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Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility used in clinical hypnotherapy, self-help, research, and entertainment. It involves induction, suggestion, and changes in perception or memory.

Author: Leandro Alegsa Creation date: November 13, 2022 Last updated: April 17, 2026

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Overview

Hypnosis is a psychological procedure in which a person (the subject) enters a state of focused attention and increased responsiveness to suggestions. This state is often described as a trance and is associated with deep relaxation, narrowed awareness of the environment, and vivid imagination. Hypnosis is applied in many contexts, including therapeutic practice, clinical research, personal development, and entertainment. Unlike ordinary sleep, hypnotic responsiveness typically involves active attention and cooperation with the hypnotist or with self-guided instructions.

Characteristics and typical procedure

A standard hypnotic session usually includes an induction phase designed to relax the subject and direct attention inward, one or more suggestion phases that propose changes in perception, emotion, memory or behavior, and a termination phase that returns the subject to ordinary waking awareness. Suggestions can be direct ("you will feel warmth") or indirect (using metaphor or imagery), and may be administered by another person or practiced by the subject as self-hypnosis. Common features reported by subjects include altered time sense, enhanced imagery, reduced peripheral awareness, and an increased tendency to accept suggestions as if they were real.

History and development

The phenomenon now called hypnosis emerged from a mixture of medical experimentation and popular practices in the 18th and 19th centuries. Early practitioners labeled related techniques as mesmerism; later clinicians and researchers reframed them in psychological terms. Over time, scientific and clinical interest produced more structured methods for induction and standardized uses in medicine and psychology. During the 20th and 21st centuries, systematic studies and the development of hypnotherapy established hypnosis as a tool for addressing certain clinical problems, while stage hypnosis popularized dramatic demonstrations of suggestibility.

Uses and applications

Hypnosis is used for a range of purposes. In health care, hypnotherapy may be employed to help manage pain, reduce anxiety, cope with phobias, and support behavior change such as smoking cessation; evidence varies by condition and quality of trials. In psychotherapy it is sometimes combined with other modalities to facilitate access to memories, alter maladaptive habits, or strengthen therapeutic suggestions. Researchers also use hypnotic techniques to study attention, perception, and the neural correlates of experience. Separately, stage performers use hypnosis for entertainment, demonstrating responsive behavior in volunteers under controlled conditions.

Mechanisms, evidence, and cautions

Modern research explores hypnosis through behavioral studies and neuroimaging; findings suggest that hypnotic responsiveness involves changes in attention, expectation, and the brain networks that mediate perception and control. Not everyone is equally responsive: suggestibility varies among individuals, and screening scales exist to assess this trait. Clinical guidelines caution that hypnosis is not a cure-all. It should be used by trained professionals when applied for health reasons, and ethical concerns—such as informed consent, the accuracy of recovered memories, and the potential for suggestion-induced false memories—require careful consideration.

Notable distinctions and practical points

Altered state vs. role theory: Some experts describe hypnosis as a distinct altered state of consciousness, while others explain hypnotic behavior in terms of social role-taking and focused attention. Both perspectives contribute to current understanding.
Self-hypnosis: Individuals can learn self-hypnosis for relaxation, habit control, or performance enhancement; it emphasizes repetition and practice rather than passive trance.
Safety and efficacy: When used appropriately by skilled practitioners, hypnosis is generally safe, but it should complement—rather than replace—evidence-based medical or psychological treatments when those are indicated.

For further reading on the phenomenology of the hypnotic trance state and contemporary debates about altered consciousness, consult reviews that summarize experimental and clinical findings. Introductory resources on clinical use and training programs provide practical guidance about applications and ethical standards here.

Play media file Photographic Studies in Hypnosis, Abnormal Psychology (1938)

Terms

The terms "hypnosis" and "trance" are often used synonymously. The Austrian trance researcher Giselher Guttmann, however, pleads for a clear differentiation, because in contrast to other trance states, under hypnosis there is no significantly altered electrical activity in the cerebral cortex than in the normal waking state.

