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| What Is Hypnosis? |
to uncover hidden realms within themselves. Through
these means they attempt to discover memories,
emotions, desires, doubts, fears, insecurities, powers,
and even secret knowledge buried deep within what
they believe is a powerful unconscious, determining
behavior quite apart from and even against conscious
choice. The allure is to tap into what they believe to be
a huge reservoir for healing and for power. Thus
hypnosis is touted to activate hidden resources for
extraordinary powers and for healing. Consider such
promises made by enterprising hypnotists: selfmastery,
personal well-being, emotional healing and
health, the ability to overcome addictions, to create
wealth, and to influence others at the unconscious or
subconscious level.
In answering the question, “What is Hypnosis?” The
Harvard Mental Health Letter says:
Although it has become familiar through more
than two hundred years of use as entertainment,
self-help, and therapy, the hypnotic trance remains
a remarkably elusive, even mysterious psychological
state. Most of us may think we know what
hypnosis is, but few could say if asked. Although
even experts do not fully agree on how to define
it, they usually emphasize three related features:
absorption or selective attention, suggestibility,
and dissociation.1
Confusion reigns in the field of hypnosis because
there is so much disagreement regarding what it is.
William Kroger and William Fezler, in their book Hypnosis
and Behavior Modification, say, “There are as
many definitions of hypnosis as there are definers.”2
Some people are very precise as to what it is and what
it isn’t. However, Kroger’s definition is so expanded
that he titled a presentation “No Matter How You Slice
It, It’s Hypnosis.” His definition of hypnosis includes
alpha waves, biofeedback, suggestology, focusing,
prayer, communion, relaxation, Lamaze childbirthing,
and all forms of psychotherapy. Of course, if Kroger is
correct and all life activities involve hypnosis, then it
would be difficult to criticize it without being critical
of all sorts of life activities.3
If everything were hypnosis,
one would almost have to withdraw from life to
avoid it.
In his book They Call It Hypnosis, Robert Baker
states the issue concisely and precisely:
There is no single topic in the history of psychology
more controversial than hypnosis. From its
beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century
with Franz Anton Mesmer to the present, the
phenomenon has been mired in controversy
The very definition of hypnosis ranges from “It does
not exist” to “Everything is hypnosis.” Even though
Baker has written two books on hypnosis, he does not
believe it even exists. He contends:
Strictly speaking, every time the word “hypnosis”
is used it could be placed in quotation marks. This
is because there is no such thing as hypnosis . . .
the phenomenon called “hypnosis” does not exist,
has never existed in the past, and will not exist in
the future.5
Some theories explain hypnosis as being like the
psychoanalytic phenomenon of transference. One text
defines transference as “Projection of feelings, thoughts,
and wishes onto the therapist, who has come to represent
an object from the patient’s past.”6
It further
states:
Hypnotized patients are in a state of atypical
dependence on the therapist, and so a strong transference
may develop characterized by a positive
attachment that must be respected and interpreted.7
In fact Baker insists that the hypnotist “is important
only as a transference figure.” The hypnotist and
client each assume a role in a relationship that gives
the hypnotist all power and authority over the client.
Baker says that the hypnotist takes advantage of his
position as an authority figure and allows the client to
fantasize that he has power over the hypnotized person.
The client thus believes that the hypnotist is the one
who is responsible for whatever happens during the
trance.
Through this relationship with the physician or
hypnotist “patients can and will produce symptoms to
please their physicians.”9
According to this theory, hypnotized
people play a role to please the hypnotist. This
very popular view opposes the view that hypnotized
people enter a distinct psychological state.
One group of researchers put this notion to the test.
At the conclusion of their research they say: “These
findings support the claim that hypnosis is a psychological
state with distinct neural correlates and is not
just the result of adopting a role.”10 The authors say,
“hypnosis is not simply role enactment,” but that
“changes in brain function” occur.11 Thus, hypnotized
individuals do enter a distinct psychological
state.
Dr. David Spiegel, Professor of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University says:
Some have argued that hypnosis involves no
unusual state of consciousness, that it is merely a
response to social cues. Most investigators
disagree. . . . On EEG examinations, easily hypnotized
people have more electrical activity of the
type known as theta waves in the left frontal
region of the cerebral cortex. Studies measuring
the brain’s electrical responses to stimuli show
specific hypnotic effects on perception. . . . In two
recent studies, measurements of blood flow and
metabolic activity by positron emission tomography
(PET) have shown that hypnosis activates a
part of the brain involved in focusing attention,
the anterior cingulate gyrus. There is also evidence
that it enhances the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter
involved in planning, memory, and movement. Thus hypnosis is a neurophysiological
reality as well as a psychological and social one.12
Research has indicated a degree of dissociation
during hypnosis, in that, as the hypnotized person
focuses on one object or thought, competing thoughts
or sensations are ignored. He does not consider whether
his actions make sense and fails to consider consequences.13
Many researchers thus conclude that hypnosis is
an altered state of consciousness, which may also be
considered a trance state. Erika Fromm, who is a psychologist
at the University of Chicago and considered
an expert on the clinical uses of hypnosis says:
Most experts agree that hypnosis is an altered
state of consciousness involving highly focused
attention and heightened absorption and imagery,
increased susceptibility to suggestion, and
closer contact with the unconscious.14
Hypnosis, Trance, and
Altered States of Consciousness
The following are definitions of hypnosis or the
trance state from several different sources:
Hypnosis is an altered condition or state of consciousness
characterized by a markedly increased
receptivity to suggestion, the capacity for modification
of perception and memory, and the potential
for systematic control of a variety of usually
involuntary physiological functions (such as glandular
activity, vasomotor activity, etc.). Further,
the experience of hypnosis creates an unusual
relationship between the person offering the
suggestions and the person receiving them.15
Persons under hypnosis are said to be in a trance
state, which may be light, medium, or heavy (deep).
In a light trance there are changes in motor activity
such that the person’s muscles can feel relaxed,
the hands can levitate, and paresthesia [e.g., prickling
skin sensation] can be induced. A medium
trance is characterized by diminished pain sensation
and partial or complete amnesia. A deep
trance is associated with induced visual or auditory
experiences and deep anesthesia. Time
distortion occurs at all trance levels but is most
profound in the deep trance.16
Hypnotic “trance” is not either/or but lies on a
continuum ranging from hypnoidal relaxation to
“deep” states of involvement. Although many
patients make favorable responses to suggestions
when lightly hypnotized, for best results it is usually
considered wise to induce as deep a state as
possible before beginning treatment. The techniques
of hypnotic induction are many, but most
include suggestions of relaxation, monotonous
stimulation, involvement in fantasy, activation of
unconscious motives, and initiation of regressive
behavior.17
The following are the twelve most common phenomenological
characteristics of the trance experience:
1. Experiential absorption of attention.
2. Effortless expression
3. Experiential, non-conceptual involvement.
4. Willingness to experiment.
5. Flexibility in time/space relations.
6. Alteration of sensory experience.
7. Fluctuation in involvement.
8. Motoric/verbal inhibition.
9. Trance Logic.
10. Metaphorical processing.
11. Time distortion.
12. Amnesia.18
Two of the many interesting facts we discovered
while researching hypnosis are the lack of long-term
research on its aftereffects and the similarity to occult
states of consciousness that have ancient origins. The
scarcity of long-term studies raises questions about
effects of hypnosis on people’s spiritual lives. Also, we
looked into shamans and shamanism. A shaman is also
known as a witch, witchdoctor, medicine man, sorcerer,
wizard, magic man, magician, and seer.19
In The Way of the Shaman, Michael Harner says:
A shaman is a man or woman who enters an
altered state of consciousness—at will—to contact
and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order
to acquire knowledge, power, and to help other
persons. A shaman has at least one, and usually
more, ‘spirits’ in his personal service.20
This altered state of consciousness is called a shamanic
state of consciousness (SSC). We found no difference
between the SSC and the altered state of consciousness
known as hypnosis. While each might be used for
different purposes, both are equivalent trance states.
We again raise the question of its aftereffects on
people’s spiritual lives.
At the same time we were researching and writing
on hypnosis, we were also looking into the area of near
death experiences (NDE). Dr. Kenneth Ring, a professor
of psychology, is one of the best-known researchers
in the field of NDE. Ring’s book Heading Toward
Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death
Experience is considered a classic.21 In reviewing Kenneth
Ring’s book on near-death experiences, Stanislov
Grof says:
Ring presents convincing evidence indicating
that the NDE has been established as a certifiable
phenomenon, which occurs in about 35-40%
of the people who come close to death. He suggests
that the core of the NDE is essentially deep spiritual
experience characterized by visions of light
of overwhelming brilliance and with certain
personal characteristics, feelings of all-embracing
pure love, sense of forgiveness and total acceptance,
telepathic exchange with the being of light,
access to knowledge of universal nature, and understanding
of one’s life and true values.
