Critically Assess the Practice of Hypnosis

Critically Assess the Practice of Hypnosis

Hypnosis, viewed by many as some form of mind control or brainwashing in which the hypnotist commands the person or subject to obey his or her every command is somewhat still widely believed today. However this is one of the misconceptions of hypnosis, since a person is still conscious, most times in an altered state, nonetheless conscious. Hypnosis is the trancelike state in which a person responds readily to therapeutic suggestions.

Studies have shown that susceptibility to hypnosis varies in individuals, which has created some disagreements about the process and definition of hypnosis. Reports have shown that different people who have undergone hypnosis describe their experiences in very different ways. However, Hilgard, E.R. (1965) describes hypnotic susceptibility as the measureable responsiveness a person has to hypnosis. Everyone however cannot be hypnotized, only 10%-15% respond exceptionally well to hypnosis. Some people have high sensory and perceptual gaiting abilities that allow them to black some stimuli from awareness (Barnier, McConkey and Wright, 2004). There is little evidence linking personality traits and intelligence to hypnotic susceptibility.It is found that hypnosis produces a focused attention or focused state which can be compared to similar sates of concentration, in which the person becomes oblivious o his or her surroundings. Once in this focused state, ones’ normal function is reduced, role playing is easily accomplished and the subject (person) tends to wait for instructions. This state (hypnosis: focused attention) can be achieved by inducing deep relaxation followed by deep long intakes of air, Spiegel eye roll (an old hypnotic tool), confusional scripts such as counting and various other techniques. Furthermore some psychologist have developed studies that show relations between the effect people display when hypnotized and their level of suggestibility, also referred to as hyper-suggestibility, which induces the subject whilst in a state of focused attention to respond to the hypnotist suggestions. Many persons after the hypnosis session genuinely claim that they were unable to recall the incident (hypnotic suggestion; posthyoptic amnesia), while other say that they were aware that the hypnotist was wrong but however it seemed easier to go along with the instructions, hence continued disputes of the validity of hypnosis as a real state. In defense some hypnotists claim that this shows the difference between a deep and shallow hypnotic trance.

The practice of hypnosis in the 18th century was thought of a practice of gullibility and fraudulence, which has formed different psychological theories and ideas of hypnosis. Social constructionism suggests that individuals are role playing (fraudulent) and that really there is no such thing as hypnosis. It also suggest that a rapport would have developed between the subject and hypnotist which would in effect influence or discredit behavior of subject under hypnosis. Furthermore Robert Baker, claims that what we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned social behavior, a complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation and suggestibility that can account for any esoteric behavioral manifestation. Dissociation, originally developed by Pierre Janet suggest that individual’s behavioral control are split off from ordinary awareness, which in effect removes some control from the conscious