does hypnotism wear off?

[mostsmooth]

wear off is the wrong term, but anyway...
suppose one could be hypnotized to for instance not get angered due to traffic (road rage). ok alls fine no more anger. but now this person is still driving every day in the same traffic over and over. will this person "relearn" and redevelop the anger problem because of their personality, or will the hypnosis have altered this person in such a way that it prevents it from occurring?
when a person is hypnotized to quit smoking, is the desire to smoke removed or does the person just think cigs are disgusting tasting or both or what? if it was just that the person didnt desire a cig anymore, could they again become addicted if for some reason they started smoking again (due to other reasons than their previous addiction. people arent addicted when they initially start smoking).
to use computer terms, i guess im trying to understand if hypnosis reprograms you or quarantines your problem or?

[Jazza]

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wear off is the wrong term, but anyway...
suppose one could be hypnotized to for instance not get angered due to traffic (road rage). ok alls fine no more anger. but now this person is still driving every day in the same traffic over and over. will this person "relearn" and redevelop the anger problem because of their personality, or will the hypnosis have altered this person in such a way that it prevents it from occurring?
when a person is hypnotized to quit smoking, is the desire to smoke removed or does the person just think cigs are disgusting tasting or both or what? if it was just that the person didnt desire a cig anymore, could they again become addicted if for some reason they started smoking again (due to other reasons than their previous addiction. people arent addicted when they initially start smoking).
to use computer terms, i guess im trying to understand if hypnosis reprograms you or quarantines your problem or?

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i wouldn't be suprised if hypnosis reprograms instead of quarantines, it's a pretty amazing and powerfull thing

yeah but i don't really know

[Nikanoru]

Hypnosis is just the power of suggestion. It doesn't reprogram anything or solve any problems on its own. The person being hypnotized still has to do all the work.

http://www.skepdic.com/hypnosis.html

[Jazza]

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Hypnosis is just the power of suggestion. It doesn't reprogram anything or solve any problems on its own. The person being hypnotized still has to do all the work.

http://www.skepdic.com/hypnosis.html

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what do you mean 'on it's own'? isn't it assumed that the person's own mind is doing the work to 'reprogram' itself?

[purnell]

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Hypnosis is just the power of suggestion. It doesn't reprogram anything or solve any problems on its own. The person being hypnotized still has to do all the work.

http://www.skepdic.com/hypnosis.html

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It is well written and accurate, to the best of my knowledge. "Hypnosis" occurs any time one is in a suggestible mental state. Consciously choosing to enter such a state can be useful, or foolish, depending on the purpose and the suggestions.

[toots]

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It is well written and accurate, to the best of my knowledge. "Hypnosis" occurs any time one is in a suggestible mental state. Consciously choosing to enter such a state can be useful, or foolish, depending on the purpose and the suggestions.

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That's pretty much it.

Whilst studying for my doctorate in psychology, I ran headlong into one practicum prof who was generally of the opinion that hypnosis can be used to solve all life's ills. He described it little differently than you just did.

He spent an undue amount of time teaching us how to do hypnotherapy coupled with flat-footed behavioral interventions.

Basically, you can tell that I'm not hugely impressed by the whole thing, even though I have actually been trained for it.

Where I would find it useful is a way to simultaneously make someone suggestible, while providing a convenient ritual to "blame" the change on, so they wouldn't have to consider that they had it within themselves to implement whatever change was desired, all along.

Or, to summarize, I just call it a "stupid suggestibility trick."

[purnell]

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...Or, to summarize, I just call it a "stupid suggestibility trick."

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One could argue that commercial television amounts to exactly that.

[toots]

I think that's a fair argument, and not entirely off the mark.

Excuse me. I'm gonna go be hip-mo-tyzed!

[mostsmooth]

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It is well written and accurate, to the best of my knowledge. "Hypnosis" occurs any time one is in a suggestible mental state. Consciously choosing to enter such a state can be useful, or foolish, depending on the purpose and the suggestions.

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That's pretty much it.

Whilst studying for my doctorate in psychology, I ran headlong into one practicum prof who was generally of the opinion that hypnosis can be used to solve all life's ills. He described it little differently than you just did.

He spent an undue amount of time teaching us how to do hypnotherapy coupled with flat-footed behavioral interventions.

Basically, you can tell that I'm not hugely impressed by the whole thing, even though I have actually been trained for it.

Where I would find it useful is a way to simultaneously make someone suggestible, while providing a convenient ritual to "blame" the change on, so they wouldn't have to consider that they had it within themselves to implement whatever change was desired, all along.

Or, to summarize, I just call it a "stupid suggestibility trick."

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why do we see people be hypnotized, and then when they are "snapped out of it", they claim to not remember anything ? are they lying? when you say its trick, you would think theyd be aware. if they arent aware, it would seem to be more than a trick, no?

[toots]

If they don't remember, they're just being overly cooperative.

There have been several studies done that show that hypnosis isn't any altered "trancelike" state, but just a level of heightened concentration and suggestibility.

[mostsmooth]

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If they don't remember, they're just being overly cooperative.

There have been several studies done that show that hypnosis isn't any altered "trancelike" state, but just a level of heightened concentration and suggestibility.

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overly cooperative in that they are lying, or playing along or over cooperative in that they were concentrating so deeply they somehow forgot?
(btw, im not disbelieving anything you say, im just curious and trying to get a better understanding /images/graemlins/cool.gif)

[toots]

overcooperative in that they're trying real hard to go along with what you suggest. It falls in a big enough motivational grey area, that I hesitate to use a term like "lie" as it's kind of perjorative.

[mostsmooth]

so suppose i get hypnotized and the guy has me say something or do something strange, then i snap out of it, and my friends are laughing at me for doing the strange thing, youre saying i wont remember ?

[Shakezula]

you are hypnotizing yourself every day. your thoughts are your suggestions. they are what you tell yourself. perhaps only subconsciously it is occurring. but it is occurring. you have an idea, for example, to smoke. you find exactly the kinds of situations to reinforce the idea that you smoke, or should smoke, or need to smoke, or want to smoke. if you have ever tried stopping, you are aware that you begin to look for excuses, reasons why, to smoke. you try to avoid the triggers that cause you to smoke. you will find that you actually have to tell yourself, I dont want to smoke, or I dont need to smoke. you will have thoughts. period. and depending upon the intensity of the thought, it will have an effect. it is the suggestion you give yourself, and the WILLINGNESS to go along with it, that makes the difference. the old pattern of thinking will have to be broken, either through repetition of thoughts, or through reaching an intensity of intention. it could be changed instantly, theoritically, if a strong enough intention was made, but usually it takes time for the old pattern to be replaced by new thought-pattern. stopping smoking, suddenly you have time on your hands, empty open blocks of time, with nothing to do. you must "fill-out" the pattern, so to speak, with new activity.

one session will not usually make the difference, it takes repetition. that is how it began anyway; with smoking, for example, the idea of it kept growing and became alive through experience, and after a time it had its own life.

those performing hynotists, they choose the most suggestible and those people who WANT to participate, and those who have come for a good time. it is easy to spot those kinds of people, just as easy as it is to spot a fish.

Personally, I am unhypnotizable. I laugh, and strongly resist the idea of giving another person responsibility and power over me. But if you are comfortable enough and trusting of others, hypnotherapy can work for your advantage. if the therapist is a good one, not money-hungry, he or she should give you instructions on how to daily follow-up on the work you have already done. Basically, giving yourself suggestions, believing them, expecting them to work. then, forgetting about them, letting go, not hassling yourself and keeping a (conscious) eye out for yourself, and allowing the Work to work.

[Shakezula]

some Seth quotes on hypnosis:

"The term hypnosis merely applies to a quite normal state in which you concentrate your attention, narrowing your focus to a particular area of thought or belief."

"In certain terms hypnosis is simply an exercise in the alteration of beliefs, and only too clearly shows that sense-experience follows expectations."

"Structured hypnosis merely allows the subject to utilize full powers of concentration, thereby activating unconscious mechanisms."

"One prerequisite [for hypnosis] is an intense concentration upon a specific incoming data to the exclusion of everything else. Therefore the orders given are clear-cut, to the point. No conflicting information is received, no cross messages. The shutting out of superfluous data and the narrowing of focus are the two most important ingredients. Realization can help simply because the body messages are also quieted, and the mind not concerned with them."

[mostsmooth]

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Personally, I am unhypnotizable. I laugh, and strongly resist the idea of giving another person responsibility and power over me.

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if its more of a "trick" how are they controlling you?
also, ive never been under hypnosis (as far as i know /images/graemlins/grin.gif), but i hear you wont do anything you dont want to do while under. im assuming this is true and seems to go along with what you guys are saying, true?

[purnell]

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also, ive never been under hypnosis (as far as i know ), but i hear you wont do anything you dont want to do while under. im assuming this is true and seems to go along with what you guys are saying, true?

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Yes, this is true. And you definitely have been in a suggestible state before. And "being under" is not a good metaphor IMO.

All it amounts to is focus and concentration- If a person is able to relax and internalize the suggestion, hypnosis will have the desired effect (within reason). I, like shakezula, am hard for someone else to "hypnotize" because I have strong emotional boundaries, but when I self-induce the "hypnotic" state and make suggestions to myself, I am receptive.

It is literally all in my head.

[raisins]

Well, I do not have a doctorate in psychology. I find hypnosis to be very interesting and have spent some time reading and thinking about it.

