Hypnotic power and mind control
The ‘belief’ in the greater community is often that Hypnosis is a ‘powerful tool’ that can be used to manipulate and control others.
Stage hypnotists play on it. Magicians play on it. Unethical hypnotherapists play on it.
Despite the explosion of scientific knowledge on hypnosis, the field continues to be plagued by this misinformation and sometimes dangerous mythology.
It is part of the allure of learning hypnosis for many – how can they covertly control or influence others? Pick up dates, succeed in sales, gain power? Look on the internet and there are so many products and courses for people who want to learn to manipulate (and are really just being manipulated….)
I saw a show on television this week with Derryn Brown. ‘Experiments’. In fact, it was nothing of the sort. Mr Brown is an illusionist and entertainer, and his proposition (that someone can be controlled against their will to kill another with hypnosis) has been so clearly proven false. However, as a great mentalist, illusionist and entertainer, Mr Brown made it appear possible for him to do. And it was entertaining.
The problem for me is that these shows HARM what I try and do, and the people that I could help. If people think that coming to a session of hypnosis involves me having control over them, having power over their behaviour, having the ability to manipulate them now and at any time in the future, then why would they trust me to help them solve their own problems with the aid of hypnosis?
The truth (proven in many clinical trials and experiments) is that the client is totally in control of their own experience. They can come in or go out of trance at any time. They have power over their thoughts, their images, their processes. In a way, the therapist using hypnosis is ‘guiding’ the client to access parts of their experience and to use this for their benefit.
Hypnosis is a ‘neutral’ phenomenon and it is the quality of the suggestion and therapeutic method applied within hypnosis that makes it either worthwhile or not.
By utilising a strategic therapeutic approach, hypnosis with me is done with a purpose. The client is ALWAYS 100% in control. Without their consent, support and permission, nothing I could do as a therapist would have any value. By strategically addressing the issues and their structure, rapid and long term shifts are entirely possible.
Often I have to spend several minutes assuring clients that the ‘magician’ or stage hypnosis has nothing to do with what I do in my Balwyn clinic.
So as you think about hypnosis, what is your impression? What have you been led to believe about hypnosis? As a highly researched and proven therapeutic tool, I would have a wish that it could be considered in its true light and not in the sensationalist frames exemplified by such TV shows.
22 October 2012 @ 10:02 am
Hi DJ,
Thanks for stopping by.
The idea of ‘mind control’ and brainwashing is not based upon hypnosis, but severe conditioning.
It has been shown that to get someone to do something against their will is not reliant on hypnosis, but severe conditioning over an extended period of time, often with unstable individuals and these people can be manipulated to do negative things inconsistent with their beliefs (see Bordens and Horowitz, 2002).
In the show, the ‘conditioning’ was not extreme and there was ample opportunity for the influenced person to be given many suggestions off camera to influence his understanding of the event. It is likely that the subject was performing through a level of ‘volunteerism’ and was continuously aware that when Darren was present, that it was part of the process. It is not possible to determine from the show if the client was in control, or he wasn’t. Only they would know.
In a clinical setting, the extreme conditions for unduly influencing a person to change their beliefs of act contrary to them do not exist. The Hypnotherapist relies on trust and building a positive therapeutic alliance with the client.
Would you listen and accept suggestions to act against your beliefs if you were deeply relaxed, or wide awake? What level of stress and conditioning would it take for you to change your fundamental values and beliefs?
It is not the hypnosis which is the cause. In this case the demonstrations of ‘hypnotic potential’ only amplified the idea of what could be possible.
The client always retains the power to choose their engagement with the hypnotist. If they do not want to follow, perform or accept an idea, then they won’t.
I encourage my clients to remain in control, and to choose the trance that best suits them. I will talk to them and engage with them during trance.
I show how much I respect the client by my actions and my words.
It is a shame that people believe that the strategic therapy I use in hypnosis is somehow ‘linked’ to this ‘mentalism’ and ‘illusion’. I think the guy is fabulously talented, but every person he scares is one more person I cannot help.
I hope this answers your questions.
Live well,
Phil.
22 October 2012 @ 9:15 am
I only heard about the show “Experiments” and the person that told me convinced me that there must be a way to hypnotically induce a person to kill a person under certain circumstances. Can you explain more as to why this is not possible and how he manages to make it seem real. How can you reassure people that the client is in control when clearly in these “experiments” the client wasn’t.