About Hypnosis
Let’s get one thing clear right at the start:
But no, it’s not the same as what you’ve seen in movies and on TV. Hypnosis is not mind control.
Popular media is about entertainment, not accuracy. It usually uses hypnosis as a cheap plot device, glossing over the complexities of how the mind works in favor of something simple and easy to understand.
So what is hypnosis?
Different hypnotists have slightly different definitions of hypnosis, but mine is:
When you are hypnotized, or in a “hypnotic trance,” you become highly suggestible. This means that when someone suggests an idea to you, you are much more likely to seriously consider it, and potentially accept it, rather than simply brushing it off. These suggestions, as they are called, are exactly what you commonly think of as a suggestion; for example, “Would you like to go to the cinema with me tonight?” is a suggestion, and so is “Let’s play a game together!”.
It’s important to note that a hypnotized person can refuse to follow suggestions. Once again, hypnosis is not mind control! The person in trance is still aware of the situation, and is able to make decisions for themselves; it just becomes easier for them to consider ideas from a different perspective. Inhibitions are relaxed, and tightly-bound rules of behavior become looser, allowing the person in trance to think critically about whether those rules actually make sense. If not, they can make a change!
Hypnosis is also not a binary state: it’s not “yes-or-no”. Instead, hypnosis is a gradient: it’s possible to be “slightly hypnotized”, or “moderately hypnotized”, or “very hypnotized”, or anywhere in between. Many hypnotists will talk about “depth of trance” to refer to this concept, such as a “light trance” or a “deep trance”. Even someone in a light trance can still be affected by hypnosis, often to a greater degree than they expect!
The Cinema Example
For people who have not experienced hypnosis before, my favorite illustrative example to explain it involves going to the cinema. For this example, let’s assume the movie you are watching at the cinema is a really good movie, one that captures your attention in an enjoyable way.
When you watch a movie, on some level you’re aware that what you’re really watching is actors reading lines from a pre-written script, while standing in front of set. In other words, it’s all fake. But if it’s a good movie that draws you in, it doesn’t feel fake at all — it feels incredibly real and immersive. You find yourself getting drawn into the story, building emotional ties with the characters: hoping the protagonist will succeed, fearing that the villain might win instead. This can even happen in movies that are clearly unrealistic: superhero movies can be just as compelling as documentaries, if not more so!
Watching a good movie feels good, as well. It’s an enjoyable experience, and one that you want to continue. There’s nothing stopping you from walking out in the middle of a movie, but people rarely do so; in fact, when watching a really good movie, it can be disappointing when the experience comes to an end. The thoughts and feelings of the movie can stay with you long after it ends, changing your perspectives and sometimes even influencing your decisions.
It’s not uncommon to feel “time distortion” with a good movie: you know that you just finished watching a movie that was two and a half hours long, but it didn’t feel that way! Instead, it felt like the time just flew by. You remember what happened during the movie, but you don’t remember the passage of time.
All of these things happen with hypnosis, as well. It can feel incredibly real and immersive even though you’re aware that all that’s actually happening is the hypnotist talking to you. It feels pleasant and enjoyable, as well, and you don’t particularly want it to end! And the experience can stay with you for some time afterwards, shifting your perspective and making you reconsider certain decisions. Sometimes, you even experience “time distortion”, and feel like the hypnosis session was much shorter than it really was!
The reason for these similarities is simple: getting drawn into a good movie is a kind of hypnotic trance. Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention; when you are watching a good movie, your attention is highly focused. They feel similar because they’re actually the same thing!
Active Collaboration
There is a misconception that hypnosis is something that “happens to you;” that the hypnotist does all the work while the subject is passively manipulated like a doll. To someone watching a hypnosis session, it can certainly appear that way! But the reality is different: hypnosis is a collaborative effort between the subject and the hypnotist.
