Yes, you can really hypnotize a person, but there are many myths about what hypnosis is. I studied with a teacher (Antonio Capafons) who always said: “I can make you act like chicken, with and without hypnosis.” With this he wanted to convey to us that hypnosis is a technique or a process that is based on suggestions, and those suggestions in the end are always linked to autosuggestion, so it depends a lot on how much you resist or how much certainty or You really give it to that suggestion and to the person who gives it, to reach the hypnotic process or not.
Hypnosis as a treatment method, combined with other treatments, is used in many cases. The problem here is that there is not much certainty of its real validity. We have published scientific studies of cases where it does work but not enough cases where it does not work. This doesn’t just happen with hypnosis, it happens in science at a general level. The field in which it has been seen to act best is as a technique to relieve or reduce pain, combined with other treatments. It is widely used to, for example, quit smoking, but we cannot speak of certainties, since we do not have enough studies to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Hypnosis is a technique that can give good results when combined with other techniques. For example, in eating disorders, impulse control or pain perception. There are other third generation psychology therapies, such as mindfulness, They also work with suggestions. In them, the basis is suggestion through words, the important thing is the use of the word, what words and at what times. Language, the word, is used in many (if not most) psychological therapies with very good results.
As for who can be a hypnotist, the training I did was only for psychologists and doctors. But there are also hypnotists who use this technique for show and who are not health professionals. The only thing you should be clear about is that if someone tells you that they are able to force another person to do something or stop doing it with hypnosis alone, you should be suspicious.
Then there are the so-called regressions – taking into account that this is not scientific – which is what those who practice it call the process that would lead a person to connect with their lives or past experiences. This is not at all scientific, and it helps us talk about one of the big problems of hypnosis and that is that you can induce false memories in a person (knowing that false memories can also be induced without hypnosis). That is why it is important to be careful and be aware of the type of suggestions that are being provoked and the role one occupies as a professional.
As we said at the beginning, what hypnosis is totally related to is autosuggestion, or self-hypnosis. That is, in the end, hypnosis depends more on the hypnotized person than on the hypnotist. This is also why there are certain people for whom hypnosis is not recommended. Can you encourage someone to go into a psychotic break through suggestions? Yes, you can, and not only with hypnosis, but with any suggestion technique or guided meditation, bad results can be achieved in certain cases and with certain people or moments. This does not depend only on the hypnosis, which would act as a trigger, but on the mental situation of the hypnotized person. And of course, it can also be done without hypnosis.
For all these reasons, not everyone can be hypnotized. The hypnotized person has to be open to receiving suggestions. The hypnotist may try to convince you, but if you have decided very firmly that you are not going to listen to the suggestions, he will not succeed.
Gema Fernández-Blanco Martín She is a clinical psychologist and doctor in Applied Creativity, professor and researcher at the intersection of psychology, art and technology. She is a professor at the University of Applied Sciences (HU) of Utrecht (Netherlands). One of her lines of research is focused on virtual environments and hypnosis.
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