At Hypnothoughts (http://www.hypnothoughts.com) a question recently came up regarding . . . whether or not hypnosis is a genuine state or merely compliance to suggestion in an effort to please the hypnotist or to fit an expected social role.
Well . . . my two kwai on the matter . . .
The Social Compliance or Role Play Model of hypnosis in which the only reason the person responds to hypnotic suggestion is to somehow fulfill a role of expectancy (this is how they expect hypnotized persons to behave) or to please the hypnotist has long ago been discredited as the major reason for hypnosis to be effective.
Brain scans have long ago shown that there is indeed much more than mere social roleplay and new neurological studies have consistently shown that hypnotic phenomena are genuine and that they are obviously different from experiencing the same phenomena in active mode while being essentially similar. When we are hypnotized to believe we see a color, the same areas of the brain are active as actually seeing the color while those who pretend they see a color are not firing those same synapses.
However, the theory of roleplay and social compliance is still prevalent and is even still being taught at university (a couple years ago, one of my former students from the university returned to Taiwan after having spent a couple years in Canada doing graduate work in Psychology where her professors were using texts that categorically stated that hypnosis does not actually exist and that it was simply social compliance . . . so I hypnotized her and stuck her hand to her head and did some other "interesting" effects that had nothing to do with social compliance, they were full on physical effects involving physical sensation, blood flow, and more and after emerging her asked her what she felt about it now . . . certainly most folks don't "roleplay" increased and decreased blood flow to the point that one hand becomes dark and extremely warm while the other is very pale and extremely cold to the touch and then to see them equalized through suggestion as well . . . for some reason her views changed rather dramatically toward belief in the experience).
One reason social compliance is still prevalent is that so many folks are out of date in terms of the research and experience in the state and many who practice hypnosis, particularly in the academic world, use progressive relaxation or meditative style inductions with no phenomena attached beyond relaxation so it begs the question or whether or not the experience was hypnotic or simply akin to relaxing or daydreaming.
Another reason this outdated view is still out there is because social role expectancy and compliance do play an important part in any hypnotic session, albeit, this is not the primary factor in hypnosis.
Than again, some folks push the no such thing as genuine hypnosis gambit for marketing rather than educational reasons. Derren Brown uses the "no such thing as hypnosis" gambit so as to distract folks from any trance effects actually in play. Keep in mind though that Derren is also a magician so he often gets seemingly psychological effects through trickery, illusion, or the like . . . albeit, he certainly uses suggestion quite a bit in many of his shows. Way back when, the Amazing Kreskin would do hypnosis shows but stopped calling it hypnosis and instead said he was simply demonstrating compliance to suggestion with no genuine "trance" . . . in fact, he offered a monetary reward to anyone who could prove a trance state of hypnosis existed . . . not coincidentally, this switch in orientation happened at the same time that certain of Kreskin's travelling venue areas underwent legal changes that regulated public performance of hypnosis. By saying what he did was not really hypnosis because hypnosis doesn't exist he was able to continue performing essentially the same act while abiding by the letter of the law.
Of course, any experienced competent hypnotist knows that the public perception of "trance" and hypnosis is very different from the actual mechanisms.
The hypnotic trance does NOT require relaxation or sleeplike appearance or any of the other accoutrement that folks ascribe to hypnosis. So, if I never ask someone to close their eyes or use the word relax then they must not be hypnotized . . . or . . . are they . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K677EiEHtK0 . . .
or . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXvbyGf5IUE . . .
or . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXvczyWY-zI . . .
or . . . maybe they're just drunk . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq45xqDx_qM . . .
. . . or . . . maybe not drunk but just experiencing all of the effects of being drunk without touching a single drop of anything that might cause that effect other than the power of the mind and the imagination . . .
. . . or . . . and this is the genuine truth of the matter . . . they are HYPNOTIZED but hypnosis isn't what so many people assume it is! It truly is something so much more powerful and so much more amazing!
All the best,
Brian
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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
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