positive reinforcement - "...Hypnosis is like taking a great nap while a soothing voice helps you visualize your greatest moments, over and over, in every detail, while repeating things like "You're strong. You're confident. You can do this." It feels good. It feels warm. It feels empowering. And that's about it. No drama. No nightclub comedy. No Hollywood hokum. Lots of relaxation. Plenty of repetition. All positive reinforcement. "It's not anything strange," said Cindy Kasper, the hypnotherapist I visited in Sarasota. "It's just working with relaxation and visualization..." (I got hypnotized, and here's what happened)
twenty per cent of the population can be easily hypnotized - "...We know this form of classical conditioning works," says Joordens. "We know the imagery is real. The claim is that hypnotism just amps this up a little bit, and I think that level of claim would be undisputed. "(Hypnotism) can enhance imagery, and if someone is using that imagery, along with other things we know to modify behaviour, then it can be very effective." He notes that a generally accepted estimate suggests 20 per cent of the population can be easily hypnotized, while a similar number cannot. The remaining 60 per cent fall somewhere in between. Much of the public's skepticism, he adds, arises from over-the-top portrayals of mind control found in popular culture, such as the film The Manchurian Candidate, in which communists brainwash a U.S. prisoner of war to become an assassin. "That implication makes people say, 'Oh, come on, you cannot control somebody in that way,' and for the most part, we're pretty sure you cannot control somebody in those ways. It's about taking things we know and creating a context through hypnosis that maximizes the effect..." (You're getting very sleepy)
altering state of consciousness - "...Hypnosis is not sleep; in fact, you are relaxed but focused and alert. Hypnosis is a process in which critical thinking faculties of the mind are bypassed (asked to go into deep relaxation, a sleep state of the muscles so to speak) and a type of selective thinking and perception is established. Hypnosis is thought to work by altering our state of consciousness in such a way that the analytical left-hand side of the brain is turned off, while the non-analytical right-hand side is made more alert. Hypnosis is the science of influencing the subconscious mind to change the thought pattern and behaviour in individuals. Hypnosis is easy, safe and effective with lasting results. Hypnosis is completely relaxing and usually people are completely aware of their surroundings. However you think of it, hypnosis is a method for communicating directly with the subconscious mind. Although the word "hypnosis" comes from the Greek word "sleep", the hypnotized individual is not unconscious, asleep or any other such thing. Being hypnotized is usually characterized by (a) concentration, (b) relaxation, (c) suggestion, and (d) expectation. In fact, while an individual is hypnotized he or she is more alert than ever..." (The Human Mind)
to fill the mind of subject with positive thoughts - "...Neuro linguistic programming requires individuals who have expertise in handling the techniques of this mind programming method. It can be applied both on individuals and group. Many use these techniques for the purpose of self improvement and to develop a more positive attitude towards the life. It can be positively used to build relationships and in jobs and career development. It can also be used in schools to correct the behavioural problems appear in children. The peculiarity of an NLP programming is that you can not assure the success of the various techniques that are used in this therapy in all persons in the same way. A technique of Neuro Linguistic Programming that found to be successful in an individual need not be so in another individual. It all depends on the response and attitude of the subject towards the programme. You will have to go on experimenting with various techniques until you succeed in your attempt to fill the mind of subject with positive thoughts. The practitioners of NLP combine both the techniques of NLP and hypnosis to get best out of the therapy. Modelling events and procedures can be called as the basics of neuro linguistic programming therapy. Once they learn how a person manages to come out of a particular problem that he suffers, they model the same as a tool to be applied in other persons suffering from similar problems. The model so prepared by the practitioners will have to be applied in a number of subjects until they get the same result in all subjects..." (The Basics Of Neuro Linguistic Programming)
Hypnosis is a mental state (according to "state theory") or imaginative role-enactment (according to "non-state theory"). It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion"). The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy", while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "stage hypnosis." The words hypnosis and hypnotism both derive from the term neuro-hypnotism (nervous sleep) coined by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and his followers ("Mesmerism" or "animal magnetism"), but differed in his theory as to how the procedure worked. Contrary to a popular misconception—that hypnosis is a form of unconsciousness resembling sleep—contemporary research suggests that hypnotic subjects are fully awake and are focusing attention, with a corresponding decrease in their peripheral awareness. Subjects also show an increased response to suggestions. In the first book on the subject, Neurypnology (1843), Braid described "hypnotism" as a state of physical relaxation accompanied and induced by mental concentration ("abstraction"). Neurological imaging techniques provide no evidence of a neurological pattern that can be equated with a "hypnotic trance". Changes in brain activity have been found in some studies of highly responsive hypnotic subjects. These changes vary depending upon the type of suggestions being given. However, what these results indicate is unclear. They may indicate that suggestions genuinely produce changes in perception or experience that are not simply a result of imagination. However, in normal circumstances without hypnosis, the brain regions associated with motion detection are activated both when motion is seen and when motion is imagined, without any changes in the subjects' perception or experience.[91] This may therefore indicate that highly suggestible hypnotic subjects are simply activating to a greater extent the areas of the brain used in imagination, without real perceptual changes. Another study has demonstrated that a color hallucination suggestion given to subjects in hypnosis activated color-processing regions of the occipital cortex. A 2004 review of research examining the EEG laboratory work in this area concludes: Hypnosis is not a unitary state and therefore should show different patterns of EEG activity depending upon the task being experienced. In our evaluation of the literature, enhanced theta is observed during hypnosis when there is task performance or concentrative hypnosis, but not when the highly hypnotizable individuals are passively relaxed, somewhat sleepy and/or more diffuse in their attention (Wikepedia).
RELATED READING:
