What is hypnosis Essay Example

What is hypnosis Essay It is actually a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur. Many people have questions such as: â€Å"Who can experience hypnosis? † â€Å"Can it enhance recall of forgotten events? † â€Å"Can it force people to act against their will? † â€Å"Can it help people heal or receive their pain? † Is it harmful or helpful, and etc. What do you think? Who can experience hypnosis? To an extent we are all open to suggestion.If one was standing upright, with eyes closed, and is told that they are shaking your right hand, most will start to shake your right hand. People who respond to suggestions without hypnosis are the same people who respond with hypnosis. Hypnotic ability is the ability to focus attention totally on a task, to become imaginatively absorbed in it, to entertain fanciful possibilities. Can it enhance recall of forgotten events? Most people believe t hat our experiences are in our brain and we can recall them by breaking through defenses.Sixty years of research proves that this theory is wrong. We do not â€Å"soak in† everything around us. We permanently store only some of our experiences. â€Å"Hypnotically refreshed† memories combine fact with fiction. Since 1980, UFO abductions have been reported by thousands of people who are predisposed to believe in aliens, are highly hypnotizable, and have undergone hypnosis. Can hypnosis force people to act against their will? Researchers have enticed hypnotized people to perform dangerous acts such as; putting ones hand into acid, then throwing the acid in a researchers face.The hypnotized being later denied their actions, and stated that they would never follow such orders. Martin Orne and Frederich Evans Hypnosis unleashed that they used a control group. Orne asked individuals to pretend they were hypnotized. The laboratory assistants were unaware, so they treated both groups the same. The result of the experiment was that all the unhypnotized participants performed the same acts as those who were hypnotized. Can hypnosis help people heal or relieve their pain? Hypnotherapists try to help patients connect their own healing powers.Posthypnotic suggestions have helped alleviate headaches, asthma, and stress-related skin disorders. In one statistical digest of 18 studies, the average client whose therapy was supplemented with hypnosis showed greater improvement the 70 percent of other therapy patients. Hypnosis seemed especially helpful for the treatment of obesity. However, drug, alcohol, and smoking addictions have not responded well to hypnosis. In controlled studies, hypnosis did speed the disappearance of warts, but so did the same positive suggestions given without hypnosis.Hypnosis can relieve pain. When unhypnotized people put their arm in an ice bath, they felt intense pain within 25 seconds. When hypnotized people did the same after being g iven suggestions to feel no pain, they indeed reported feeling little pain. As some dentists know, light hypnosis can reduce fear, thus reducing hypersensitivity to pain. Hypnosis inhibits pain-related brain activity. In surgical experiences, hypnotized patients have required less medication, recovered sooner, and left the hospital earlier than unhypnotized control patients.Nearly 10 percent of us can become so deeply hypnotized that even major surgery can become so deeply hypnotized that even major surgery can be performed without anesthesia. Half of us can gain at least some pain relief from hypnosis. The surgical use of hypnosis has flourished in Europe, where one Belgian medical team has performed more than 5000 surgeries with a combination of hypnosis, local anesthesia, and a mild sedative. Hypnosis as a Social Phenomenon Our attentional spotlight and interpretations powerfully influence our our ordinary perceptions.Might hypnotic phenomena reflect such workings of normal consc iousness, as well as the power of social influence? Advocates of the social influence theory of hypnosis believe they do. Does this mean that subjects consciously fake hypnosis? No, like actors caught up in their roles, they begin to feel and behave in ways appropriate for â€Å"good hypnotic subjects. † The more they like and trust the hypnotist, the more they allow the person to direct their attention and fantasies. †