Hypnosis is difficult to define, most definitions are something along the lines of a heightened focus or concentration of the attention. When the attention is focused then there are other items in our environment (physical or mental) that are out of awareness. Many psychologists and hypnotist agree that this dissociation model of hypnosis is illuminating even if they do not agree with it completely.

It is rare in daily life, with the exception of meditation, for our attention to not be focused on certain features of our external world, or particular thoughts or feelings and by extension ignoring or suppressing other features and or thoughts and feelings. Some have suggested that our lifes are a series of trances that are triggered by the various items we encounter that we have associated those trances with. An example, when I go to work and walk through the front door I enter my work trance, my boss calls my name in a certain tone of voice that I associate with negatively and I enter my disgruntled employee trance, I go home and I am in my time off trance, I play with my child and I enter the appropriate trance etc. The general idea is that in any given environment there are certain features that attract my attention and to which I have associated certain beliefs and feelings that come up automatically, a subpersonality. This idea of hypnosis pretty much equates trance with mood. When a person is in a given mood there are certain suggestions that will be more attractive than they would in other moods. Hypnosis does not mean being open to any and all suggestions. The suggestions have to fit the way the person sees themself at that moment. There have been studies done that show a person will not break their own moral code even when in deep trance nor will they do anything that they see as dangerous to their own well being, e.g. reach out to a venomous snake.

This view of hypnosis raises the question of what hypnosis is when we talk about it as distinct from normal life. The answer is that most people's vision of hypnosis, a somnambulistic trance, is simply another version of concentrated attention and disociation. In this cliched idea of trance, the attention is focused internally and left there, it is best induced through boredom or confusion, and sensory stimuli are dissociated as much as possible. The inductee is particularly open to suggestions not so much to the "depth" of trance but because they are trusting the other person to help them make some therapeutic change in the associations they habitually make. I know I haven't yet answered your question but hypnosis is a tricky subject to talk about and most people have widely different ideas about what it means and an assortment of beliefs about the subject, typically involving power, control and suggestion.

Will the driver relearn to get angry in traffic? Maybe. It depends on how engaged he is in associating relaxation or some other response to being in traffic vs. how engaged he was in associating anger with traffic originally. He probably has had a lot of experience in being angry when in traffic, it is likely that there are other parts of his personality that support this association of anger. On the other hand, if he recognizes that anger in traffic is not working for him and is harmful to his own interests and wishes, then he could create a more powerful association to relaxation or amusement or something else when in traffic.

You could hypnotize a smoker to associate the taste of cigarettes with something noxious like rotten eggs. However any one who smokes has attachments to smoking that go beyond the taste of the cigarettes. After all cigarettes taste bad as is, most smokers are not particularly aware of the tase, partly due to smoking damaging taste and partly due to the smoker's dissociation. I would think that unless the personality of the hypnotized was very responsive to authoritarian personalities and had some sort of belief anout the power of hypnosis then that kind of suggestion would be likely to wear off and the association forgotten about. Other people would respond better to different hypnotic approaches to quitting smoking.

According to this view, any conversation or interaction is hypnosis. There is much in sales techniques that works along the lines of creating unconscious associations that the salesman manipulates to get the result he wants. A good example of this is the "yes set". In my opinion, rhetoric is related to hypnosis. Despite the implications of the preceeding few sentences I want to make it clear that all hypnosis is ultimately self hypnosis. The hypnotist or salesman or seducer or cult leader can not compel you to go into a trance and get the outcomes they want, they can only invite you to make certain associations. The better they understand your mood and your beliefs about your own best interests the more appealingly they can structure those invitations.

If you're interested in this subject I would recommend Michael Yapoko's Trancework and Stephen Gilligan's Therapeutic Trances. These are academic books and oriented to therapy but much better than all the writings for the layperson, most of which is fluff. As far as self-hypnosis goes the best is Alman and Lambrou's book.

regards,

raisins

[Shakezula]

It isn't about control, but rather the ability to act, or take action. It is an agreement though, to allow the other person to give you suggestions. And I do not agree with anyone enough to do that. Again, it isn't about control, but rather giving away my power to act within the moment. I worked too hard to get it and to strengthen it, I am not about to give it away. You are, however, aware and can agree or disagree or stop at anytime. I just don't like the idea of being in a position where I am sort of submissive or receptive, and not the dominate personality. When it comes to psychic experiences, I certainly need no help. Having valid psychic experiences is the one area where I excel...

[mcozzy1]

I'm a little scared of what happen to that dude in Office Space. He was permanently hypnotized.

Man, what if you were getting hypnotized and the hypnotist died in the middle of the session. You would be F*ucked up. Peter was lucky things worked out for him. You might not be so lucky if you ever tried to be hypnotized. There would be serious complications.