Yes — both are possible, but the answer depends on how you define hypnosis and trance.
Short answer
Hypnosis can occur without a dramatic “trance” experience if you define hypnosis as a response to suggestion, focused attention, and altered responsiveness rather than as a special altered state.
Trance can occur without hypnosis if you define trance more broadly as a natural absorbed, narrowed, or dissociated state that can happen in meditation, daydreaming, driving, prayer, flow, or intense concentration.
The key issue: definitions
These terms overlap, but they are not identical.
Hypnosis
In modern psychology and clinical practice, hypnosis is usually understood as:
a state or process involving focused attention
increased responsiveness to suggestion
reduced attention to some outside stimuli
often, but not always, a feeling of absorption or altered awareness
Importantly, many researchers do not require a deep trance in the old stage-hypnosis sense for hypnosis to happen.
Trance
“Trance” is a broader and less precise word. It can mean:
absorbed attention
reduced peripheral awareness
a dreamy or detached state
automatic, inwardly focused functioning
That means trance-like states can happen naturally, even when no hypnotist is present.
So, can hypnosis occur without trance?
Yes, depending on what you mean by trance.
If by “trance” you mean a dramatic, obvious altered state with:
closed eyes
slowed speech
visible stillness
obvious detachment
then hypnosis can absolutely happen without that.
A person may be hypnotized while:
keeping their eyes open
talking normally
appearing alert
showing only subtle changes in attention and response
In modern hypnosis, especially in clinical settings, the focus is often on suggestibility, attention, expectation, and response, not on making someone look “trance-like.”
Can trance occur without hypnosis?
Yes.
A person can enter a trance-like state without any hypnotic induction at all. Examples include:
zoning out while driving
becoming fully absorbed in a book or film
intense prayer or meditation
athletic “flow”
repetitive manual work
daydreaming
These are often called everyday trances or absorption states. They are not necessarily hypnosis because there is no deliberate hypnotic suggestion or therapeutic/hypnotic framework.
A simple way to think about it
Hypnosis = usually involves suggestion
Trance = usually involves absorption or narrowed attention
They often overlap, but one does not strictly require the other
Practical clinical view
In hypnotherapy, clients do not always feel like they have “gone into trance,” yet they may still respond strongly to suggestions. Likewise, someone may be in a highly absorbed state without any hypnosis at all.
So if you are asking from a clinical or practical standpoint:
Hypnosis does not always look like trance
Trance does not always mean hypnosis
Bottom line
Hypnosis without trance? Yes, if trance means a visible or dramatic altered state.
Trance without hypnosis? Yes, very commonly.
The two are related, but they are not the same thing.
Elkins, G. R., Barabasz, A. F., Council, J. R., & Spiegel, D. (2015). Advancing research and practice: The revised APA Division 30 definition of hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 63(1), 1–9.
Lynn, S. J., Kirsch, I., & Hallquist, M. N. (2008). Social-cognitive theories of hypnosis. In M. Nash & A Barnier (Eds.), The Handbook of Hypnosis. Oxford University Press
Oakley, D. A., & Halligan, P. W. (2013). Hypnotic suggestion: Opportunities for cognitive neuroscience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14(8), 565–576.
Nash, M., & Barnier, A. J. (Eds.). (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis: Theory, Research, and Practice. Oxford University Press.