Does hypnosis exist? Hypnosis as a treatment method: opinions of priests and doctors Is there hypnosis

A modern person living with a weak psyche in a stream of stressful events is faced with a number of techniques that promise to quickly and effortlessly cope with his problems: mental, psychological and even physical illnesses. Doctors and psychologists often suggest that patients be treated using hypnosis. How to treat such proposals, what consequences of hypnosis treatment can be expected? Priests and doctors talk about this.

Priest Grigory Grigoriev about hypnosis

Answer to a question about hypnosis on the air of the Soyuz TV channel in the program “Conversations with Father” dated January 2, 2014.

Priest Grigory Grigoriev is an Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, psychotherapist, narcologist.

— As for hypnosis, I want to say that I have never done it. The accusations against me are due to a lack of understanding of what hypnosis is: only about twenty percent of people can enter into it, the rest do not succumb to it. This is a practice that was accepted a hundred years ago, but has gradually been abandoned.

Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko, censor of the Holy Synod, professor of the pre-revolutionary Kyiv Theological Academy, wrote in his book: hypnosis should not be perceived as something mysterious, it is a form of attracting attention, a physiological property of living objects. For example, when a driver drives along the road for a long time and looks at the lights of the car in front, he falls into a similar state. This hypnotic phase begins, and this phenomenon is characteristic of all living organisms. But we have never done or used anything like this in our work. Real hypnosis is when a person's consciousness turns off. Moreover, a person cannot be taught what he does not want.

Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko says in his book that in order for suggestion to turn into self-hypnosis, it is necessary that it correspond to the level of consciousness.

In psychology, there are generally four methods of influencing a person. The first is inspiration, when someone inspires someone, the second is imitation, the third is persuasion, the fourth is suggestion. Suggestion is the ability to perceive information without criticism. For suggestion it is necessary that the first three forms be realized.

I have never practiced hypnosis, not because it is bad, but because it is ineffective. One of the largest hypnologists, Pavel Ignatievich Bul, worked at my institute, who treated bronchial asthma in children and hypertension in adults with hypnosis. By hypnosis, he removed the children's fear of the hyperbaric chamber, which they needed.

In the sixties, Professor Buhl participated with a group of students in a television program, during which he invited viewers to test themselves for hypnosis. After a number of television viewers remained under the influence of the command given by the professor for a long time (“your hands are stuck together”), and he had to personally travel from house to house to remove this influence from hypnastic television viewers, it was decided that such influences on the television audience were inadmissible and that such influences were prohibited. transfers.

Kashpirovsky, who appeared on television during a difficult era when the Soviet Union was collapsing, needed to distract people. He knew about the existence of this prohibition and violated it. Kashpirovsky began to do what no self-respecting doctor would do. But that doesn't mean he didn't help anyone. The fact is that if people believe in something, then the system of self-hypnosis turns on, and they treat themselves, attributing it, for example, to Kashpirovsky. But what happened then around these programs looked like madness and was completely unacceptable.

At that time, Professor Buhl, Professor Vladimir Ivanovich Lebedev, and Yuri Gorny actively opposed this “television psychotherapy”. On television in the city of Norilsk, they conducted an experiment with the goal of exposing and prohibiting “television psychotherapy,” and this was achieved.

How it was? They came to Norilsk television, brought an ugly head they made from papier-mâché and said that it was supposedly a cast of the head of the famous Professor Zombie, who lives in the mountains of Tibet and has such a strong biofield that it is impossible to communicate with him personally, but the cast of the head charged with it and Voice recordings can heal a variety of diseases. Then they were asked to conduct a healing session for the residents of Norilsk. TV viewers were told that as a result of the session they would not only be healed of many diseases, but also that if they placed broken household appliances near the screens, they would start working again. The session began, and a huge self-hypnosis of people began from the influence of this crudely molded head of a non-existent professor and the sound of his voice, which was in fact a recording of inarticulate speeches of three representatives of Muslim peoples.

If you sit any person in front of a multi-million television audience, then the effect of mass potentiated influence on each other, induction, occurs. This affects people with various mental illnesses especially strongly, and it can be very dangerous.

Actually, Kashpirovsky showed us what the media are. Such experiments increase the number of self-hypnosis people in society, which is an extremely unfavorable situation. What Kashpirovsky did was not hypnosis, it was weakening the internal system of psychological defense. You can't do that kind of harm in hypnosis. Here a person begins to be manipulated, and he begins to believe in some doctor who replaces God. This is a violation of the first commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” We have no right to evaluate the personal qualities of Anatoly Ivanovich Kashpirovsky; perhaps he repented a long time ago and takes communion, because the Lord forgives a person all his sins.

Artem writes: “Hello, Father Gregory! Please answer the question that concerns me: can a psychologist who is an Orthodox Christian use hypnosis in his work? My name is Artem, I entered university to become a psychologist, and also studied hypnosis. I was looking for information on the Internet. The clergy in their interviews do not approve of this method, except for Father Dimitry Smirnov. I would like to know your opinion, since you are a priest and a psychotherapist.

I understand that some hypnotic techniques can be spiritually dangerous, for example, mentally turning to a “wise being” for advice in a trance. But maybe hypnosis, with careful selective work by a psychologist, is acceptable? I am worried about whether I will harm myself by using hypnosis with people, and whether I will harm people by the very fact of using hypnosis? Really looking forward to your reply!"

– Dear Artem, to study this problem that interests you and other people, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the two-volume book of Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko. Before the revolution, Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko was a censor of the Holy Synod and a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy. In his book he says that hypnosis should not be perceived as good or evil, it is a physiological property of living beings. In practice, we know hypnosis, when fakirs, magicians, and circus actors take, for example, a chicken and dramatically change its state. They take her by the paws and lay her on her side, and she falls into a hypnotic sleep.

Strictly speaking, hypnos is a dream. When we drive along the road in the dark and look at the lights of the car ahead, we enter a kind of drowsy state. This, in fact, is the prototype of hypnosis. In modern medical practice, hypnosis is practically not used in working with people due to its low effectiveness. It is impossible to influence a person's personality in a state of hypnosis. Here is an appeal to a mystical being, as you write, this is no longer hypnosis, this is occult sciences - of course, this is absolutely unacceptable. But if you pray to the Guardian Angel and read Orthodox prayers, then, naturally, this will not harm you.

The Holy Fathers said that the spiritual world is hidden from us by our All-loving and All-Good Lord Jesus Christ “with seven locks and seven seals.” A person should not climb there, because, according to St. Seraphim of Sarov, “the smallest demon can pierce the ground with one claw.” That's why you shouldn't look there. A person’s will is relevant in the visible world, but in the spiritual world, a person’s will will be either under God’s shield or under the enemy’s. Therefore, you should not go to the spiritual world with your will. We will immediately meet dark forces in this world, so, of course, the Lord protected us.

Hypnosis can relax a person, relieve such monosymptoms as spasm, pain - this is more psychosomatics than psychology. I don’t think that you will seriously need hypnosis in your practice as a psychologist, but at least you have an idea about it during the training process. But in general practice you will not have to use it. I don't think you need to use it. We got acquainted with it - he who is forewarned is forearmed.

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov on the treatment of diseases with hypnosis

— Suggestion and hypnosis are the same thing. If you are afraid of hypnosis and not afraid of suggestion, then this is quite strange. Before getting into the water, you need to know the ford... Hypnosis has long been known and used and was used, for example, by many tribes in Africa as a method of treatment. You need to look at what diseases are treated with hypnosis. For example, there is a disease called hysteria, in which hypnosis helps if a person succumbs. Hypnosis also helps with alcoholism. It’s clear that if a person’s leg hurts for some reason, then no matter how you tell it, the pain may go away, but the disease itself will not go away.

How does Orthodoxy relate to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which many are now passionate about?

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is aimed at manipulating not only consciousness, but also the inner world of a person. Most often, hypnosis is used for this. NLP founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder write in their book Inducing a trance": “If you apply the same hypnotic induction to a group of people, only a few of them will go into trance. This is what traditional hypnotists do. But we will study unconventional hypnosis. We will study what is called Ericksonian hypnosis, following Milton G. Erickson. Ericksonian hypnosis means developing the skills of a hypnotist to the point where you can put a person into a trance in a conversation where the word “hypnosis” is not even mentioned. I learned a long time ago that it's not so much what you say, but how you say it. If you try to persuade someone consciously by overpowering them, it causes a reaction of resistance in them that is directed against you. There are people who do not resist when they are overpowered and go into a trance. But neither resistance nor cooperation proves anything other than that people are able to respond. Every living person can react. The only question is how and for what. When you practice hypnosis, your job is to notice what a person naturally responds to.” You can find out what this leads to from another book by the same authors: “At our last seminar, we worked on strategies. We programmed one woman so that she forgot her name. One man then said: “There is no way in which I could be made to forget my own name!” I asked: “What is your name?” And he answered: “I don’t know!” I replied, “Congratulations to your subconscious mind, even if you don’t have one.” It amuses me that hypnosis is so systematically ignored these days. I think this happens because the consciousness that uses this method does not trust it. But in every form of therapy that I have ever studied, there is a trance experience" ( Introductory NLP training course). Representatives of NLP do not hide the fact that “in a certain sense, these are skills of unlimited power over a person, power over the state and mood, thinking and behavior of the people around you” (R. Bandler. Creating Beliefs).

From the point of view of Orthodox spirituality, this is prohibited. While in a state of hypnosis, a person almost completely loses control over himself: both body and mind. The highest suggestibility occurs in the deepest phase of the hypnotic trance (the so-called paradoxical phase), when weak factors (for example, a word) act more strongly than strong ones (acute pain). A person in such a state may be inspired with feelings and thoughts that are contrary to his beliefs (including moral and religious). In a state of hypnotic trance, a person becomes susceptible to demonic influence.

Word hypnosis(Greek hypnos - sleep) was introduced by the English physician James Braid (1795-1860) in 1843. This concept denotes a state that is outwardly similar to sleep or half-asleep, caused by suggestion. It is accompanied by the subordination of the will of the sleeper to the will of the one putting him to sleep. The most ancient written monuments indicate that already the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians used hypnosis for magical effects. There is no doubt that many occult phenomena of sorcerers, shamans, and spellcasters in all centuries were based on the use of hypnosis. The concept of hypnosis is often found among modern occultists.

The Holy Scriptures strictly prohibit any occult influence on a person. The activities of wizards, soothsayers, questioners of the dead, conjurers of spirits, fortune-tellers, and charmers are named in the Bible abomination(). Apparently they practiced hypnotic occultism charmers(; and etc.). In a word charmer the Hebrew word is translated in the Synodal text chabar. This word has several meanings: bind, conjure, unite. The hypnotist binds the will of a person and manipulates him. The Holy Fathers set us up for spiritual sobriety. Let us beg God to grant us purity and humility, the fruit of which is spiritual reasoning that accurately distinguishes good from evil!(Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. A Word about the sensual and spiritual vision of spirits. Conclusion).

Psychiatrist D.A. Avdeev about hypnosis

Unfortunately, hypnosis is widely used by official medicine and psychotherapists. Among the latter there are those who use hypnosis out of religious ignorance. Others consider themselves atheists. There are also conscious servants of evil.

Methods that forcefully influence the individual are alien to Orthodoxy. Adherents of the use of hypnotic trances talk about the opening of special psychosomatic channels during the use of hypnosis, the impact on the human psyche, bypassing criticism (“without brakes”), the disclosure of the body’s reserve capabilities, and amazing therapeutic effects.

As a specialist, I confidently declare that there are no exceptional effects. And if there is any “benefit” from hypnosis, then it is unknown how it will come back to haunt you in the future... More precisely, it is known, and even with certainty. At best, hypnologists don’t even think about this.

Hypnosis is violence against the human soul. For example, in the 3rd stage of hypnosis, a somnambulist (hypnotized) unquestioningly obeys his “guru” in everything: he can see, hear, feel non-existent objects, people (hallucinations); may not feel pain; expose hidden thoughts, feelings, desires. By the way, there is a so-called post-hypnotic suggestion effect. This is when the hypnologist’s instructions are followed a certain time after the session.

How justified is it to deprive a person of criticism and reason, even for a short time, even for a seemingly good purpose? There is no excuse for this. Man is the greatest mystery, and we sinners are simply not given the opportunity to know and see what the soul experiences in a hypnotic state, what happens in the depths of the human spirit. Not a single saint resorted to healing a person in an altered state of consciousness. Meekly and humbly, the saints of God showed the gift of healing to people, which they acquired from the Lord for the holiness of their lives.

It should be said that hypnosis over time takes on the role of a drug. The same people go from hypnotist to hypnotist, striving to experience “extraordinary” states more often. What a pity for these people! And how criminally those who lead them to such dependence act.

In recent years, many publications have appeared in the specialized literature indicating the disorganization of a person’s mental activity after frequent use of deep hypnosis.

Optina elders about hypnosis

“This hypnosis is a terrible thing. There was a time when people were afraid of this act, ran away from it, but now they are carried away by it... they benefit from it” (Rev. Nektarios).

“And the whole trouble is that this knowledge enters our lives under the guise of being able to give humanity enormous benefit” (he).

“Hypnosis is an evil, non-Christian force” (Reverend Barsanuphius).

“If you, having left God, resort to magnetism - an unnatural means - then I can no longer tell you anything” (Reverend Macarius).

The effect of hypnosis on children

I'll give just one example. Professor V. Lebedev reports: “2015 schoolchildren were examined, 93% were involved in Kashpirovsky’s sessions. During sessions, obsessive movements, hysterical reactions, hallucinatory phenomena and other mental disorders are noted. Hypnotic sleep was noted in 42%; after the sessions, various forms of mental maladjustment were identified in 7% of children. There was a clear trend toward increased suggestibility and an increase in hysterical reactions. As a result of television sessions, some children fell into a state of catalepsy at the sight of only Kashpirovsky’s photograph.”

Autogenic training (as a type of self-hypnosis)

From the perspective of Orthodox spirituality, auto-training is not beneficial to the soul. The author of this method of psychotherapy is the German scientist and practitioner Johann Schultz. In the thirties of our century, Dr. Schultz, based on his impressions from his stay in India and his acquaintance with yoga, synthesized something similar for Europeans and proposed his method for the prevention and treatment of a wide range of diseases, as well as for the purpose of mental self-regulation of the state of mind. Describing the essence of autogenic training, it should be said that it does not contribute to the intimate work of internal cleansing, the fight against vices and passions. Soothing self-relaxation is rather an escape from reality, an illusion of well-being. There is no mention of humility and sobriety as the basis of spiritual peace. It is important to remember that the method has yogic (read Buddhist) roots.

All of the above referred to the first stage of autogenic training. And then, when a person learns relaxation, he is asked to master techniques associated with artificially evoking some images or pictures. The basis of the second stage is sensory imagination. The Holy Fathers warn us against all kinds of sensuality, daydreaming, and fantasizing. Thus, the method of autogenic training should be postponed as unnecessary and due to the danger of damaging one’s soul.

Trance states

Currently, in psychotherapy there is a huge number of techniques that use trance (similar to hypnotic) states. For example, there is (oh horror!) the so-called reincarnation psychotherapy. Its consumers, while in a trance, remember their “former lives” (they write these words without quotes) and try to find in them the causes of their problems. The so-called transpersonal psychotherapy is actively developing. If you don’t go into details and say it simply and clearly, it will look like this: first, fans of such psychopractice enter a trance, and then communicate with demons.

Psychics and other occult “healers” use special states of consciousness in their practice. Moreover, they are considered an indispensable condition for a successful result. Father Anatoly (Berestov) and academician neurophysiologist S.V. Krapivin, having studied the work of the brain of people who were in a state of meditation (hypnosis, self-hypnosis), came to the following conclusion: “It is believed that the state of meditation has a beneficial effect on human health, since it reduces the rhythm breathing, heart rate, blood plasma lactate level, muscle relaxation occurs. It is even believed that such an unusual state is the best rest. However, upon detailed examination of electroencephalograms, it is clear that this is not rest at all, but a very special and strange state of the brain - a dangerous mobilization of all brain resources, all the physiological forces of the brain.”

So, through this special state of consciousness, when the “gates” of the soul are opened, the hypnotist or occultist becomes a conductor of dark forces and serves Satan. This is why the Orthodox Church defines hypnosis as “conscious service to evil” and calls it a phenomenon that “destroys the human spirit.” It is emphasized that hypnosis uses the dark forces of the spiritual world (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, No. 12, 1989).

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Have you ever been so engrossed in a book that you didn't even hear people talking to you? If yes, then you already roughly know what the trance state in which a person is under hypnosis is.

website decided to find out how hypnosis works and who it works especially well with.

There are different types of hypnosis

Hypnosis is a state of highly focused attention in which a person is highly suggestible. In a waking state, the brain is filled with different thoughts, and under hypnosis a person is able to concentrate very deeply on one thought or feeling.

There is a difference between academic hypnosis and street hypnosis.

• Academic hypnosis needed to help a person extract any necessary information from the subconscious. This is a type of relaxation technique, and the main work here is done by the person being hypnotized, and the hypnotist only helps him get into the right frame of mind. Sometimes the results are surprising: a person remembers something that he forgot a long time ago, or overcomes his fears.
• Stage hypnosis- this is what we see on TV or on stage: a hypnosis guru with a scary look makes volunteers do all sorts of stupid things. In reality, these are just ordinary magic tricks, plus probably a few especially suggestible people in the audience who really believe in what is happening and are eager to experience the “magic” for themselves.
• Criminal hypnosis- these are prohibited techniques that are used by street beggars and other bad people. They can put a person into a trance, so much so that he will have memory lapses.

Check if you are easily hypnotized

Answer these questions with “yes” or “no.”

1. Do you have any tricks of your own to fall asleep faster or relieve pain? For example, counting sheep, concentrating on breathing or something else, and so on.
2. Have you ever felt like time sometimes speeds up, and when you're bored it slows down?
3. Do you talk to yourself, even if only mentally?
4. Do you think you have a rich imagination?
5. Are you interested in yoga, meditation and other techniques that help you explore your consciousness and ability to concentrate?
6. Does it happen that you daydream?
7. Can you listen to someone and then realize that you weren't listening at all?
8. Can you focus on school or work if needed?
9. Is your self-esteem above average?
10. Can you be so immersed in a book, for example, that you stop responding to questions?

If you answered “yes” to most questions, then you can be hypnotized quite easily. But don’t rush to get upset: Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean that you are stupid or weak-willed. On the contrary, hypnotizability directly depends on a person’s ability to concentrate, ability to make decisions and, in a sense, on his intelligence.

When taking the test, you might think that most people in the world would answer these questions positively. This is so, because people who cannot be hypnotized are a minority (about 25%, and according to some data even less). As a rule, these are people with an unstable psyche, low self-esteem and other problems. Or they are just very closed people.

A person with a smooth emotional background, open to everything new, will most likely be amenable to academic hypnosis. But hypnotizing someone who is skeptical or has low self-esteem will be a difficult task.

What traits should a hypnotist have?

In addition to perfectly hypnotizable people, there are also those who make the best hypnotists. They have the following features:

• a penchant for acting and a love of performing in front of an audience;
• the desire to reduce the distance as much as possible when communicating with people (you could even call this the desire to “get into the soul”).

In principle, almost anyone can put another into a light trance.

A little about criminal hypnosis

The work of street hypnotists is structured like this:

• At first, they do something that will make you pay attention to them - they say something pleasant (“Ay, beauty, gild your pen!”) or play on a feeling of fear (“I see you are carrying trouble with you, tell me what?” ).
• Then (and some people start this part right away) the hypnotists say something strange, which causes the person to become confused. For example, one man who almost took the bait told how a boy came up to him and said: “Uncle, give me the headphones, they’re women’s” Oddly enough, such a break in the pattern at some point knocks a person out of reality, and he becomes susceptible to suggestion. The author of this article tried this method on his family. Unfortunately, they didn’t give him any money, but for some time they were really in a stupor.
• Another way to put a person into a trance is to overload his brain with information. It's like opening a couple of dozen programs on your computer at once, causing it to freeze. The same thing happens to a person when street beggars simultaneously begin to mumble some kind of gibberish into his ears, shake their bright skirts and touch him. The channels of perception are overloaded, and now the person is ready to give his last money if he is simply asked.
• Among other things, street charlatans are excellent psychologists. Many of them pass on their secrets from generation to generation, so they easily manage to manipulate people.

And although this will sound a little rude, scientists agree that if someone fell for the bait of charlatans, then he, one way or another, subconsciously “opened the door” for them.

What should you do to avoid becoming a target of street hypnotists?

With street hypnosis, everything works a little differently than with academic hypnosis: in addition to being hypnotizable (the ability to fall into a trance), a person must have a high degree of gullibility and suggestibility. Therefore, it will be difficult to confuse a positive, sensible person, which cannot be said about a fearful person under stress.

• Don't count crows in public places. Scammers primarily look for people in the crowd who are confused, depressed, or simply look like simpletons.
• Filter information. Do you believe in omens or send letters of happiness to your friends? Then you are a real find for hypnotists and scammers. Don’t believe that you can be harmed so easily.
• If contact with a suspicious person occurs, take the initiative into your own hands - break the pattern yourself! When asked to tell your fortune, answer that you have already been told your fortune today, or ask what day tomorrow is according to the Julian calendar. And quickly but calmly retreat.

Finally, a couple of stories from those who have been under hypnosis

• “I was hypnotized once. I had to stretch my arms forward and make sure they didn't bend when they were hit. I couldn't do it. Then they very calmly gave me instructions several times on what to do and how: “Imagine that you are tightly holding on to that tall building in the window” and “Your hands have turned to stone.” And after that I managed to hold back the blow. I have come to the conclusion that hypnosis only works if you believe in it. I didn’t believe it until a person whose opinion seemed authoritative to me said that it was possible.”

“One of the most hellish stories of my life! I go to myself, I don’t bother anyone. A woman of about 60 comes towards me and asks where the post office is. I told her where to go and moved on. She called out to me, saying something that made me turn around (something about her personal life). After this there is emptiness, interrupted by some surreal memories. I woke up in some public garden with the realization that I had taken all the jewelry and money out of the house with my own hands. And in my head there is only a huge mother-of-pearl button from this woman’s cloak.”

“I had some hesitations in my speech - a slight stutter. My parents took me to hypnosis. It looked like this: a dark room, people and a psychiatrist. Everyone sits down in chairs. The doctor begins to say in an absolutely idiotic, mournful voice: “The people are relaxing, we-y-ys are relaxing...” The first time it was very funny. Then, when everyone is in a trance (or pretending to be), he approaches everyone and whispers something specific about his illness. Actually, it's a cool thing. He whispered to me about relaxing the center of speech. I stopped stuttering for a while.”

Hypnosis is a phenomenon that seems incredible, but it is quite real. By the way, there is an opinion that hypnosis does not exist at all and it is only the behavior of a person who wants to be hypnotized, multiplied by the authority of the hypnotist. What do you think about this? Have you ever had any stories related to hypnosis?

After we dealt with swindlers who promised them relief from almost all their problems, but as a result they “cheated” them out of a lot of money. Is hypnosis a reality, or are all the stories about hypnosis a scam?

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a particularly focused state with an increased ability to accept suggestions and follow orders. This is a way of communicating with the subconscious. By using hypnosis, you can bypass the conscious mind and go directly to the part of the brain that is easily influenced. Most of a person's habits, beliefs, principles and views are stored in the subconscious. People try to change or influence them with the help of consciousness. However, the subconscious “protests”, and it can be very difficult to make lasting and positive changes. Using hypnosis to reprogram thoughts, beliefs and attitudes can be very effective.

Psychotherapy scammers

Hypnosis is real. However, many of those individuals who position themselves as “hypnotists” and “hypnosis gurus” often do not have such a high level of training to be called professional hypnotists. Falling into the bait of such would-be hypnotists and after one or two incredibly expensive procedures without ever feeling the effects of “that same” hypnosis, many people become disillusioned with hypnosis and hypnotists and conclude that hypnosis is a scam and does not exist at all.

Are there people who cannot be hypnotized?

Sometimes people decide that they cannot be hypnotized. However, this is not true. Anyone can be hypnotized if the person performing hypnosis has undergone proper training and is a true professional in his field. There are two types of "suggestibility" - emotional and physical. People who are prone to more often show emotional suggestibility, and when there is a greater tendency to physical suggestibility.

Is hypnosis only used for entertainment?

The phenomenon of hypnosis has been widely studied in the last thirty years. Today, hypnosis is used not only and not so much for entertainment, but increasingly for:

• getting rid of a number of psychological problems, especially very old ones. For example, with the help of hypnosis, you can effectively identify childhood complexes and resentments that are “stuck” in the subconscious and prevent a person from moving on, and then get rid of this heavy burden, teach the person how to do this, etc.;
• increasing self-confidence;
• overcoming;
• directing a person to achieve life goals;
• treatment of certain chronic diseases and getting rid of;
• getting rid of bad habits.

