Does Hipnotysm(sp) work? (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

This may be an April Fools Day post, and it may not be .

I heard a radio commercial recently that offered a hypnotism session for $59.99 that would claim to 'stop the impulse eating and help you loose weight.' They offer a 110% refund, but what's to stop the person from making you THINK that it worked via hypnotism, so there's no need for a refund after the session? ...

While I seriously doubt that would work, here's a hypothetical question for ya.... If it did, maby I could try and hypnotise myself into not sleepwalking during the night. I tend to worry what I do during sleepwalking, so finding anyway to stop it from happening would be good, heh.

Anyone think there's a chance this stuff is legit?

 

[phil-w]

I once took a several month course to become a certified Hypnotherapist. It was very interesting, and although I never went into practice, I believe it can be helpful to some people, just not the panacea that it is made out to be.

I think it can be very helpful for anything that benefits from stress reduction techniques, such as anxiety related disorders and habits.

There are many books on Self Hypnosis, probably lots at your library.

 

[MarkHastings]

Usually this stuff doesn't work on skeptics because they wouldn't cooperate too well. I would think that anyone who believes this can work is probably highly suggestible and it may work on them.

I'm sure they have some sort of loophole to get out of paying the 110% back to you. Like when the Wiz went out of business in my neighborhood and said "If it's not on sale, you get it for FREE!", but they had all these tiny signs around the store that said "Take 20% off anything not on sale", so they basically covered their arse.

 

[jeff lam]

It's a simple concept of mind over matter. Hypnotism just get's you into this state but does not work on everyone.

I've seen many people get hypnotized in shows and for comic entertainment. Very funny stuff. I don't see why it couldn't work with real issues.

 

[TyC]

Hypnotism depends a lot on the subject. It works on some people, not on others, and a few people get the placebo effect.

HowStuffWorks' article

 

[DeathStar1]

I've seen many people get hypnotized in shows and for comic entertainment. Very funny stuff.

Heh, local station had a hypnotist on and they had someone suddenly speaking Chinese. Or at the very least, a very good imitation of it since they had never learned the language ..

Although, for some reason they never hypnotise the people on the air, claiming some people listening to the radio might be affected by it.

How it's possible, dunno. But interesting.

 

[Danny R]

When I snap my fingers you will think we have only been having a polite discussion about hypnotism. You will have no memory of the real purpose of this thread topic.

*snap*

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

There are a lot of misperceptions about hypnosis. I'm not well versed in it by any means, but in college a psychology professor took the class through a hypnosis session. It was an interesting experience, a different level of alertness. I recalled what happened during it--it wasn't like I was "asleep" or unaware of the circumstances. It doesn't work on everyone, especially if you're resistant to it in the first place.

 

[ChuckDeLa]

Mark is right. You are totally aware of what's going on, but you're (ideally) in an extremely relaxed state of susceptibility.

It's kind of like a placebo. It works best if you believe it will. It didn't work on me (I tried it for smoking) because I'm far too skeptical. I called the guy and said "I still feel like smoking!" and he said "You're THINKING about it too much!".

I've seen some amazing demonstrations, though... including one that must have triggered something really weird, because one of the volunteers ended up hiding under a pool table.

 

[MarkHastings]

I've seen some amazing demonstrations, though... including one that must have triggered something really weird, because one of the volunteers ended up hiding under a pool table.

I talked to a hypnotist once and he told me that he has some people planted in the audience because it helps the 'gullible' people to truly believe it's real, thus making them even MORE susceptible to the hypnotists suggestions.

So I'd say that the most bizarre occurrences at a hypnotists show are probably the fake ones.

 

[ChuckDeLa]

Well, this was at a small college and the person I'm talking about was a student there. The hiding under the pool table bit definitely wasn't part of the show. It was happening in another room and not being talked about by the performer.

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

Hypnosis works on the weak minded and doesn't work on Toydarians or so I was told by the council.

 

[Scott L]

When I had a job at my college we had some sort of expert on relaxation come in on one of our meetings. He told us to close our eyes and think of being at the beach. He also played some beach noises in the backgorund and said some more stuff to put us at ease. I slowly drifted off...

Before I knew it he said, "Ok, wake up!" I opened my eyes and slowly realized several minutes had passed even though I don't really remember anything after hearing his voice. It doesn't sound like much but it was a very cool experience, I felt exactly like Peter did in Office Space after his hypnotism experience. I wish I could take a pill or something to make me feel like that when I had to give a presentation, well over the counter pill.

Keep in mind I wasn't expecting to get hypnotized, but if I thought I was it probably wouldn't have worked.