That Hypno Show - Gerard V - Stage Hypnotist New Zealand & Australia

Hypnosis is in essence a communication skill.  No special powers are needed.  You only need a bit of training.  Almost anyone can learn to hypnotise.

This is a common belief, partly reinforced by some hypnotists telling candidates to “look into my eyes”.  It is also reinforced by the fact that most of us hypnotists have to focus quite intensely on our subjects to observe their unconscious responses to what we say to them.  However I have hypnotised people without looking at them, and over the phone (with their cooperation of course).  The success of some hypnosis tapes and CDs also reinforces that eye contact is not needed.

Unless brain damaged or suffering from a psychosis, everyone can be hypnotised.  Some people are better at it than others, and some people just resist.  But if they want to, and under the right circumstances, everyone can be hypnotised unless they lack the mental capacity to focus on and understand what is going on.  During a show, however, it can take too long to work with every candidate who hasn’t gone under during the initial induction. 

A very small number of people experience spontaneous amnesia when they emerge from their light trance at the end of the show.  However if the hypnotist then suggests that they will recall everything they will do so.  Most people however recall their actions during the show quite well, although the daydream-like quality of their recollections may cause them to doubt that they are indeed remembering, their recall is nearly perfect.

Some people do, and some do not.  Often we will play this up, by asking people if they are hypnotised, and they almost always deny it and then go out like a light when I say the word “sleep”.  One or two people try to fake it (I have no idea why), and mostly they are dismissed because it is fairly obvious.

The fact that this myth persists is odd, because if you think how hard it would be to set up all those people to be willing to “fake it”, and they’d want to be paid for sure, there’s no way it would be economical or practical do to.  The convincer for most people though is when they see someone they know doing something that they would never do when conscious.  A little bit of research on the internet will discover a great deal of supporting information for the real effects and benefits of hypnosis. Unfortunately, it’s mixed in with a great deal of internet garbage.  I have seen material on the web saying that hypnosis shows are set-up and that some of the volunteers are stooges etc.  Presumably these people believe that hypnotists fund a CIA-like network of moles and sleepers (pun) in every organisation for when we do corporate shows.  It’s not really credible but the myth persists.

This has never happened to anybody in hundreds of years of hypnosis.  Eventually, people will just drift from a hypnotic trance into ordinary sleep, and from there they will wake up. The trances we use in shows are fairly light, so the chances of actually having a long nap are also quite slim.

Despite the movies, it is not possible to “programme” a person so that they will do your every bidding, even after a period of years.  It is not even possible to get people in trance to perform an act that they are opposed to doing.  In fact, you remain in control during the entire show, and you can just get up and walk away if you choose to, with no lasting effects.  This is exactly what would happen if, for example, the fire alarm were to sound during a show.

Hypnosis isn’t something that the hypnotist does to you.  In a very real sense, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.  In clinical situations and shows, the hypnotist is only a guide.  That’s why it is so challenging to work with people who resist.  Until they make the choice to put themselves into a trance, they will stay “awake”.  However since much resistance is unconscious and the candidates often are willing to some degree to be hypnotised, it is possible to hypnotise people in a clinical situation, given time and even if they are at first resistant, but only by building sufficient rapport and trust that they finally do let themselves go into a trance.

They’re really quite different, and whatever your views on stage hypnosis, you may nevertheless find working with an experienced and capable clinical hypnotist very beneficial if you have the need.  The only real overlap is that the skill of going into a trance that you develop in one circumstance will help you in the other.