Myths have always chased hypnosis and its healing arm, hypnotherapy. People either believe them to be falling in the domain of the occult, or don’t regard them to be genuine scientific endeavours. Following are some of the well known myths about hypnosis and the truth behind them.
Hypnosis has nothing to do with magic spells of any kind. It is a very simple technique, which can be explained without much difficulty with the help of psychology and other scientific procedures. Even people who have witnessed hypnosis on others mostly refuse to believe in it. They hold that those who can be hypnotized are mentally not strong enough. But that is simply not the truth. Even mentally strong people can fall under the spell of an expert hypnosis practitioner.
Another belief is that hypnosis is an alternate state of consciousness, which again is a big misconception. A person under hypnosis does not get segregated from the external world, but stays completely conscious of the happenings around him. During the hypnotic state, the subject calms down completely and is hence able to focus fully on the inputs provided by the practitioner.
Some scientific findings have stated that only about 5% of the population is suitable to be hypnotized, which is the third myth on this list. Researchers have hit upon this low percentage because they have made use of the same hypnosis procedure on all people without focusing on their individual traits. Hypnosis can’t be straight jacketed like that and works only if there are different methodologies for different personality styles.
Meditation and hypnosis are usually thought to be the same by people. However, interaction between the subject and the practitioner is paramount in hypnosis, while meditation is like an engagement with the self without any external interaction involved. The state of trance and the state of hypnosis are entirely different from each other too. The individual doesn’t communicate to achieve a state of trance, whereas hypnosis is not possible without communication.
It is commonly thought that hypnosis training or hypnotherapy cannot bring transformations in physique or in patterns of conduct of a person. Hypnosis is obviously not magic that it can transform the physique of a person just like that. But by mentally conditioning an individual to give up addictive behaviour like overeating and constant smoking, and by raising one’s inspiration levels, hypnosis can bring about vital physical alterations in a person and ensure a healthier body.
Hypnosis, and specifically hypnotherapy, can have a vital role to play in the well-being of an individual, and not trying them out just because of some false notions is an act of folly.
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