Does hypnosis really exist? Hypnosis as a method of treatment: opinions of priests and doctors. Is hypnosis dangerous for humans?

Residents of Russia associate hypnosis with the sessions of Chumak and Kashpirovsky, who charged water and healed people from television in the “dashing” 90s. Does hypnosis really exist and what is it for? Read this article.

We enter a small room with cream-colored walls and furniture, and the hypnotist dims the lights. “I won’t scream or roll my eyes,” says Mikhail Nikolaevich Gordeev, hypnotist, psychotherapist, doctor medical sciences. “Sit as you please.”

I sit and try to track at what point the conversation ends and hypnosis begins, but nothing works because it begins almost as soon as I meet the eyes of the hypnotherapist.

It turns out that you can provide not only information or sharpness, but also - this is what experts call the process of diving into the depths of the subconscious. The hypnotist's voice becomes softer, words fall into the space of the room less and less. He does not order anything to the patient, he only suggests. “Now you can stretch out your hands and imagine that there is a heavy book lying on one of them, and tied to the fingers of the other air balloons" If you have already relaxed and are preparing to enter an altered state of consciousness, then the hand on which the book supposedly lies, under the influence of imagination, falls down, and the one with the balls involuntarily rises up. “This will help assess how ready you are to plunge into a trance,” explains Mikhail Nikolaevich.

The hypnotist kept his promise about the absence of directive communication during the session - only suggestions were made to turn to your subconscious and extract answers to troubling questions from there, and find resources to solve problems. During the session, the body relaxes, a sphere seems to form around it, including the space of clearly visible internal reality, outside of which there is a cotton-wool picture of the room and the existing reality, as if poorly painted by the artist. In this state, the focus of attention from the external environment shifts inward, leaving only concentration on one’s own experiences. From the outside it looks as if the person is absent from the room: the gaze is turned “inward”, the breathing is slow, the body is relaxed.

After leaving the trance, the two types of reality change places, the world around becomes crystal clear and unusually clear, the perception is fresh, which only happens early in the morning on the street of your beloved city, washed with dew. This is what it is, hypnosis on the part of the patient.

What is hypnosis from a physiological point of view?

According to Mikhail Nikolaevich Gordeev, hypnosis is a normal state of consciousness, akin to the rapid phase of sleep, in which the human psyche processes the information accumulated during the day. “This state of trance, which is actually a state of hypnosis, occurs in an ordinary person approximately once every hour and a half, spontaneously, on its own. It is completely natural, there is nothing surprising or fantastic in it. Another thing is that hypnosis, as a rule, is understood as a trance induced from the outside - it occurs under the influence of another person, with the consent or, perhaps, even sometimes without the consent of the one to whom it is induced,” explains the hypnotist.

“The best way to protect yourself from this is to avoid these shady characters.” Mikhail Gordeev, hypnotist

The famous psychotherapist, author of one of the widespread techniques of hypnosis, Milton Erickson, believed exactly the same. In his opinion, anyone can be put into a trance, even those who suffer from mental disorders - the main thing is that there was contact with a hypnotist. Erickson considered trance to be a natural state of a person, necessary for him to process internal experience.

Falling into a trance naturally, a person can freely stay in it for about 15 minutes. In the induced version it can last much longer. Trance is born from the interaction between the therapist and the client - it is this interaction that determines the time of the session, its outline, results and much more. In addition, any of us, as Mikhail Nikolaevich claims, can learn to independently enter a trance (self-hypnosis) and control this state. In this way you can correct your mood, write books or paintings with inspiration - everyone uses this technique the way they like.

In medical practice, hypnosis is used to treat illnesses and solve psychological problems of the patient. Trance helps to look into the dark corners of the psyche, find there the roots of the problem that needs to be gotten rid of, and also allocate the necessary resources for this.

Hypnotize, according to the psychotherapist, even a distrustful person can. Only the depth of the trance into which he falls depends on the patient’s suggestibility. “There are different stages, different levels of depth of hypnosis. Therefore, the only question is to what level a person can be brought. Most often it depends on a lot of factors; one of the main ones is patient motivation. Another factor is specialist skill level who works with him,” says the hypnotherapist.

However, hypnosis as such cannot be called a psychotherapeutic technique - it is only a background that facilitates treatment through suggestion. During the session, the person is relaxed and may experience relief, but his problems are not solved on their own - a psychologist should help with this.
The most well-developed areas of application of hypnosis are the treatment of such severe addictions as drug addiction.“Soviet people could not have problems, so psychotherapy was aimed at, and hypnosis was considered its main method,” explains Mikhail Nikolaevich.

The classic technique that is used most often is coding according to Dovzhenko. It works well thanks to subconscious fears.

