View source for Hypnosis

{{short description|State of increased suggestibility}}
{{Redirect-several|dab=off|Hypnotized (disambiguation)|Hypnotize (disambiguation)|Hypnotist (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

{{Infobox medical intervention |name=Hypnosis|image=File:Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière.jpg|caption= [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] demonstrating hypnosis on a "[[Hysteria|hysterical]]" ''[[Salpêtrière]]'' patient, "Blanche" ([[Marie Wittman]]), who is supported by [[Joseph Babiński]]<ref>See: [[A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière]].</ref>|ICD10=|ICD9=|MeshID=D006990|OPS301=|other_codes=|HCPCSlevel2=}}
[[File:Hypnotic Séance (Richard Bergh) - Nationalmuseum - 18855.tif|thumb|right|''Hypnotic Séance'' (1887) by [[Richard Bergh]]]]
[[File:Photographic Studies in Hypnosis, Abnormal Psychology (1938).ogv|thumb|thumbtime=7|''Photographic Studies in Hypnosis, Abnormal Psychology'' (1938)]]
{{Hypnosis}}

'''Hypnosis''' is a human condition involving focused [[attention]] (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI),<ref name="SI Hall">{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Harriet |author-link= Harriet Hall|title=Hypnosis revisited |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=2021 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=17–19}}</ref> reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to [[suggestion]].<ref name="Lynn SJ 2015">In 2015, the [[American Psychological Association]] Division 30 defined hypnosis as a "state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion". For critical commentary on this definition, see: {{cite journal | vauthors = Lynn SJ, Green JP, Kirsch I, Capafons A, Lilienfeld SO, Laurence JR, Montgomery GH | title = Grounding Hypnosis in Science: The "New" APA Division 30 Definition of Hypnosis as a Step Backward | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis | volume = 57 | issue = 4 | pages = 390–401 | date = April 2015 | pmid = 25928778 | doi = 10.1080/00029157.2015.1011472 | s2cid = 10797114}}</ref>

There are competing theories explaining hypnosis and related phenomena. ''Altered state'' theories see hypnosis as an [[altered state of mind]] or [[trance]], marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary [[Consciousness|state of consciousness]].<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2004: "a special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state".</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Erika Fromm|author2=Ronald E. Shor|title=Hypnosis: Developments in Research and New Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgBrdEoTu3AC&q=hypnosis|access-date=27 September 2014|date=2009|publisher=Rutgers|isbn=978-0-202-36262-5|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702162804/https://books.google.com/books?id=fgBrdEoTu3AC&q=hypnosis|url-status=live}}</ref> In contrast, ''non-state'' theories see hypnosis as, variously, a type of placebo effect,<ref name=":0">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kirsch I | title = Clinical hypnosis as a nondeceptive placebo: empirically derived techniques | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis | volume = 37 | issue = 2 | pages = 95–106 | date = October 1994 | pmid = 7992808 | doi = 10.1080/00029157.1994.10403122}}</ref><ref name=":1">Kirsch, I., "Clinical Hypnosis as a Nondeceptive Placebo", pp. 211–25 in Kirsch, I., Capafons, A., Cardeña-Buelna, E., Amigó, S. (eds.), ''Clinical Hypnosis and Self-Regulation: Cognitive-Behavioral Perspectives'', American Psychological Association, (Washington), 1999 {{ISBN|1-55798-535-9}}</ref> a redefinition of an interaction with a therapist<ref>{{cite book|title=Hypnosis: A Scientific Approach|author=Theodore X. Barber|publisher=J. Aronson, 1995|year=1969|isbn=978-1-56821-740-6|author-link=Theodore X. Barber}}</ref> or a form of imaginative [[Role theory|role enactment]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Lynn S, Fassler O, Knox J|title=Hypnosis and the altered state debate: something more or nothing more?|doi=10.1002/ch.21|year=2005|journal=Contemporary Hypnosis|volume=22|pages=39–45}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Coe WC, Buckner LG, Howard ML, Kobayashi K | title = Hypnosis as role enactment: focus on a role specific skill | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 41–45 | date = July 1972 | pmid = 4679790 | doi = 10.1080/00029157.1972.10402209}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Steven J. Lynn|author2=Judith W. Rhue|title=Theories of hypnosis: current models and perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7Nq80QMtoC|access-date=30 October 2011|year=1991|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=978-0-89862-343-7|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702162816/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7Nq80QMtoC|url-status=live}}</ref>

During hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and [[Attentional control|concentration]]<ref>Orne, M. T. (1962). On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. American
Psychologist, 17, 776-783</ref><ref name="Segi">{{cite journal | last= Segi |first= Sherril |year=2012 |title=Hypnosis for pain management, anxiety and behavioral disorders |journal=The Clinical Advisor: For Nurse Practitioners|issn=1524-7317|volume=15|issue=3|page=80}}</ref> and an increased response to suggestions.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/05/07/neural_pathways.html Lyda, Alex. "Hypnosis Gaining Ground in Medicine." Columbia News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007194608/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/05/07/neural_pathways.html |date=7 October 2008 }}. Columbia.edu. Retrieved on 1 October 2011.</ref>
Hypnosis usually begins with a [[hypnotic induction]] involving a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. The use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "[[hypnotherapy]]",<ref>Spanos, N. P., Spillane, J., & McPeake, J. D. (1976). Cognitive strategies and response to suggestion in hypnotic
and task-motivated subjects. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18, 252-262.</ref> while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "[[stage hypnosis]]", a form of [[mentalism]].

The use of hypnosis as a form of therapy to retrieve and integrate early trauma is controversial within the scientific mainstream. Research indicates that hypnotising an individual may aid the formation of false memories.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lynn |first1=Steven Jay |last2=Krackow |first2=Elisa |last3=Loftus |first3=Elizabeth F. |author-link3=Elizabeth Loftus |last4=Locke |first4=Timothy G. |last5=Lilienfeld |first5=Scott O. |author-link5=Scott Lilienfeld |date=2014 |chapter=Constructing the past: problematic memory recovery techniques in psychotherapy |editor1-last=Lilienfeld |editor1-first=Scott O. |editor2-last=Lynn |editor2-first=Steven Jay |editor3-last=Lohr |editor3-first=Jeffrey M. |title=Science and pseudoscience in clinical psychology |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=[[Guilford Press]] |pages=245–275 |isbn=978-1-4625-1751-0 |oclc=890851087}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=French |first=Christopher C. |url=https://www.academia.edu/101922617 |title=The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony |publisher=UPIAR |year=2023 |isbn=979-12-81441-00-2 |editor-last=Ballester-Olmos |editor-first=V.J. |location=Turin, Italy |pages=283–294 |chapter=Hypnotic Regression and False Memories |editor-last2=Heiden |editor-first2=Richard W.}}</ref> Medical hypnosis is often considered [[pseudoscience]] or [[quackery]].<ref name="naud">{{cite journal |last1=Naudet |first1=Florian |last2=Falissard |first2=Bruno |author2-link=Bruno Falissard |last3=Boussageon |first3=Rémy |last4=Healy |first4=David |date=2015 |title=Has evidence-based medicine left quackery behind? |url=https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01138648/file/Has%20evidence-based%20medicine%20left%20quackery%20behind_accepted.pdf |journal=Internal and Emergency Medicine |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=631–634 |doi=10.1007/s11739-015-1227-3 |issn=1970-9366 |pmid=25828467 |s2cid=20697592 |quote=Treatments such as relaxation techniques, chiropractic, therapeutic massage, special diets, megavitamins, acupuncture, naturopathy, homeopathy, hypnosis and psychoanalysis are often considered as ''pseudoscience'' or ''quackery'' with no credible or respectable place in medicine, because in evaluation they have not been shown to ''work''}}</ref>
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== Etymology ==
The words ''hypnosis'' and ''hypnotism'' both derive from the term ''neuro-hypnotism'' (nervous sleep), all of which were coined by [[Étienne Félix d'Henin de Cuvillers]] in the 1820s. The term ''hypnosis'' is derived from the [[ancient Greek]] ὑπνος ''hypnos'', "sleep", and the [[suffix]] -ωσις -''osis'', or from ὑπνόω ''hypnoō'', "put to sleep" ([[Word stem|stem]] of [[aorist]] ''hypnōs''-) and the suffix -''is''.<ref>''{{LSJ|u(/pnos|hypnos}}'', ''{{LSJ|u(pno/w|hypnoō|ref}}''.</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|hypnosis}}</ref> These words were popularised in [[English language|English]] by the [[Scotland|Scottish]] surgeon [[James Braid (surgeon)|James Braid]] (to whom they are sometimes wrongly attributed) around 1841.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ph.D |first=Melvin A. Gravitz |date=1993-07-01 |title=Etienne Félix d'Hénin de Cuvillers: A Founder of Hypnosis |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.1993.10403033 |journal=American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis |language=EN |doi=10.1080/00029157.1993.10403033 |issn=0002-9157|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Braid based his practice on that developed by [[Franz Mesmer]] and his followers (which was called "Mesmerism" or "[[animal magnetism]]"), but differed in his theory as to how the procedure worked.

