Hypnosis, detail

Hypnosis is a special state that is not characteristic of a person’s sleep and wakefulness, which is artificially induced, with the help of suggestion, and is distinguished by a characteristic selectivity of response — increased susceptibility to the psychological effects of the hypnotizing person and a decrease in sensitivity to all other influences.

Stages of hypnosis

There are 3 stages of hypnosis:

Stage 1: Drowsiness

Characterized by mild muscle weakness and slight drowsiness; the patient can easily, at will, open his eyes, stand up and interrupt the session. At this stage of hypnosis, the patient lies in a state of pleasant rest, rest and, according to the subjective report, does not consider himself to be asleep.

2nd stage: Hypotaxia

Characterized by complete muscle weakness; at this stage it is possible to cause suggested catalepsy — waxy muscle flexibility, which sometimes occurs spontaneously without suggestion. In the reports, patients say that they felt able to overcome drowsiness and open their eyes, but they wanted to lie down and listen to the voice of the hypnotist.

3rd stage: Sleepwalking (somnambulism; from lat. somnus — sleep + ambulo — I walk).

It represents the deepest degree of hypnosis, when the patient does not perceive extraneous stimuli at all or almost and maintains contact through the center of rapport only with the hypnotist:

• hallucinatory experiences can be suggested to the patient;
• change the nature of his reactions to primary signal stimuli;
• force to walk, answer questions asked, perform actions corresponding to the suggested situation (ride a horse, row, ride a boat, catch butterflies, pick flowers, brush off bees, drive dogs away, etc.).

At this stage, it is possible to achieve age regression with behavior and speech production corresponding to the suggested, more often childish, age; it is easy to achieve a complete loss of sensitivity to painful stimuli and turn off other analyzers; it is possible to make post-hypnotic suggestions, i.e., orders to perform some action after a specified time after hypnotization.

The difference between hypnosis and sleep

In ordinary consciousness, hypnosis is associated with such obscure phenomena as clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. However, unlike extrasensory phenomena, the explanation of which to this day is reduced to vague hypotheses, the phenomenon of hypnotic suggestion is quite explicable by the action of known psychophysiological mechanisms. Most experts agree that hypnosis is a special state intermediate between sleep and wakefulness. For example, the initial phase of hypnosis is very similar to normal falling asleep. But, having plunged into a hypnotic sleep, the person continues to hear the hypnotist and follows his instructions. This is a kind of partial sleep, when the part of the nervous system remains active — the «sentry point».

Even during the deepest natural sleep, the brain does not turn off completely. Its waking hearth keeps us awake at the sound of an alarm clock, although much louder noise outside the window may not disturb sleep.

Actions of the hypnotist

The mother lulls the baby with a monotonous lullaby, soft rocking. The hypnotist has the same manner — unsharp rhythmic movements, lulling intonations. Mastering this technique is not available to everyone, but it is not at all associated with any supernatural abilities. And far from everyone is subject to hypnotic influence: there are people who cannot be hypnotized — either because of their low susceptibility (and this is such an individual property as, say, subtlety of smell or sensitivity to pain), or because of a stubborn unwillingness to be hypnotized, skeptical relationship with the hypnotist, etc.

The voice of the hypnotist leaves in the cerebral cortex of the falling asleep the same “watch point”, which remains receptive to verbal instructions. Inhibition, spilling over to all other parts of the brain, makes a person lose sensitivity to other stimuli. Moreover, the mechanisms of conscious control over thinking and behavior are turned off. This function is taken over by the hypnotist. Decision-making is no longer motivated by internal motivation, but by external instruction, which is perceived without critical analysis. Such an instruction, given for the future, can later be carried out by a person who is sure that he is guided by his personal motives (since the fact of suggestion is not fixed in memory). This raises the question: how far does the power of the hypnotist extend?

History of occurrence

The loss by a person of conscious control over his actions in a state of hypnosis alarmed the public even at the dawn of the use of this method. The founder of hypnotherapy, Franz Mesmer, was even accused of seducing one of his patients, and his method of hypnosis treatment was officially recognized as «dangerous for morals.» Subsequently, in the history of hypnosis, such precedents arose repeatedly.

