Yes, you really can 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 behave like a chicken, with or without hypnosis.” He wanted to convey to us that hypnosis is a technique or a process, which is based on suggestions, and that these suggestions are ultimately always linked to autosuggestion, so it depends a lot on how much you resist or how much certainty you have about really giving it to this suggestion and the person who gives it to the hypnotic Process to achieve 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 about its actual validity. We have published scientific studies on cases where it works, but not enough cases where it doesn’t work. This happens not only in hypnosis, but in science on a general level. It has been shown to work best when it comes to a technique for pain relief or relief in combination with other treatments. It is often used to quit smoking, for example, but we cannot speak of certainties because we do not have enough studies to prove its effectiveness.
Hypnosis is a technique that can give good results when combined with other techniques. For example, eating disorders, impulse control or pain perception. There are other third-generation psychological therapies, such as mindfulness, that also work with suggestions. In them, suggestion through words is the basis. What is important is the use of the word, which words and at what times. Language, the word, is used in many (if not most) psychological therapies with very good results.
As far as the question of who can become a hypnotist: The training I did was only for psychologists and doctors. However, there are also hypnotists who use this technique for show and are not health professionals. The only thing you should be aware of is that you should be suspicious if someone tells you that they can force another person to do something or stop doing something using hypnosis alone.
Then there are the so-called regressions – considering that this is not scientific – which those who practice it refer to as the process that would lead a person to connect with their life or previous experiences. This is not scientific at all and helps us talk about one of the big problems with hypnosis, which is that you can induce false memories in a person (although we know that false memories can be evoked even without hypnosis). That is why it is important to be careful and aware of what kind of suggestions are being provoked and what role you have as a professional.
As we said at the beginning, hypnosis is totally related to autosuggestion or self-hypnosis. This means that with hypnosis it ultimately depends more on the person being hypnotized than on the hypnotist. For this reason, there are certain people for whom hypnosis is not recommended. Can you give suggestions to encourage someone to go into a psychotic break? Yes, it can be done, and not just with hypnosis, but with any suggestion technique or guided meditation, bad results can be achieved in certain cases and with certain people or moments. It doesn’t just depend on the hypnosis, which would act as a trigger, but also on the psychological situation of the person being hypnotized. And of course it can also be done without hypnosis.
For all of these reasons, not everyone can be hypnotized. The person being hypnotized must be open to receiving suggestions. The hypnotist may try to convince you, but if you have completely decided that you will not listen to the suggestions, he will not succeed.
Gema Fernández-Blanco Martín She is a clinical psychologist and doctor of applied creativity, professor and researcher at the intersection of psychology, art and technology. Professor at the University of Applied Sciences (HU) Utrecht (Netherlands). One of his research directions focuses on virtual environments and hypnosis.
Question emailed from Maria del Carmen Pasaro
Coordination and writing: Victoria Toro
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