HYPNOSIS EXPLAINED
Among the general population, hypnosis, what it is and how it works, is
greatly misunderstood. Most people's idea of hypnosis comes from a lot
of misinformation and inaccurate stereotypes. Stage Hypnotists
particularly misrepresent the phenomenon. And
hypnosis is ridiculosly portrayed in the cinema.
So what is it?
A very simple example of someone in hypnosis is to think about how you
got to sleep last night. If you fell asleep, congratulations! You are
very good at hypnotizing yourself. In order to achieve sleep, a human
must get into a light stage of hypnosis. This state of mind actually
makes it possible for a person to "get to sleep."
Think about it. You're lying in bed, your mind is still active. The
muscles of the body start to release tensions (relax) and the thoughts
begin to drift. Eventually the thoughts will turn to thoughts
associated with relaxation (maybe thinking about some pleasant or
enjoyable activity.) At some point, you drift, without awareness of
time into sleep. No one can "pinpoint" the actual time they made the
transition.
So hypnosis is the last conscious waking state before sleep. The form
of hypnosis is commonly known as self-hypnosis. When in that state of
mind we experience the three characteristics of being in hypnosis: 1)
inability to maintain concentration or stay focused, the thoughts drift
from one thing to another (like day-dreaming, 2) in hypnosis, we
experience some time distortion, it seems to either speed-up, or
slow-down, 3) in the state, we also experience some amnesia (we don't
remember accurately.)
Another simple way to understand hypnosis, is to think of it as an
escape mechanism that is built into our behavior. We all possess this
mechanism. It is often called the fight/flight reaction. Think of it as
escape from any overloading experience, such as falling in love,
stressful driving conditions, extreme climate condition (heat or cold,)
any intense anxiety or fear, intense physical pain or discomfort. To
escape these we can enter a trance state of mind.
One very typical example of people being in hypnosis is when they fall
in love. That feeling of intense emotion is certainly overloaded. While
it feels really good, being in love certainly affects people's capacity
to think clearly or rationally. And they sure are suggestible to the
person they're in love with! My mentor Dr. Alex Kappas used to
humorusly refer to love as "the interruption of normal brain function."
