Hypnosis - Can I Be Hypnotized to Do Anything Wrong?
Thanks to Hollywood and different scary books, hypnosis is surrounded by a mystic aura. You can hear many histories about what people can do under hypnosis and how they can be controlled like they were dolls. But are these stories true?
Before I begin to work with my patients we speak a lot about hypnosis and about what it is and what it is not. It is obvious that hypnosis is surrounded by this halo of mysticism that still scares many people. Some wonder if I am going to control them from a distance, or if they are going to do things they don't want.
One of the most important rules, in hypnosis, is that it is impossible to make a person do something in a state of hypnosis, that this person wouldn't do in a normal state. You can't make anyone do anything that this person will refuse to do under normal circumstances. This is one of the simple reasons why some people just can't be hypnotized. They don't want to be hypnotized, so they can't be hypnotized. Hypnosis is neither magic nor some occult force used by a magician of some kind. Hypnosis is a modified state of consciousness. Nothing else.
When we speak of therapy, this is a very important fact. Let's say, you come to a hypnotist to stop smoking. You don't need to believe in hypnosis, it will work anyway. But it is important that you want to stop smoking. If you don't want to stop smoking, a hypnotist won't be able to help you. Because we just can't go against the will of the other. We can't make someone do something, this person doesn't want to do.
Same principle when we work with anxiety or other matters. Some patients don't want to be helped. Somehow, their state has grown to be a part of themselves. In some countries, like in Denmark, you have associations where people speak about their anxiety and what causes it and how they feel about it. Some of these patients even get a monthly amount of money from the state because of their anxiety. For them, to go pass it, would mean that a part of their identity, and their revenues will crash. They will have to change life totally. In most cases, when a patient has any kind of psychological trouble, and this trouble is part of their identity and life, even hypnosis will not work. It will just comfort them in their understanding that "I am so seriously ill that nothing can help me".
What about all these stage-hypnotists we can see on TV. They make people come on stage and do the most crazy things. Surely, they can be controlled.
Really?
Now, when the magician or the hypnotist asks for a volunteer to come on stage, and the people are there, jumping up and down to be chosen, don't they know that the hypnotist will make them do crazy things? Don't they know that by going on stage, they will be centre of attention of the rest of the public? Are they unwilling subjects? Of course not. They know perfectly well that whatever happens on stage will not be dangerous and will make them the star of the evening. The more crazy things they will do, the most they will have to tell friends, children or grandchildren later. They might even get a column in the local newspaper. Certainly they are willing to do whatever is needed.
On one of those shows, by the way, there were five or six persons on stage doing funny things and then the hypnotist asked them to dance. They all did but one. Later, when asked, she said that dancing was against her faith.
Before I begin to work with my patients we speak a lot about hypnosis and about what it is and what it is not. It is obvious that hypnosis is surrounded by this halo of mysticism that still scares many people. Some wonder if I am going to control them from a distance, or if they are going to do things they don't want.
One of the most important rules, in hypnosis, is that it is impossible to make a person do something in a state of hypnosis, that this person wouldn't do in a normal state. You can't make anyone do anything that this person will refuse to do under normal circumstances. This is one of the simple reasons why some people just can't be hypnotized. They don't want to be hypnotized, so they can't be hypnotized. Hypnosis is neither magic nor some occult force used by a magician of some kind. Hypnosis is a modified state of consciousness. Nothing else.
When we speak of therapy, this is a very important fact. Let's say, you come to a hypnotist to stop smoking. You don't need to believe in hypnosis, it will work anyway. But it is important that you want to stop smoking. If you don't want to stop smoking, a hypnotist won't be able to help you. Because we just can't go against the will of the other. We can't make someone do something, this person doesn't want to do.
Same principle when we work with anxiety or other matters. Some patients don't want to be helped. Somehow, their state has grown to be a part of themselves. In some countries, like in Denmark, you have associations where people speak about their anxiety and what causes it and how they feel about it. Some of these patients even get a monthly amount of money from the state because of their anxiety. For them, to go pass it, would mean that a part of their identity, and their revenues will crash. They will have to change life totally. In most cases, when a patient has any kind of psychological trouble, and this trouble is part of their identity and life, even hypnosis will not work. It will just comfort them in their understanding that "I am so seriously ill that nothing can help me".
What about all these stage-hypnotists we can see on TV. They make people come on stage and do the most crazy things. Surely, they can be controlled.
Really?
Now, when the magician or the hypnotist asks for a volunteer to come on stage, and the people are there, jumping up and down to be chosen, don't they know that the hypnotist will make them do crazy things? Don't they know that by going on stage, they will be centre of attention of the rest of the public? Are they unwilling subjects? Of course not. They know perfectly well that whatever happens on stage will not be dangerous and will make them the star of the evening. The more crazy things they will do, the most they will have to tell friends, children or grandchildren later. They might even get a column in the local newspaper. Certainly they are willing to do whatever is needed.
On one of those shows, by the way, there were five or six persons on stage doing funny things and then the hypnotist asked them to dance. They all did but one. Later, when asked, she said that dancing was against her faith.
