Focus on this image. Yes! You are falling asleep…sleep…sleep……..and ”SNAP”.
Written by Satabdi Mohanty
You may have seen hypnotists make people fall asleep on command, quack like a duck, or even change personalities like Office Space.
And these performances make hypnosis quite questionable to the average skeptical person. So, is there really any kind of power in a soothing voice or swinging watch. There lies a piece of scientific evidence that being hypnotized is possible and might cause some changes in your brain too. Some psychologists even use it as a therapy to treat patients with multiple physical and mental disorders. So, hypnosis is probably real. Just not the exaggerated brainwashing way you might think. Different meditation and trance-like techniques used have been documented for thousands of years.
HISTORY
But what we consider the modern hypnosis began in the 1700s. Partially thanks to the physician Franz Mesmer, which is where we got the word “Mesmerize”. Mesmer had a theory about nature he called “animal magnetism”.
He believed that there were invisible, magnetic fluids that flowed through living creatures and he claimed he could cure people’s illness by adjusting that flow. Using dim lights, ethereal music, magnets, and flashy hand gestures. Mesmer introduced a trance-like state in some of the clients and tried to balance this invisible fluid. Some of the mesmer’s patients did get healthier after his treatment. But when the scientific community put the animal magnetism to the test they found that magnetic fluid with healing powers was just not a real thing. So Mesmer and his research were discredited and none of the scientists even gave the trance-like state a second thought. At least till mid-1800, that’s when Sir James Braid began to study this potential therapy. He coined the word”Hypnosis” from the Greek word “Hypnos” cause he found the trance-like state was similar to sleep.
Basically, there are two theories that explain being hypnotized psychologically:
1)Altered State Theory: The altered state theory says that hypnosis actually leads to a distinct state of consciousness. Kind of like sleep, hypnosis might be a distinct state of the brain, where your mental processes work differently and you are not necessarily aware of what’s exactly happening.
2)Non-State Theory: On the flip side this theory states that hypnosis might be a combination of instant focus and certain expectations about what it means to be hypnotized. Basically, you are still aware of and playing along.
HYPNOTISTS generally :
1)Speaks Softly
2)Encourages the client to focus their attention on something like swinging watch, pictures, etc.
3)Walks them through Relaxation Exercises.
Eventually, they will reach a state of FOCUSSED RELAXATION, in simple way calm, open, and more open to suggestions.
HOW FOCUSSED RELAXATION MAKES HYPNOTISTS INFLUENCE PEOPLE?
This answer lies with the concept called TOP-DOWN PROCESSING. Our brain receives a lot of sensory information from the world around us. The idea of top-down processing says that what you expect from memories and assumptions can have a top-level of impact on what you perceive through your senses. Basically just because a hypnotized person is open to suggestions their expectations can be tweaked which also changes the way they perceive the world. Stroop Test is the best example for the above explanation.
Hypnosis can effect perception like this.
DIFFERENT PEOPLE GET MORE OR LESS HYPNOTISED!
Hypnosis is a voluntary process. So people have to listen to hypnotists, focus and relax.
It’s estimated that
-10%-15% of people are highly hypnotized.
-20% is pretty resistant to hypnosis.
-Rest of us fall something in between
Some researchers say that Hypnosis is :
- Slight change in Brain Anatomy: These researchers use Magnetic Research Imaging (MRI) and found out that the people that are more easily hypnotized have more rostrum than those who weren’t.
2)Brainwave Pattern: Brain depends on electrochemical energy, that is how neurons communicate.Using Electroencephalogram(EEG).Researchers monitor different electrical activity of the brain and see a different pattern of brain waves and concluded that in hypnosis particularly in Highly hypnotized people there is an increase in theta rays that links to attention and visualization. Like when you are doing mental math or daydreaming.
CONCLUSION:
Both MRI and EEG show how our brains pay attention to things that support the idea of focussed relaxation. As hypnosis has matured to become both a viable treatment option for many medical conditions as well as an important research tool in our quest to understand the human mind and human cognition, it is of paramount importance that both the theory and practice of hypnosis are aligned as to finally relieve it from its age.