== Definition and classification ==

A person in a state of hypnosis has focused attention, a deeply relaxed physical and mental state, and increased [[suggestibility]].<ref>T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit 5: Perception." p. 88 [http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TLBrink_PSYCH05.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416002209/http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TLBrink_PSYCH05.pdf|date=16 April 2012}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=The hypnotized individual appears to heed only the communications of the hypnotist and typically responds in an uncritical, automatic fashion while ignoring all aspects of the environment other than those pointed out by the hypnotist. In a hypnotic state an individual tends to see, feel, smell, and otherwise perceive in accordance with the hypnotist's suggestions, even though these suggestions may be in apparent contradiction to the actual stimuli present in the environment. The effects of hypnosis are not limited to sensory change; even the subject's memory and awareness of self may be altered by suggestion, and the effects of the suggestions may be extended (post-hypnotically) into the subject's subsequent waking activity.<ref>"hypnosis." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' web edition. Retrieved: 20 March 2016.</ref>}}
It could be said that hypnotic suggestion is explicitly intended to make use of the [[placebo]] effect. For example, in 1994, [[Irving Kirsch]] characterized hypnosis as a "non-deceptive placebo", i.e., a method that openly makes use of suggestion and employs methods to amplify its effects.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":1"/>

A definition of hypnosis, derived from academic [[psychology]], was provided in 2005, when the Society for Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the [[American Psychological Association]] (APA), published the following formal definition:

{{blockquote|Hypnosis typically involves an introduction to the procedure during which the subject is told that suggestions for imaginative experiences will be presented. The hypnotic induction is an extended initial suggestion for using one's imagination, and may contain further elaborations of the introduction. A hypnotic procedure is used to encourage and evaluate responses to suggestions. When using hypnosis, one person (the subject) is guided by another (the hypnotist) to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception,<ref name="Leslie">{{citation |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2000/september6/hypnosis-96.html |title=Research supports the notion that hypnosis can transform perception |work=Stanford Report |last=Leslie |first=Mitch |name-list-style=vanc |date=6 September 2000 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=16 June 2013 |archive-date=2 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802154015/http://news.stanford.edu/news/2000/september6/hypnosis-96.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mauera">{{cite journal | vauthors = Mauer MH, Burnett KF, Ouellette EA, Ironson GH, Dandes HM | title = Medical hypnosis and orthopedic hand surgery: pain perception, postoperative recovery, and therapeutic comfort | journal = The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis | volume = 47 | issue = 2 | pages = 144–61 | date = April 1999 | pmid = 10208075 | doi = 10.1080/00207149908410027}}</ref> sensation,<ref name="De Pascalis">{{cite journal | vauthors = De Pascalis V, Magurano MR, Bellusci A | title = Pain perception, somatosensory event-related potentials and skin conductance responses to painful stimuli in high, mid, and low hypnotizable subjects: effects of differential pain reduction strategies | journal = Pain | volume = 83 | issue = 3 | pages = 499–508 | date = December 1999 | pmid = 10568858 | doi = 10.1016/S0304-3959(99)00157-8 | s2cid = 3158482 | id = {{INIST|1291393}}}}</ref> emotion, thought or behavior. Persons can also learn self-hypnosis, which is the act of administering hypnotic procedures on one's own. If the subject responds to hypnotic suggestions, it is generally inferred that hypnosis has been induced. Many believe that hypnotic responses and experiences are characteristic of a hypnotic state. While some think that it is not necessary to use the word "hypnosis" as part of the hypnotic induction, others view it as essential.<ref>[http://www.apa.org/divisions/div30/define_hypnosis.html "New Definition: Hypnosis"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910220114/http://www.apa.org/divisions/div30/define_hypnosis.html |date=10 September 2008 }}. Society of Psychological Hypnosis Division 30 – American Psychological Association.</ref>}}

Michael Nash provides a list of eight definitions of hypnosis by different authors, in addition to his own view that hypnosis is "a special case of psychological [[Regression (psychology)|regression]]":
# [[Pierre Janet|Janet]], near the turn of the century, and more recently [[Ernest Hilgard]] ..., have defined hypnosis in terms of [[Dissociation (psychology)|dissociation]].
# [[Social psychologist]]s [[Theodore R. Sarbin|Sarbin]] and Coe ... have described hypnosis in terms of [[role theory]]. Hypnosis is a role that people play; they act "as if" they were hypnotised.
# [[T. X. Barber]] ... defined hypnosis in terms of nonhypnotic behavioural parameters, such as task motivation and the act of labeling the situation as hypnosis.
# In his early writings, [[André Muller Weitzenhoffer|Weitzenhoffer]] ... conceptualised hypnosis as a state of enhanced suggestibility. Most recently ... he has defined hypnotism as "a form of influence by one person exerted on another through the medium or agency of suggestion."
# [[Psychoanalyst]]s Gill and [[Margaret Brenman-Gibson|Brenman]] ... described hypnosis by using the psychoanalytic concept of "regression in the service of the ego".
# Edmonston ... has assessed hypnosis as being merely a state of relaxation.
# [[Herbert Spiegel|Spiegel]] and [[David Spiegel|Spiegel]]... have implied that hypnosis is a biological capacity.<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7Nq80QMtoC|title=Theories of Hypnosis: Current Models and Perspectives|first1=Steven J.|last1=Lynn|first2=Judith W.|last2=Rhue|date=4 October 1991|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=978-0-89862-343-7|via=Google Books|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702162816/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7Nq80QMtoC|url-status=live}}</ref>
# [[Milton H. Erickson|Erickson]] ... is considered the leading exponent of the position that hypnosis is a special, inner-directed, altered state of functioning.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

Joe Griffin and [[Ivan Tyrrell]] (the originators of the [[Human givens|human givens approach]]) define hypnosis as "any artificial way of accessing the [[Rapid eye movement sleep|REM]] state, the same brain state in which dreaming occurs" and suggest that this definition, when properly understood, resolves "many of the mysteries and controversies surrounding hypnosis".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Joe |last2=Tyrrell |first2=Ivan |name-list-style=vanc |title=Human Givens: The new approach to emotional health and clear thinking |date=2013 |publisher=HG Publishing |isbn=978-1-899398-31-7 |page=67 |url=http://www.humangivens.com/publications/human-givens-book.html |access-date=24 February 2015 |archive-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008073609/http://www.humangivens.com/publications/human-givens-book.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They see the REM state as being vitally important for life itself, for programming in our instinctive knowledge initially (after Dement<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Roffwarg HP, Muzio JN, Dement WC | title = Ontogenetic development of the human sleep-dream cycle | journal = Science | volume = 152 | issue = 3722 | pages = 604–19 | date = April 1966 | pmid = 17779492 | doi = 10.1126/science.152.3722.604 | bibcode = 1966Sci...152..604R}}</ref> and Jouvet<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Does a genetic programming of the brain occur during paradoxical sleep |year=1978 |first=M |last=Jouvet |editor-last1=Buser|editor-first1=Pierre A.|editor-last2=Rougeul-Buser|editor-first2=Arlette| name-list-style = vanc |title=Cerebral correlates of conscious experience: proceedings of an international symposium on cerebral correlates of conscious experience, held in Senanque Abbey, France, on 2–8 August 1977|publisher=North-Holland|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7204-0659-7}}</ref>) and then for adding to this throughout life. They attempt to explain this by asserting that, in a sense, all learning is post-hypnotic, which they say explains why the number of ways people can be put into a hypnotic state are so varied: according to them, anything that focuses a person's attention, inward or outward, puts them into a trance.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Griffin|first1=Joe|last2=Tyrrell|first2=Ivan|name-list-style=vanc|title=Godhead: the brain's big bang: the strange origin of creativity, mysticism and mental illness|date=2011|publisher=Human Givens|location=Chalvington|isbn=978-1-899398-27-0|pages=106–22|url=http://www.griffintyrrell.co.uk/creativity-mysticism-and-mental-illness.php|access-date=24 February 2015|archive-date=25 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325000932/http://www.griffintyrrell.co.uk/creativity-mysticism-and-mental-illness.php|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- fails verification: <ref name="Bewley Ross Braillon Ernst 2011 p. d5960">{{cite journal | last1=Bewley | first1=Susan | last2=Ross | first2=Nick | last3=Braillon | first3=Alain | last4=Ernst | first4=Edzard | last5=Garrow | first5=John | last6=Rose | first6=Les | last7=Brahams | first7=Diana | last8=Baum | first8=Michael | last9=Marks | first9=Vincent | last10=Isaacs | first10=Keith | last11=May | first11=James | title=Clothing naked quackery and legitimising pseudoscience | journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) | volume=343 | date=2011-09-20 | issn=1756-1833 | pmid=21937550 | doi=10.1136/bmj.d5960 | article-number=d5960| s2cid=19450377 }}</ref><ref name="Ernst 2011 p. d4370">{{cite journal | last=Ernst | first=Edzard | title=College of medicine or college of quackery? | journal=BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) | volume=343 | date=2011-07-12 | issn=1756-1833 | pmid=21750062 | doi=10.1136/bmj.d4370 | article-number=d4370| s2cid=8061172 }}</ref>-->

== Induction ==
{{Main|Hypnotic induction}}
Hypnosis is normally preceded by a "hypnotic induction" technique. Traditionally, this was interpreted as a method of putting the subject into a "hypnotic trance"; however, subsequent "nonstate" theorists have viewed it differently, seeing it as a means of heightening client expectation, defining their role, focusing attention, etc. The induction techniques and methods are dependent on the depth of hypnotic trance level and for each stage of trance, the number of which in some sources ranges from 30 stages to 50 stages, there are different types of inductions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Irawan |first1=Chandra |title=Combination of Hypnosis Therapy and Range of Motion Exercise on Upper-Extremity Muscle Strength in Patients With Non-Hemorraghic[sic] Stroke |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-depth-of-hypnosis-influence-with-scores-and-objective-symptoms-based-on-The-Davis_tbl1_331217313 |website=researchgate.net |access-date=4 May 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504091654/https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-depth-of-hypnosis-influence-with-scores-and-objective-symptoms-based-on-The-Davis_tbl1_331217313 |url-status=live }}</ref> There are several different induction techniques. One of the most influential methods was Braid's "eye-fixation" technique, also known as "Braidism". Many variations of the eye-fixation approach exist, including the induction used in the [[Hypnotic susceptibility|Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale]] (SHSS), the most widely used research tool in the field of hypnotism.<ref name="Weitzenhoffer">{{cite book |last= Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard |title= Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scales, Forms A & B. |year= 1959 |publisher= Consulting Psychologists Press |location= Palo Alto, CA}}</ref> Braid's original description of his induction is as follows:{{blockquote|Take any bright object (e.g. a lancet case) between the thumb and fore and middle fingers of the left hand; hold it from about eight to fifteen inches from the eyes, at such position above the forehead as may be necessary to produce the greatest possible strain upon the eyes and eyelids, and enable the patient to maintain a steady fixed stare at the object.<br /><br />The patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on the idea of that one object. It will be observed, that owing to the consensual adjustment of the eyes, the pupils will be at first contracted: They will shortly begin to dilate, and, after they have done so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, extended and a little separated, are carried from the object toward the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close involuntarily, with a vibratory motion. If this is not the case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him to begin anew, giving him to understand that he is to allow the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried towards the eyes, but that the eyeballs must be kept fixed, in the same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the object held above the eyes. In general, it will be found, that the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become spasmodically closed.<ref>Braid (1843), p. 27.</ref>}}
Braid later acknowledged that the hypnotic induction technique was not necessary in every case, and subsequent researchers have generally found that on average it contributes less than previously expected to the effect of hypnotic suggestions.<ref name="Barber, Spanos 1974">[https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRsAAAAMAAJ Barber, TX, Spanos, NP. & Chaves, JF., ''Hypnosis, imagination, and human potentialities''. Pergamon Press, 1974.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163311/https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRsAAAAMAAJ |date=2 July 2023 }} {{ISBN|0-08-017931-2}}.</ref> Variations and alternatives to the original hypnotic induction techniques were subsequently developed. However, this method is still considered authoritative.{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} In 1941, Robert White wrote: "It can be safely stated that nine out of ten hypnotic techniques call for reclining posture, muscular relaxation, and optical fixation followed by eye closure."<ref>{{cite journal|year=1941|title=A preface to the theory of hypnotism|journal=Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology|volume=36|issue=4|pages=477–505 (498)|doi=10.1037/h0053844|author=White, Robert W.}}</ref>

== Suggestion ==
{{Main|Suggestion}}
When [[James Braid (surgeon)|James Braid]] first described hypnotism, he did not use the term "suggestion" but referred instead to the act of focusing the conscious mind of the subject upon a single dominant idea. Braid's main therapeutic strategy involved stimulating or reducing physiological functioning in different regions of the body. In his later works, however, Braid placed increasing emphasis upon the use of a variety of different verbal and non-verbal forms of suggestion, including the use of "waking suggestion" and self-hypnosis. Subsequently, [[Hippolyte Bernheim]] shifted the emphasis from the physical state of hypnosis on to the psychological process of verbal suggestion:

{{blockquote|text=
I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar psychical [i.e., mental] condition which increases the susceptibility to suggestion. Often, it is true, the [hypnotic] sleep that may be induced facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary preliminary. It is suggestion that rules hypnotism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVtNAQAAIAAJ|title=Hypnosis & Suggestion in Psychotherapy: A Treatise on the Nature and Uses of Hypnotism. Tr. from the 2d Rev. Ed|first=Hippolyte|last=Bernheim|date=11 July 1964|publisher=University Books|via=Google Books|access-date=11 October 2019|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163308/https://books.google.com/books?id=RVtNAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

Bernheim's conception of the primacy of verbal suggestion in hypnotism dominated the subject throughout the 20th century, leading some authorities to declare him the father of modern hypnotism.<ref name="Weitzenhoffer, 2000"/>

Contemporary hypnotism uses a variety of suggestion forms including direct verbal suggestions, "indirect" verbal suggestions such as requests or insinuations, metaphors and other rhetorical figures of speech, and non-verbal suggestion in the form of mental imagery, voice tonality, and physical manipulation. A distinction is commonly made between suggestions delivered "permissively" and those delivered in a more "authoritarian" manner. Harvard hypnotherapist [[Deirdre Barrett]] writes that most modern research suggestions are designed to bring about immediate responses, whereas hypnotherapeutic suggestions are usually post-hypnotic ones that are intended to trigger responses affecting behaviour for periods ranging from days to a lifetime in duration. The hypnotherapeutic ones are often repeated in multiple sessions before they achieve peak effectiveness.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barrett|first=Deirdre| name-list-style = vanc |title=The Pregnant Man: Cases from a Hypnotherapist's Couch|year=1998|publisher=Times Books}}</ref>

=== Conscious and unconscious mind ===
Some hypnotists view suggestion as a form of communication that is directed primarily to the subject's conscious mind,<ref name="Rossi">{{cite journal |url=http://www.studiopsicologiamantova.it/psy/psicologia/miltonerickson/what-is-a-suggestion.pdf |title=What is a suggestion? The neuroscience of implicit processing heuristics in therapeutic hypnosis and psychotherapy |first1=Ernest L. |last1=Rossi |first2=Kathryn L. |last2=Rossi |name-list-style=vanc |date=April 2007 |journal=American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=267–81 |doi=10.1080/00029157.2007.10524504 |pmid=17444364 |s2cid=12202594 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=28 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228151737/http://www.studiopsicologiamantova.it/psy/psicologia/miltonerickson/what-is-a-suggestion.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> whereas others view it as a means of communicating with the "[[unconscious mind|unconscious]]" or "[[subconscious]]" mind.<ref name="Rossi"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bscw.rediris.es/pub/bscw.cgi/d4523426/Lovatt-Hypnosis_suggestion.pdf |title=Hypnosis and suggestion |last=Lovatt |first=William F. |name-list-style=vanc |publisher=Rider & Co |date=1933{{ndash}}34 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115910/http://bscw.rediris.es/pub/bscw.cgi/d4523426/Lovatt-Hypnosis_suggestion.pdf }}</ref> These concepts were introduced into hypnotism at the end of the 19th century by [[Sigmund Freud]] and [[Pierre Janet]]. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory describes conscious thoughts as being at the surface of the mind and unconscious processes as being deeper in the mind.<ref>Daniel L. Schacter; Daniel T. Gilbert; Daniel M. Wegner, ''Psychology'', 2009, 2011</ref> Braid, Bernheim, and other Victorian pioneers of hypnotism did not refer to the unconscious mind but saw hypnotic suggestions as being addressed to the subject's ''conscious'' mind. Indeed, Braid actually defines hypnotism as focused (conscious) attention upon a dominant idea (or suggestion). Different views regarding the nature of the mind have led to different conceptions of suggestion. Hypnotists who believe that responses are mediated primarily by an "unconscious mind", like [[Milton Erickson]], make use of indirect suggestions such as metaphors or stories whose intended meaning may be concealed from the subject's conscious mind. The concept of [[Subliminal message|subliminal suggestion]] depends upon this view of the mind. By contrast, hypnotists who believe that responses to suggestion are primarily mediated by the conscious mind, such as [[Theodore X. Barber|Theodore Barber]] and [[Nicholas Spanos]], have tended to make more use of direct verbal suggestions and instructions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Spanos |first1=Nicholas P. |last2=Barber |first2=Theodore X. |date=1974 |title=Toward a convergence in hypnosis research. |url=http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/h0036795 |journal=American Psychologist |language=en |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=500–511 |doi=10.1037/h0036795 |pmid=4416672 |issn=1935-990X |access-date=28 September 2022 |archive-date=2 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163814/https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/h0036795 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Ideo-dynamic reflex ===
{{Main|Ideomotor response}}
The first neuropsychological theory of hypnotic suggestion was introduced early by James Braid who adopted his friend and colleague [[William Benjamin Carpenter|William Carpenter's]] theory of the [[ideo motor response|ideo-motor reflex response]] to account for the phenomenon of hypnotism. Carpenter had observed from close examination of everyday experience that, under certain circumstances, the mere idea of a muscular movement could be sufficient to produce a reflexive, or automatic, contraction or movement of the muscles involved, albeit in a very small degree. Braid extended Carpenter's theory to encompass the observation that a wide variety of bodily responses besides muscular movement can be thus affected, for example, the idea of sucking a lemon can automatically stimulate salivation, a secretory response. Braid, therefore, adopted the term "ideo-dynamic", meaning "by the power of an idea", to explain a broad range of "psycho-physiological" (mind–body) phenomena. Braid coined the term "mono-ideodynamic" to refer to the theory that hypnotism operates by concentrating attention on a single idea in order to amplify the ideo-dynamic reflex response. Variations of the basic ideo-motor, or ideo-dynamic, theory of suggestion have continued to exercise considerable influence over subsequent theories of hypnosis, including those of [[Clark L. Hull]], [[Hans Eysenck]], and Ernest Rossi.<ref name="Rossi"/> In Victorian psychology the word "idea" encompasses any mental representation, including mental imagery, memories, etc.

== Susceptibility ==
{{Main|Hypnotic susceptibility}}
Braid made a rough distinction between different stages of hypnosis, which he termed the first and second conscious stage of hypnotism;<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs35STwQYQoC|title=The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid, the Father of Hypnotherapy|first=James|last=Braid|date=11 July 2008|publisher=UKCHH Ltd|isbn=978-0-9560570-0-6|via=Google Books|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702162805/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs35STwQYQoC|url-status=live}}</ref> he later replaced this with a distinction between "sub-hypnotic", "full hypnotic", and "hypnotic coma" stages.<ref name="auto1"/> [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] made a similar distinction between stages which he named somnambulism, lethargy, and catalepsy. However, [[Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault]] and Hippolyte Bernheim introduced more complex hypnotic "depth" scales based on a combination of behavioural, physiological, and subjective responses, some of which were due to direct suggestion and some of which were not. In the first few decades of the 20th century, these early clinical "depth" scales were superseded by more sophisticated "hypnotic susceptibility" scales based on experimental research. The most influential were the Davis–Husband and Friedlander–Sarbin scales developed in the 1930s. [[André Muller Weitzenhoffer|André Weitzenhoffer]] and [[Ernest R. Hilgard]] developed the Stanford Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility in 1959, consisting of 12 suggestion test items following a standardised hypnotic eye-fixation induction script, and this has become one of the most widely referenced research tools in the field of hypnosis. Soon after, in 1962, Ronald Shor and Emily Carota Orne developed a similar group scale called the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS).

