Have you ever been hypnotized?

[CAPTCHA]

If so, what was it like?

I've never been hypnotized myself, but I've seen it in action. When I was on hoilday as a kid, we went to see a hypnotist show. My mum was one of the audience members who got called up onto stage. He put her to sleep and told her to milk an imaginary cow. She mimed the actions, but you could tell she wasn't awake as her movements were sluggish and half-hearted. After that the guy went on with the show, but from that point on it was all staged. Everyone else he "hypnotized" were far to awake and responsive for it to be real - pretty much the opposite of the first lot of volunteers he called from the audience.

 

[Sudden Thunder]

Yeah I have at a Christmas work party. Closest thing I can compare it to is a kind of drunk bravado. I was aware of what I was doing, but I didn't care what people though, being a rock star, having a baby and dancing like a ballerina was no problem. However I would never of done something if I truly didn't feel comfortable with it e.g if asked to take my clothes off I wouldn't have. The effect also got stronger as it went on, to the extent I had to be de-hypnotised twice at the end to stop me from seeing one of the work ladies with a moustache and laughing at her. Probably one of the weirdest things (which goes against me saying I was free to do and not do what I wanted) was that when I was told to sleep, I sat down and kept my eyes shut. While I could hear the audience laughing as others 'performed' I wasn't tempted to take one peak to see what they were laughing at. Told to sit and close eyes. did so.

 

[malestrithe]

No. I can't get hypnotized. It's been tried several times and my brain's wired in such a way that it does not work on me.

 

[Mr F.]

Nope. And I do not believe it is possible.

Don't get me wrong, I believe people can enter a state in which they are incredibly suggestible to others due to whatever mindfuckery is on display, but I firmly believe that is down to mindfuckery and people being a bit dim and not down to people having the mystical power to control others.

Hell, its like placebos. You think its going to work, chances are it will work (To whatever degree). You think it wont work and it wont. I used to meditate and shit, so I guess I can see partially where hypnotism comes from but still.

 

[lechat]

Don't get me wrong, I believe people can enter a state in which they are incredibly suggestible to others due to whatever mindfuckery is on display, but I firmly believe that is down to mindfuckery and people being a bit dim and not down to people having the mystical power to control others.

actually the higher your intelligence the more likely you are to succumb to hypnotism and those with particularly low IQs are immune to it (try not to take that as an attack lol)
i went to a hypnotists show once and i was pretty damn impressed. not only did i feel the minor effects of the initial hypnotism but i fully believed that the ppl on stage were not in full control of their actions
i am sure that had i volunteered myself to go on stage it would have worked on me but considering the hypnotist turned 2 massive butch guys into naked gay dudes i'm kinda glad i didnt

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

I was hypnotized by a mysterious man one night, and then woke up in my room with blood on my hands, and no memory of the events that occurred between being hypnotized and waking. The judge didn't believe me, but I hope you all will.

OT: In all seriousness, no, I've never been hypnotized. The thought of it makes me kind of nervous, but I wouldn't mind having it done at a magic show at least once.

 

[Mr F.]

Don't get me wrong, I believe people can enter a state in which they are incredibly suggestible to others due to whatever mindfuckery is on display, but I firmly believe that is down to mindfuckery and people being a bit dim and not down to people having the mystical power to control others.

actually the higher your intelligence the more likely you are to succumb to hypnotism and those with particularly low IQs are immune to it (try not to take that as an attack lol)
i went to a hypnotists show once and i was pretty damn impressed. not only did i feel the minor effects of the initial hypnotism but i fully believed that the ppl on stage were not in full control of their actions
i am sure that had i volunteered myself to go on stage it would have worked on me but considering the hypnotist turned 2 massive butch guys into naked gay dudes i'm kinda glad i didnt

Yeah... No.

Sorry. I call "Massive Bullshit" on all of the above. From the assertion that IQ's mean anything onward.

Lets continue, shall we? A man on a stage made you feel unspecified minor effects of the initial hypnotism and as a result you fully believed that people on stage were no longer in control of their actions. Plus you assume that the "Massive butch guys" were not gay, were not plants... *sigh*

The show you witnessed, if you did indeed witness said show, say more about crowd dynamics then hypnotism. Sorry, I lump Hypnotism up there with crystals and homeopathy. You believe in the power of any of them you desperately need your brain examined.



Oh, and finally?

Googled the hypothesis your entire post is based on, that people of higher intelligence are more likely to be hypnotised. Found a bunch of bullshit sites saying that they can stop people from biting their nails, a medical website that pointed out that people who are of higher intelligence are more likely to be mentally ill (I guess being mentally ill could explain believing in hypnosis) and a conspiracy site.

Sorry bro.

And if I come across as a dickhead in this post? Its 20 to 5 in the morning and I aint slept for god knows how long. Goodnight escapist.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

I haven't, but my brother has. When he was listening to audio books on the computer, he'd stare at the sound wave on the screen and after about 30 minutes he'd start to be hypnotized by the movements. It was really creepy the first time, he'd sit there staring at the screen, not reacting to anything. He wouldn't blink either. If we said something, he'd remember it when he woke up. I thought he'd had a heart attack or something. He couldn't describe what he felt while hypnotized, and he didn't remember remember experiencing it. When he woke up he tried it again, and it worked each time. IDK if he could do it again though, that was years ago.

Though I don't believe in the sort of hypnotism where someone swings something in front of your face and makes you obey them, and believe what they say. That stuff is bullshit.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

snip

I keep getting hypnotized by your avatar >.<

OP: I have tried self-hypnosis before and have been able to go into trance, but failed to successfully pull off suggestion.

A main underlying philosophy for most hypnotists is that "all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. "

Essentially, the mind cannot be convinced to do something it does not actually want to do, only convinced to do what it wants to do. The more willing the subject, the easier they are to hypnotize. A person who is completely straight can't be hypnotized to be gay unless they want to be for some reason. A person cannot be hypnotized into dancing unless they have some repressed desire or motive to dance. The person may feel as if they are being forced to dance or to be gay, but it is actually what they want to do. A hypnotist merely explores their mind to convince them to do what they actually want to do.

I'm not a hypnotist, so I'm bad at explaining this. ._.

 

[Snownine]

I do not know whether I actually believe in hypnosis or not for sure but I am pretty skeptical. Either way I would never volunteer for it, the thought of not being in control of myself is frankly terrifying.

 

[Raine_sage]

I heard somewhere that if you don't think you can be hypnotized then you won't be hypnotized, and if you think you can then you can. Basically you willingly make yourself super suggestible without realizing you're the one doing it not the hypnotist.

 

[lechat]

snip

hypnotism isn't really up for debate it's basically up there with evolution as far as acceptance in the medical and scientific community goes
stage hypnosis on the other hand is often shady. the only reason i bought the stage show i seen was because it was at a local club which i often attend and contained a large number of ppl i actually know, short of the hypnotist paying my friends a large sum of money (so much so that he would not have made any money) or my friends fucking with me and intentionally making themselves look like morons it is unlikely it was faked

as for the intelligence thing all i can say is DO NOT google at 5am https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hyptnotism%20on%20smart%20people

 

[NiPah]

snip

hypnotism isn't really up for debate it's basically up there with evolution as far as acceptance in the medical and scientific community goes
stage hypnosis on the other hand is often shady. the only reason i bought the stage show i seen was because it was at a local club which i often attend and contained a large number of ppl i actually know, short of the hypnotist paying my friends a large sum of money (so much so that he would not have made any money) or my friends fucking with me and intentionally making themselves look like morons it is unlikely it was faked

as for the intelligence thing all i can say is DO NOT google at 5am https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hyptnotism%20on%20smart%20people

Self reporting of yourself and friends at a pub is irrelevant to the argument for hypnotism's validity.
Hypnosis is certainly open for debate, psychology is such a soft science due to our huge lack of understanding of basic brain functions so it's certainly not been understood or accepted.

 

[Maxtro]

I've never been, nor do I know anybody who has. Though it does seem interesting if it works.

If possible, I would love to hypnotized and have my fear of being rejected by women taken away. If that was actually possible it would be amazing.