It's true that the hypnotist is the one directing the hypnotic trance, and giving suggestions to the subject. However, experience is happening in the mind of the subject; if the subject is not willing or able to engage with the directions of the hypnotist, then nothing will happen. A hypnotized subject still has agency: the ability to decide and control their own actions and reactions. They can use this agency to actively engage in the trance, contributing their attention and imagination to the experience to make it more powerful and effective. They can also use this agency to disengage from an uncomfortable situation, and to refuse to follow directions that make them uncomfortable.
Do You Remember Afterwards?
Most of the time, when you come out of a hypnotic trance, you will remember everything that happened during that trance. Some people do experience “post-hypnotic amnesia” (forgetting what happened when they come out of trance), but that is an uncommon experience, and it only happens to people who are comfortable with forgetting. Even then, it requires a fairly deep level of trance to achieve, and some people never get there, even if they want to!
When hypnosis is portrayed in popular media, it almost always involves post-hypnotic amnesia: the character being hypnotized can’t remember what happened to them while they were hypnotized, or sometimes doesn’t even know that they were hypnotized at all! However, remember that popular media is about entertainment, not accuracy. Post-hypnotic amnesia is dramatic and mysterious, and makes for good storytelling, which is why it’s almost always included in stories.
In the real world, post-hypnotic amnesia is a real thing, but much less common than popular media makes it seem. It occurs when the part of your brain that forms long-term memories makes a mistake, and either doesn’t create those memories at all, or stores the memories in the wrong place so that they are difficult to find afterwards. In order for a hypnotist to influence this process, the person being hypnotized must be in a fairly deep state of trance, and they must be willing to accept this suggestion: if they want to remember, then they will!
Some people actually prefer to experience post-hypnotic amnesia. This could be because they find the suggestions affect them more strongly if they don’t have to consciously think or worry about them. It could also be for fetish reasons: some people find it exciting to be influenced by hypnosis without knowing exactly what has been done to them.
Post-Hypnotic Effects
Just like watching a movie can shift your perspective even after the movie is finished, hypnosis can affect you even after the trance is done (also known as “post-hypnotic effects”). These effects are temporary, and will fade over time if they are not reinforced.
One kind of effect is the “post-hypnotic suggestion”. This is a suggestion that is intended to affect you after coming out of trance: for example, “when you wake up, you will feel extremely relaxed, calm, and happy for the rest of the day”. Like all suggestions, post-hypnotic suggestions will only affect the person being hypnotized if they are comfortable with it; it’s always possible to reject a suggestion!
Another effect is the “post-hypnotic trigger”. For example, “when I touch your forehead, you will freeze in place, completely immobilized, until I give you permission to move again.” This is a stimulus-response combination: the hypnotist describes a “stimulus,” which can be anything that a person recognizes (like a sound, a touch, a gesture, etc) and a “response” to go with it. When done effectively, post-hypnotic triggers look (and feel) almost like magic: your body or mind responding to someone else’s control. But just like with suggestions, triggers only occur when the person being hypnotized is comfortable with it; they can always choose to resist, and not respond to the trigger stimulus.
Post-hypnotic effects fade over time; they may affect you very strongly for the first 20 minutes or so after the trance ends, and then slowly affect you less and less. How long it takes for the effect to dissipate completely depends on several different factors; but for most people trying this for the first time, it will definitely stop affecting you after you go to sleep and wake up the next day.
If you want to be affected for a longer period of time, it’s possible to “reinforce” a post-hypnotic effect. There are multiple ways of doing so; the most effective way is to do another hypnosis session and set the same post-hypnotic effect again! But you can also intentionally think about the effect, and how you want it to remain; that reminds your subconscious mind of the effect and makes it stronger and longer-lasting. If it’s a trigger, successfully responding to the trigger also reinforces the trigger! With reinforcement, it’s possible to make post-hypnotic effects last days, weeks, months, years… there’s no upper limit, although at a certain point it changes from “something I do because I was hypnotized” into “something I do because it’s a part of me”.
Learning More
Want to learn more about hypnosis, and the ways that you can explore it with me?