PureChaos said:
Simply put, hypnosis is a naturally occuring state in the human mind. Ever found yourself looking for your toothbrush or phone and then found it right in your hand? That's a form of natural hypnosis.
The actual act of hypnosis involves what's called an induction, whereby the hypnotist helps the subject enter of state of relaxation and suggestibility, which essentially allows the hypnotist to bypass the conscious part of somebody's brain and speak directly to the subconscious, which is what is normally considered to be a state of hypnosis.
Daystar Clarion said:
Would you kindly tell me whether or not a person can command others through the use of a word or phrase.
Through the use of a post-hypnotic trigger, yes, that is possible. In fact, a rather good example of this is Bioshock, if you know the story. If not, go and play it, it's pretty good.
binnsyboy said:
Well if you had perfect control over a brain, you could make it think anything was happening to it. What would you say the precise limits of your abilities are?
Do you mean my own personal limits or the limits of hypnosis in general?
smartengine said:
I'm wondering what are the myths. and how does it really look like? What can you make people do? And how long does it take to learn hypnotism? And how much mana does it drain to make someone attack someone of his own faction?
There are a lot of myths. For one thing, pendulums aren't used much anymore at all, but there are three things that I always tell people before hypnotizing them.
1. You can never become stuck in hypnosis, it's just not possible to become permanently stuck. There may be trouble drawing you out of it, but nothing is permanent.
2. Being hypnotized doesn't mean you're stupid. Some people worry that being hypnotized means their own minds are inferior to the hypnotist's, which is simply not true.
3. Whatever happens, the subject is still in control. You can't be forced to do something under hypnosis that you would definitely not do normally, such as kill another person. You also can't be hypnotized to do yourself serious harm either, becaue the subconscious is a part of the subject's psyche, and is therefore looking out for their best interests in a way, meaning the subconscious will resist any suggestion that it strongly disagrees with.
I think that answers what you can make people do as well.
In terms of what it looks like, hypnosis is misrepresented in a lot of media. There's no zombie walking or 'Yes Master', for all intents and purposes the subject will normally just look like they're asleep.
To learn the basics of hypnosis doesn't take too long, but to become good at it requires a LOT of knowledge and most importantly, experience. I have been hypnotizing people for five years now, learning all the time.
And about a quarter to a half of your mana bar, depending on the subject.
