Hypnosis: a state that resembles sleep. Induced by suggestion.
• Not everyone can be hypnotized.
• Those who score high on the Standford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale are susceptible.
• Someone is hypnotized by hypnotic induction.
Theories of hypnosis
The first physiological theory was Mesmer´s theory of animal magnetism, which maintained that an invisible magnetic fluid resided in the therapist's body, & was responsible for curing the afflicted parts of a patient's body by means of hand-passes. You can be "Mesmerized"
Altered state theory of hypnosis (Milton Erickson) - hypnosis puts a person in an altered state of consciousness, during which the person is disconnected from reality, which results in being able to experience & respond to suggestion.
Sociocognitive theory of hypnosis - A person "buys in" to the process because of social pressure (no hypnotic induction is involved).
Behaviors (of hypnosis)
Hypnotic analgesia - absence of the sense of pain after hypnosis
Posthypnotic suggestion - The control of the mind of an hypnotic subject by ideas in the mind of the hypnotizer.
Posthypnotic amnesia - not remembering
Age regression - no evidence for this really happening
Imagined perception -
The medical & therapeutic applications of hypnosis while useful in reducing the perception of pain & the enhancement of the therapeutic setting may be overstated.
Hypnosis