Whereas the older "depth scales" tried to infer the level of "hypnotic trance" from supposed observable signs such as spontaneous amnesia, most subsequent scales have measured the degree of observed or self-evaluated ''responsiveness'' to specific suggestion tests such as direct suggestions of arm rigidity (catalepsy). The Stanford, Harvard, HIP, and most other susceptibility scales convert numbers into an assessment of a person's susceptibility as "high", "medium", or "low". Approximately 80% of the population are medium, 10% are high, and 10% are low. There is some controversy as to whether this is distributed on a "normal" bell-shaped curve or whether it is bi-modal with a small "blip" of people at the high end.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Piccione C, Hilgard ER, Zimbardo PG | title = On the degree of stability of measured hypnotizability over a 25-year period | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 56 | issue = 2 | pages = 289–95 | date = February 1989 | pmid = 2926631 | doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.289 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.586.1971}}</ref> Hypnotisability scores are highly stable over a person's lifetime. Research by Deirdre Barrett has found that there are two distinct types of highly susceptible subjects, which she terms fantasisers and dissociaters. Fantasisers score high on absorption scales, find it easy to block out real-world stimuli without hypnosis, spend much time daydreaming, report imaginary companions as a child, and grew up with parents who encouraged imaginary play. Dissociaters often have a history of childhood abuse or other trauma, learned to escape into numbness, and to forget unpleasant events. Their association to "daydreaming" was often going blank rather than creating vividly recalled fantasies. Both score equally high on formal scales of hypnotic susceptibility.<ref>Barrett, Deirdre. Deep Trance Subjects: A Schema of Two Distinct Subgroups. in R. Kunzendorf (Ed.) Imagery: Recent Developments, NY: Plenum Press, 1991, pp. 101–12.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barrett D | title = Fantasizers and dissociaters: data on two distinct subgroups of deep trance subjects | journal = Psychological Reports | volume = 71 | issue = 3 Pt 1 | pages = 1011–14 | date = December 1992 | pmid = 1454907 | doi = 10.2466/pr0.1992.71.3.1011 | s2cid = 44878822}}</ref><ref>Barrett, Deirdre. Fantasizers and Dissociaters: Two types of High Hypnotizables, Two Imagery Styles. in R. Kuzendorf, N. Spanos, & B. Wallace (Eds.) Hypnosis and Imagination, NY: Baywood, 1996 {{ISBN|0-89503-139-6}}</ref>

Individuals with [[dissociative identity disorder]] have the highest hypnotisability of any [[clinic]]al group, followed by those with [[post-traumatic stress disorder]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Spiegel D, Loewenstein RJ, Lewis-Fernández R, Sar V, Simeon D, Vermetten E, Cardeña E, Dell PF | title = Dissociative disorders in DSM-5 | journal = Depression and Anxiety | volume = 28 | issue = 9 | pages = 824–52 | date = September 2011 | pmid = 21910187 | doi = 10.1002/da.20874 | s2cid = 46518635 | url = http://dsm5.org/Documents/Anxiety,%20OC%20Spectrum,%20PTSD,%20and%20DD%20Group/PTSD%20and%20DD/Spiegel%20et%20al_Dissociative%20Disorders.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130501231851/http://dsm5.org/Documents/Anxiety%2C%20OC%20Spectrum%2C%20PTSD%2C%20and%20DD%20Group/PTSD%20and%20DD/Spiegel%20et%20al_Dissociative%20Disorders.pdf | archive-date = 1 May 2013}}</ref>

== Applications ==
Hypnosis has been used as a supplemental approach to [[cognitive behavioral therapy]] since as early as 1949. Hypnosis was defined in relation to [[classical conditioning]]; where the words of the therapist were the stimuli and the hypnosis would be the conditioned response. Some traditional cognitive behavioral therapy methods were based in classical conditioning. It would include inducing a [[Relaxation (psychology)|relaxed]] state and introducing a feared stimulus. One way of inducing the relaxed state was through hypnosis.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chapman|first1=Robin|title=Clinical Use of Hypnosis in Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Practitioner's Casebook|year=2005|publisher=Springer Publisher Company|page=6}}</ref>

Hypnotism has also been used in [[forensics]], [[sports hypnosis|sports]], education, [[physical therapy]], and [[drug rehabilitation|rehabilitation]].<ref name="André">André M. Weitzenbhoffer. ''The Practice of Hypnotism'' 2nd ed, Toronto, John Wiley & Son Inc., Chapter 16, pp. 583–87, 2000 {{ISBN|0-471-29790-9}}</ref> Hypnotism has also been employed by artists for creative purposes, most notably the surrealist circle of [[André Breton]] who employed hypnosis, [[automatic writing]], and sketches for creative purposes. Hypnotic methods have been used to re-experience drug states<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fogel S, Hoffer A | title = The use of hypnosis to interrupt and to reproduce an LSD-25 experience | journal = Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology & Quarterly Review of Psychiatry and Neurology | volume = 23 | pages = 11–16 | year = 1962 | pmid = 13893766}}</ref> and mystical experiences.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Van Quekelberghe R, Göbel P, Hertweck E |year=1995|title=Simulation of near-death and out-of-body experiences under hypnosis|journal= Imagination, Cognition and Personality|volume= 14|issue=2|pages=151–64|doi=10.2190/gdfw-xlel-enql-5wq6|s2cid=145579925}}</ref><ref>[http://counselinginoregon.com/mysticalexperience "Using Hypnosis to Encourage Mystical Experience"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129194407/http://counselinginoregon.com/mysticalexperience |date=29 January 2010}}. Counselinginoregon.com. Retrieved on 1 October 2011.</ref> Self-hypnosis is popularly used to [[Smoking cessation|quit smoking]], alleviate stress and anxiety, promote [[weight loss]], and induce sleep hypnosis. Stage hypnosis can persuade people to perform unusual public feats.<ref>[http://www.stagehypnosisshow.co.uk/history-stage-hypnotist-stage-hypnosis-shows/ "History of the Stage Hypnotist and Stage Hypnosis Shows."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032613/http://www.stagehypnosisshow.co.uk/history-stage-hypnotist-stage-hypnosis-shows/ |date=1 December 2017}}. stagehypnosisshow.co.uk. Retrieved on 23 January 2015.</ref>

Some people have drawn analogies between certain aspects of hypnotism and areas such as [[crowd psychology]], religious hysteria, and ritual trances in preliterate tribal cultures.<ref name="Wier">{{cite book|last=Wier|first=Dennis R| name-list-style = vanc |year=1996|title=Trance: from magic to technology|publisher=TransMedia|location=Ann Arbor, MI|isbn=978-1-888428-38-4}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

=== Hypnotherapy ===
{{Main|Hypnotherapy}}
Hypnotherapy is a use of hypnosis in psychotherapy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/treatment/hypnotherapy|title=Hypnotherapy &#124; University of Maryland Medical Center|date=27 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627092448/https://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/treatment/hypnotherapy |archive-date=27 June 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asch.com.au/general-public/faq#6|title=Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126162841/https://www.asch.com.au/general-public/faq#6|archive-date=26 January 2016}}</ref> Physicians and psychologists may use hypnosis to treat depression, anxiety, [[eating disorder]]s, [[sleep disorder]]s, [[Problem gambling|compulsive gambling]], [[phobias]] and [[Post-traumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress]],<ref name="PregnantMan">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_cEAAAACAAJ|title=The Pregnant Man: Tales from a Hypnotherapist's Couch|author=Deirdre Barrett|publisher=NY: Times Books/Random House|edition=1998/hardback, 1999 paper|isbn=978-0-8129-2905-8|date=1998|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163828/https://books.google.com/books?id=O_cEAAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Assen Alladin|title=Cognitive hypnotherapy: an integrated approach to the treatment of emotional disorders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0hMPgAACAAJ|access-date=30 October 2011|year=2008|publisher=J. Wiley|isbn=978-0-470-03251-0|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163814/https://books.google.com/books?id=B0hMPgAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> while certified hypnotherapists who are not physicians or psychologists often treat smoking and weight management. Hypnotherapy is generally not considered to be based on scientific evidence, and is rarely recommended in [[clinical practice guidelines]].<ref name="chan2">{{cite journal |vauthors=Chan NA, Zhang Z, Yin G, Li Z, Ho RC |year=2021 |title=Update on hypnotherapy for psychiatrists |journal=BJPsych Advances |publisher=Royal College of Psychiatrists |volume=29 |issue=6 |pages=381–387 |doi=10.1192/bja.2021.54 |issn=2056-4678}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) {{!}} Health Careers |url=https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-cam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626164403/https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-cam |archive-date=26 June 2018}}</ref> Hypnotherapy was historically used in psychiatric and legal settings to enhance the recall of repressed or degraded memories, but this application of the technique has declined as scientific evidence accumulated that hypnotherapy can increase confidence in [[false memories]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lynn |first1=Steven Jay |title=Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction |journal=Applied Cognitive Psychology |date=11 August 2020 |volume=34 |issue=6 |page=1260 |doi=10.1002/acp.3730 |s2cid=225412389 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3730 |access-date=27 September 2022 |archive-date=27 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927160328/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3730 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Proponents of hypnotherapy claim it can have additive effects when treating psychological disorders alongside of scientifically proven [[Cognitive therapy|cognitive therapies]]. The effectiveness of hypnotherapy has not yet been accurately assessed,<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Flammer | first1=Erich | last2=Bongartz | first2=Walter |name-list-style=vanc | title=On the efficacy of hypnosis: a meta-analytic study | journal=Contemporary Hypnosis | publisher=Wiley | volume=20 | issue=4 | year=2006 | issn=0960-5290 | doi=10.1002/ch.277 | pages=179–197 |url=http://www.hypnose-kikh.de/content/Metaanalyse-Flammer-2004.pdf |language=en |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222004606/http://www.hypnose-kikh.de/content/Metaanalyse-Flammer-2004.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2016 }}</ref> and, due to the lack of evidence indicating any level of efficacy,<ref name="Barnes, J. 2019">{{cite journal | last1=Barnes | first1=Joanne | last2=McRobbie | first2=Hayden | last3=Dong | first3=Christine Y | last4=Walker | first4=Natalie | last5=Hartmann-Boyce | first5=Jamie |name-list-style=vanc | title=Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation | journal=Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | publisher=Wiley | volume=2019 | issue=6 | date=2019-06-14 | article-number=CD001008 | issn=1465-1858 | doi=10.1002/14651858.cd001008.pub3 | doi-access=free | pmid=31198991 | pmc=6568235 }}</ref> it is regarded as a type of [[alternative medicine]] by numerous reputable medical organisations, such as the [[National Health Service]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-cam| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180626164403/https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-cam| archive-date = 26 June 2018| title = Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) {{!}} Health Careers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hypnotherapy/|title = Hypnotherapy|date = 19 January 2018|access-date = 10 March 2019|archive-date = 11 August 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210811220950/https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hypnotherapy/|url-status = live}}</ref>

