Hypnotism 101

Your awareness about hypnosis probably came from a number of fiction novels, science fiction movies, and TV shows. Some people view hypnosis as a paranormal occurrence, but is it?

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the word "hypnosis" as the state wherein sleep is induced by one person, called the hypnotist, to another person. Through the process, the hypnotist manipulates the actions and thoughts of the other person.

A hypnotized person readily accepts directions and orders of the hypnotist because he is in a state of subjection or vulnerability. Proper reasoning and normal thinking is set aside.

You want to remember that the history of hypnotism can be traced back into the primeval ages when sorcery was very popular. The legendary Sigmund Freud utilized hypnosis when he was studying the unconscious state.

After a while, the application of hypnotism has come to be widely utilized in the disciplines of psychology and medicine. There are practitioners that utilize hypnosis to calm patients or anesthetize them, change unlikely behaviors, and in the long run, expose buried personalities or memories.

Still, there is no definite or regularly accepted clarification for hypnotism. Below are multiple attempts and theories that try to pacify the unending questions and curiosity about the concept.

1 - Theories on Dissociation and Neo Dissociation

Pierre Janet, a French physician and psychologist of the 19th century, had a theory on dissociation, which is the state when gears of awareness are diverted. Through Dr. Janet's experiments and observations, hysterical patients were pacified through dissociation, which is practically hypnosis.

In 1977, American psychologist Ernest Hilgard developed a neo dissociation theory, which was an offshoot to Dr Janet's dissociation idea. According to Dr. Hilgard, there are components of one's personality that are further dissociated from other sub-components through an amnesic blockage. Therefore, suggestions and commands from a hypnotist would modify one's perception and then next one's behavior.

2 - Theory of Role-playing

The theory of role-playing states that all people play roles. Any alteration from a hypnotist would offer up a wake up call or bring about reality. Thus, the theory is fundamentally dependent upon the type of rapport developed between the person being hypnotized and the hypnotist.

3 - Hysteria

Another psychologist named Charcot has claimed that hypnosis can be effective only when used on people experiencing hysteria. Never-the-less, recent breakthroughs have challenged the idea because hypnosis is shown to take effect also on those who don't exhibit hysteria.

4 - Partial Sleep

An early psychologist named Ivan Pavlov attempted to elucidate the nature of hypnosis by describing it as a state of being partially awake.

The theory explains the reason why a hypnotized person appears to lose his sense of personal thinking and relies on the suggestions of the hypnotist. Otherwise, hypnosis would not be possible because normal thinking would refuse to give in to other people's control.

Overall, a small amount of professionals and experts attempted to explain and expound on the nature and dynamics of hypnotism. Some people still look at hypnotism as a form of a paranormal activity. A number of movies and sci-fi stories depict hypnotism as evil. Some people now distinguish the notion as a creepy idea.

Above all, hypnotism is a way of understanding the complex and confusing facet of the human mind and consciousness.