Myths of Hypnosis

There has been much misinformation concerning hypnosis.  The only information most people have about hypnosis is what they see on TV.  Most of the hypnotist on TV are entertainers.   They don't accurately represent the profession of Hypnotherapy.  Professional Hypnotherapists would never make you cluck like a chicken or do a striptease, even if they could.  A hypnotist can not make you do something you don't want to do.  

Other misconceptions arise from operations of fake "Hypnotists" who use the help of "Professional Subjects" and the performances of Stage Illusionists.

Myth:    Hypnotism is of the occult or supernatural

Fact:     Hypnotism is scientific, purely natural manifestation of the powers of the human mind.  It is not supernatural, nor of the occult. 

Myth:   Weak-willed people make the best hypnosis subjects.

Fact:     Hypnotism actually has nothing to do with the will; it depends upon the imagination, a faculty which is vastly stronger than the will.  The best hypnotic subjects are people with strong wills, and with intelligence above the average.  Therefore bright, imaginative people make the best subjects.

Myth:   Only a small proportion of the population can be hypnotized.

Fact:     90 to 95 percent of adults can be hypnotized to some degree.  Some will respond more rapidly than others.  In the average group about one in five will promptly enter a deep enough trance to be used on stage.  There are three classes of people who cannot be hypnotized at all: 1) The insane.  2) Infants too young to understand the words of the operator.  3) Persons in a state of intoxication.

Myth:   A hypnotist, with soothing words and soft music, simply lulls his subjects off the sleep.

Fact:     In the state of hypnosis the conscious mind is completely relaxed and rested but not asleep.  Whereas in sleep the conscious mind is to some extent tense and alert.

Myth:   Very few people can hypnotize.

Fact:     Any normally intelligent person could learn to hypnotize.  But this does not mean that everyone should.  Just as some make better doctors than others, or better golfers, so some make better hypnotists than others.  

Myth:   A person can be hypnotized against his will.

Fact:     For all practical purposes, a subject must consent to be hypnotized before he can be induced to enter that state.  

Myth:   The hypnotist has absolute control over a subject’s mind and body.

Fact:     This is the most absurd and injurious of all fallacies concerning hypnotism.  Hypnosis is not an anesthetic that renders the subject helpless; it is a means of releasing and intensifying his or her own personal powers and abilities.  No hypnotist can make subjects say or do anything contrary to their deep-rooted principles.  A girl who would not normally be seen on a dance floor might, under hypnosis, cast off her inhibitions and dance a vigorous twist.  But a normally modest girl certainly could not be made to disrobe completely in front of any person – including the hypnotist – who had no right to be there.  Any suggestion that arouses sincere moral indignation or repugnance immediately causes the subject to break the trance either by waking up or by lapsing into ordinary sleep.  

Myth:   A subject knows nothing when he is hypnotized.

Fact:     In light and medium stages of hypnosis, the subject is fully aware of what is being said or done; when aroused, he will remember every detail.  He may actually deny that he was hypnotized at all.  Even in deep trance the subject hears and knows all that is going on.  However, the deep trance often results in amnesia, especially if this is suggested by the hypnotist.  In such cases, what the subject has forgotten, he imagines that he never knew.

Myth:    Hypnotherapy requires a deep trance.

Fact:      Hypnosis has many therapeutic uses, but results do no depend upon the depth of trance.  Some nervous disorders can be completely cured in the lightest trance while another patient with the same complaint may receive little or no benefit even from the deepest hypnosis.

Myth:   A subject may not wake up after hypnosis.

Fact:     There is not the slightest danger of this.  The subject, left to himself, falls into ordinary sleep and wakes normally.  How soon, depends on the time of day.  A subject hypnotized during the early part of the day would probably wake within the hour; someone hypnotized late at night, would probably sleep through soundly through the night, waking in the morning.

Myth:   The Hypnotherapist will dominate the client.

Fact:     There is no “domination” and no “submission” in hypnotism.  The hypnotist actually helps subjects to release and express their own latent or hidden abilities.  For example:  A man unaccustomed to public speaking can, when hypnotized, speak fluently and confidently to an audience of thousands.  He already had the ability to do this, but suppressed it by his own doubts and fear; the hypnotist releases that ability.  

Myth:    Hypnotism is dangerous.

Fact:     An automobile is not in itself dangerous; food is not dangerous; tranquilizers are not dangerous.  But, if misused those things can be dangerous.  Hypnotism, in the hands of amateurs and bunglers, can be dangerous, but when used properly, by an experienced practitioner, it is perfectly safe.

Myth:    Hypnotherapy is like psychoanalysis and requires many lengthy sessions.

Myth:    Orthodox medicine condemns hypnotism.

Fact:     Many orthodox psychologists and psychiatrists use hypnosis with their patients.  Hypnosis is being used by many surgeons for many kinds of operations.  The American, Canadian and British Medical Associations accept the therapeutic value of hypnotism.  Hypnotism is being used in countless dentists’ offices to produce drugless anesthesia without suffering or anxiety to the patient.  

Revised April 21, 2007