===Forensic hypnosis===
{{main|Forensic hypnosis}}
The use of hypnosis to exhume information thought to be buried within the mind in the investigative process and as evidence in court became increasingly popular from the 1950s to the early 1980s with its use being debated into the 1990s when its popular use mostly diminished.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Winter|first=Alison|date=2013-03-01|title=The rise and fall of forensic hypnosis|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848612001057|journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences|series=Special Issue: Forensic Cultures|language=en|volume=44|issue=1|pages=26–35|doi=10.1016/j.shpsc.2012.09.011|pmid=23142619|issn=1369-8486|access-date=4 May 2023|archive-date=14 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414222226/http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369848612001057|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Forensic hypnosis's uses are hindered by concerns with its reliability and accuracy. Controversy surrounds the use of hypnotherapy to retrieve memories, especially those from early childhood. The [[American Medical Association]] and the [[American Psychological Association]] caution against [[recovered-memory therapy]] in cases of alleged childhood trauma, stating that "it is impossible, without corroborative evidence, to distinguish a true memory from a false one."<ref name="APA">{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/mem.html |title=Questions and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=22 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205061916/http://apa.org/pubinfo/mem.html |archive-date=5 December 2006}}</ref> [[Past life regression]] is regarded as [[pseudoscience]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Astin JA, Shapiro SL, Eisenberg DM, Forys KL | title = Mind-body medicine: state of the science, implications for practice | journal = The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice | volume = 16 | issue = 2 | pages = 131–47 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12665179 | doi = 10.3122/jabfm.16.2.131 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.501.9041| s2cid = 2309771 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/psychiatry/sections/cspp/dops/dr.-stevensons-publications/STE40.pdf |title=Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences – University of Virginia School of Medicine |publisher=Medicine.virginia.edu |access-date=20 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615183751/http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/psychiatry/sections/cspp/dops/dr.-stevensons-publications/STE40.pdf |archive-date=15 June 2013 }}</ref>

=== Military ===
A 2006 [[declassification|declassified]] 1966 document obtained by the US [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] archive shows that hypnosis was investigated for military applications.<ref name="Hypnosis in Intelligence">[http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/hypnosisinintelligence.pdf Hypnosis in Intelligence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100816155256/http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/hypnosisinintelligence.pdf |date=16 August 2010 }}, ''The Black Vault'', 2008</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}} The full paper explores the potentials of operational uses.<ref name="Hypnosis in Intelligence"/> The overall conclusion of the study was that there was no evidence that hypnosis could be used for military applications, and no clear evidence whether "hypnosis" is a definable phenomenon outside ordinary suggestion, motivation, and subject expectancy. According to the document:

{{blockquote|text=The use of hypnosis in intelligence would present certain technical problems not encountered in the clinic or laboratory. To obtain compliance from a resistant source, for example, it would be necessary to hypnotise the source under essentially hostile circumstances. There is no good evidence, clinical or experimental, that this can be done.<ref name="Hypnosis in Intelligence"/>}}

Furthermore, the document states that:

{{blockquote|text=It would be difficult to find an area of scientific interest more beset by divided professional opinion and contradictory experimental evidence... No one can say whether hypnosis is a qualitatively unique state with some physiological and conditioned response components or only a form of suggestion induced by high motivation and a positive relationship between hypnotist and subject... [[Theodore X. Barber|T. X. Barber]] has produced "hypnotic deafness" and "hypnotic blindness", analgesia and other responses seen in hypnosis—all without hypnotising anyone... Orne has shown that unhypnotised persons can be motivated to equal and surpass the supposed superhuman physical feats seen in hypnosis.<ref name="Hypnosis in Intelligence"/>}}

The study concluded that there are no reliable accounts of its effective use by an intelligence service in history.<ref name="Hypnosis in Intelligence"/>

Research into hypnosis in military applications is further verified by the [[Project MKUltra]] experiments, also conducted by the [[CIA]].<ref>[http://community.theblackvault.com/articles/entry/CIA-MKULTRA-Collection- MKULTRA Program], ''The Black Vault'', 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323173042/http://community.theblackvault.com/articles/entry/CIA-MKULTRA-Collection- |date=23 March 2012}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}} According to Congressional testimony,<ref name="Congressional Hearing by MKULTRA">[http://www.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/hearing.pdf Congressional Hearing by MKULTRA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618041653/http://www.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/hearing.pdf |date=18 June 2008 }}, ''The Black Vault''</ref> the CIA experimented with utilising [[LSD]] and hypnosis for [[Brainwashing|mind control]]. Many of these programs were done domestically and on participants who were not informed of the study's purposes or that they would be given drugs.<ref name="Congressional Hearing by MKULTRA"/>

=== Self-hypnosis ===
{{Main|Self-hypnosis}}
Self-hypnosis happens when a person hypnotises oneself, commonly involving the use of [[autosuggestion]]. The technique is often used to increase motivation for a [[Dieting|diet]], to quit smoking, or to reduce stress. People who practise self-hypnosis sometimes require assistance; some people use devices known as [[mind machine]]s to assist in the process, whereas others use hypnotic recordings.

Self-hypnosis is claimed to help with stage fright, relaxation, and physical well-being.<ref>[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/sdtu/research/programme/sdsh/index.php "Self-hypnosis as a skill for busy research workers."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513225502/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/sdtu/research/programme/sdsh/index.php |date=13 May 2008 }} London's Global University Human Resources. ucl.ac.uk.</ref>

=== Stage hypnosis ===
{{Main|Stage hypnosis}}
Stage hypnosis is a form of entertainment, traditionally employed in a club or theatre before an audience. Due to stage hypnotists' showmanship, many people believe that hypnosis is a form of mind control. Stage hypnotists typically attempt to hypnotise the entire audience and then select individuals who are "under" to come up on stage and perform embarrassing acts, while the audience watches. However, the effects of stage hypnosis are probably due to a combination of psychological factors, participant selection, suggestibility, physical manipulation, stagecraft, and trickery.<ref>{{cite book | last = Yapko | first = Michael | author-link = Michael D. Yapko | title = Trancework: An introduction to the practice of Clinical Hypnosis | location = New York | publisher = Brunner/Mazel | year = 1990 | page = 28}}</ref> The desire to be the centre of attention, having an excuse to violate their own fear suppressors, and the pressure to please are thought to convince subjects to "play along".<ref name="Wagstaff">{{cite book |last=Wagstaff |first=Graham F. | name-list-style = vanc |year=1981 |title=Hypnosis, Compliance and Belief |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-40157-3}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> Books by stage hypnotists sometimes explicitly describe the use of deception in their acts; for example, [[Ormond McGill]]'s ''New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism'' describes an entire "fake hypnosis" act that depends upon the use of private whispers throughout.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

=== Music ===
The idea of music as hypnosis developed from the work of [[Franz Mesmer]]. Instruments such as pianos, violins, harps and, especially, the [[glass harmonica]] often featured in Mesmer's treatments, and were considered to contribute to his success.<ref>Polter 1934, p. 15. See also Franklin 1785, p. 23. Gallo and Finger 2000; Hadlock 2000a; Hyatt King 1945.</ref>

Hypnotic music became an important part in the development of a 'physiological psychology' that regarded the hypnotic state as an 'automatic' phenomenon that links to physical reflex. In their experiments with sound hypnosis, [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] used gongs and tuning forks, and [[Ivan Pavlov]] used bells. The intention behind their experiments was to prove that physiological response to sound could be automatic, bypassing the conscious mind.<ref>Pavlov 1928; Todes 2002.</ref>

=== Satanic brainwashing ===

In the 1980s and 1990s, [[satanic panic|a moral panic]] took place in the US fearing [[Satanic ritual abuse]]. As part of this, certain books such as ''The Devil's Disciples'' claimed that some bands, particularly in the musical genre of heavy metal, [[Brainwashing|brainwashed]] American teenagers with subliminal messages to lure them into the worship of the devil, sexual immorality, murder, and especially suicide.<ref>Godwin 1986, 1995; Peters and Peters 1985.</ref>

=== Crime ===
Various people have been suspected of or convicted for hypnosis-related crimes, including robbery and sexual abuse.

