by Sparkster

Created on: October 08, 2008

The word hypnosis, first coined by James Braid and implying that the subject goes into some kind of magical sleep whereby they will do as they are instructed, gives an very inaccurate description of what hypnosis actually is. The subject does not go into any kind of magical altered zombie-like state, despite what many people believe. There are actually a lot of misconceptions about hypnosis in the general public. A more accurate description would be to say that it is a form of heightened communication utilizing the subjects suggestibility. Another misconception at this point is that suggestibility and gullibility are the same thing; they are not. Being gullible means that you are easily fooled whereas suggestibility is a vital and very natural human trait required for the learning process. Without suggestibility, if we put our hand into a hot fire and it burnt, we would not learn that we shouldn't do it. Suggestibility is an essential part of human survival and a trait that we all need; everybody can be hypnotized. Without it we would be mentally dysfunctional, everybody can be hypnotized and actually goes into that state of mind several times a day naturally, such as becoming so engrossed in a television programme that they become unaware of their surroundings or daydreaming. This brings me on to the next misconception.

Many people believe that only weak-minded, vulnerable or mentally deficient people can be hypnotized. The truth is actually the opposite. The more intelligent a person is the easier it is to hypnotize them, as they can follow the instructions more clearly and with a higher intellectual capacity. People who are mentally weak or have some kind of mental deficiency are actually much harder to hypnotize as they may be unable to focus their attentiont for long periods of time (as an example). Anyone can be hypnotized and anyone can be put into a very mild form of trance almost instantly by using confusion. An example is to say to someone something like 'Are you unaware of what you just said to me when you didn't say it?' Because they naturally need to first make sense of the sentence they automatically perform what is called a transderivational search, maybe for just a split second or so. For that moment their focus of attention has become internal searching their subconscious for a meaning to the sentence. Whenever we think of a memory that memory is internal and that's where our focus of attention goes, the same as when we are dreaming. Therefore

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