Question 1

What is somnambulism/a somnambulist?

Accepted Answer

By strict definition, "somnambulism" means "sleepwalking" and a "somnambulist" is someone who sleepwalks. But these terms have also been adapted for use in the hypnosis community. Until you have experienced hypnosis for yourself, often the closest thing you have to compare it to is that fuzzy state that is somwhere in between being awake and being asleep referred to as a "hypnogogic" state. Because of that, hypnotists often use the word "sleep" in conjunction with their work and terms related to sleep are generally easier for someone who does not have first hand knowlege of the effects of hypnosis to understand.

In the context of hypnosis, somnambulism can be defined this way:

Somnambulism

A deep state of hypnosis, where the client may respond with amnesia, anesthesia, negative and positive hallucinations, and complete control of the senses. It is characterized by the eyes rolling up underneath the eyelids. Somnambulism IS NOT "sleepwalking" as sleepwalking often occurs without any conscious awareness. In the hypnosis context, "somnambulism" refers to the ability to transition smoothly and easily between the conscious and unconscious experience.

Somnambulist

A person capable of reaching a profound state of hypnotic trance or somnambulism. Somnambulism can be "learned" with practice and experience. Somnambulists are able to quickly and easily slip in and out of various altered mental states that we recognize as "hypnosis".

Natural Somnambulist

A somnambulist who is capable of reaching that level of hypnotic trance known and somnambulism without training or practice, generally during their first experience with hypnosis. In Kappasinian terms, this is most likely with a person who responds equally well to all suggestions, both direct and indirect, affecting both the body and emotions. This person would have a near 50/50 Suggestibility (50% Emotional Suggestible and 50% Physical Suggestible).

Want to know if you are a natural somnambulist?

Or learn more about "levels" of hypnosis with: Arons Scale of Hypnotic Depth

Question 2

Can you be hypnotized with your eyes open?

Accepted Answer

Yes! While it's common for people to close their eyes while being hypnotized, it's not a requirement.

You have probably seen examples of people being in hypnosis with their eyes open, just think of every stage hypnosis show you have ever seen. As active as some of the shows are, it's critical that people be able to see where they are going as they run around the stage being "the world's greatest race car driver" or something similar.

During the "induction", the process of transitioning into hypnosis, the eyes are commonly closed. However that's just to help the subject concentrate and is completely optional. Once the person is in hypnosis, eyes open or closed doesn't matter.

In a therapy environment, most people close their eyes during the induction and keep them closed unless they are specifically instructed to open them for some reason by the hypntherapist. However, in my experience, about 20% of subjects will spontaneously open their eyes partially or fully during the session. If you are a new hypnotherapist, it's a little disconcerting when it happens as the subject has a bit of a "lights are on but no one is home" look to them, but after a while you get used it.

In general, hypnosis has no dependence on the state of the eyes. Open, closed, whatever works for you!

Question 3

Can I get 'stuck' in a hypnotic trance?

Accepted Answer

Nope. You cannot get stuck. In 4000 years of recorded hypnosis history, the only one who has ever gotten stuck is that guy in the movie "Office Space" and to be fair, he kind of needed it. In that movie, the hypnotist dies of a heart-attack while his client is hypnotized and for the rest of the movie, the client is still in trance and ultra-relaxed.

In reality, what would happen is that the client would come out of trance and try to help the dying hypnotist or he would fall into a deep, relaxing sleep and awake naturally, then try to help the already dead hypnotist. There is no 'stuck'.

I'll let you in on a secret. If people could get stuck, we hypnotists would create armies of "hypnozombies" to do our bidding for us, while we lived lives of luxury and pleasure. Muahhahahahahha! Just kidding. (Or am I?). Nope, No stuck. Instead, we try to help people.

Question 4

Can someone hypnotize you without you knowing?

Accepted Answer

Yes, no, maybe. I am sorry to start out that way, but it's really tue. Give ma chance to explain.

The problem really lies with the definition of hypnosis.

There's what I do in my office, where there's a recognized "induction" to create an environment where hypnosis can happen. Then using my training, I use certain techniques to advance that state until you enter into and remain in the state that we call "trance", which is the working space of hypnosis. Think of it as kind of like "the construct" that Morpheus teaches Neo to use in The Matrix. It's big, infinite really, and we can fill it with pretty much anything we can imagine. I think we can all agree that is "hypnosis".

However, imagine that you are tired, after a long day of holiday shopping and you are looking for that one last, perfect, gift. You are running out of time, the mall is closing soon when you encounter the nicest salesperson you have ever met. She seems super knowledgeable and she really relates to your dilemma. She's got some great suggestions and she gets you to imagine the scene when you give the gift she has to offer. She describes the joy in face of the person you are giving it to and she tells you a story about how she once got something just as special and how she still cherishes it and thinks goo things about he person who gave it to her. You fine yourself buying what she has to offer, though it's not something you had even thought of before you encountered her.

Were you hypnotized by her? I've had sales training. Heck, I have conducted sales training and I have to say that many of the techniques are mighty close to some of the training I have in hypnosis. Some people call this "waking hypnosis" or "covert hypnosis".

With that in mind, yes, if you consider influencing you to be part of the definition of "hypnosis", the you are influenced or "hypnotized" by advertisements, media, friends and even salespeople all the time.

Question 5

What did Sigmund Freud think of hypnosis?

Accepted Answer

When the young Sigmund Freud made his way to Paris and Jean Martin Charcot’s Salpêtrière School in 1885, he was drawn by the study of neurology. However, once he was exposed to the study of consciousness, his interests began to evolve in to a passion for psychology, including hypnosis.

Freud was first exposed to hypnosis just a few short years before he went to study under Charcot in Paris. While studying with his mentor and later colleague Josef Breuer, Freud was able to witness, then later practice hypnosis in a clinical setting.

At the time, Breuer was working with a young woman suffering from what was called "hysteria" at the time. Bertha Pappenheim, "Anna O." as she came to be known, was suffering from a variety of physical and mental conditions that defied explanation by the current medical community. These included non-specific pain, speech disturbances and period refusal to eat or drink.

Breuer used hypnosis to try to alleviate her symptoms using relaxation. During these sessions, Breuer allowed Anna O. to speak freely and to explore memories that she seemed to recall without trigger or reason.

After two years of therapy with Anna O., Breuer defined the foundational principles of what would come to be called "psychoanalysis" (the talking cure). This new type of therapy being developed in Vienna was later to form the foundation of Freud's methods.

Breuer would later distance himself from Freud because if Freud's insistence that virtually all trauma could be traced back to sexual conflict.

While starting his private practice and further developing his version of psychoanalysis, Freud utilized hypnosis with many of his clients, preferring a dominant, assertive, paternalistic technique of hypnosis.

As Freud continued to develop his own theories and practices, including variations of psychoanalysis and free association, he began to move away from hypnosis as a modality. Freud later wrote that he felt his methods were more effective and that traditional hypnosis "did not effectively do away with client resistance, yielding only incomplete information and temporary results".

It was partially due to Freud's personal role in developing psychology as a field of academic study that Hypnosis is not taught at most universities to this day.

But in spite of the setback caused by Freud’s rejection of the practice, Hypnosis continued to become more widely accepted around the turn of the Century, including by such organizations as the British Medical Association in 1892.

Interestingly, as even his own protégé Carl Jung, noted, Freud's obsession with sex detracted from the effectiveness of his methods. As time has shown and Freud's theories have been increasingly discredited and his methods dropped from modern use, hypnosis and the use of hypnotic suggestion have been increasingly validated by modern scientific methods.

In his 1977 book "Clinical and experimental hypnosis: in medicine, dentistry, and psychology" Dr. William S. Kroger wrote:

In the light of the historical development of Freudian theory, perhaps ‘we need a psychoanalysis of current psychoanalytical resistance to the use of hypnosis.

Current research in hypnosis does not substantiate a single reason for Freud's avoidance of hypnosis... Since scientific hypnosis was in its infancy in Freud's time, one can hardly blame him for adopting a negative attitude. However, there is no valid reason why Freud's successors should continue to use this embryonic period in the historical development of hypnosis to criticize contemporary hypnotherapy. Masserman recognized that hypnosis was the core that underlies all forms of psychotherapy...

Shortly before his death, Freud spoke very resignedly about the poor results of psychoanalysis in an article seldom mentioned by his loyal followers. As Rado observed, 'Digging into the past yields diminishing returns.' Others question the value of recapturing early fantasies and memories. This is not to imply that many of Freud's observations in human behavior will not be of enduring value. Contemporary technics in hypnoanalysis could not have developed had it not been for his penetrating insights.

Are Freud and his sexuality based version of psychoanalysis destined to be a footnote in psychological history? Many now think that may be the case.

Question 6

Is it okay for a Christian to be Hypnotized?

Accepted Answer

I hear this question frequently and I cannot answer for you. It depends on your own beliefs and the teachings of the church you belong to. My best advice is for you to talk it over with your spiritual advisor.

I know of no prohibition against hypnosis in the Bible. Deuteronomy is commonly cited, but it refers to sorcery, witchcraft, and spells, none of which have anything to do with hypnosis. I do know that there are many examples of trances being described in the Bible and they always seem to involve greater spiritual awareness.

Here's a version of the Deuteronomy passage:

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 ESV

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.

I will state with no ambiguity that there are no dark forces at work in anything I do. Hypnosis is a force for good. Hypnosis has no burnt offerings, is not divination, fortune telling, interpretation of omens, sorcery or charming. Hypnotists are not psychic and don't commune with or raise the dead.

This passage seems to encourage exploring your mind:

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The best summary I have found, by someone far, far, more qualified to speak on this subject is from Dr. Roger Barrier of ""Preach It, Teach It"" fame. It is quoted below and you can find the article in its entirety: HERE

***Is it Okay for a Christian to be Hypnotized? by Dr. Roger Barrier - Preach It, Teach It

Is there any passage in the Bible that forbids hypnosis?

Opponents focus on the Hebrew term cast spells as being the same as hypnosis. Their interpretation is really a stretch.

What Christian groups approve the use of hypnosis? Are there any Christians groups that expressly forbid it?

What are the benefits of hypnosis?

Let me recommend to you the book "Experiencing The Depths Of Jesus Christ", by a 15th century, fourteen-year-old French girl named Madam Guyon. Catholic Leaders of her time demanded that she recant the teachings of the book because her basic premise was that anyone, at any time, could come into contact with the living God, without having to go through a Catholic priest. She teaches us how to quiet our minds and move into deep meditation focusing on a Bible story, event, person, verse or phrase. What she's really doing is teaching us how we can experience Christ through the art of deep meditation, or what might be described as self-hypnosis.

Can hypnosis open the door of my mind to a satanic attack?

On the other hand, Satan desires to take control of our minds. That's why Paul warns us to take every thought captive: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Paul says that we must be careful to guard what goes into our minds lest we open up an unprotected area where Satan can gain control.

So the question is, Can hypnosis open my mind in any way that might allow Satan to get control of my thinking?

Unexpectedly for many of us, the truth is that during hypnosis, we often have more control over our minds than ever before. Just because we may be more susceptible to suggestions in no way means that we lose control of our minds and do things that we never intended to do.

-- Dr. Roger Barrier, A retired as senior teaching pastor from Casas Church in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to being an author and sought-after conference speaker, Roger has mentored or taught thousands of pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders worldwide. Casas Church, where Roger served throughout his thirty-five-year career, is a megachurch known for a well-integrated, multi-generational ministry. The value of including new generations is deeply ingrained throughout Casas to help the church move strongly right through the twenty-first century and beyond. Dr. Barrier holds degrees from Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Golden Gate Seminary in Greek, religion, theology, and pastoral care.

Additionally,

In 1847, the Roman Catholic Church recognized hypnosis as a natural part of our own ability, and NOT the work of the devil! The decree from the Sacred Congregation of The Holy Office states;

Having removed all misconceptions, foretelling of the future, explicit or implicit invocation of the devil, the use hypnosis is indeed merely an act of making use of physical media that are otherwise licit and hence it is not morally forbidden provided it does not tend toward an illicit end or toward anything depraved.

Question 7

What should I expect the first session to be like?

Accepted Answer

As a rule, I schedule first sessions to be 90 minutes and subsequent sessions 60 minutes, but those times can be adjusted as needed.

For the first 30 minutes or so of the first session, we go over the paperwork that is required by Washington State, answering any questions you may have had while reading and signing that in the Client Portal. Washington requires that paperwork so that you know who I am, what I can do and what the rules area about hypnosis, hypnotherapy, and therapy are in this state. Since that paperwork is completed online, in advance of your session, we concentrate on just the questions you may have.

The next 30 minutes, we will talk about the Kappasinian "Theory of Mind" and how it relates to you. We will talk a bit about the history of hypnosis and hypnotherapy and we will discuss what you can expect to experience. I will also likely ask you to answer some questions that will help me determine how your mind reacts to different types of suggestions so that I fine tune my approach to work the best for you. Finally, I may ask you to visualize a few different scenes to further adjust my approach.

