How Hypnosis Works

By Eamon Greville

Have you ever thought of being hypnotized? Maybe while in college or at some retreat a hypnotist might have been hired as the entertainment. It is possible you have seen shows on television that demonstrate a hypnotist making people onstage do some really strange things, such as making them think they were a monkey, a dog, or make them think they are even a member of the opposite sex. Hypnotists can be great entertainment, but there are other ways hypnosis works. There are therapeutic hypnotists who can help people with pain management, quit smoking, or to lose weight.



Many people wonder how hypnosis works. You probably have heard that the person being hypnotized is under a "spell" or in a trance. This is not true. When a person is hypnotized, they are actually in a heightened sense of alertness and still have absolute free will. Although we have made exceptional progress in the field of hypnosis, there is still a bit of mystery. Psychologists have begun to realize some of the general characteristics of being hypnotized. It is a sort of trance that allows for extreme suggestibility, relaxation and a heightened sense of imagination. The subject is not asleep, but more of a feeling like you would get when you "lose yourself" in a good book or a movie. Your focus is entirely intent on that particular subject and nothing else. When you have been hypnotized, you see the suggestions of the hypnotist as a reality. Just like when you get into a horror movie, and feeling of being so close and involved in the movie, you find yourself jumping out of your seat when you become frightened. While under the hypnotic "trance," the hypnotist has a more direct link to your subconscious mind.

The differentiation linking the conscious mind and the subconscious mind is the conscious mind is your main inhibitive section in your brain. This is the part that puts the brakes on when you know something isn't right and the subconscious mind is in the driver's seat for your imagination and impulse. When your subconscious mind is in charge, you feel freer and may be more imaginative and less withdrawn. Hypnotized people sometime will do crazy things because their conscious mind is not filtering through everything.

Many studies have been done of how the brain and body works when a person is under hypnosis. These studies show there were no physical changes in the body. However, the heart rate and respirations were dropped, due to the heightened sense of relaxation. There seems to be a change in the makeup of the brain while the subject is hypnotized. While looking at EEGs (electroencephalographs), the research has shown that under hypnosis, different brain waves are created. Different brain waves are also used when a person is asleep, or dreaming, as well as when they are fully alert and thinking.

One may not realize that you don't necessarily need a specialized hypnotist to arrive at this heightened sense of your subconscious. It is easy to hypnotize yourself by using the appropriate relaxation and focusing techniques.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment