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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Complementary Therapies & Traditional Medicine > Hypnosis

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  #11  
Old 02-07-2011, 03:04 AM
jjj
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It's not magic. It's a state of mind... a state of consciousness. Actually, even the professionals do not agree on a definition. As was stated by others, some people are more easily hypnotized than others. There are many factors involved but a skilled hypnoTHERAPIST works with the individual client to get through resistance that may be blocking him/ her from being able to enter into a desired state. If your question is: can everyone be hypnotized? Then the answer is 'yes, absolutely'.

What would you like to know about? If hypnosis is effective for what? There is a great deal of empirically based evidence for it's use on pain, somatoform disorder, and trauma. If there is a question about whether you can control someone else's will... the answer is no.... and playing with such an idea will bite you in the butt.
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  #12  
Old 02-07-2011, 03:06 AM
Rivendoah
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It you believe it will work... them it will work on you...
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  #13  
Old 02-07-2011, 09:45 AM
Aquarian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Krishna-prem
I could not agree more. Beliefs are never set in stone so you may believe you can't be hypnotized but if you have a skillful enough hypnotist they will quickly undo that belief and have you in hypnosis very quickly.
Correct, one way would be to use covert hypnosis where you are hypnotised before you know it. Of course, you could snap out of it at that point if you wanted to.

Quote:
The truth is that we enter hypnosis through out our daily lives, it's how we learn most effectively. When you read a good book or watch an enthralling movie you enter hypnosis.
Absolutely, or stand in a lift, or drive down the motorway.

Trance is ubiquitous although hypnotherapists rely on a slight variation where you are responsive to them.

I once had a client who had lied to her fiance about having an affair and dragged him to come engage me in their little deception. She was absolutely determined to not be hypnotised, just to fake it.

It was a very weird situation - was I still responsible for looking after my client? I decided I was responsible to both equally and to give him prima facie evidence - if he really wanted to know, I gave him the perfect opportunity.

He didn't want to know. When my client realised I could hypnotise her quite easily she couldn't wait to get out of there and her fiance stayed on her side. I don't recall getting paid.
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  #14  
Old 02-07-2011, 03:48 PM
Krishna-prem
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I think it is important to consider something here as well. You do NOT need to believe that it will work in order for it to work. What you do need however is a willingness to give it a try and see what happens. I've had a number of clients who who tried so many other therapies in the past that did not work so when it came to hypnosis they also did not believe it would work. However, one was willing to give it a chance out of desperation.

Hypnosis is not placebo or magic. Neuroscientists out of Columbia University discovered last year that hypnosis works because it completely and automatically override's the subject's top down processing. Researchers were able to able to completely abolish the Stroop Effect in the brain. They gave suggestions while the participants were in hypnosis that cancelled out this effect then put them in an FMRI and administered a Stroop test, the parts of the brain that should have lit up in this kind of test did not at all.

This type of result is not linked with belief in hypnosis nor the suggestions, this was an immediate and automatic effect.

Hypnosis does not function through belief, it functions through information processing. This is not to say that belief is not important. Hey, if you believe a medicine isn't going to work strongly enough then it won't. When it comes to therapeutic practice it makes my life much harder when I have a client who is certain they are not going to change. I will fire clients like this because they're motivation is not there which means the likelihood of them taking part in the therapeutic process is minimal.

Cheers!
KP
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  #15  
Old 02-07-2011, 04:19 PM
Silver Silver is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquarian
Correct, one way would be to use covert hypnosis where you are hypnotised before you know it. Of course, you could snap out of it at that point if you wanted to.
Absolutely, or stand in a lift, or drive down the motorway.
Trance is ubiquitous although hypnotherapists rely on a slight variation where you are responsive to them.



I know anything is possible or so they say...so could this (highlighted blue) account for some people's belief that they were possibly abducted by aliens?

Lots of interesting comments in this thread. I only once had hypnotherapy years ago for weight loss, but it made my stomach feel funny / uncomfortable, so I didn't go back after once or twice. What about its use here and now for such things as smoking cessation and weight loss? How effective is it, really?
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  #16  
Old 02-07-2011, 04:22 PM
Silver Silver is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Krishna-prem
I think it is important to consider something here as well. You do NOT need to believe that it will work in order for it to work. What you do need however is a willingness to give it a try and see what happens. I've had a number of clients who who tried so many other therapies in the past that did not work so when it came to hypnosis they also did not believe it would work. However, one was willing to give it a chance out of desperation.

Hypnosis is not placebo or magic. Neuroscientists out of Columbia University discovered last year that hypnosis works because it completely and automatically override's the subject's top down processing. Researchers were able to able to completely abolish the Stroop Effect in the brain. They gave suggestions while the participants were in hypnosis that cancelled out this effect then put them in an FMRI and administered a Stroop test, the parts of the brain that should have lit up in this kind of test did not at all.

