'NO WAY' Did I Do That!!

One of the most widely held fallacies about hypnotism is that the hypnotist has the power to hypnotize everybody and then they are powerless to his suggestions no matter how devious!

This is definitely a belief that has been helped along by the rise in stage hypnosis shows where seemingly sane people are given suggestions to do clearly insane and foolish acts!

There are those who really seem to believe that a hypnotist is able to put people into a zombie like trance ready and willing to obey every given command.

Well, sorry to burst your 'high on dramatic effects' balloon, but the truth is that hypnotism merely cannot and does not push you to do things you do not want to.

No matter how deep a hypnotist 'puts you under'; you will not dismiss or care not for your basic principles and beliefs, just because they are instilled in you at a subconscious level too!

For example, it would not matter how much a person with devout religious beliefs was directed to do so, they just are not going to burn or defile the strongest symbols of their religious beliefs.

Regardless of what you are told to do, your inherent sense of what is right and what is not will remain intact.

Remember that the next time you see a stage hypnotist 'convince' the prettiest girl to start taking off her clothes!

No one can make her do it, unless she wants to!

All a hypnotist does is make suggestions that alter what it is that you are actually aware of at a conscious state, which can perhaps make you more, predisposed to being "manipulated".

But do not forget that this is only ever partially true, and that everybody differs in how susceptible they are to this form of suggestion.

So, why is it that people who get dragged on stage at the show do such seemingly crazy things?

Well, the best clarification is that which many subjects themselves declare, that it was just 'easier' to take the suggestions given by the hypnotist than to not follow.

This appears to be because the usually dominant active decision-making component of the conscious mind appears to become apprehensive and considerably more submissive than usual, when in a trance like state.

It is just 'easier' to do what you were told to do, instead of having to 'wake up' the decision making components of your mind, to have to make the refusal!

So, yes, for sure the hypnotist does have some power to direct the actions or the way a subject acts. Otherwise, hypnotism would not actually exist, because that is what it is about.

However, the success of hypnotism also has to do with the mind of the subject too. Bottom line is that, if you are not ready and willing to be hypnotized, then you won't be!