Hypnosis – What It Is And What It Is Not
Adam Cox | January 5, 2010Hypnosis and its healing offshoot, hypnotherapy, have always been mired in myths. People either believe them to be bordering on occult, or don’t consider them to be serious scientific endeavours. Some of the popular misconceptions linked with hypnosis and the truth behind them are given below.
There is no mysticism or rituals involved in hypnosis. It is a very easy technique, which can be understood easily with the help of psychology and other scientific methods. People refuse to acknowledge hypnosis even after watching participants effectively experiencing its power in public shows. They say that hypnotised subjects allow practitioners to be successful in their art by not displaying enough mental strength to withstand the influence of their words. But this again is a complete fallacy. Hypnosis can in fact be successfully practised on people who are mentally strong and are trying hard to avoid the spell.
Another belief is that hypnosis is an alternate state of consciousness, which again is a big misconception. A hypnotized person is fully awake to what is going on in his surroundings. During the hypnotic state, the subject calms down completely and is therefore able to focus fully on the inputs provided by the practitioner.
Some researchers have concluded that hypnosis works on just 5% of the world’s population, and this is another prevalent myth. The researchers are to some extent true in their own way, because they attempted hypnotising the group by the same hypnosis method without considering individual differences in character and disposition. Hypnosis can’t be straight jacketed like that and clicks only if there are different methodologies for different characters.
Many people take hypnosis to be a variant of meditation. However, interaction between the subject and the practitioner is paramount in hypnosis, while meditation is like an engagement with the self without any external interaction involved. Similarly, a period of trance is also sometimes equated with hypnosis, which is not correct. The person doesn’t communicate to achieve a state of trance, while hypnosis is impossible without communication.
It is often thought that hypnosis training or hypnotherapy cannot cause transformations in physique or in patterns of conduct of an individual. Hypnosis certainly cannot transform the body in abnormal ways. However, it can guide the body to a healthy shape through behavioural transformations like eating in a controlled manner, and giving up smoking and other addictions by ensuring a good amount of of motivation in an individual.
Undergoing hypnotherapy is a fine way to lead a happy and fulfilling life, and therefore one should not pay heed to the myths, and go for hypnotic sittings with an open mind.
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