Comments on: How does hypnosis work?

By: Pierce

Pierce — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:21:18 +0000

Iron Man,

Hypnosis works by influencing your subconscious and changing the fundamental way it thinks about certain situations. This is achieved through being in a state known as a “trance”. When you’re in a trance you become highly suggestible, and open to persuassion.

Hypnosis simply involves planting positive “suggestions” within your subconscious when you’re in that state of trance.

By: cavassi

cavassi — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:31:51 +0000

Dr. Pushpinder gives a fairly good explanation fromhis theoretical point of view. I take exception with one statement: you never follow any instruction “blindly”. A hypnotized person will not follow a suggestion that is against a strongly held belief. For example, if someone was trying to plan a murder, as in some movies, you are not likely able to use hypnosis because most people possess a strong prohibition against murder and hypnosis cannot override it.
Hypnosis is used to create a state of the mind in which it is very focused and not distracted by anything else, as it usually is in normal life. In this state, suggestions or learning can be incorporated more easily. But if you talk to anyone who has used it for habit reformation, the results appear to “wear off” after about one month. For example, people who use it to stop smoking, if they do not continue the self-hypnosis exercises, will probably start smoking again when the urge become too great. They say one won’t hurt, then two, and before they know it they are back again. Most hypnotists who use it for habit reformation train the person to self-hypnotize to keep the treatment effects going.
Hypnotist do not “control” a person’s mind. They lay the groundwork and try to remove inhibitions that prevent the person from performing things they either want to or would be willing to do because of the prohibitions. That is interesting in itself and has some interesting implications. However, in some cases, such as smoking, it tries to alleviate the reasons why a person smokes, such as anxiety or other automatic behaviors. One person I knew lit a cigarette every time the telephone rang. The hypnotist used hypnosis to get him to start another behavior every time the telephone rang. In his job the telephone rang constantly because he was an executive in a non-profit organization.

By: Dr pushpinder k

Dr pushpinder k — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:13:17 +0000

Our mind has three levels first conscious that take rational decisions then subconscious that follows blindly and finally the unconscious that operates while sleeping.
During hypnosis they make the conscious mind sleepy by giving it suitable suggestions and then they give commands to the subconscious mind which follows them blindly.
There is nothing supernatural about it. It is a well known scientific fact now a days and is being used even in medical science for the benefit of humanity.