What is hypnosis?
When we talk about hypnosis we often tend to be either talking about the relaxed, focussed, absorbed feelings associated with a 'trance state', or we tend to be talking about the interesting things people can do when hypnotised: such as not feeling pain, or experiencing hallucinations. Some scientists think that hypnosis is an 'altered state of consciousness' marked by changes in the way the brain functions. Others believe that hypnotised participants are actively motivated to behave in a hypnotic manner and are not simply passively responding to hypnotic suggestions. Therapists who use hypnosis sometimes talk about using hypnosis to access contents and resources of the unconscious mind. Like the story of the blind men and the elephant, it is possible that these explanations all describe different parts of the overall phenomenon of hypnosis.
- Definitions of hypnosis - describes key terms associated with hypnosis and suggestion in more detail, such as 'trance' and 'suggestion' and looks at how we define hypnosis
- Definitions of hypnotizability - describes two ways of defining hypnotizability
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - covers some of the most common queries about hypnosis, feel free to submit your own questions
- Theories - looks at some of the most important scientific theories which attempt to explain hypnosis and hypnotic phenomenon (some of these theories are quite complex and require prior psychological knowledge)
- History - takes a brief look at the history of hypnosis
- People - describes some of the key figures in hypnosis history