On July 28, 1774, the first demonstration of the use of hypnosis (although the word itself was not yet in use at that time) for therapeutic purposes took place in Paris. The patient was a foreigner — a certain Fraulein Osterlin, who suffered from a whole «bouquet» of hysterical symptoms, and the healer was Franz Mesmer. There were rumors about Mesmer that he was a magician and wizard. And indeed, Mesmer worked wonders: he could cause an anesthetic effect, he could suggest that a person was on the seashore or in the ice, and the person would suddenly begin to hear the sound of the surf or experience unbearable cold. Many considered Mesmer a warlock, a messenger of the devil. In fact, this, apparently, was an inquisitive, intelligent and honest person who sincerely tried to get to the truth. A son of his time, he, along with most of his contemporaries, repeated their mistakes and delusions, explaining his actions by activating the so-called animal magnetism (today it would be called a biofield). Mesmer actually discovered phenomena that two centuries later seem almost as incomprehensible as at the end of the 200th century, and although science has accumulated very much experience over XNUMX years, it still cannot fully explain what Mesmer did. It is clear that Mesmer himself had a hard time: neither to himself nor to those around him could he logically explain what he was doing.

In fact, psychotherapy began with Mesmer. This man was the first who began to use psychotherapy in its current understanding. One of his students and followers, the cavalry officer Marquis de Puysegur, discovered the phenomenon of somnambulism and signs of post-hypnotic suggestion.

Research experiments F. Mesmer

Mesmer repeatedly applied to the Paris Academy with a request to study what he was doing. Academicians for a long time refused to enter into any contacts with Mesmer, but then they nevertheless condescended — this happened in 1784.

On March 4, 1784, by decree of the French king Louis XVI, a scientific commission was established to evaluate the theory and practice of Mesmer, around whom by that time a very ambiguous atmosphere had developed. He was very popular among the general public, just like Alan Chumak has recently been with us. Such a comparison is also true in connection with the attitude of the scientific community towards Mesmer: among scientists, he was known as a charlatan, and his ideas were considered pseudoscientific and even harmful. True, unlike the current psychics, Mesmer did not engage in any bioenergetic exercises. He practiced ordinary hypnosis, which at that time was considered a mysterious phenomenon and had no scientific explanation. Mesmer called himself a magnetizer (the concept of «hypnosis» was introduced later by the English physician James Brad). According to Mesmer, the vital activity of an organism is determined by the circulation of a certain universal fluid. The disease is caused by uneven distribution of fluid in the body. Influencing the patient and causing convulsive crises, the magnetizer achieves a harmonious redistribution of the fluid, which leads to a cure. Mesmer himself believed that his theory was based on physiology and close to the theories of electricity or magnets, which aroused great interest in the scientific community of that time.

Mesmer’s experiments, incredibly vivid and spectacular, at the same time led to suspicion: could the magnetizer use his power maliciously? In particular, can a woman, being at the mercy of a magnetizer, lose her virtue against her will? Mesmer himself, by his impeccable behavior, gave no grounds for such suspicions. However, he had many followers who, having once experienced the power of magnetism on themselves, considered themselves entitled to magnetize others (as we see, the tradition of psychotherapeutic epigonism was founded more than two hundred years ago). Neophyte magnetizers indeed allowed themselves to go far beyond the bounds of medical ethics, and juicy rumors about their dubious practices spread more and more widely. Perhaps these facts, and not just Mesmer’s personal request, prompted the French monarch to look into the current situation. He established a commission to study animal magnetism, which included prominent scientists of the time: the astronomer Bailly, the future mayor of Paris, who was executed by the revolutionaries, Benjamin Franklin, the chemist Lavoisier and four professors of the medical faculty, including the anatomist Guyotin, the inventor of the machine named after him for the execution, on which, by an evil irony of fate, he himself had to lay down his head.

