Hypnosis and the mysteries of the subconscious world

What is hypnosis?

The word "hypnosis" comes from the word "Hypnos" which translates from Greek to Vietnamese as "sleep". However, hypnosis is not actually related to sleep. In fact, hypnosis can be more like a state between sleep and wakefulness.

Hypnosis according to psychiatry is defined as a mental state characterized by heightened imagination, concentration and relaxation. Subjects are hypnotized – they are not slaves of the hypnotist, on the contrary, their will is completely independent. And they don't actually fall into a dreamy state – hypnosis is when their concentration is at its highest.

There are people who are more easily hypnotized than others, and the rate of women being hypnotized is often higher than men. According to research by a psychologist at Stanford University (USA) concluded: 10-15% of adults are easily hypnotized, this rate is 80-85% for children under 12 years old (the age when The brain's processing is not yet complete). Meanwhile, about 20% of adults are very difficult to hypnotize.

Hypnosis often appears in medicine or psychology, to help people with psychological problems regain positive thoughts, erase obsessions in their minds, fears or terror about their lives. spirit or help the subject regain lost memories.

Hypnosis refers to the ability to control other people's thoughts, making them do things according to their will. People who are hypnotized seem to no longer be able to control themselves, their brains are completely controlled by others. That is still what entertainment programs have brought to the audience the basic concepts of hypnosis.

Many people have strange thoughts about hypnosis. For example, they believe that a person who has been hypnotized cannot wake up or can be made to do bad or harmful things.

In fact, there are still many mysteries about hypnosis that many people do not know. Let's find out through the article below!

The control ability of hypnosis

Hypnosis is truly a strange art because of its ability to control the mind. The person being hypnotized will listen completely to what the hypnotist says. But many people do not know that some people are more susceptible to hypnosis than others. Scientists have conducted a study showing that each person's ability to be hypnotized is different. The age group under 12 years old is often more susceptible to hypnosis because the brain's processing cycle is not yet complete. Meanwhile, about 20% of adults are very difficult to hypnotize.

Healing with hypnosis (medical hypnosis)

With science, the main use of hypnosis is its healing ability, also known as medical hypnosis (hypnotherapy). Hypnosis helps patients change many bad behaviors or can also help them forget unpleasant memories... This method aims at an unconscious change in the patient by placing them in a state of mind. being completely controlled. Many people still do not believe in this treatment method, but others consider this a real job and even consider it a new treatment direction in the future.

Performance hypnosis

There are actually two types of hypnosis: medical hypnosis as mentioned above and in this section stage hypnosis. That's what we often see in entertainment shows - the hypnotist will control the audience's minds and force them to do actions according to their wishes. This is really considered a tool for entertainment because these performing hypnotists, in addition to hypnosis, also use many other magic tricks and often use pre-selected people to perform. It helps excite the crowd and makes them feel awed and excited, but in reality this method has little to do with the true nature of hypnosis.

Automatic hypnosis

You may be surprised to know that we can also hypnotize ourselves without needing a hypnotist, what you need is the necessary knowledge. There is a temporary method called auto-hypnosis or self-hypnosis, which allows you to use your subconscious mind to influence your behaviors in a way that your conscious mind cannot control. This method was discovered by a man named Coue, author of “Self-Mastery Through Conscious”, which describes in detail how we can put ourselves into a trance state. hypnosis like hypnotists often do.

Memory

In movies or entertainment programs, hypnosis can also make us forget certain memories. With science, this is also quite accurate, but only if the person being hypnotized really wants to forget that and follow the hypnotist's instructions. Although those memories come back easily when stimulated, they can be blocked by the use of one's subconscious mind. Hypnosis also has the ability to help restore another person's memory in a completely unconscious state. Many people, when hypnotized, say that they have been abducted by aliens or have met monsters... but there is little or no evidence to prove that the recovered memories are true events. happens or because the patient is forcing himself to believe in it.

History of hypnosis

Hypnosis is believed to have been used in the 1800s as a form of anesthesia known as “hypnoanesthesia”. However, history has shown that hypnosis was used much earlier. In recent discoveries, the ancient Egyptians and Greeks performed this method in rituals about 3,000 years ago.

Control yourself

The ability to make others act according to your will is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of hypnosis. However, as mentioned above hypnosis is a state of being influenced by others and there are people who are more easily influenced than others. Becoming a good therapist is the first thing a hypnotist needs. Accordingly, they will create trust by talking to you and not revealing that they actually cannot control and force you to do things the way they want. Your actions while in a hypnotic state are completely voluntary on your part, and they cannot control you to do things that are unethical or contrary to the beliefs they have given you.

Is there consciousness or not while hypnotized?

Many people believe that people often sleep while under hypnosis, but this is not necessarily the case. During hypnosis, you are not only controlling your own actions, but according to scientists, you are also very awake at that time. Because at that time you can completely hear everything the hypnotist says if you really want and try to listen. An experienced hypnotist once hypnotized himself to eliminate his pain response. He tried doing this during surgery. It indeed worked very well and he did not feel any pain, but for widespread application we still need more evidence. It's hard to believe that if he just put himself in a sleep state during surgery, there was definitely a terrible mental struggle in his mind.