History

Around 1770, modern science perceived hypnosis, which had been known since antiquity, as a phenomenon detached from a magical-religious background. Franz Anton Mesmer experimented with magnets which he placed on patients. He called the effect magnetism animalis, but attributed the effective forces to the magnets. Because of Mesmer's popularity, the process of hypnotizing was long called "mesmerizing," an expression that still exists in contemporary English (to mesmerize 'to hypnotize'). Alfred Russel Wallace thought he could prove Gall's skull map with the help of mesmerization. In a text unpublished during his lifetime, Friedrich Engels criticized mesmerism (in its late phase often synonymous with "somnambulism") and Wallace's theories as erroneous beliefs and self-deception. According to his own account, Engels put a twelve-year-old boy without magnets into a hypnotic state by "gently rubbing or brushing against him" and then had the boy re-experience the effects of self-discovered Gallic cranial areas. He concludes that effects only ever occurred when the "patient [was] made to understand what was expected of him." The hypnotist's belief in the skull map allowed the desired effects to occur unconsciously in the hypnotized person, just as effective forces were attributed to the magnets, which came about through other causes.

Around the middle of the 19th century, a conceptual and conceptual transformation from "animal magnetism" to "hypnotism" took place. Devices such as the hypnoscope emerged.

In Britain, relatively many people were critical of the process of "mesmerizing". Nevertheless, the English ophthalmic surgeon James Braid attended a performance by the magnetizer LaFontaine, the grandson of the fabulist, and found that the fluttering of the eyelids could not be induced voluntarily. He then experimented with subjects, asking them to fixate on shiny objects in order to induce them into a trance state. In time, he rejected the ideas of Magnetic Animalism and theorized brain physiological changes to take place during a trance. Braid performed numerous eye surgeries under hypnosis, opening the debate for further applications and treatments.

In the 19th century, France was a leader in the study of hypnosis, with schools in Nancy (Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, Hippolyte Bernheim) and Paris (Jean-Martin Charcot). Sigmund Freud became aware of Mesmer's experiments in 1885 at Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris and tried this method himself to treat patients. This became the starting point of his studies on hysteria. Later, however, he dropped this method and devoted himself to his technique of free association.

In the 1930s, Ferenc Völgyesi and Erik Jan Hanussen, among others, performed as hypnotists.

Hypnosis was developed further in the 20th century in the German-speaking area, first by Oskar Vogt (1870-1959), then by his student Johannes Heinrich Schultz (1884-1970), who developed autogenic training from it, and later by Klaus Thomas.

In the American-speaking world, hypnosis was significantly developed by Milton H. Erickson (indirect hypnosis), Kroger and Dave Elman (authoritarian hypnosis). In England, John Hartland is considered one of the most famous hypnotists. His book Dictionary of Medical and Dental Hypnosis is part of the official training textbook for British hypnotists. Erickson founded a new form of hypnotherapy, which is considered the most modern form today and from which other psychological methods, such as neuro-linguistic programming, developed.

Questions and Answers

Q: What is hypnosis?

A: Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation, and heightened imagination.

Q: Who is usually involved in hypnosis?

A: One person, the hypnotist, talks to another person, the subject, in a special way that puts the subject into a trance.

Q: What happens to the subject while in a hypnotic state?

A: The subject can be influenced by suggestions. The hypnotist can tell the subject to forget their name, or that the room is hot (which can make the subject start sweating), or that they are someone else.

Q: How can hypnotic suggestions be delivered?

A: Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, or they may be self-administered.

Q: What is the use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes called?

A: The use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is referred to as hypnotherapy.

Q: What is the difference between hypnotherapy and stage hypnosis?

A: Hypnotherapy is used for therapeutic purposes, while stage hypnosis is used for entertainment in front of an audience.

Q: Are hypnotic subjects fully unconscious during hypnosis?

A: No, contrary to popular misconceptions, contemporary research suggests that hypnotic subjects are fully awake and focusing attention, with a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness. Subjects also show an increased response to suggestions. However, the behavior of subjects under hypnotism goes so far beyond normal focused attention that the description of "altered state of consciousness" is more used.