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Safety and Risks of Hypnosis

Physically speaking, hypnosis is extremely safe. There are no side effects or interaction effects like you have with medication, and there is no risk of physical injury like there is for rope bondage and certain other kinds of kink play. But that does not mean that hypnosis is completely risk-free.

Everyone has dark places in their mind. Whether they are phobias, or memories of traumatic experiences, or anxieties about the future, or something else entirely; we all have places in our mind that we would rather not revisit. Hypnosis is about exploring different parts of your mind; the main risk involved is unintentionally going to one of those dark places.

Abreactions

When someone in a state of trance has an unexpectedly intense emotional reaction to what the hypnotist is doing, this is called an “abreaction”. Abreactions can occur when the content of a hypnosis session touches on one of these dark places in the mind, and they can happen quite suddenly. Even in a normal, conscious state of mind, emotions can shift and intensify very quickly; when you are exploring the subconscious mind, which is responsible for processing emotions, they can get even more overwhelming.

While abreactions can be scary, it’s important to point out that they are not a bad thing. It’s an opportunity to do some emotional processing, work through these emotions in a safe space with someone to guide you, and come out stronger on the other side. Letting out your emotions can be intense and exhausting, but very cathartic.

Abreactions are more likely to happen when doing hypnotherapy work, compared to doing erotic hypnosis for play. Hypnotherapy is more focused on exploring your subconscious mind to understand what’s lurking there, which can bring up some difficult topics; erotic hypnosis doesn’t delve as deep into your subconscious mind. But abreactions can happen even during light-hearted hypnotic play, particularly if some of the dark places in your mind are related to body image or sexual confidence.

To minimize the risk of abreactions, it’s a good idea to talk to your hypnotist about your phobias and traumas. You don’t have to go into detail; in fact, if your goal is to have a light-hearted, fun hypnosis session, then it’s probably better not to! But providing a high-level overview of the dark places in your mind gives your hypnotist the knowledge of what topics they should avoid going into.

Some people fear that when they are hypnotized, they will be unable to refuse any order from the hypnotist. This is completely false; it’s a myth that comes from popular media, where hypnosis is frequently depicted as mind control. The reality is, even while hypnotized, a subject still has agency: the ability to decide and control their own actions and reactions. A subject can always refuse a hypnotic suggestion or trigger, and doesn’t even have to come out of trance in order to do so!

It’s also normal and expected to have limits, beyond which you start feeling uncomfortable or unsafe. Limits can apply to any activity, but especially for something as personal as hypnosis, it’s completely reasonable to have limits on how far you want things go. The way to enforce limits is with boundaries: rules that you set to control your reactions to the behavior of other people. One such boundary is refusing hypnotic suggestions or triggers that go beyond your limits, and that make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

In situations that risk making people uncomfortable, we talk about consent: a voluntary agreement between two (or more) people to engage in an activity together. In order to make sure that the activity is consensual, two things need to happen: the people involved need to be able to communicate their limits, and they need to have the agency to enforce those limits with boundaries. Ideally, one person would not ask the other to do something that goes beyond their limits; if they do so, the other person should be able to reject that request. This is clear, simple, and consensual.

(As an aside: Most discussions of consent in hypnokink play assume that the subject is the only one at risk of being pushed beyond their limits. But hypnotists have limits too, and it’s possible for them to be pushed beyond those limits, as well!)

But what happens when someone wants to be pushed past their limits?

Mind Control Fantasies

The fact is, a lot of people who are into hypnokink have mind control fantasies; that is, even though hypnosis is not mind control, it excites them to pretend that it is, or even to believe that it is. This is a form of CNC play: consensual non-consent. After all, if you were truly mind-controlled, you would be unable to refuse a command; but being unable to refuse means lacking agency, which is a critical part of consent. Essentially, you are giving your consent to another person, to allow them to push you beyond your limits in a way that would otherwise be non-consensual.

CNC gets complicated very quickly. For example, if you are aroused by the idea of being unable to refuse a command, and then you are hypnotized and commanded to do something that you don’t want to do, it becomes a paradox. Hypnosis can’t force you to do anything that really don’t want to do; but do you “really want” to refuse the command, and avoid doing the thing you don’t want to do? Or do you “really want” to be pushed into doing something that you find difficult or distasteful, because the act of being pushed into it is so exciting that it’s worth it?

The complexity of these situations means that the only way to navigate them successfully is with communication. If you feel nervous or anxious about being pushed past your boundaries, talk about that with your hypnotist. Hypnosis is built on trust; if they are an ethical hypnotist, they will take your concerns seriously and do what they can to address them.

Unfortunately, sometimes you are pushed past your limits in ways that you truly do not want. This is called a “consent violation,” and it’s always bad. Consent violations lead to all sorts of negative emotions, including pain, anger, fear, and disappointment. It’s definitely something that we want to avoid as much as possible!

Consent violations can happen intentionally or unintentionally. Unintentional consent violations can occur from last of communication, or lack of awareness; and it’s not always clear who was at fault. (Sometimes, the person whose consent was violated didn’t even realize until afterwards that the situation went beyond their limits, or even that they had a particular limit to begin with!) As long as everyone involved learns from the experience, and does their best to avoid letting it happen again, then it doesn’t have to be a barrier to future interaction; everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

On the other hand, intentional consent violations are a very serious matter. When someone intentionally ignores or dismisses your needs, it tells you what kind of person they are and what they think about you. It is usually safer to not allow that person to interact with you again in the future, especially in a situation where they could violate your consent again.

Ultimately, you are responsible for your setting your own limits, and enforcing them with boundaries. You deserve to interact with people who respect you enough to care about your limits, and not intentionally violate them. If your consent was intentionally violated, it’s not your fault; but it is your responsibility to decide how you want to protect yourself from that person in the future.

Conclusion

While hypnosis has no physical risks, it does have mental risks. The main risk, which can happen unexpectedly in any hypnosis session, is the risk of abreactions. Abreactions, while overwhelming in the moment, can ultimately be cathartic and can help with emotional processing in the long term. I (HairyHypnotist) have experience helping people through abreactions; if one happens while we are working together, you will be safe.

Some people fear that hypnosis will remove their agency, allowing a hypnotist to casually violate their consent. This fear is unfounded; hypnosis is not mind control, and hypnosis subjects still have agency while they are hypnotized. As long as a subject is aware of their limits and enforces them with boundaries, hypnosis does not have any inherent risk of consent violations; unless CNC fantasies complicate the situation.

If a consent violation does occur, it can happen intentionally or unintentionally. Unintentional consent violations are an opportunity to learn what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. Intentional consent violations are a serious safety risk; the person whose consent was violated should enforce strong boundaries against the violator, preventing further interaction.

I (HairyHypnotist) care deeply about consent. I always respect the limits of other people that I work with — unless they want me to disrespect those limits, in a CNC situation. I encourage clear communication, to ensure that you and I are on the same page about what you want and what you need. And if one of us makes a mistake, we can and should talk about it, to learn how to do better in the future.