Hypnosis

When hypnotists ask patients what they think hypnosis is they get widely varying answers. Replies range from sleep to unconsciousness to surrender of mental powers and control to magic to voodoo. All are in error.

Hypnosis cannot be sleep. In most cases the subject is fully aware of communication and is able to respond on request either verbally or by signal. Nor is unconsciousness involved. A patient asked to make a specific movement will comply with the request unless it is objectionable. There is no surrender of mind or control.

A person who does not want to be hypnotized cannot be hypnotized or be induced to do or say anything which violates personal standards of behavior or integrity. There is neither magic nor voodoo involved.Actually, hypnosis is often considered an altered state of consciousness
featuring “selective perception.” A process in which the patient chooses to see only what is relevant to his task, blocking out everything else. Hypnosis simply involves guided concentration.

Hypnosis is a discipline that is founded upon the idea that all humans and most animals have a two part mind, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is further divided into two functional elements, the subconscious and the superconscious. The unconscious mind is vastly larger and more powerful than the conscious mind, yet it is the least understood and used by mankind.

The subconscious mind receives and retains, neither accepting nor denying all the messages we receive from our backgrounds. The subconscious mind stores all the messages we receive but it does not analyze, as does the conscious mind, but it accepts all messages in the literal sense.
In essence, hypnosis is a means of communication between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Many human problems, habits, stresses, anxieties, attitudes or apparent deficiencies can be traced to interpretations by the subconscious mind which, when discovered by the conscious mind, can reduce or resolve specific problems.