Hypnosis Essays (1411 words) - Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, Self-hypnosis

Hypnosis HYPNOSIS INTRODUCTION : Albert Einstein reckoned that humans use only about 10% of their brains. According to some reports, while hypnotised, we could gain access to the other 90%. Every human being who is mentally sound can be hypnotised to some degree. You can use hypnosis for a lot of things, for instance to control weight, pain, sleep, and to raise confidence. You can also use it to quit smoking, develop concentration and memory. In fact, you can use it for anything that depends on your own efforts. I) ORIGINS OF HYPNOSIS: The art and science of hypnosis is both old and new. *Old because it was used in ancient time and has a pedigree that stretches back to the beginning of mankind's conscious development *New because only over the past 100 years has it been subject to the full force of scientific scrutiny, after discovery that the unconscious mind, emotions and personal history directly affect a person's state of mental, emotional and physical health. A) Old origins _ Hypnosis has existed very early in religious rituals. However, the earliest known description of hypnosis date back 6000 years to rites performed in Egyptian sleep temples. _The Indus Vedas ,a knowledge sacred book written around 1500 BC, mentions the use of hypnotic techniques and procedures. _According to some specialists, accounts of what we would now call hypnosis can be found in the Bible and in the Talmud. _In the past, hypnosis is always associated with the occult: witchdoctors and shamans (medicine man)practised hypnosis :?ritual hypnosis and dance were integral elements of shaman's communication with spirits?. B) New origins- modern use of hypnosis There are two leading men in the scientific study of hypnosis: _ 1734-1815: Franz Anton Mesmer, born in Vienna. Mesmer is considered the father of hypnosis. He is remembered for the term ?Mesmerism? which means a person who is raptly attentive, or who is temporally deprived of his normal conscious qualities. He described a process of inducing trance through a series of passes he made with his hands . He succeed in treating a considerable variety of ailments. _ 1932-1974: Milton Erickson, a psychologist and psychiatrist pioneered the art of indirect suggestions in hypnosis. He is considered the father of modern hypnosis. His methods bypassed the conscious mind through the use of both verbal and non-verbal pacing techniques including metaphor , confusion, and many others. He has immensely influenced the practice of contemporary hypnotherapy. II) HYPNOSIS: A) Curent examples As long as there as been human beings, there has been hypnosis, we use this commonly occurring state of mind, unknowingly, all the time. It is just natural for us. _ For examples if you have ever watched a television program or movie and become really absorbed into the program, you were probably in trance. This trance is what caused you not to hear your mother calling you to dinner. _ Advertisers understand this, they use television programs to induce a hypnotic trance and then provide you hypnotic suggestions, called commercials! _ Another common instance of this naturally occurring state of mind is when you are driving down the road, with your mind focused on some other task, and last thing you know: you have forgotten to turn. That is called ?Highway hypnosis?. B) Definition _ Definition: Hypnosis is a mental state of heightened suggestibility, characterised by trance like sleep. The basis of hypnosis is the fixation of the subject attention upon a gradually narrowing source of stimulation, until he is attendant upon only the direction of the hypnotist. _Techniques: This is variously achieved by repetition of instructions in a low, level voice, or having the subject fix his gaze upon a light in an otherwise dark room. The subject remembers nothing of what he did during the hypnotic period. But certain effects may be suggested to continue after the subject returns to consciousness, these are called post hypnotic suggestions. _major purpose: During hypnosis, the conscious mind is distracted, so that new, positive suggestions are more readily accepted. According to the specialists of hypnosis ,these new constructive ideas substitute negative old ones, therefore creating permanent beneficial changes in your life. C) Hypnotherapy: _ What is hypnotherapy? Hypnotherapy is basically the use of hypnosis as a medium for psychotherapy. People will either be hypnotised by a therapist (hetero-hypnosis) or taught to hypnotise yourself (self hypnosis) as a way of