Hypnosis as medicine

In the past, hypnosis used the technique of direct suggestion. However, only those who are susceptible to physical suggestion will respond to the hypnotist's direct commands. People who are susceptible only to emotional suggestion will respond only to suggestions made indirectly. These features of hypnosis were studied by Dr. Milton Erickson. Erickson created a strategy to use hypnosis in such a way that the hypnotist works with the person to help them overcome psychological problems, rather than working against them. Dr. Erickson has successfully hypnotized many of those who were convinced that they could not be hypnotized. In order to successfully hypnotize someone, the hypnotist must first determine the person's suggestibility type. Once this is done, inducing hypnosis can be quite simple for a true professional.

If you are afraid of hypnosis and think that it is used by the secret services to extract information from people, perhaps this article will help you take a different look at this phenomenon. We will talk about whether hypnosis affects consciousness, in what areas it is used and whether it is harmful to health.

Hypnosis refers to the deliberate introduction of a person into a trance, an altered state of consciousness. This technique is intended to provide patients with a more intense understanding of the present moment. In fact, the clinical state of hypnosis has nothing in common with all the famous movie tricks. At the same time, the person does not fall into deep sleep and does not lose control over his behavior. In general, patients are aware of what is happening and remember everything that happened during the session and after the end of the procedure.

Leading expert opinion

Dr. Andrew Weil is a leading expert in the field of integrative medicine. The safety and effectiveness of this therapy method has been clinically proven. According to him, further study of this aspect can bring many benefits for medicine. Previously, hypnosis was not widely studied and was perceived by the general public, rather, as a charlatan method of influencing suggestible patients. In addition, the research community was in no hurry to study the problem and debunk the stereotypes that were well-established among the people. However, Dr. Weil, in his direct work with patients, was able to discern the advantages of this method. Patients with stress-related skin conditions, smokers, and patients suffering from autoimmune diseases experienced the greatest benefit from hypnosis.

What diseases does hypnosis help with?

Employees of the Center for Complementary and Integrative Health share their opinions. According to experts, hypnotherapy can give positive results in eliminating the causes of headaches, irritable bowel syndrome and smoking cessation. The scientific institution cites some of the latest research in this area. Clinical hypnosis is also known to help women cope with hot flashes during menopause. There is evidence that hypnosis helps in relaxation therapy, in particular in the elimination of pain.

Form of mental state

Hypnosis cannot be considered a cure, it is only an altered mental state. People mistakenly think that trance takes control; in fact, the picture is completely different. During a hypnotherapy session, the patient is able to increase control over the perception of things such as stress, bad habits, anxiety and even pain.

How does this happen

The practitioner puts the patient into a trance and then works with him. At the same time, the person shares his thoughts, experiences with the doctor, and talks about his feelings. And while the patient is in a state of trance, the therapist asks to visualize the situation. Patients are even taught to go into trance on their own. In the future, they can cope with the problems that arise without the help of doctors.

Conclusion

Self-hypnosis can indeed be used for good purposes in some diseases. The patient does not need to continue sessions with the doctor to take control of the situation. Many patients, having assessed their own hypnotizability and mastered the techniques of changing consciousness, cope well with their illness on their own.

Many people have heard about the hypnotic effect, but the idea of ​​it is often vague and uncertain. Some consider it magic, fraud, and doubt whether hypnosis really exists, or is it a set of clever tricks of swindlers and showmen, invented for gullible people. Let's try to figure it out.

What is hypnosis and how does it work

Hypnosis is a special technique of influencing people that changes their way of thinking and behavior. The person is put into hypnotic, that is, a special state of altered consciousness. Suggestion is used for this. Thoughts, feelings, states introduced into the subconscious of the hypnotized person using this technique help change his worldview and solve behavioral problems.

The main stages of how hypnosis occurs are as follows:

1. A person is immersed in a trance, disconnected from the surrounding world and people, while maintaining the feeling of what is happening to him personally.
2. Consciousness turns off.
3. The instillation of attitudes and thoughts goes directly into the subconscious.
4. Upon exiting the trance, the received attitudes are perceived as the person’s own conclusions or ideas.