In a report prepared by the commission, magnetic phenomena (today we would call them hypnotic) were carefully described and even a certain curative effect was noted, which, however, was entirely attributed to the action of the imagination. “Imagination causes convulsions without magnetism. Magnetism without imagination generates nothing…” The theory of animal magnetism was categorically condemned by an authoritative commission, which recognized that no fluid exists in nature. Simultaneously with the report, a secret note was prepared, in which an unambiguous conclusion was made: the experiments of magnetizers pose a threat to public morality. Thus, hypnosis was actually outlawed. It took several decades for this method, through the efforts of serious and responsible people, to gain scientific respectability.

Hypnosis today

Today, this story is perceived as a very instructive lesson. Attempts to explain really observed phenomena with the help of unfounded hypotheses are fraught with subsequent condemnation of not only absurd theory, but also positive practice. And the experiments of unscrupulous neophytes can turn any useful undertaking into a farce. Psychologists have a lot to think about here.

Many experts, however, point out that unlimited power is not available to the hypnotist. Assimilated by a person, moral norms play the role of protective barriers and keep him from unacceptable actions. In a number of experiments it has been shown that under hypnosis a person cannot achieve what he considers unacceptable. It would seem that in this case it is possible not to be afraid of malicious influence, but other experiments dispel such confidence. Indeed, people refuse to follow certain directives. But the same instructions, given in a veiled way, sometimes work.

Such an example is known. The hypnotist, as an experiment, demanded that the woman undress in the presence of the public and was refused. Then he began to suggest to the woman that she was on a deserted beach and was going to swim. A few minutes later, the lady appeared before the audience naked. Another woman refused, on the orders of the hypnotist, to hit the man who approached her. When it was suggested to her that in front of her was a rapist about to attack, the required action was performed energetically and swiftly.

Possible dangers of hypnosis

The possibilities of hypnotic suggestion are extremely wide. And this makes us wary: is not each of us in danger in our daily life?

In fact, there is practically no danger of being hypnotized in everyday life. Even if your individual susceptibility is very high, the unwillingness to be influenced acts as a powerful brake. It is possible to immerse in hypnosis only those who themselves agree to it. Indeed, in a hypnotic state, a person can do a lot against his will, but it is impossible to plunge into this state against his will.

But there is a more serious problem. To be influenced by someone else, it is not necessary to plunge into a deep hypnotic sleep. And we constantly experience external influence, and in fact the same mechanisms work as in hypnosis: turning off conscious control, uncritical obedience to external (sometimes veiled) instructions. The trouble is that modern man is increasingly turning from a «reasonable man» into a «formatized man.» That is, from a creature that independently perceives and processes information that comes directly from the outside world, it is increasingly transformed into a creature that uses information artificially «made» for it. The natural tendency of people to save energy on intellectual work leads to the fact that they are more willing to use already processed and “ready-to-use” information and less and less turn to primary information that requires additional mental effort to perceive and understand it. This has led to the fact that the percentage of highly suggestible individuals today has reached an incredibly high level.

In addition, in the absence of clear moral standards, when theft, violence, and all kinds of perversions are perceived as everyday phenomena, internal behavioral barriers are significantly weakened, and the willingness to follow any examples and directives increases. To force a modern teenager to hit someone in the face or undress in public, one does not need to look for detours psychological ways: he has already seen these actions a thousand times on the TV screen and is ready to easily commit them himself.

A person who in his actions is guided by his own strong convictions, who critically and sensibly evaluates everything that happens around him, is reliably insured against zombies. If convictions are absent and criticality is lacking, there will always be those who want to make us dance to their tune. And they do not need any supernatural strength — our unnatural weakness is enough. Are we going to let them?

On the other hand, it can be said without exaggeration that almost every one of us is hypnotized to some extent, either by negative ideas that he uncritically accepted, or by false ideas that came into his head and which, as he convinced himself, correspond to reality. . These negative ideas and ideas influence our behavior with the same force as those that are suggested to a person by a professional hypnotist. Imagine that we are watching a demonstration session of hypnosis, and try to figure out what happens in experiments with hypnotic suggestion.