In 1951, Palle Hardrup shot and killed two people during a botched robbery in [[Copenhagen]] - see [[Hypnosis murders]]. Hardrup claimed that his friend and former cellmate Bjørn Schouw Nielsen had hypnotised him to commit the robbery, inadvertently causing the deaths. Both were sentenced to jail time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martinsen |first1=Poul |title=Hypnosemorderen – dobbeltmennesket Palle Hardrup |date=2012 |publisher=Gyldendal |isbn=978-87-02-12200-8 |language=da}}</ref>

In 2013, the then-40-year-old amateur hypnotist Timothy Porter attempted to sexually abuse his female weight-loss client. She reported awaking from a trance and finding him behind her with his pants down, telling her to touch herself. He was subsequently called to court and included on the sex offender list.<ref>[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hypnotist-timothy-porter-made-sex-2234728 Evil hypnotist made me into his sex slave: He admits vile acts while client was in trance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023322/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hypnotist-timothy-porter-made-sex-2234728 |date=7 November 2017 }}, ''Mirror''</ref> In 2015, Gary Naraido, then 52, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for several hypnosis-related sexual abuse charges. Besides the primary charge by a 22-year-old woman who he sexually abused in a hotel under the guise of a free therapy session, he also admitted to having sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11897562/Hypnotist-jailed-for-ten-years-after-sexually-assaulting-woman-under-his-spell.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11897562/Hypnotist-jailed-for-ten-years-after-sexually-assaulting-woman-under-his-spell.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Hypnotist jailed for ten years after sexually assaulting woman under his spell|journal=Daily Telegraph|last=Clarke-Billings|first=Lucy| name-list-style = vanc |date=28 September 2015|access-date=1 November 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In December 2018, a Brazilian [[mediumship|medium]] named [[João Teixeira de Faria]] (also known as "João de Deus"), famous for performing Spiritual Surgeries through hypnosis techniques, was accused of sexual abuse by 12 women.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/world/americas/brazil-healer-john-of-god.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/world/americas/brazil-healer-john-of-god.html |archive-date=2022-01-03 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Celebrity Healer in Brazil Is Accused of Sexually Abusing Followers|last=Darlington|first=Shasta| name-list-style = vanc |date=11 December 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=12 December 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2018/12/twelve-women-accuse-medium-john-of-god-of-sexual-abuse.shtml| title=Twelve Women Accuse Medium John of God of Sexual Abuse| date=9 December 2018| access-date=14 December 2018| archive-date=11 December 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211065435/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2018/12/twelve-women-accuse-medium-john-of-god-of-sexual-abuse.shtml| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016 an Ohio lawyer was sentenced to 12 years of prison after hypnotizing a dozen different clients into committing sexual acts under the guise of a mindfulness exercise.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4571750/ohio-lawyer-hynotize-women/|title=Lawyer Who Hypnotized Women For His Own Sexual Pleasure Sentenced to Prison|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=30 December 2019}}</ref>

=== Sexual ===
{{Main|Erotic hypnosis}}

[[Erotic hypnosis]] is a broad term for activities involving hypnotic suggestions applied to create arousal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griffiths |first=Mark D. |date=December 14, 2016 |title=Hypnosis And Sexual Health |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201612/hypnosis-and-sexual-health |journal=[[Psychology Today]]}}</ref> Some erotic hypnosis is practiced in the context of [[BDSM]] relationships and communities<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sloan |first=Kate |title=101 Kinky Things Even You Can Do |publisher=Laurence King Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-913947-21-7 |pages=76-77 |language=English}}</ref>, and is an example of a [[sexual fetish]] or [[paraphilia]].

== State vs. non-state ==
The central theoretical disagreement regarding hypnosis is known as the "state versus non-state" debate. When Braid introduced the concept of hypnotism, he equivocated over the nature of the "state", sometimes describing it as a specific sleep-like neurological state comparable to animal hibernation or yogic meditation, while at other times he emphasized that hypnotism encompasses a number of different stages or states that are an extension of ordinary psychological and physiological processes. Overall, Braid appears to have moved from a more "special state" understanding of hypnotism toward a more complex "non-state" orientation.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

State theorists interpret the effects of hypnotism as due primarily to a specific, abnormal, and uniform psychological or physiological state of some description, often referred to as "hypnotic trance" or an "altered state of consciousness". Non-state theorists rejected the idea of hypnotic trance and interpret the effects of hypnotism as due to a combination of multiple task-specific factors derived from normal cognitive, behavioural, and social psychology, such as social role-perception and favorable motivation ([[Theodore R. Sarbin|Sarbin]]), active imagination and positive cognitive set ([[Theodore X. Barber|Barber]]), response expectancy (Kirsch), and the active use of task-specific subjective strategies ([[Nicholas Spanos|Spanos]]). The personality psychologist Robert White is often cited as providing one of the first non-state definitions of hypnosis in a 1941 article:

{{blockquote|text=
Hypnotic behaviour is meaningful, goal-directed striving, its most general goal being to behave like a hypnotised person as this is continuously defined by the operator and understood by the client.<ref>{{cite journal|author=White, R.W.|title=A preface to the theory of hypnotism|journal= Journal of Abnormal Psychology|volume=36|pages= 477–505|year= 1941|doi=10.1037/h0053844|issue=4}}</ref>
}}

Put simply, it is often claimed that, whereas the older "special state" interpretation emphasizes the difference between hypnosis and ordinary psychological processes, the "non-state" interpretation emphasizes their similarity.

Comparisons between hypnotised and non-hypnotised subjects suggest that, if a "hypnotic trance" does exist, it only accounts for a small proportion of the effects attributed to hypnotic suggestion, most of which can be replicated without hypnotic induction.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hasegawa |first1=Harutomo |last2=Jamieson |first2=Graham A. |date=September 2002 |title=Conceptual issues in hypnosis research: explanations, definitions and the state/non-state debate |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ch.247 |journal=Contemporary Hypnosis |language=en |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=103–117 |doi=10.1002/ch.247 |issn=0960-5290 |access-date=11 January 2023 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111191759/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ch.247 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Theories of Hypnosis {{!}} Hypnosis And Suggestion |url=https://hypnosisandsuggestion.org/theories-of-hypnosis.html |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=hypnosisandsuggestion.org |archive-date=18 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618145423/https://hypnosisandsuggestion.org//theories-of-hypnosis.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=June 2022}}

=== Hyper-suggestibility ===
Braid can be taken to imply, in later writings, that hypnosis is largely a state of heightened suggestibility induced by expectation and focused attention. In particular, [[Hippolyte Bernheim]] became known as the leading proponent of the "suggestion theory" of hypnosis, at one point going so far as to declare that there is no hypnotic state, only heightened suggestibility. There is a general consensus that heightened suggestibility is an essential characteristic of hypnosis. In 1933, [[Clark L. Hull]] wrote:

{{blockquote|text= If a subject after submitting to the hypnotic procedure shows no genuine increase in susceptibility to any suggestions whatever, there seems no point in calling him hypnotised, regardless of how fully and readily he may respond to suggestions of lid-closure and other superficial sleeping behaviour.<ref>{{cite book|author=Clark Leonard Hull|title=Hypnosis and suggestibility: an experimental approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CknOAAAAMAAJ|access-date=30 October 2011|year=1933|publisher=D. Appleton-Century company|page=392|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163810/https://books.google.com/books?id=CknOAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

=== Conditioned inhibition ===
[[Ivan Pavlov]] stated that hypnotic suggestion provided the best example of a conditioned reflex response in human beings; i.e., that responses to suggestions were learned associations triggered by the words used:

{{blockquote|text=Speech, on account of the whole preceding life of the adult, is connected up with all the internal and external stimuli which can reach the cortex, signaling all of them and replacing all of them, and therefore it can call forth all those reactions of the organism which are normally determined by the actual stimuli themselves. We can, therefore, regard "suggestion" as the most simple form of a typical reflex in man.<ref>Pavlov, quoted in Salter, ''What is Hypnosis''?, 1944: 23</ref>}}

He also believed that hypnosis was a "partial sleep", meaning that a generalised inhibition of cortical functioning could be encouraged to spread throughout regions of the brain. He observed that the various degrees of hypnosis did not significantly differ physiologically from the waking state and hypnosis depended on insignificant changes of environmental stimuli. Pavlov also suggested that lower-brain-stem mechanisms were involved in hypnotic conditioning.<ref name="Pavlov">{{cite book | vauthors = Pavlov IP |title=''Experimental Psychology'' |location=New York |publisher=Philosophical Library |year=1957}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barker W, Burgwin S | title = Brain wave patterns accompanying changes in sleep and wakefulness during hypnosis | journal = Psychosomatic Medicine | volume = 10 | issue = 6 | pages = 317–26 | year = 1948 | pmid = 18106841 | doi = 10.1097/00006842-194811000-00002 | s2cid = 31249127 }}</ref>

Pavlov's ideas combined with those of his rival [[Vladimir Bekhterev]] and became the basis of hypnotic psychotherapy in the Soviet Union, as documented in the writings of his follower K.I. Platonov. Soviet theories of hypnotism subsequently influenced the writings of Western behaviourally oriented hypnotherapists such as [[Andrew Salter (psychologist)|Andrew Salter]].

=== Neuropsychology ===
Changes in brain activity have been found in some studies of highly responsive hypnotic subjects. These changes vary depending upon the type of suggestions being given.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Raz A, Fan J, Posner MI | title = Hypnotic suggestion reduces conflict in the human brain | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 102 | issue = 28 | pages = 9978–83 | date = July 2005 | pmid = 15994228 | pmc = 1174993 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0503064102 | bibcode = 2005PNAS..102.9978R| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Derbyshire SW, Whalley MG, Stenger VA, Oakley DA | title = Cerebral activation during hypnotically induced and imagined pain | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 392–401 | date = September 2004 | pmid = 15325387 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.04.033 | s2cid = 16786564}}</ref> The state of light to medium hypnosis, where the body undergoes physical and mental relaxation, is associated with a pattern mostly of alpha waves.<ref>London College of Clinical Hypnosis. "What is Clinical Hypnosis?" [https://web.archive.org/web/20051101055303/http://www.lcch.co.uk/hypnotherapy.htm] . Accessed 14 September 2013</ref>{{Better source needed|date=September 2021}} However, what these results indicate is unclear. They may indicate that suggestions genuinely produce changes in perception or experience that are not simply a result of imagination. However, in normal circumstances without hypnosis, the brain regions associated with motion detection are activated both when motion is seen and when motion is imagined, without any changes in the subjects' perception or experience.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Grossman ED, Blake R | title = Brain activity evoked by inverted and imagined biological motion | journal = Vision Research | volume = 41 | issue = 10–11 | pages = 1475–82 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11322987 | doi = 10.1016/S0042-6989(00)00317-5 | s2cid = 6078493| doi-access = free }}</ref> This may therefore indicate that highly suggestible hypnotic subjects are simply activating to a greater extent the areas of the brain used in imagination, without real perceptual changes. It is, however, premature to claim that hypnosis and meditation are mediated by similar brain systems and neural mechanisms.<ref>[http://mbr.synergiesprairies.ca/mbr/index.php/mbr/article/view/515 Functional neuroimaging studies of hypnosis and meditation: A comparative perspective] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008034039/http://mbr.synergiesprairies.ca/mbr/index.php/mbr/article/view/515 |date=8 October 2012}}</ref>

