What Does it Mean to be Under Hypnosis?
You and your friends go to a local nightclub to see a hypnotist. When you get there you are all skeptical of hypnosis but open enough to pay admission to see people that are under hypnosis act strange and funny. As the hypnotist starts he asks one of your friends to come up on stage and he just happens to pick the one person in your group that would probably be the one that can be persuaded under hypnosis.
That is no accident, hypnotists that play the club circuits get very good at choosing subjects from the audience. You watch your friend under hypnosis bark like a dog and chase an imaginary stick. You watch your friend do things they may never live down but yet there they are in front of hundreds of people acting like a fool.
When it is all over you ask your friend what it was like to be under hypnosis and they cannot remember a thing. That is not unusual. You may also get a response that tells you that they were really not under hypnosis and they were just acting a part. That is also a normal response.
Being put under means many things to many people and it is often said that only a special kind of person can fall under hypnosis and this is not far from the truth. If you are a strong minded person that does not like to be under any sort of influence then the chances are that you will not be very likely to fall under hypnosis. However, if you are someone that is open to persuasion then you can fall into any of several categories of people under hypnosis.
Some people actually fall into a trance and cannot remember anything that happens while they are under. Others get caught up in being on stage in front of people and don't mind acting out a little to be the center of attention. The hypnotist can sense what level someone is at and will play to that along with the subject. It is all very entertaining but what about clinical hypnosis?
Recalling Memories
Many clinical hypnotists will put subjects under hypnosis to help bring up old memories that are being suppressed and causing the subject mental anguish. The theory is that once these memories are unearthed they can be dealt with and possibly dismissed. It is a risky form of therapy as you can never predict how the mind will react. If the mind wants something suppressed it is not going to give that up easily. So treatment with hypnosis can be risky and should only be done by highly trained professionals.
Many people are put under hypnosis to recall details of events they have seen and in many cases these sorts of results are discounted by just about any official body like law enforcement or any medical examiner. People that recall details while under hypnosis are not always considered the most credible of witnesses.
