What Is Hypnosis?

INTRODUCTION

Before one can begin to analyse what hypnosis actually is, it's worth giving a very brief introduction on "the story so far". Hypnosis in whatever form it has manifested itself throughout history, has long been associated, particularly in Western society with the strange and mysterious; with sideshows, mystics and faith healers and has suffered for centuries with a decidedly 'bad press', not aided by those who have used it as a form of "quackery" or entertainment. There are references to forms of hypnosis dating back to ancient times; some are easier to interpret than others, but it is commonly accepted that during ancient history some form of trance was used. To this day, Australian Aborigines continue to use a hypnotic trance state just as they have done for thousands of years, whilst similar practices can be observed in Native North American and Hindu cultures.

In the West, it is generally acknowledged that hypnosis began to be taken more seriously during the 18th Century, especially in Europe, through the work of Dr Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), a Viennese physician who believed in the influence of astronomy and magnets on human health and from whom we derive the phrases Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism. Mesmer supposed that every individual had magnetic fluid flowing in channels throughout their body and that blockages in the flow of this fluid caused emotional or physical disease. He believed that certain individuals had a varying degree of Animal Magnetism, which therefore varied their ability to manipulate the flow of this fluid.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the first person of note to propose the existence of the subconscious mind and spent many years developing his Freudian Therapy and the idea that hidden thoughts contained in the subconscious could be accessed and transferred to a patient's conscious mind, using suggestion. Prior to Freud, many eminent figures discussed the possibility of an unconscious mind without knowingly establishing the link, such as Scottish medical doctor, James Braid (1795-1860) during the mid-19th Century. Mesmer's original theories regarding Animal Magnetism became less prominent and focussed more intently on the use of trance as an aid to treatment of various conditions. Having witnessed a Swiss "Mesmerist" in action, Braid was intrigued and studied the subject intensely for many months, developing the core of his theory regarding the practice. He disliked the term "Mesmerism" and adopted the word "Hypnosis" from Hypnos, the Greek God of Sleep (although this can give the wrong impression, as it implies that sleep plays a major part in hypnosis, which we shall discover is not the case) and was the first time the term was used in English. He wrote in his first book, Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep (1843);

"I have now entirely separated Hypnotism from Animal Magnetism. I consider it to be merely a simple, speedy, and certain mode of throwing the nervous system into a new condition, which may be rendered eminently available in the cure of certain disorders."

The practice became regarded more favourably and treated with a more scientific approach, yet despite these advances, many still regard it with a degree of scepticism, admirably summed up by the American, Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952) in his 1933 work Hypnosis and Suggestibility;

"All sciences alike have descended from magic and superstition but none has been so slow as hypnosis in shaking off the evil associations of its origins."

WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2004), Hypnosis can be defined as:

"A special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state."

Notwithstanding its early mystical associations, hypnosis is neither strange nor supernatural. On the contrary, it is an entirely natural phenomenon and one that is experienced by all humans and many animals. People don't notice their hypnotic state because it seems such a natural state of mind.

A common example is the process of driving a car. When you first learn to drive, you begin at a level of 'conscious incompetence' in that everything is new and you know that you're completely hopeless at it! But as time passes and you master the necessary skills, you progress to a point of 'unconscious competence'; the process becomes automatic and you no longer need to concentrate on the actual mechanics of propelling the vehicle. All that you have learned (as with everything you learn throughout your life) has been stored in the unconscious part of your mind, leaving the remainder, the conscious, free to process what is actually happening around you or to 'wander off' into detached thoughts - daydreaming being a prime example. Continuing the analogy of driving, many people can take a regular journey but be unable to remember passing a particular landmark or arriving at their destination and wondering how they got there so quickly. Whilst functioning in this automatic mode, it is quite easy to drift into a different level of consciousness and daydreaming represents the first level of a trance state.

Many believe that during hypnosis, the hypnotist will take control of their subject and make them do things against their will that they would not normally do in a non-hypnotised state. This is quite impossible, as, although the subject is in a different state of mind, they remain fully in control of what they are doing at all times. It is a two-way process and relies heavily on trust between the two parties and the desire of the subject to participate.

So hypnosis can be summarised as cooperative interaction in which a subject's unconscious mind can be accessed resulting in them being responsive to the suggestions of the hypnotist.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HYPNOSIS

Psychologically, hypnosis unlocks the subconscious part of the brain in response to verbal stimulation resulting in a variety of phenomena such as alterations in consciousness and memory, increased susceptibility to suggestion and the subject responding to ideas that would be unfamiliar to them in their normal state of mind.

To explain this, it would be interesting to take a brief look at how the brain functions and how hypnosis affects that function. In their book, Hypnosis for Change (pp12-13),