Ariella Green Week 4: Hypnosis

Ariella Green Week 4: Hypnosis

I hope that most of you would agree that the hypnosis show was by far the most enjoyable activity on the entire shabbaton. Island of Adventure is fun and all, but let’s be real, there is almost nothing more funny than seeing our classmates step out of their comfort zones and put on a show for the rest of the school. Following the show, I have been more intrigued with the science behind hypnosis, and I believe most of you would be interested in knowing about hypnotism as well.

Firstly, hypnotism is when someone is put into a trance state where their concentration and focus has been heightened. If you are someone who has been hypnotized, you are very relaxed and are open minded. Since you are open minded to the hypnosis therapist, they’re not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to, rather you are heeding their suggestions. Oddly enough, hypnosis is not only used for entertainment purposes, but people use it as a form of therapy to help with their mental health (like anxiety or stress), pain, and behavior. However, as we saw from the show, not everyone is able to enter that calming state to be hypnotized effectively. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are “Some therapists believe that the more likely you are to be hypnotized, the more likely it is that you'll benefit from hypnosis” (https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hypnosis/about/pac-20394405).

There are also four stages of hypnosis which are induction, deepener, suggestion, and emergence. The induction stage is when you’re just entering hypnosis and working on your breathing and feeling relaxed for the process to work. Next, the deepener stage, is when the hypnotist focuses on further relaxing you by focusing on certain types of imagery. The suggestion stage is when the hypnotist suggests things for you to do that have an effect on your behavior, perception, and experience. Lastly, the emergence stage is when the hypnotist brings you out of the trance.

If it were not for the shabbaton, I feel like I’d have a harder time believing in hypnosis because I know for a fact that many of the people on stage would not have done some of the things they did if they were being watched and filmed by the entire school.

Question: If you were not hypnotized on the shabbaton, do you think you’d be easily hypnotized? And if you were hypnotized, would you do it again?

6 Surprising Health Benefits Of Hypnosis - Penn Medicine

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Comments

  1. Michael HakimOctober 4, 2022 at 8:26 AM

    Well, I can tell you first hand - I participated and was not hypnotized and I don't know why. I think it may be because I have trouble focusing, but I am going to keep telling myself that it is because I am just too woke to be hypnotized!

    ReplyDelete

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