[banshee72]

What do you think about hypnosis? Do you think that it implants false memories? Do you think it really helps people? Can it really control people? Do you even believe in it?

I never want to get hypnotized. I'm always afraid that I will say something embarrassing or get false memories implanted into my head. Honestly, I am kind of afraid of being hypnotized. I mean other than the reasons I stated above, what if they had some sort of mind control over me and make me think that I am someone else completely or that I did something I didn't really do. You know what I am saying?

What are your views?

I'm not convinced that there is sufficient evidence that hypnosis "does what it says on the tin" ... There is evidence that it doesn't...

"Stage" hypnosis - which is the type of hypnosis most of us will be familiar with - seems to be purely entertainment and involves "a tacit social agreement to act as if one has lost one's self control." Likewise "Past Life" hypnosis - basically "learned behavior issuing out of a socio-cognitive context... The subject acts in accordance with the expectations of the hypnotic situation and behaves as she thinks she is supposed to behave in response to the suggestions of the hypnotist. A compliant subject can have reveries about future lives if the therapist leads her that way. Depending on the desires and expectations of the therapist-patient dyad, people can imagine they are in the Roman coliseum two thousand years ago or on another planet a thousand years into the future..."

Contrary to what many people believe, hypnosis does not significantly aid memory’s accuracy. Because subjects are extremely suggestible while hypnotized, some states do not allow as evidence in a court of law testimony made while under hypnosis. Minnesota’s Supreme Court was the first state court to rule that recollections under hypnosis would not be admissible as evidence in court.

Regarding hypnotherapy treatment for weight loss, quitting smoking, etc, it remains the case that cognitive-behavioral therapy "can do the same without any mumbo-jumbo about trance states or brain waves..."

[matthew321]

I'm under the impression that only those who want to be "hypnotized" can be. So if you want to seek therapy to stop smoking and hypnosis does the trick, good! Who cares if the hypnosis actually worked, you no longer are smoking so, don't fix what is not broken. That's my angle on the actually being helped aspect.

Now for the stage hypnosis, I don't believe in that. I think the "volunteer" gets this thought "If I don't get hypnotized then I'll make blank look bad, so I better really get under their spell." This is kinda of a "want to be hypnotized" sort of show. I'm not saying it is not fun, but I am saying the entertainment is affecting the actual results.

Now I'm not sure if this counts as hypnosis or not, but subliminal messages seem to be effective. Movie theaters would show a quick picture of popcorn so fast that people would not consciously notice. However, their subconscious would pick up on it and they would want popcorn. I do wonder if subliminal advertising would count as a form of hypnosis.

Overall I am skeptical of hypnosis but it seems like it could be probable. Everything in moderation...