What is the Definition of Hypnosis?
I’m sure that you’ll agree that Hypnosis is a fascinating subject. If you’ve ever watched a stage hypnotist you’ll have been impressed at his ability to manipulate and control seemingly rational people into doing all kinds of bizarre and potentially embarrassing things.
Modern magicians like Derren Brown who seemingly use the power of suggestion to very rapidly manipulate and control strangers, have also created an unquenchable thirst for knowledge from the public. The evolution of modern magic has brought it from the stage and onto the street, and it has encouraged a great deal of enthusiasm for hypnosis, NLP, and other forms of “mind control”.
The power to control people that we’ve only just met is very alluring, and it is probably the subconscious desire to be able to influence people in this way that makes hypnotism capture the imagination so readily.
So what exactly is hypnosis? The word “hypnos” comes from the Greek and means “to sleep,” but hypnosis itself, although a totally natural state of mind, is in fact very different from sleep. The following definitions clarify the meaning more precisely:
“(From Greek, "sleep") a state of heightened awareness and focused concentration that can be used to manipulate the perception of pain, to access repressed material and to re-program behaviour.”
“An artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction. An Altered State of Consciousness involving a heightened degree of suggestibility.”
“The use of progressive suggestions to bring a person into an altered state where suggestions of change can be given with minimal resistance.”
“Artificially induced alteration of consciousness characterized by increased suggestibility and receptivity to direction.”
“A trancelike condition usually induced by another person in which the subject is in a state of altered consciousness and responds, with certain limitations, to the suggestions of the hypnotist.”
“…or trance is a naturally occurring state, like sleep or daydreaming, where attention is turned inward, with heightened openness to new ideas. Hypnotherapy induces the trance state of heightened receptivity, and offers direct or indirect suggestions to the unconscious, which it may or may not accept.”
You’ll notice that these definitions give virtually the same meaning – an altered state of consciousness during which the subject exhibits increased suggestibility.
This is essentially hypnosis in a nutshell. It is the ability, using verbal direction, to lead someone into an altered state of consciousness (it resembles daydreaming), during which time they are much more receptive to suggestion. Once in this state, the hypnotist can make either direct or indirect suggestions to help the subject to break damaging or undesirable habits, such as smoking, over eating, anxiety, etc.
This is where hypnosis becomes hypnotherapy.
The actual mechanism that makes hypnosis work is quite difficult to quantify. Basically, the things that drive us and make us who we are, are deeply embedded in our subconscious mind. We don’t need to carefully think about what we strongly agree or disagree with, what we love or hate, or strongly desire, it is “hard wired” into our mind. Some of this comes from personal experience, preference, and needs, and some from our childhood from direct commands or suggestions from our parents or authority figures.
Normally we process information via our 5 senses and our “hard wiring” forms something termed the “critical censor,” which acts as a kind of filter to determine whether anything presented to us conforms with our deepest beliefs. The critical censor decides whether or not to accept or reject the information presented to us. If it is accepted it is “absorbed” into our subconscious and becomes either accepted knowledge, a part of our belief system, a moral viewpoint, or an ambition/desire.
Information or commands that are at odds with our previously accepted knowledge, beliefs, morals, or desires are rejected by the critical monitor, and they have no effect on our behaviour or actions.
This can be explained quite nicely by Freudian psychology. The Id (subconscious) is the most powerful part of the mind, and it automatically, and without our conscious realisation, contains our deepest desires, and controls our behaviour. The Ego (rational, logical mind) analyses information to see if it makes sense, before passing it onto the Super Ego (critical censor). The Super Ego is like the gatekeeper to the subconscious mind, it decides whether or not to accept the information, instruction, command, and either sends it into the Id (subconscious) where it becomes a component of our behaviour, or rejects it out of hand.
All problem behaviour, like smoking for example, are habits that are embedded in our subconscious mind and have become a part of our image of who we are, this is why they are difficult to break. We all know that smoking is bad for our health, but trying to make yourself stop is incredibly difficult – the command that your logical mind gives yourself is rejected by the critical censor and never makes it into the subconscious.
This is where hypnosis can help. By concentrating all of the subjects attention onto a single object, their critical censor is gradually subdued allowing the hypnotist to speak almost directly to the subconscious mind, and overcoming the problem of the suggestion not being accepted.
So, having read, and hopefully understood what hypnosis is, we’ll now dispel some myths about what hypnosis is not.
