Essay on Stage Hypnosis Shows

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Katie Parkhurst (401)

“What is Hypnosis??”

In this essay i will discuss my thoughts on what i understand hypnosis to be, I will be looking at both the physical and psychological aspects of hypnosis while also looking at the role that relaxation plays in hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis can be used as a tool to help people improve their human state, such as a bad habit or behaviour, it can be anything from smoking, or weight loss right through to helping with anxieties, grief and loss.
Hypnosis to me has a sense of mystery surrounding it, and i find it fascinating looking at how the mind works and where it may take us on our individual journeys, while in a hypnotic or trance state. I find it incredible that when a person is “under” hypnosis they have the capability to improve areas of their life and bringing them, mental and physical well being, in areas of their lives that may have been causing them extreme stress and anxieties. (1) Whether it be numbing your gums or driving over a bridge- you are the controlling factor. It is always through your own effort that a change occurs. This change can effect your life minimally, or it can make a dramatic difference in your lifestyle, success, and feeling of well-being.
Since starting this course and reading and exploring about hypnosis I have already gained a greater understanding of what hypnosis means, and it’s not as I once thought. When thinking of hypnosis on whole I have always recalled these big stage theatres and large audience where a therapist would pick someone out of the crowd count them down three, two, one and “your under” and that person from the crowd would then be seen then crawling on the stage on all fours pretending to bark like a dog!, this understandably has made people question hypnosis (2) Can hypnosis make you do something that is embarrassing, shocking, or irreversible?, No, you will not do anything you do not think is acceptable. That is, you cannot be ‘made’ to violate your own values or accepted patterns of behaviour. This theatrical side of hypnosis reminds me of Meser’s approach (3) Mesmer dressed flamboyantly. His consultant rooms were dimly lighted and hung with huge mirrors Soft music broke the otherwise deep silence. The doctor’s patients’ sat in a circle around a vat, which contain such elements as powders glass or iron fillings. The patients held on to iron rods that came out of the vat and were supposed to transmit the curing force. This, to me shows that there has always been a somewhat mysterious, mystical element around people’s thoughts and opinions on hypnosis even as far back as the 1700’s.
Although these stage hypnosis shows are still very impressive and can demonstrate the use of ‘suggestibility’ very well indeed, as you are able to get audience to participate in different activities and exercises such as, the bucket exercise where again you would have to get that person or persons to a relaxed state and then get them to imagine holding two buckets of water and imagine that one was filled with water and the other nothing in it, from this exercise you would therefore be able to measure the suggestibility that someone would have, and this helps us to distinguish those that would be open to hypnosis and maybe become more successful with the outcome that hypnosis can bring. (4) It is important to understand that no two individuals will have identical experience as they progress from the state of alertness to the deep trance. You may be far more
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