People have been pondering and arguing over hypnosis for more than
200 years, but science has yet to fully explain how it actually
happens. We see what a person does under hypnosis, but it isn't clear
why he or she does it. This puzzle is really a small piece in a much
bigger puzzle: how the human mind works. It's unlikely that scientists
will arrive at a definitive explanation of the mind in the foreseeable
future, so it's a good bet hypnosis will remain something of a mystery
as well.
But psychiatrists do understand the general characteristics of hypnosis, and they have some model of how it works. It is a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination. It's not really like sleep, because the subject is alert the whole time. It is most often compared to daydreaming,
or the feeling of "losing yourself" in a book or movie. You are fully
conscious, but you tune out most of the stimuli around you. You focus
intently on the subject at hand, to the near exclusion of any other
thought.
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Early Hypnohistory
People have been entering hypnotic-type trances for thousands and thousands of years; various forms of meditation play an important role in many cultures' religions. But the scientific conception of hypnotism wasn't born until the late 1700s.
The father of modern hypnotism is Franz Mesmer,
an Austrian physician. Mesmer believed hypnosis to be a mystical force
flowing from the hypnotist into the subject (he called it "animal magnetism").
Although critics quickly dismissed the magical element of his theory,
Mesmer's assumption, that the power behind hypnosis came from the
hypnotist and was in some way inflicted upon the subject, took hold for
some time. Hypnosis was originally known as mesmerism, after Mesmer, and we still use its derivative, "mesmerize," today.
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In this special mental state, people feel uninhibited and relaxed. Presumably, this is because they tune out the worries and doubts that normally keep their actions in check. You might experience the same feeling while watching a movie: As you get engrossed in the plot, worries about your job, family, etc. fade away, until all you're thinking about is what's up on the screen.
In this state, you are also highly suggestible. That is, when the hypnotist tells you do something, you'll probably embrace the idea completely. This is what makes stage hypnotist shows so entertaining. Normally reserved, sensible adults are suddenly walking around the stage clucking like chickens or singing at the top of their lungs. Fear of embarrassment seems to fly out the window. The subject's sense of safety and morality remain entrenched throughout the experience, however. A hypnotist can't get you to do anything you don't want to do.
But what is it that makes this happen? In the next section, we'll look at the most widely accepted theory of what's going on when you become hypnotized.
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