Consciousness, processing the received attitudes, analyzes them, and reasonably doubts their correctness. For people who have complexes, low self-esteem, and a distorted perception of the surrounding reality, such an analysis only feeds their existing internal fears. The real one works where the subconscious turns on. This allows you to effectively combat phobias and suppressed anxiety.

Is there a hypnotic effect?

To the question whether hypnosis exists, science gives a clear positive answer. The ability to influence the human subconscious has been used for a very long time. Since the 18th century, doctors began to use the ability to encode the human subconscious to heal the sick.

The fact that hypnosis is a real-life technique of influencing people and an assistant in solving their problems has now been confirmed by science. MRI studies of patients show that the anterior cingulate cortex, which controls impulses and emotions, experiences significant changes in this condition.

Hypnosis exists, it is widely used in psychotherapeutic practice and beyond. Sometimes it is used by anesthesiologists instead of general anesthesia. Real hypnosis can also help the patient cope with severe pain.

Unfortunately, scammers have no doubt whether hypnosis is real. Without a sufficient level of training, such people position themselves as specialists and undertake to solve problems for a decent reward. But the result is not achieved, and the patient becomes disappointed in the possibilities of hypnosis and whether this effect is real at all. Elements of inducing a trance are used by gypsies to lure money and valuables from the suggested person. The most harmless is the use of hypnotic influence for entertainment.

How to learn hypnosis

Almost anyone can verify that hypnosis exists through their own experience.

1. To do this, you need to try self-hypnosis or, having received consent, try to put another person into a hypnotic trance. Silence, concentration, patience and, most importantly, complete relaxation of the hypnotized person are required.
2. To induce a trance state, you need to calmly and quietly repeat a certain set of phrases. It is repeated many times and can be supplemented by fixing the gaze on an object that moves slowly from side to side (for example, a pendulum).
   

   As a result of such suggestion, a trance state occurs. It most likely will not be a deep hypnotic state, since in order to master the technique, you need to undergo special training.

Mastery of self-hypnosis (or self-hypnosis) makes it possible to independently work on thinking, instill in oneself the necessary attitudes, increase self-esteem, and prepare oneself for a responsible event. You can learn more about self-hypnosis and hypnotic influence, how to master the technique of its implementation, at YouTube channel psychologist-hypnologist Nikita Valerievich Baturin

Under certain conditions, most people can be truly hypnotized. Science has proven that hypnotizability is not determined by gender, age, or race. There are statistics according to which approximately every tenth to fifteenth person out of a hundred is weakly suggestible, and approximately the same number of people are reliably susceptible to hypnotic suggestion.

If the person being hypnotized has strong internal resistance, it is quite difficult to achieve a hypnotic state in him. In addition, the depth of hypnotic trance varies both from person to person and from person to person in different sessions. For hypnosis to be effective, the person being hypnotized requires a certain level of suggestibility, trust in the specialist, and moral readiness for a hypnotic session. If a person does not believe that this is real and consciously resists the hypnotist, the trance state may not occur or he will not follow commands or tell the truth. It is impossible to put a person into a hypnotic trance without him realizing it, since he must follow the instructions of the hypnotist and not resist them.

Important! Hypnotic trance can reach different levels of depth. In addition to a person’s suggestibility, his motivation, as well as the level of training of the specialist who conducts the hypnosis session, are of great importance.

People with a sick psyche are practically not susceptible to hypnotic influence, since their perception is greatly distorted. For children, such a procedure is carried out only in cases of extreme necessity, since their psyche is at the stage of formation, and such intervention can lead to disruption in this process. Skeptics who doubt that hypnosis is real will not be able to master self-hypnosis.

What can be achieved with hypnosis

Hypnosis exists, and it makes it possible to penetrate into the depths of the psyche and discover the roots of a problem that reduces a person’s quality of life. With its help, the necessary internal resource to get rid of the problem is identified.

Note! In medicine, hypnotic influence is used to treat diseases and relieve the patient of psychological problems.

With real hypnosis you can achieve the following:

• increase self-esteem and self-confidence;
• overcome;
• identify and resolve complexes and grievances that arose in childhood;
• guide a person to achieve life goals;
• cure a number of chronic diseases;
• relieve the patient from pain;
• overcome bad habits.

He gives detailed information about hypnosis and its capabilities on his channel psychologist-hypnologist