Another study has demonstrated that a colour hallucination suggestion given to subjects in hypnosis activated colour-processing regions of the occipital cortex.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Landry |first1=Mathieu |last2=Lifshitz |first2=Michael |last3=Raz |first3=Amir |date=2017-10-01 |title=Brain correlates of hypnosis: A systematic review and meta-analytic exploration |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0149763416306030 |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |series=The power of instructions: the influence of instructions on cognition, behaviour and physical states |volume=81 |issue=Pt A |pages=75–98 |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.020 |pmid=28238944 |issn=0149-7634|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kosslyn SM, Thompson WL, Costantini-Ferrando MF, Alpert NM, Spiegel D | title = Hypnotic visual illusion alters color processing in the brain | journal = The American Journal of Psychiatry | volume = 157 | issue = 8 | pages = 1279–84 | date = August 2000 | pmid = 10910791 | doi = 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.8.1279 | s2cid = 18060042 }}</ref> A 2004 review of research examining the [[EEG]] laboratory work in this area concludes:

{{blockquote|Hypnosis is not a unitary state and therefore should show different patterns of EEG activity depending upon the task being experienced. In our evaluation of the literature, enhanced [[theta wave|theta]] is observed during hypnosis when there is task performance or concentrative hypnosis, but not when the highly hypnotizable individuals are passively relaxed, somewhat sleepy and/or more diffuse in their attention.<ref>{{cite book|author=Horton |title=The Highly Hypnotisable Subject|date=2004|page=140 |author2= Crawford}}</ref>}}

Studies have shown an association of hypnosis with stronger theta-frequency activity as well as with changes to the [[gamma wave|gamma]]-frequency activity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Jensen MP, Adachi T, Hakimian S | title = Brain Oscillations, Hypnosis, and Hypnotizability | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis | volume = 57 | issue = 3 | pages = 230–53 | date = January 2015 | pmid = 25792761 | pmc = 4361031 | doi = 10.1080/00029157.2014.976786 | type = Review}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}} [[Neuroimaging]] techniques have been used to investigate neural correlates of hypnosis.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mazzoni G, Venneri A, McGeown WJ, Kirsch I | title = Neuroimaging resolution of the altered state hypothesis | journal = Cortex; A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior | volume = 49 | issue = 2 | pages = 400–10 | date = February 2013 | pmid = 23026758 | doi = 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.08.005 | s2cid = 206984627 | url = https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/44493/ | type = Review | access-date = 21 July 2021 | archive-date = 14 June 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210614142638/https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/44493/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Landry M, Raz A | title = Hypnosis and imaging of the living human brain | journal = The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis | volume = 57 | issue = 3 | pages = 285–313 | date = January 2015 | pmid = 25928680 | doi = 10.1080/00029157.2014.978496 | s2cid = 844244 | type = Review}}</ref>

The induction phase of hypnosis may also affect the activity in brain regions that control [[intention]] and process [[Emotional conflict|conflict]]. Anna Gosline claims:

{{blockquote|Gruzelier and his colleagues studied brain activity using an [[fMRI]] while subjects completed a standard cognitive exercise, called the [[Stroop task]]. The team screened subjects before the study and chose 12 that were highly susceptible to hypnosis and 12 with low susceptibility. They all completed the task in the fMRI under normal conditions and then again under hypnosis. Throughout the study, both groups were consistent in their task results, achieving similar scores regardless of their mental state. During their first task session, before hypnosis, there were no significant differences in brain activity between the groups. But under hypnosis, Gruzelier found that the highly susceptible subjects showed significantly more brain activity in the [[anterior cingulate gyrus]] than the weakly susceptible subjects. This area of the brain has been shown to respond to errors and evaluate emotional outcomes. The highly susceptible group also showed much greater brain activity on the left side of the [[prefrontal cortex]] than the weakly susceptible group. This is an area involved with higher level cognitive processing and behaviour.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Gosline|first=Anna| name-list-style = vanc |magazine=New Scientist|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6385|date=10 September 2004|title=Hypnosis really changes your mind|access-date=2007-08-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Egner T, Jamieson G, Gruzelier J | title = Hypnosis decouples cognitive control from conflict monitoring processes of the frontal lobe | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 27 | issue = 4 | pages = 969–78 | date = October 2005 | pmid = 15964211 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.05.002 | s2cid = 13979703}}</ref>}}

=== Dissociation ===
Pierre Janet originally developed the idea of ''dissociation of consciousness'' from his work with hysterical patients. He believed that hypnosis was an example of dissociation, whereby areas of an individual's behavioural control separate from ordinary awareness. Hypnosis would remove some control from the conscious mind, and the individual would respond with autonomic, reflexive behaviour. Weitzenhoffer describes hypnosis via this theory as "dissociation of awareness from the majority of sensory and even strictly neural events taking place."<ref name="Weitzenhoffer, 2000">{{cite book | vauthors = Weitzenhoffer AM |title=''Hypnotism – An Objective Study in Suggestibility'' |location=New York |publisher=Wiley |year=1953 |isbn=978-1-258-02536-6}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

=== Neodissociation ===
[[Ernest Hilgard]], who developed the "neodissociation" theory of hypnotism, hypothesised that hypnosis causes the subjects to divide their consciousness voluntarily. One part responds to the hypnotist while the other retains awareness of reality. Hilgard made subjects take an ice water bath. None mentioned the water being cold or feeling pain. Hilgard then asked the subjects to lift their index finger if they felt pain and 70% of the subjects lifted their index finger. This showed that, even though the subjects were listening to the suggestive hypnotist, they still sensed the water's temperature.<ref>{{cite book | last1=McEntarffer | first1=Robert | last2=Weseley | first2=Allyson | title=Barron's AP Psychology 2008 | publisher=Barron's Educational Series, Inc | publication-place=Hauppauge, N.Y. | date=2007 | isbn=978-0-7641-3665-8 | oclc=73742844 }}</ref>

=== Social role-taking theory ===
The main theorist who pioneered the influential role-taking theory of hypnotism was [[Theodore R. Sarbin|Theodore Sarbin]]. Sarbin argued that hypnotic responses were motivated attempts to fulfill the socially constructed roles of hypnotic subjects. This has led to the misconception that hypnotic subjects are simply "faking". However, Sarbin emphasised the difference between faking, in which there is little subjective identification with the role in question, and role-taking, in which the subject not only acts externally in accord with the role but also subjectively identifies with it to some degree, acting, thinking, and feeling "as if" they are hypnotised. Sarbin drew analogies between role-taking in hypnosis and role-taking in other areas such as [[method acting]], mental illness, and shamanic possession, etc. This interpretation of hypnosis is particularly relevant to understanding stage hypnosis, in which there is clearly strong peer pressure to comply with a socially constructed role by performing accordingly on a theatrical stage.

Hence, the ''social constructionism and role-taking theory'' of hypnosis suggests that individuals are enacting (as opposed to merely ''playing'') a role and that really there is no such thing as a hypnotic trance. A socially constructed relationship is built depending on how much [[rapport]] has been established between the "hypnotist" and the subject (see [[Hawthorne effect]], [[Pygmalion effect]], and [[placebo effect]]).

Psychologists such as [[Robert A. Baker|Robert Baker]] and Graham Wagstaff claim that what we call hypnosis is actually a form of learned social behaviour, a complex hybrid of social compliance, relaxation, and suggestibility that can account for many esoteric behavioural manifestations.<ref name="Baker, 1990">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Robert A. | name-list-style = vanc |year=1990 |title=''They Call It Hypnosis'' |url=https://archive.org/details/theycallithypnos0000bake |url-access=registration |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, NY |isbn=978-0-87975-576-8}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}}

=== Cognitive-behavioural theory ===
Barber, Spanos, and Chaves (1974) proposed a nonstate "cognitive-behavioural" theory of hypnosis, similar in some respects to Sarbin's social role-taking theory and building upon the earlier research of Barber. On this model, hypnosis is explained as an extension of ordinary psychological processes like imagination, relaxation, expectation, social compliance, etc. In particular, Barber argued that responses to hypnotic suggestions were mediated by a "positive cognitive set" consisting of positive expectations, attitudes, and motivation. Daniel Araoz subsequently coined the acronym "TEAM" to symbolise the subject's orientation to hypnosis in terms of "trust", "expectation", "attitude", and "motivation".<ref name="Barber, Spanos 1974"/>{{Primary source inline|date=September 2021}}

Barber et al. noted that similar factors appeared to mediate the response both to hypnotism and to cognitive behavioural therapy, in particular systematic desensitisation.<ref name="Barber, Spanos 1974"/> Hence, research and clinical practice inspired by their interpretation has led to growing interest in the relationship between hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.<ref name="Chapman">{{cite book|author=Robin A. Chapman|title=The clinical use of hypnosis in cognitive behavior therapy: a practitioner's casebook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6UpFP2fIqcC|access-date=30 October 2011|year=2006|publisher=Springer Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8261-2884-3|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702163307/https://books.google.com/books?id=u6UpFP2fIqcC|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|105}}<ref name="Bolocofsky">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bolocofsky DN, Spinler D, Coulthard-Morris L | title = Effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavioral weight management | journal = Journal of Clinical Psychology | volume = 41 | issue = 1 | pages = 35–41 | date = January 1985 | pmid = 3973038 | doi = 10.1002/1097-4679(198501)41:1<35::AID-JCLP2270410107>3.0.CO;2-Z | url = http://www.hypnoprogram.com/documents/Three_Studies_WL_Hypnosis.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131208195457/http://www.hypnoprogram.com/documents/Three_Studies_WL_Hypnosis.pdf | archive-date = 8 December 2013}}</ref>

