also false memory). Most experts recommend that the practice be used at most like a lie detector, to glean more information, and never as the smoking gun.

Hypnosis has proven beneficial, but not always in expected ways. During the Hillside Strangler trial, Kenneth Bianchi claimed a split personality carried out the crimes of which he was accused. Hypnosis was used extensively to argue that a second personality existed. However, due to faults in Bianchi's facade, it was proved that no other personalities existed and his insanity defense was discredited.

Popular culture

The notion of hypnotism has elicited many presentations in popular culture. Many works of fiction, such as movies, television programs, and comic books portray hypnotism as a form of total mind control; however, most authorities agree that this is an exaggeration. Portrayals in these forms of media foster a number of popular misconceptions are often taken to be true by the public at large, adding to the controversy surrounding hypnosis.

Misconceptions

Some believe that hypnotism is a form of mind control and/or brainwashing that can control a person's behavior and judgment and therefore could potentially cause them harm. These beliefs are not generally based on scientific evidence, as there is no scientific consensus on whether mind control even exists.. Due to the stage hypnotist's showmanship and their perpetuated illusion of possessing mysterious abilities, hypnosis is often seen as caused by the hypnotist's power. The reality is the hypnotist has no power other than to offer suggestions which the subject or client may choose to respond to or not to respond to.. The trance state is ultimately controlled by the client who may choose to terminate the hypnotic process at will. While a subject may want to enjoy the comfort of the trance state for as long as possbile, it is literally impossible to become stuck in hypnosis.. While the word 'Hypnosis' is derived from the Greek word for 'sleep' and many hypnotists still use the language of 'Sleep' and 'Awake', hypnosis is not sleep. From the mental standpoint, a hypnotic subject is relaxed yet alert and always aware at some level.. Due to the popular but incorrect notion of hypnosis as mind control, some people believe that the ability to experience hypnosis is related to strength and soundness of mind. However, scientists note that personality traits such as gullibility or submissiveness or factors such as low intelligence are not related to hypnotizability. Research studies suggest neither intelligence, sex, nor personality traits affect responsiveness to hypnosis and that hypnotizability may in fact be hereditary or genetic in nature.. Another misconception in popular culture is that hypnosis is often the product of vivid imaginations and that hypnotic phenomena is merely imagined in the mind. However, research indicates many imaginative people do not fare well as good hypnotic subjects. Furthermore, studies using PET scans have shown that hypnotized subjects suggested to have auditory hallucinations demonstrated regional blood flow in the same areas of the brain as real hearing, whereas subjects merely imagining hearing noise did not.

Hypnosis in Popular Media

Popular magician/mentalist, "The Amazing Kreskin", is noted to dispute the validity of Hypnosis and once offered a $100,000 to anyone who can prove such a thing as a 'hypnotic trance' exists to his satisfaction.

The Showtime Network television show Bullshit!, which features comedy duo Penn & Teller, took a skeptical look at hypnosis in one of their episodes.

The British car show Top Gear featured one of the presenters, Richard Hammond, getting hypnotized. He was put to sleep, and when he woke up he showed a number of personality and mental changes, including not remembering how to drive a car, and thinking that a miniature child's version of a Porsche 911 was his own car, and attempting to drive it around in the studio.

External links

• Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Resources for Research and Teaching: Hypnosis and Related States Research Database
• HypnosisAndSuggestion.org Exploring the science behind hypnosis
• American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis
• Hypnosis, from the Skeptic's dictionary, skeptical review of the veracity of hypnosis.
• Scientific American Article on Hypnosis
• Hypnosis, from Howstuffworks.com
• The National Council for Hypnotherapy The only non-for-profit governing body in the UK
• The (British) National Register of Advanced Hypnotherapists
• American Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association
• American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, founded by Milton Erickson in 1957: "Promotes greater acceptance of hypnosis as a clinical tool with broad applications."
• National Guild of Hypnotists (USA)
• International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis

British Society for Clinical Psychophysiology accreditation for clinical hypnotherapy courses and individual practitioners

• Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Resources for Research and Teaching: Hypnosis and Related States Research Database

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