The core NDE is a powerful catalyst of spiritual
awakening and consciousness evolution. Its longterm
aftereffects include increase in self-esteem
and self-confidence, appreciation of life and nature,
concern and love for fellow humans, decrease of
interest in personal status and material possessions,
more open attitude toward reincarnation,
and development of universal spirituality
that transcends the divisive interests
of religious sectarianism and resembles the
best of the mystical traditions or great
Oriental philosophies. These changes are
remarkably similar to those described by Maslow
following spontaneous peak experiences and also
transcendental experience in psychedelic sessions.
Of special interest is Ring’s discussion of the
parallels between NDE and the phenomena associated
with Kundalini awakening, as described in
traditional Indian scriptures.22 (Bold added.)
We wondered if in the future, after someone has been
hypnotized and particularly been brought into a deep
trance, the person would share characteristics similar
to the above description of those having had an NDE.
Ring, speaking on the subject of NDEs and other transcendental
experiences proposes:
Might it be then that what we are witnessing,
taking into account the growth of these particular
kinds of transcendental experiences, are the
beginning stages of the shamanizing of humanity
and thereby of humanity’s finding its way back to
its true home in the realm of the imagination
where we will live in mythic time and no longer
just in historical time. In other words, in this
period of apparently rapidly accelerating evolutionary
pressure, is it the case that these two
worlds might in some way be drawing closer to
one another so that, like the traditional shaman,
we, too, will find it easy to cross the bridge between
the worlds and live comfortably and at ease in both
of them?The Concise Textbook describes aspects of the trance
state, which may occur in other contexts besides
hypnosis:
Possession and trance states are curious and
imperfectly understood forms of dissociation. A
common example of a trance state is the medium
who presides over a spiritual séance. Typically,
mediums enter a dissociative state, during which
a person from the so-called spirit world takes over
much of the mediums’ conscious awareness and
influences their thoughts and speech.
Automatic writing and crystal-gazing are less
common manifestations of possession or trance
states. In automatic writing the dissociation
affects only the arm and the hand that write the
message, which often discloses mental contents of
which the writer was unaware. Crystal-gazing
results in a trance state in which visual hallucinations
are prominent.24
Hypnosis is a discreet state of consciousness in
which the same things occur as in various descriptions
of trance states. Moreover, those who are particularly
susceptible to hypnosis are also those who readily
respond to suggestion and easily engage in visualization,
fantasy, and imagination. The Concise Encyclopedia
of Psychology (Concise Encyclopedia) lists a number
of characteristics of the good hypnotic subjects and
gives a profile of how many investigators view them:
The typical hypnotizable person has the capacity
to become totally absorbed in ongoing experiences
(e.g., becoming lost in fantasy or empathetically
identifying with the emotions of a character in a
play or movie). He or she reports imaginary playmates
as a youngster.25
Imagery, Fantasy, Visualization
Ernest Hilgard, who has been studying hypnosis
for over twenty-five years, has discovered that not
everyone is prone to being hypnotized. He found that
“those who can immerse themselves in fantasy and
imagination” are the most ideal hypnotic subjects.26
Psychology Today, reporting on a study of hypnosis,
states that such an individual (referred to as a
somnambule) “has a highly developed capacity for
extreme fantasy and is likely to indulge it frequently
without benefit of hypnosis.” This study revealed that
somnambules had the “ability to hallucinate at will”
and “had powerful sexual fantasies.” However, most
alarming was the fact that all the somnambules in the
study “believed that they had had psychic experiences,
such as encounters with ghosts.”27
“The active ingredient in hypnosis is imagery,”
declares Daniel, Kohen, M.D., Associate Director of
Behavior Pediatrics at the Minneapolis Children’s
Medical Center.28 Medical doctor Jeanne Achterberg
says, “I don’t know any real difference between hypnosis
and imagery.”29
William Kroger says, “The images you use are the
most potent form of therapy.” He suggests that bad
images make you sick and good images make you well.
Kroger tells how he increases the power of the image.
He says:
We now give an image in five senses, because an
image in five senses now makes the image more
potent. The more vivid the image, the more readily
conditioning occurs.30
Josephine Hilgard, a well-known researcher in the
field of hypnosis, as well as many other experts, believes
“that hypnotizability is significantly related to the
ability to fantasize.”31 Robert Baker contends that “the
greater or better the individual’s powers of imagination
or fantasy, the easier it is for the individual to
become hypnotized and to demonstrate all of the
behavior others normally associate with or attach to
the phenomenon of hypnosis.”32
Those people who engage in fantasy and vivid visualization
easily move into the hypnotic trance, whereas
those who are not fantasy prone are less easily led into
hypnosis. Most fantasy-prone individuals created fantasy
worlds for themselves when they were children
and continue to spend time fantasizing even as adults.
However, they tend to keep these experiences to themselves.
Many had make-believe friends when they were
children and believed in fairies. Fantasy-prone individuals
also claim supernatural powers, such as
psychic, telepathic, and healing powers. They also
report having vivid dreams. Baker says:
The fantasy-prone individuals show up as mediums,
psychics, and religious visionaries. They are
also the ones who have many realistic “out-of-thebody”
experiences and the prototypic “near-death”
experience. However, the overwhelming majority
of fantasy-pone personalities fall within the broad
range of normally functioning persons, and it is
totally inappropriate to label them psychiatric
cases.The words imagery and fantasy appear often in
reference to hypnosis. By their very nature, imagery
and fantasy involve visualization. However, before
warning about the practice of visualization and imagination
involved in hypnosis, we must say that there
are ordinary, legitimate uses of the imagination.
For instance one may mentally see what is happening
while reading a story or listening to a friend describe
something. Imagination and visualization are normal
activities for creating works of art and for developing
architectural designs and even scientific theories.
However, visualization by suggestion through hypnosis
may be so focused as to move the person into an
altered state of consciousness with the visualization
becoming more powerful than reality. Other dangerous
uses of visualization in or out of a trance would be
attempting to manipulate reality through focused
mental power or conjuring up a spirit guide. Some
people are led to imagine a quiet, beautiful place and
once they are mentally there, the suggestion is made
to wait for a special being (person or animal) who will
guide them and reveal information important for their
lives. That is a form of shamanism.
Dave Hunt warns about visualization in his book
Occult Invasion:
Occultism has always involved three techniques
for changing and creating reality: thinking, speaking,
and visualizing. . . .
The third technique [visualizing] is the most
powerful. It is the fastest way to enter the world
of the occult and to pick up a spirit guide. Shamans
have used it for thousands of years. It was
taught to Carl Jung by spirit beings, and through
him influenced humanistic and transpersonal psychology.
It was taught to Napoleon Hill by the spirits
that began to guide him. Agnes Sanford . . .
was the first to bring it into the church. Norman
Vincent Peale was not far behind her, and his
influence was much greater. . . .
Visualization has become an important tool
among evangelicals as well—which doesn’t purge
it of its occult power. Yonggi Cho has made it the
center of his teaching. In fact, he declares that no
one can have faith unless he visualizes that for
which he is praying. Yet the Bible states that faith
is “the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Thus visualization, the attempt to “see” the answer
to one’s prayer, would work against faith
rather than help it! Yet Norman Vincent Peale
declared, “If a person consciously visualizes being
with Jesus that is the best guarantee I know for
keeping the faith.” 34
Alan Morrison’s book titled The Serpent and the
Cross: Religious Corruption in an Evil Age includes a
chapter titled “Sorcerous Apprentices: The MindSciences
in the Church Today,” which should be read
by all who are interested in hypnosis. A subsection in
that chapter is titled “In Your Mind’s Eye: The Occult
Art of Visualization” and is a must-read for those who
want to learn about the roots and promoters of visualization
in the church. The following quotations are from
that section:
Fundamental to our study is the fact that the
development of the imagination through “visualization”
exercises is one of the most ancient and widely used occult techniques for expanding the
mind and opening up the psyche to new (and
forbidden) areas of consciousness.35
The practice of visualization can be used in a
variety of ways, but they all fall into three main
types. Firstly, they can be used to provide a doorway
into what psychologists call a “non-ordinary
state of consciousness.” Secondly, they can be
used as a means towards something called “Inner
Healing” or “Healing of the Memories.” Thirdly,
they can provide an instrument for the manipulation
and recreation of matter and consciousness.36
Most of the people being seduced into the practice
of visualization—especially those within the
Church—have not the faintest conception of the
occultic aim which lies at its root. In spite of the
attractions and harmless benefits put forward by
its advocates, visualization is a primary gateway
for demonic infiltration into human consciousness—a
deception currently being worked on a
truly grand scale.37
Whatever hypnosis is, it does involve heightened
suggestion, a discreet state of consciousness, trance
phenomena, and aspects of dissociation, imagery, and
visualization. Whatever hypnosis is, it can be a doorway
into the occult
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