=== Information theory ===
An approach loosely based on [[information theory]] uses a brain-as-computer model. In adaptive systems, [[feedback]] increases the [[signal-to-noise ratio]], which may converge towards a steady state. Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio enables messages to be more clearly received. The hypnotist's object is to use techniques to reduce interference and increase the receptability of specific messages (suggestions).<ref>Kroger, William S. (1977) ''Clinical and experimental hypnosis in medicine, dentistry, and psychology.'' Lippincott, Philadelphia, p. 31. {{ISBN|0-397-50377-6}}</ref>

=== Systems theory ===
[[Systems theory]], in this context, may be regarded as an extension of Braid's original conceptualisation of hypnosis as involving "the brain and nervous system generally".<ref name=br>{{cite book|author=Braid J|title=Neurypnology or The rationale of nervous sleep considered in relation with animal magnetism.|location=Buffalo, NY|publisher=John Churchill|year=1843}}</ref>{{rp|page=31}} Systems theory considers the [[nervous system]]'s organisation into interacting subsystems. Hypnotic phenomena thus involve not only increased or decreased activity of particular subsystems, but also their interaction. A central phenomenon in this regard is that of feedback loops, which suggest a mechanism for creating hypnotic phenomena.<ref name="Morgan, 1993">{{cite book|author=Morgan J.D.|title=The Principles of Hypnotherapy|publisher=Eildon Press|year=1993}}</ref>

=== Societies ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2021}}
There is a huge range of societies in England who train individuals in hypnosis; however, one of the longest-standing organisations is the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH). It origins date back to 1952 when a group of dentists set up the 'British Society of Dental Hypnosis'. Shortly after, a group of sympathetic medical practitioners merged with this fast-evolving organisation to form 'The Dental and Medical Society for the Study of Hypnosis'; and, in 1968, after various statutory amendments had taken place, the 'British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis' (BSMDH) was formed. This society always had close links with the [[Royal Society of Medicine]] and many of its members were involved in setting up a hypnosis section at this centre of medical research in London. And, in 1978, under the presidency of David Waxman, the Section of Medical and Dental Hypnosis was formed. A second society, the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis (BSECH), was also set up a year before, in 1977, and this consisted of psychologists, doctors and dentists with an interest in hypnosis theory and practice. In 2007, the two societies merged to form the 'British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis' (BSCAH). This society only trains health professionals and is interested in furthering research into clinical hypnosis.

The [[American Society of Clinical Hypnosis]] (ASCH) is unique among organisations for professionals using hypnosis because members must be licensed healthcare workers with graduate degrees. As an interdisciplinary organisation, ASCH not only provides a classroom to teach professionals how to use hypnosis as a tool in their practice, it provides professionals with a community of experts from different disciplines. The ASCH's missions statement is to provide and encourage education programs to further, in every ethical way, the knowledge, understanding, and application of hypnosis in health care; to encourage research and scientific publication in the field of hypnosis; to promote the further recognition and acceptance of hypnosis as an important tool in clinical health care and focus for scientific research; to cooperate with other professional societies that share mutual goals, ethics and interests; and to provide a professional community for those clinicians and researchers who use hypnosis in their work. The ASCH also publishes the ''[[American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis]]''.

== History ==
{{excerpt|History of hypnosis}}

== In fiction and popular culture ==
{{excerpt|Hypnosis in works of fiction}}

== See also ==
* [[List of hypnotists]] and [[list of fictional hypnotists]]

=== Historical figures ===
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* [[Alfred Binet]]
* [[James Braid (surgeon)|James Braid]]
* [[John Milne Bramwell]]
* [[William Joseph Bryan]]
* [[Emile Dantinne]]
* [[John Elliotson]]
* [[George Estabrooks]]
* [[Abbé Faria]]
* [[Ainslie Meares]]
* [[Franz Anton Mesmer]]
* [[Mahmoud K. Muftić]]
* [[Julian Ochorowicz]]
* [[Charles Lloyd Tuckey]]
* [[Otto Georg Wetterstrand]]
* [[Benny Hinn]] {{div col end}}

=== Modern researchers ===
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* [[Etzel Cardeña]]
* [[Alan Gauld]]
* [[Jack Stanley Gibson]]
* [[Ernest Hilgard]]
* [[Albert Abraham Mason]]
* [[Ainslie Meares]]
* [[Dylan Morgan]]
* [[David Spiegel]]
* [[Michel Weber]]<ref>[[Michel Weber]] is working on a Whiteheadian interpretation of hypnotic phenomena: see his «[https://www.academia.edu/869316/_Hypnosis_Panpsychism_in_Action_2008_ Hypnosis: Panpsychism in Action] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101034018/http://www.academia.edu/869316/_Hypnosis_Panpsychism_in_Action_2008_ |date=1 January 2016 }} », in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.), ''[https://www.academia.edu/6359521/Michel_Weber_and_Will_Desmond_eds._Handbook_of_Whiteheadian_Process_Thought_2008 Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009213445/https://www.academia.edu/6359521/Michel_Weber_and_Will_Desmond_eds._Handbook_of_Whiteheadian_Process_Thought_2008 |date=9 October 2021 }}'', Frankfurt / Lancaster, ontos verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008, I, pp. 15–38, 395–414; cf. « [https://www.academia.edu/5679705/_Syntonie_ou_agencement_ethnopsychiatrique_2013_ Syntonie ou agencement ethnopsychiatrique ?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308143836/https://www.academia.edu/5679705/_Syntonie_ou_agencement_ethnopsychiatrique_2013_ |date=8 March 2021 }} », Michel Weber et Vincent Berne (sous la direction de), ''[https://www.academia.edu/5562658/Michel_Weber_et_Vincent_Berne_sous_la_direction_de_Chromatikon_IX._Annales_de_la_philosophie_en_proc%C3%A8s_Yearbook_of_Philosophy_in_Process_2013 Chromatikon IX. Annales de la philosophie en procès – Yearbook of Philosophy in Process] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403220501/https://www.academia.edu/5562658/Michel_Weber_et_Vincent_Berne_sous_la_direction_de_Chromatikon_IX._Annales_de_la_philosophie_en_proc%C3%A8s_Yearbook_of_Philosophy_in_Process_2013 |date=3 April 2020 }}'', Les Editions Chromatika, 2013, pp. 55–68.</ref>
* [[Michael D. Yapko]]
* [[Gary R. Elkins]]{{div col end}}

=== Related subjects ===
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Covert hypnosis]]
* [[Guided meditation]]
* [[Highway hypnosis]]
* [[Hypnagogia]]
* [[Hypnoid state]]
* [[Hypnosis in popular culture]]
* [[Hypnosurgery]]
* [[Hypnotherapy]]
* [[Hypnotic Ego-Strengthening Procedure]]
* [[Ideomotor phenomenon]]
* [[List of ineffective cancer treatments]]
* [[Psychonautics]]
* Recreational hypnosis
* [[Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism]]
* [[Scientology and hypnosis]]
* [[Sedative]] (also known as sedative-hypnotic drug)
* ''[[The Zoist|The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and Their Applications to Human Welfare]]''
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [https://archive.org/details/suggestionandau00baudgoog Baudouin, C. (Paul, E & Paul, C. trans.), ''Suggestion and Autosuggestion: A Psychological and Pedagogical Study Based on the Investigations made by the New Nancy School'', George Allen & Unwin, (London), 1920.]
* {{cite book | vauthors = Braid J |title=Neurypnology; or The Rationale of Nervous Sleep considered in relation with Animal Magnetism |year=1843 |publisher=John Churchill |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/neurypnologyorra00braiiala}}
* [https://archive.org/details/observationsont01braigoog Braid, J. (1850), ''Observations on Trance; or, Human Hybernation'', London: John Churchill.]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=-1hYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA848 Braid, J. (1855), "On the Nature and Treatment of Certain Forms of Paralysis", ''Association Medical Journal'', Vol.3, No.141, (14 September 1855), pp.&nbsp;848–855.]
* Brann, L., Owens J. Williamson, A. (eds.) (2015), ''The Handbook of Contemporary Clinical Hypnosis: Theory and Practice'', Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. {{isbn|978-1-1190-5727-7}}
* [[Thomas Brown (philosopher)|Brown, T.]] (1851), [https://archive.org/details/lecturesonphilos00browuoft ''Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind (Nineteenth Edition)'', Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black.]
* [https://archive.org/download/b28099734/b28099734.pdf Coates, James (1904), ''Human Magnetism; or, How to Hypnotise: A Practical Handbook for Students of Mesmerism'', London: Nichols & Co.]
* {{cite book | author = Gibson HB |title=Hypnosis in Therapy |year=1991 |publisher=Psychology Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCU8oroKBfgC&pg=PP1|isbn=978-0-8637-7155-2}}
* [[Bernard Glueck Sr.|Glueck, B.]], "New Nancy School", ''The Psychoanalytic Review'', Vol. 10, (January 1923), pp.&nbsp;109–12.
* [https://archive.org/details/b24872210_0002 Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume I: Animal Magnetism: Mesmer/De Puysegur'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1902].
* [https://archive.org/details/hypnotismanddoc00hartgoog Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume II: The Second Commission; Dupotet And Lafontaine; The English School; Braid's Hypnotism; Statuvolism; Pathetism; Electro-Biology'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1903].
* {{cite book |last=Lynn|first=Steven |title=Theories of Hypnosis: Current Models and Perspectives |year=1991 |publisher=Guilford Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez7Nq80QMtoC&pg=PP1|isbn=978-0-89862-343-7}}
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== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Hypnotism}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

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