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Getting hypnotized

Stereolab

Massager of French
Stereolab
Joined
Jul 9, 2002
Messages
3,372
I want to get hypnotized. Not as part of some stage show (I'd be really nervous, so I doubt it would work on me). I also don't need to quit smoking or lose weight or anything. I just want to experience it.

Does anyone have any recommendations as far as who to go to and what to actually have "done"? Does anyone have any experiences to share?
 
What do you mean like hypnotised? I think most of it is bunk, if not all of it.
 
Denise said:
What do you mean like hypnotised? I think most of it is bunk, if not all of it.
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Richard Feynman relates his experience with hypnosis in his book "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman"
 
I have used the "Harvard group test of hypnotic suggestibility" (slightly modified) on classes from 15 people to 250 (university-aged), when we talk about consciousness, or when we talk about Mesmer (separate class). Anyway, I get a nice normal distribution of people who are not at all affected, through people whose hand raises on its own (on my suggestion), those who hear a noise, feel a fly on their nose, etc...up through a very few who see me as invisible (or don't see me, I guess), and 5% or so who respond to a simple post-hypnotic suggestion.

I have had people who did not believe in hypnosis go under (never anybody who did not want to), and I have had 2 people who, in the course of discussion afterwards, went under immediately when I snapped my fingers. (oddly enough, I was not suggesting that--it appeared to be what their expectation of the situation called for).

After the demonstration, we end up with some people believing it's real, others believing it's bunk. My own opinion is that it is nothing magical, just a powerful set of expectations for how we should act. When Mesmer zapped people, they flopped around. Nowadays, they seem to fall asleep (sorta). Same process, different expectations, different results.

and no, I've never been hypnotized myself--closest was while watching another induction, the hypnotist said "as I count to 10, your legs will feel heavy", and damned if they didn't do just that! But then, yawning and itching are contagious too...
 
Whether hypnosis is real or bunk depends on what you think it does.

If you think it conveys magic powers or gives one person total control over another, then it's bunk.

If you think it enhances concentration and role-playing ability, and helps people do some things they ordinarily think they couldn't do, then there is something to it.

Some people (possibly most people) can be influenced by suggestion to a degree.

Perhaps the closest thing to self-hypnosis that some people experience is this: you're driving in your car, talking to a friend or listening to the radio, and your really engrossed in what's being said... and suddenly you're at your destination! You don't remember the trip, not all of it, anyway, because you were focused on something else. And yet, you stopped at red lights, made turns, etc., but you don't really remember doing that.
 
I went to a hypnosis seminar to try and quit smoking. It didn't work for me, I didn't feel "hypnotised." How much is people wanting to comply with authority? How many people participating on the silly stage shows are really unable to stop themselves from being silly?

Hypnosis as a relaxation tecnique? Sure. But isn't meditation better? I think hypnosis can be a great tool for helping people become aware of how they can put themselves into such a state of relaxation. It is obvious to me, that there is more to recovery from a disease than just the medication alone.

Are subjects under hypnosis really compelled to quack like a duck? I think not. I think they are making the choice to do so.
 
Denise:"Are subjects under hypnosis really compelled to quack like a duck? I think not. I think they are making the choice to do so."

My students are split--some say their arm went up like it was being pulled by a balloon, others say they just really felt like raising their arms just then. (I don't do the duck thing, cuz I don't really want to humiliate my students)

I have them "imagine [they] are alone on a beach in the sun" where they can feel the sun, hear the waves, smell the sea, all that stuff. Some of them really get into this, and report feeling like they were not imagining, they were there. Lucky them. At least a couple were still warm after the demo was over; one was warmer (as reported by her friend sitting next to her who felt her face) on the side that was "in the sun" on her imaginary beach.

Again, none of this is something you cannot do without hypnosis. But I'm not certain they are "making the choice to do so" in the same sense we each make the choice to post here. Let me take part of that back; I would not be surprised that some do. But there is quite a range of reactions (just as there is quite a range of expectations).
 
I was hypnotized in a stage show once. I "went under" and then just blinked my eyes open while he was arranging others in the demonstration on the stage. He made a show of putting me back under, and then "releasing" me from the hypnotism.

I don't think I was under any magical spell or skillful control. I think it was a joint effort between myself and the hypnotist. I'd wanted to try it for a long time, and after a couple of vodkas, I had my opportunity. I actually raced to the stage when he called for volunteers.

I'd like to try it again under different circumstance, but I'm convinced that it requires cooperation on the part of the person being hypnotized.

Now, about that total feeling of relaxation? Well, I didn't let out a giant fart on stage, and curl up and take a nap or anything, but when I walked off the stage, I was all warm and comfy. I was more relaxed and liesurely than I had been when I jumped up on stage.
 
Well,

I notice that Brown, Denise and Myself were all registered at the JREF Forum in August 2001. I also noticed for the first time that our poster numbers have disappeared. When did that happen? I used to be poster number 303 (so I took it as my personal duty to shoot down all Christians and God believers - it was a joke but no one ever picked up on it). Does anyone else remember their poster number? Denise? Brown?

You think this is off topic? - well, hold on, I 'll just go get that trusty old 303 of mine.

BJ :cool:
 
BillyJoe said:
Does anyone else remember their poster number?
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I was 404. "File not Found" - how appropriate!

Regarding being hypnotised - it seems a funny sort of thing to do if you have no aim for it, whether it be getting over a fear of spiders, stopping smoking, or quacking like a duck. I believe that it otherwise just feels quite relaxed, which you can do yourself quite easily. Either by some form of meditation, or like Hazelip, by vodka ;)
 
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