Is hypnotism Real?

I went to a 60 person birthday party dinner party tonight and they brought in a hypnotist as a guest. 8 guests went up as volunteers, including me. I was 'tapped out' when I started giggling and opened my eyes. I couldn't get into it. But those up there seemed to either really get into it to please the crowd or it was working. My wife was absolutely convinced that it was real (2 of her best friends were volunteers) and afterwards she talked to her friends who remembered only what the hypnotist told them to remember.

It was great entertainment and I try to have an open mind. But I'm not buying it and my wife is completely buying it. It's rare she and I see things so differently.

I should add that the host was taking pics with a 7D. There... It's camera related.

I was like you and thought it a complete fake. Then at a company xmas party we had a hypnotist as entertainment. The hypnotist did his thing to the crown and selected several volunteers and started hypnotizing them. Thing is that my dad, who was not part of the group but sitting towards the front started doing the things the hypnotist suggested. My mom tried to stop him but the hypnotist stopped her and brought him on stage. For the next 1/2 hour or so he did his shtick and made them do all kinds of things like pretend to be hot, pretend to be chickens and other things. The whole time my dad was on stage doing all the stuff with gusto.

Now my dad was an extremely reserved person and would never have done those things on his own, absolutely no way as some were mildly embarrassing. After the show my mom was explaining the things he was doing and he was horrified and had no recollection of doing any of those things. So... I am a believer, absolutely.

Oh, and the 7D is fantastic for event shots...

Whoa! Get these moments on video!

gjl711 wrote in post #14997325
I was like you and thought it a complete fake. Then at a company xmas party we had a hypnotist as entertainment. The hypnotist did his thing to the crown and selected several volunteers and started hypnotizing them. Thing is that my dad, who was not part of the group but sitting towards the front started doing the things the hypnotist suggested. My mom tried to stop him but the hypnotist stopped her and brought him on stage. For the next 1/2 hour or so he did his shtick and made them do all kinds of things like pretend to be hot, pretend to be chickens and other things. The whole time my dad was on stage doing all the stuff with gusto.

Now my dad was an extremely reserved person and would never have done those things on his own, absolutely no way as some were mildly embarrassing. After the show my mom was explaining the things he was doing and he was horrified and had no recollection of doing any of those things. So... I am a believer, absolutely.

Oh, and the 7D is fantastic for event shots...

This is exactly what I witnessed. Exactly. Wow.

I do believe it actually works, however there is a BUT:
1) It does not work for everybody.
2) It does not work against your will.

Great story, and no, there's no "belief" required.

My background is psychology, including a huge lump of neuro-psychology.

AND....too many years ago to admit to, I "dabbled" in hypnotism (waaaaay before I then studied such things!)

Yes, it works - in two, fairly distinct "forms" by stimulating different sections of the brain, depending on whether it's "show-style" or for therapeutic purposes.

No, you can't be hypnotised 100% against your will.

Yes, to a certain extent, it can cause people to loose inhibitions.

And yes, I've been hypnotised (in order to know what I was doing to others) and if done in a therapeutically styled way, it's really rather pleasant!

Regards,

Simon

hasn't worked for me

I quite smoking nine years ago after smoking 2 pks a day for 33 years.
Was with an individual Hypno-Therapist
Five session in total albeit I never smoked another cigarette after the first session.

You-by-Lou wrote in post #14998214
I quite smoking nine years ago after smoking 2 pks a day for 33 years.
Was with an individual Hypno-Therapist
Five session in total albeit I never smoked another cigarette after the first session.

How much was the therapy?
That would be great for those that it would work for.
Was there any sort of guarantee?

Hypnotism is a leftover mechanism that was very useful to pack animals (e.g. wolves) which let the analytic power transfer to the 'leader' for the purpose of survival. For us humans, it's just an entertaining trick which can be dangerous.

windpig wrote in post #14998244
How much was the therapy?
That would be great for those that it would work for.
Was there any sort of guarantee?

I think it was 500 hundred.. 100 per session.
That was June 25th 2003
Guarantee ...... Of course not
Albeit it was the 500 I ever spent

It doesn't work on me either, I hate anybody trying to control my mind...............wai​t - too late...............my wife already does haha

I worked as a hypnotist for many years, both with a clinical practice and doing stage shows. Because of tv/movies most people define hypnosis as something much different than it actually is. It is actually how your mind works, and works best.
to be hypnotised you bascially just need an IQ of about 80, the ability to follow simple directions and be willing. In fact the more intelligent you are the better you can be at it.

science desribes it as beta, theta, alpha, waves. Military and other aspects use light and sound machines to help a person achieve that state for training. It's a powerful tool to be used as learning, but it just comes with a bad stigma. I would explain to schools that I could improve students testing scores, and they were all for it. Mention the word "hypnosis" and they freak out.