What is your opinion on hypnotism/hypnosis?

I think anything with the power of the mind is possible…

I haven’t been hyponotizd yet but I do know how powerful your brain can me if you focus on a subject. I think it’s pretty cool.

I think that I am getting very sleepy…lol

I assisted in a hypnotism show when I was a student. My psych professor did it for college week. If these 30 or so people weren’t hypnotized, they were amazing actors. There are many documented cases of hypnotism used in surgeries, mental problems, recall and I don’t know what all else.

It would have to be done to me for me to believe in it. Even though people say it has happened to them, something still makes me doubt and question it.

@Blackberry

I understand your thinking. I feel the same way about paranormal experiences. No matter how many times people tell me they’ve had them, I just can’t get myself to believe it’s real. Maybe what they experienced was due to something else; I just can’t blame it on the paranormal and acknowledge that it exists. I’d have to experience it for myself.

That said, I really was hypnotized and I ain’t making it up. :) Some people actually said they did remember what happened; apparently, me forgetting everything was not really the norm. :P

The best theory I’ve seen so far is that hypnotism works if you believe in and want it to work. If you don’t want it to work, it won’t work. Its all based on the power of belief, because the mind is like cyberspace – it doesn’t operate on the laws of physics. All cyberspace operates on is the laws of math, and we don’t even have the luxury of a clear, well defined system the mind operates on – but belief is the center of it.

The best theory of how hypnotism works I’ve seen is that the conscious mind not only handles cognizant mental activities, but serves as a buffer and shield for the subconscious, which by design has to take everything in and process it, which includes potentially dangerous content. I say dangerous content in the context that, as the mind is a system, and an excessive amount of change introduced into a system destroys the system, the mind needs a filter to keep the amount of change to the system to a manageable amount.

Hypnotism is basically the process of manually overriding the gate codes to the doors of the subconscious mind through belief and allowance. You’re allowing a person to tinker with your fucking kernel software, so though I believe in hypnotism, I sure as hell ain’t allowing someone to crack my device drivers!

Don’t believe the hype~

From what I have read, there is strong scientific evidence for hypnosis, but scientists have no idea how it works.

Link

It works….it’s real….One of my frat brothers was a pro magician and would hypnotize people I know and complete strangers alike. The interesting part is you can get people to do things by suggestion, rather amusing things….but according to my bro….you can’t get people to do things they wouldn’t do consciously. None of the hypnotized remembered a thing and one guy just couldn’t get hypnotized though. Pretty cool stuff IMO.

I believe it does work having seen demonstrations in college but it hasn’t worked on me the few times I’ve looked into it.

I keep an open mind about it. There are too many successful practitioners, victims and supporters for me to deny it outright.

When he was still alive, I saw my dad hypnotized at a show at our annual state fair. With some of the goofy things I saw him do on that stage and knowing that he wouldn’t normally act like that in real life, I’d have to say that it does seem to have some type of influence over a person.

Hypnosis is very real. We all go to a state of hypnosis everyday whether we realize it or not. You know that feeling where you mind just goes blank, and you space out? That is being in a hypnotic space. You let your conscious slip away, however your sub conscious remains awake.

It is a matter of someone tricking you into that hypnotic state.

Very few hypnotists know how to really trick someone into a hypnotic state. For the most part, yourself and your sub conscious usually have to give permission in order fall into a trance.

I have been hypnotized. I don’t think it will work for everyone, and yes you must be willing, or at least not resistant.
I remembered everything, and for me it was like when you are listening with headphones on.
When the hypnotist is talking to you, you hear only him/her. You concentrate on that alone, and it is primary to you, but running in the background.
You can hear what else is going on in the room, you understand what is going on, but your focus is on your instructions, your “signal”. Say for example, it is to jump up when you hear the word hot. You will be out of your seat before the rest of the people in the room have even processed that the word was spoken.
I don’t believe that I would have done anything that I would feel was “wrong”, but I did do silly things; although I don’t feel silly for doing them.

I attended a small-group presentation (about 60 people) on the subject. In the course of it, the speaker did an exercise with the whole group. It didn’t do anything for me, but afterward a number of people said they really did find their arms too heavy to lift.

He also worked with two or three volunteers. Those demonstrations were extremely convincing, and they weren’t faked. I knew the people, and the speaker was a stranger to us. I’ve always wondered if it would work on me, but I think I am too resistant and skeptical.

I did know a man who swore that hypnotism had enabled him to quit smoking.

@Jeruba I think that hypnotism would help me to quit smoking. (if I smoked)
To this day, and it has been at least 8 years, if I hear the words “number one assistant” I have a compulsion to hold up two fingers, (give the peace sign). Even thinking those words, I did it. :)

I think the whole “want it to work” thing makes sense. I can’t prove it, but I’m sure that has an effect on how it will work for someone. I definitely wanted it to work, but I just expected it to work. It never occurred to me to be skeptical about it. I certainly thought it was weird, but I never thought it was some kind of witchcraft; I just assumed it would work, especially since I had already seen a demonstration of it before.

It’s been attempted several times on me and has never worked. It may work for some people, but my mind is not wired the right way. Perhaps it is because I am slightly autistic (Aspergers Syndrome).

Yes if the person being hypnotized lets it happen and doesn’t put up a block.