Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a psychological state whose existence and effects are strongly debated. Some believe that it is a state under which the subject's mind becomes so suggestible that the hypnotist, the one who induces the state, can establish communication with the subconscious mind of the subject and command behavior that the subject would not choose to perform in a conscious state (even behavior to be performed after the subject has left the hypnotic state, through post-hypnotic suggestion,) or even behavior the subject would be incapable of in a conscious state, such as not feeling pain, manifesting skin blisters as if the subject had been burned, or recalling things the subject's conscious memory does not retain. However, there is strong dispute and skepticism about what behavior and effects hypnosis can induce; some believe that the state does not actually exist, and that all effects of 'hypnotism' that have been observed are in actuality a combination of subjects' expectations (based on their beliefs of hypnotism's effects) and their desire to please the hypnotist (see Hawthorne Effect).

Sources

Books

• Mind control, Research by G. Wagstaff, Dept. of Psychology, University of Liverpool
• Hypnosis, Compliance and Belief by G. Wagstaff, (1981).
• The Highly Hypnotizable Person, Michael Heap, Richard J. Brown & David A. Oakley, (2004), Routledge
• Better and Better Every Day, Emile Coue, (1960).
• Uncommon Therapy, Jay Haley (about the psychotherapeutic intervention techniques of Milton Erickson)
• Advanced Self Hypnosis, Melvin Powers, Thorsons Publishers, 1973, ISBN-0-7225-0058-0
• Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, Georgia Byng
• Open to suggestion. The uses and abuses of hypnosis. Robert Temple, 1989, ISBN 1-85030-710-4
• Hypnosis With Friends and Lovers Freda Morris, 1979, ISBN 0062506005

External links

• T Egner, G Jamieson, J Gruzelier, (2005) Hypnosis decouples cognitive control from conflict monitoring processes of the frontal lobe, NeuroImage, June 17. (Article in press http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WNP-4GDSF00-2&_coverDate=06%2F17%2F2005&_alid=297941145&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6968&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=032d8d46d9f8850d74da797081a3528a, see http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040906/pf/040906-18_pf.html for news coverage).
• S. M. Kosslyn, W. L. Thompson, M. F. Costantini-Ferrando, N. M. Alpert, D. Spiegel, (2000) Hypnotic Visual Illusion Alters Color Processing in the Brain, Am J Psychiatry 157:1279-1284, August.
• Hypnosis Works, an article from Discover magazine
• Hypnosis Studied With fMRI and PET brain scans (digest of several scientific articles)
• NLP, a method derived from Eriksonian Hypnosis
• Hypnosis, from the Skeptic's dictionary, skeptical review of the veracity of hypnosis.
• Hypnosis, from Howstuffworks.com
• Hypnosis FAQ of alt.hypnosis, by C. Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP
• Hypnosis and self hypnosis FAQ, by Charles E. Henderson, Ph.D.
• Hypnosis, Relaxation and NLP in Dentistry