This type of result is not linked with belief in hypnosis nor the suggestions, this was an immediate and automatic effect.

Hypnosis does not function through belief, it functions through information processing. This is not to say that belief is not important. Hey, if you believe a medicine isn't going to work strongly enough then it won't. When it comes to therapeutic practice it makes my life much harder when I have a client who is certain they are not going to change. I will fire clients like this because they're motivation is not there which means the likelihood of them taking part in the therapeutic process is minimal.

Cheers!
KP

Sounds very interesting, but how about dumbing it down for me, a quick lesson on what this Stroop Effect is? Thanks~*
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  #17  
Old 02-07-2011, 05:09 PM
Krishna-prem
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The Stroop Effect has to do with the speed with which we process information.

For Example: Name the colors of the following words as fast as you can. Don't actually read the word, just name the color. So if the word "Red" is written in blue then say blue.

Black Orange
Purple Grey
Green White
Yellow Blue
Red Teal

If you go through this you should notice something very interesting happening.

It is significantly easier to read the word than say the color it is in. When saying the color the word is in as opposed to reading it the rates of error are much higher. This is because our brains have learned to process information in very specific ways. Reading becomes such an automatic response that when one is asked to override it, errors occur.

In the study I wrote about, this effect was cancelled out. Participants were no longer subject to the Stroop Effect. They quickly and accurately named the colors the words were written in. The FMRI showed that the parts of the brain that normally light up during this type of task were shut off for people given the hypnotic suggestion which bypassed this effect.

Cheers!

KP
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  #18  
Old 02-07-2011, 05:45 PM
Silver Silver is offline
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That is interesting, KP. Although when I tried it out, I knew ahead that I should ignore the words, so that was easy. My trouble came in when I reached the 3rd word (Purple) which seemed to be dark blue, then I realized I have to determine what colors did they intend? Was dark blue supposed to be a shade of teal or was the first word (Black) supposed to be teal, as the same color can come in many shades/tones. So, by the time I got to the last word (Teal) which looked pink to me, and saw there was no word pink, it was quite confusing. Obviously I got hung up on semantics because the colors were not 'clear' to me, lol! Thanks for explaining the Stroop Effect, but does that mean that the 'effect' when it is in effect, is where a person slows down or speeds up? I'm a little confused on that.
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  #19  
Old 02-07-2011, 06:16 PM
Krishna-prem
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Hi Silvergirl,

It makes no difference if you know ahead of time to ignore the words. It's about reaction time. In fact if you go back an read my directions, I told you to ignore what the word said. If you take your time and go slowly through the words then yes you can do it. With Stroop tests though its about moving through as quickly as possible because what it is measuring is not just rate of correct responses but the lapse time between being shown the word and answering.

The Stroop Effect is the processing preferences that the brain makes when making rapid decisions.

For more information about the hypnosis study check out these links:

Journal of Psychological Science
http://ctl.scu.edu.tw/scutwebpub/web...26232620_1.pdf

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/science/22hypno.html

Cheers!
KP
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  #20  
Old 02-07-2011, 06:48 PM
jjj
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[EDIT: Ooops, I should have finished reading the thread :p ]


Interesting Krishna. Do you happen to have a link or source handy? That sounds like an awesome and 'quotable' study to bridge Cognitive Psychology with the practice of hypnosis!!!

There is so much to learn that I don't think one life-time is enough. Because of what I'm doing in this time and space, I really like Heart Centered Hypnotherapy teachings but I would love to study all there is to know.

All that I KNOW is that I have not seen the type of benefits that combining hypnotic trance with other therapeutic modes brings in any other type of psychotherapy. There is just no going back to talk therapy from here. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krishna-prem
I think it is important to consider something here as well. You do NOT need to believe that it will work in order for it to work. What you do need however is a willingness to give it a try and see what happens. I've had a number of clients who who tried so many other therapies in the past that did not work so when it came to hypnosis they also did not believe it would work. However, one was willing to give it a chance out of desperation.

Hypnosis is not placebo or magic. Neuroscientists out of Columbia University discovered last year that hypnosis works because it completely and automatically override's the subject's top down processing. Researchers were able to able to completely abolish the Stroop Effect in the brain. They gave suggestions while the participants were in hypnosis that cancelled out this effect then put them in an FMRI and administered a Stroop test, the parts of the brain that should have lit up in this kind of test did not at all.

This type of result is not linked with belief in hypnosis nor the suggestions, this was an immediate and automatic effect.

Hypnosis does not function through belief, it functions through information processing. This is not to say that belief is not important. Hey, if you believe a medicine isn't going to work strongly enough then it won't. When it comes to therapeutic practice it makes my life much harder when I have a client who is certain they are not going to change. I will fire clients like this because they're motivation is not there which means the likelihood of them taking part in the therapeutic process is minimal.

Cheers!
KP
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