In the final half-hour, I will perform an induction that is designed to work with the way your imagination works. Inductions are how the hypnotic state is entered and there are hundreds of ways they can be tailored to better match an individual. Once you are "in state", I will show you around a bit, have you experience and visualize a few things I think you might enjoy, then get down to the business at hand.

You may remember nothing, some stuff or everything from the session. That varies from person to person, but I am more than happy to summarize the session as we close.

Afterward, you will likely feel really relaxed, more so than you may have in a very long time. Some people state that colors are a little brighter and most people notice that the "chatter" in their heads is greatly reduced, leaving a more focused feeling.

One thing to note: After a first session, most people are uncertain if they were really hypnotized or not. This is normal too and is because the hypnotic experience is not what most people were expecting. They weren't unconscious, didn't lose control and weren't unaware of their surroundings. Don't worry, in subsequent sessions, you will know what to expect and will get better at maximizing the effect.

Question 8

What is "Kappasinian" hypnotherapy?

Accepted Answer

John Kappas attained his orientation to hypnosis from stage practice whose exponents assumed that only half the population could be hypnotized. Through practical experience, Kappas realized that direct suggestion was resisted by the half of the population that is left-brain dominant (analytical). This led Kappas into a lifetime of study of suggestibility, drawing upon personal experience treating tens of thousands of clients. Those cases covered both behavioral and psychological disorders. In recorded training seminars from the seventies, Kappas frequently stated that psychosis was due to hypersuggestibility - a chronic state of hypnosis - that makes the client unable to distinguish real and imaginary experiences.

The dominant factor in suggestibility is brain bilaterality (left/right dominance, generating respectively the "Emotional" and "Physical" patterns of behavior). Kappas saw hemispheric dominance as arising from nurturance, with natural complementarity arising between mother and infant. Preferential laterality carries through to our mature relationships, where we seek similar friends but complementary partnerships. Unfortunately, dysfunctional partnerships tend to exacerbate laterality, leading to alienation. Extending these insights to sexual behavior, Kappas was a successful marital therapist.

Kappas characterized hypnosis as a state of mind - our ideal learning state. Kappasinian therapy is built upon theories of personality development, most respectably the Ericksons' Stages of Development. The stages are extended with accessible theories of the subconscious and mind-body syndromes. These elements are introduced in dialog to increase client receptivity to suggestion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy

Question 9

Why do you use a link shortener when posting online? (hypnotechs.me)

Accepted Answer

I was asked about why I post links that start with "hypnotechs.me" or sometimes "link.hypnotechs.com" that then redirect to the original URL. Fair enough.

Because the world works on different platforms, sometimes people need to type in a link instead of just clicking it. If you are on a small screen, the link can be hard to read, wrap lines or contain characters that require three layers of keyboard changes to get at.

For example, here is one of my short links:

***https://hypnotechs.me/2EeY

***https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201711/10-reasons-teens-have-so-much-anxiety-today

I am not trying to obscure the source or original URL, you will see that the full path is displayed and it takes you to the original source when you click my link. I also don't get anything in the way of any sort of payment when you click my links. It's just a way for my to share links more conveniently. The only data I even see in my control panel is the number of clicks the link has received and some analytics about how many people clicked on a phone, tablet or PC. I don't see anything personally identifiable.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/spfA9tNOws/resources/gV93IffefR/shortern.jpg (shortern.jpg)

If you see "hypnotechs.me" or "link.hypnotechs.com", you know it's probably a much longer URL and I have personally curated the content you are about to see because I think you might find it interesting. At least I did.

Question 10

Is hypnosis "pseudoscience"?

Accepted Answer

First, let's define "pseudoscience". According to Wikipedia:

Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that are claimed to be scientific and factual, in the absence of evidence gathered and constrained by appropriate scientific methods.

Pseudoscience is often characterized by the following: contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; and absence of systematic practices when developing theories.

The term pseudoscience is often considered pejorative because it suggests something is being presented as science inaccurately or even deceptively. Those >described as practicing or advocating pseudoscience often dispute the characterization.

With that in mind, hypnosis is most certainly NOT pseudoscience. There is plenty of scientific, non-anecdotal evidence, that points to the legitimacy of hypnosis. We link to some articles of that nature in the Multimedia section of this site, but there are many, many more articles to be found.

Wikipedia maintains a List of topics characterized as pseudoscience. Note that hypnosis is conspicuously not on that list, though there are are a few of the more rediculous claimed uses of hypnosis that made the list. Those aren't things you will find at Hypnotechs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the first session going to be like?

I'm too _______ to be hypnotized. Right?

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