 

[Mr F.]

snip

hypnotism isn't really up for debate it's basically up there with evolution as far as acceptance in the medical and scientific community goes
stage hypnosis on the other hand is often shady. the only reason i bought the stage show i seen was because it was at a local club which i often attend and contained a large number of ppl i actually know, short of the hypnotist paying my friends a large sum of money (so much so that he would not have made any money) or my friends fucking with me and intentionally making themselves look like morons it is unlikely it was faked

as for the intelligence thing all i can say is DO NOT google at 5am https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hyptnotism%20on%20smart%20people

Did you actually go through the search results?

Because lets see what the results are:

Popsci.
A wiki page on stage hypnosis
A bunch of pages from websites that actively promote hypnotism, hypnotherapy courses etc etc. And none of the above make the claim that intelligent people are more likely to be hynotised.

Now I will jump over to the wiki page that was near the top.

First paragraph

Expert opinion is divided over whether participants' responses are best explained as being due to an altered state of consciousness ("hypnotic trance") or by a combination of deliberate deception and ordinary social psychological factors such as disorientation, compliance, peer pressure, and ordinary suggestion.

So much for the scientific community accepting this bullshit. Ah, but you will probably complain that the page in question is one on stage hypnosis (Although it explains your friends). Well, Time to move on!

The wiki page on Hypnosis makes no reference to intelligence whatsoever, outside of the term used for military intelligence (Spying and whatnot). It does make some reference that people who are imaginative are more susceptable, along with people who have been heavily abused and the mentally ill.

In closing?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/hypnotism-does-not-exist-say-the-experts-1389968.html

Not everyone believes it exists.

Dr Wagstaff, like scientists in the US and Canada, has conducted studies comparing the behaviour of people who have been hypnotised with that of people who have not. If both groups were given similar instructions, he found no significant difference in their responses.

People under hypnosis, he argues, behave oddly because they want to believe in it and because they are willing to comply with suggestions made to them. But why are they prepared to make themselves look ridiculous?

"They don't have to be hypnotised to do that. Look at what they are prepared to do on television for Bruce Forsyth or Noel Edmonds," says Dr Wagstaff.

Mr Kreskin lost his belief in hypnosis about 20 years ago, when he was called in to help a psychologist treat his patients. They found that patients for whom hypnotic techniques clearly did not work were just as likely to recover as those for whom they did.

Mr Kreskin now devotes his act to debunking hypnotism.

"I have shown that everything that we associate with hypnotism can be done without any voodoo-like induction," he says.

"If people are persuaded and motivated they will do any of these things."

Done here.

 

[Hagi]

Never been hypnotized. I believe it's possible though.

Not because hypnosis as some unique thing actually exists as a thing but rather due to the sheer strength of the placebo effect. I consider it much the same as people acting drunk when being given alcohol-free beer believing it to be normal beer.

I'm far from an expert so I could very easily be wrong but how I see it is that the act of hypnosis itself only induces minor noticeable effects (be it a sense of relaxation, obsession or whatever) much like taking a placebo (swallowing a funny tasting pill). From there on out it's our own mind at work, swallowing funny tasting things being given by a doctor or caretaker always makes us feel better but drowsy (or something else) so with that expectation in mind whatever we do actually feel is altered naturally. Same thing for hypnosis, we feel things we expect to be followed by other things and in expecting those other things they actually happen.

It's important here that, as I understand it, the placebo effect isn't people pretending. Those experiencing it aren't pretending to feel better or whatever, they actually do measurably feel better or whatever. Our brains are apparently funny like that.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think we freely call 'hypnosis' any form of suggestion.
I've never been hypnotized, I don't think anybody can get hypnotized, and neither do Penn and Teller.

 

[Brainwreck]

Nope.
I seem to recall reading or hearing something about hypnosis not working if you're not willing to get hypnotized.
I'm instinctively distrustful of people, so it probably wouldn't work.
Go me.

 

[New Frontiersman]

I have not. I've tried it twice, I had a friend who was trying to learn how to hypnotize people so she tried it on me and while she wasn't able to get me hypnotized she was able to get me very relaxed. Even if I wasn't hypnotizedI'd love to try it again someday though, it was an interesting experience.