“Coding is actually the coupling of the desire to drink with the fear of death: if you drink, you will die. Suggestibility helps the code stay in the psyche. There are quite a lot of people who are coded, sometimes for a certain period of time (more often for a year than for three or five years), although Dovzhenko himself still sought to turn patients away from drinking for the rest of their lives,” says the hypnotist.
However, according to the doctor, coding only works on those alcoholics who are determined to recover. Some people may slowly start drinking a month or two after the session, but their body will not react to alcohol in any way. But there are also cases of death. “The technique is based on psychosomatic mechanisms, so before coding the patient gives a receipt stating that he is warned of death if he decides to drink,” the doctor shares his experience.

In addition to traditional drug addiction, specialists use hypnosis when working with a variety of personal and family problems, post-stress and psychosomatic disorders. Doctors began to use this technique even during rehabilitation after such a serious illness as a stroke. This pathology, caused by impaired cerebral circulation, often deprives a person of the ability to swallow, speak and even move. According to hypnotherapists, their treatment makes it possible to better restore lost body functions.

So far, this method of rehabilitation is used only in one of the capital’s clinics, but this experience is already spreading to other Russian regions.

If you want to know how to learn hypnosis and master the science of putting a person into trance, get ready for a lot of training. It is almost impossible to master this skill on the first try. But there are many exercises that can lead you to the desired result.

Hypnosis is a special way of influencing the human psyche, which involves turning off consciousness and immersing oneself in a complete trance. When consciousness is clouded, you can influence the work of the subconscious - that part of the psyche that is impossible to control on your own.

Therefore, hypnosis helps to get rid of addictions, cure depression, get rid of complexes and limiting attitudes that prevent a person from living. Hypnosis also helps to place certain programs in the subconscious, in accordance with which a person will act in later life.

We'll talk about how to learn hypnosis yourself at home. Perhaps with the help of exercises you will be able to master this difficult science. Don't expect instant results and be prepared that it won't happen right away.

How to master hypnosis: exercises

If you are determined to master hypnosis, you need to know the following:

Remember that the person you try to put into a trance will be in a very dangerous state. If you fail to bring him out of this trance correctly, his psyche will suffer
Before training, thoroughly study the theory of hypnotherapy. It is worth reading the works of famous psychotherapists in order to understand what hypnosis is, how it is useful and how it is dangerous, what problems it helps to solve and what problems it will only worsen.
Not all people have hypnotic abilities. Be prepared for the fact that you may not succeed at all, because there is no innate talent
During training and hypnosis sessions you need to be confident, focused and extremely attentive.
Remember that a person who is addicted to something is a bad hypnotist. If you smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs, are addicted to coffee or something else, it is better to abandon the idea of mastering hypnosis

Training your magnetic gaze

The main weapon of a hypnotist is his gaze. The technique of a hypnotizing gaze can be mastered with the help of special exercises.

What you need to know:

Concentrate and abstract from extraneous thoughts. You must learn to look at one point for a long time, without thinking about anything at all. It is not simple. Practice in front of a mirror or with an “experimental” person. When you learn to look into his eyes for a long time without a single thought, the exercise has been mastered. Tip: to prevent your eyes from “running around,” look strictly at the pupil of your right eye
After you learn to concentrate, practice conveying a thought with your gaze. Focus on one mental message and try to convey it with your gaze to another person. For example, say to yourself: “Get up and walk around the room.” If a person guesses what you want from him, the exercise has been mastered.

The training should proceed as follows:

The person being tested must be placed on a couch. And you should position yourself as comfortably as possible above his head so that you can look him in the eye
The room for the session should be quiet - no extraneous sounds, movements, or pets
The subject will subconsciously resist penetration into his consciousness. Therefore, the first training sessions can be very long - be prepared for this
Success can be considered the moment when, under the influence of your gaze, a person can fall asleep, relax, or plunge into a detached state.

This is the simplest exercise with which you can learn hypnosis on your own.

Drawing a circle

After you have mastered the previous exercise, you can begin more complex workouts.

Special objects will be used to help put the subject into a trance:

Pendulum. This could be a metal object dangling from a thread or thin rope. The monotonous movements of the pendulum will help to quickly plunge a person into a trance. It is important that the subject, without looking up, follows the pendulum, is relaxed and does not think about anything
A circle drawn on a piece of paper. It must be secured in such a way that the subject can continuously look at the center of this circle. During the session, he should also imagine how rays come out of his eyes, which close in the center of the circle

When using these items, it is important to agree with the subject that you will have a certain signal, after which he will come out of the trance. For example, snapping your fingers or clapping.

The exercise goes something like this:

You lay the person on the couch and talk to him for a while in a quiet, calm voice. Make sure he is completely relaxed
Then say that as soon as you clap your hands, he will wake up and do what you order in a state of hypnosis
Start swinging the pendulum in front of the subject's face. He must follow the movements without taking his eyes off. Gradually his eyelids will begin to get heavy, he will close his eyes and fall into a hypnotic state
At this time you can say a simple program, which the subject will have to perform after exiting the trance. But first make sure that he is unconscious - ask: “Can you hear me?” If there is no response, it's okay
Say a simple command. For example: “When you hear a bang, you wake up, get up and open the window.” Say three or four times
Make the agreed signal - clap your hands
We are waiting to see what the awakened person will do. If he gets up and opens the window, the exercise was successful.

With each training session you can make the tasks more difficult.

Watch a video about hypnosis and how to learn to hypnotize people:

If you decide to learn hypnosis on your own, the following tips will help you:

Go to a session with a good hypnotherapist. Watch a specialist to understand how he works
Study the theory - the works of psychotherapists on hypnosis will help you better understand the topic
Engage in meditation and spiritual practices to get closer to a state of awareness and learn to control your unconscious
Look for hypnosis courses in your city - professional training will give you where to best result than independent attempts

Believe in yourself, train hard, and you will succeed!

In deep hypnotic sleep, a person completely submits to the will of the hypnotist... Stop! There are two fundamental errors in this short phrase.

Alexander Chubenko

For a long time, hypnosis was indeed considered a special form of sleep. From the beginning to the middle of the twentieth century, the generally accepted proposal was proposed by the great Russian physiologist I.P. Pavlov’s explanation of the mechanism of hypnosis: monotonous stimuli - visual, sound, tactile (heat from passes - movements of the hypnotist’s hands) - create a focus of inhibition in the cerebral cortex, which, in accordance with the long-known and still generally accepted laws of neurophysiology, radiates (spreads) to others departments, and the brain, along with its carrier, falls asleep. Only the “guard point” does not sleep, which ensures rapport - a connection with the hypnotist (about the same as what allows a mother to sleep with any noise, but instantly wake up with the quiet whimpering of a baby). But with the advent of electroencephalographs, it became clear that no inhibition occurs during hypnosis, and the bioelectrical activity of the brain of a somnambulist (a person in a state of deep hypnosis) is practically no different from the EEG during wakefulness. Research recent years with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, clarity was not added to the question of the physiological mechanisms of hypnosis: the work of individual brain structures differs from both sleep and wakefulness, but what these differences mean is not yet clear.

Hypnosis on the radio

The most famous Soviet hypnologist, Pavel Ignatievich Bul, once gave a lecture on hypnosis on Leningrad radio. After numerous calls from alarmed listeners (or rather, their relatives), he was driven all night in an editorial car around the city to “disenchant” especially suggestible people who fell asleep from just a description of the technique of putting patients into a hypnotic trance. After Kashpirovsky’s sessions, they say there were many more such incidents - fortunately, the audience was all-Union. Fortunately, after the rapport stops, hypnotic sleep in the vast majority of cases turns into normal sleep. But group hypnosis without direct contact with each patient is a blatant violation of generally accepted rules.

The now generally accepted definition of hypnosis looks streamlined: “A temporary state of consciousness, characterized by a narrowing of its volume and a sharp focus on the content of suggestion, which is associated with a change in the function of individual control and self-awareness. The state of hypnosis occurs as a result of special influences of the hypnotist or targeted self-hypnosis” (B.D. Karvasarsky. Psychotherapeutic Encyclopedia). But although in theory hypnosis is not a dream, in practice, during sessions of classical hypnosis, doctors use the same techniques as their colleagues 100, 200 and even thousands of years ago: focusing their gaze on a shiny object, lulling monotonous stimuli and monotonous speech with an emphasis on key points: “You sleep deeper and deeper” and “You hear my voice, my suggestions.”

From the Stone Age to...

The oldest papyrus, describing a method of conversation with the gods through a boy put to sleep using monotonous spells and fixing his gaze on a lamp, dates back to the third century AD.
How many thousands of years ago shamans learned to perform rituals in a state of self-hypnosis and cast spells on their fellow tribesmen is unknown, but in the descriptions of the customs of modern primitive tribes there are many stories about how a brave warrior died after accidentally breaking a taboo or learning that a sorcerer had made him a deadly mumbo-jumbo . Actually, hypnosis is not needed: faith and self-hypnosis are enough.
In Europe, scientific hypnology began in the second half of the 18th century, when the Austrian Franz Anton Mesmer, doctor of medicine, philosophy and law, practicing as a doctor in his free time from social life, discovered that he could treat patients not only by applying a magnet to a sore spot, but also with a simple touch. After the “crisis” - convulsions, sobs and loss of consciousness, turning into sleep, healing occurred from a variety of diseases. They treated specially designed tanks “charged” by Mesmer, and a whole tree in the middle of Paris, and bottles with “charged” water (does this remind you of anything)?
The theory of “animal magnetism” for that time was no less scientific than the theories of the world ether and phlogiston, but in 1774 a commission of the French Academy and the Royal Society of Medicine, headed by Benjamin Franklin, declared Mesmer a charlatan, ruling that “imagination without magnetism produces convulsions, and magnetism without imagination produces nothing at all.”
Despite this, numerous followers of Mesmer continued to use his method and eventually found out that there really is no magnetism, convulsions and other painful phenomena are completely unnecessary, and patients can be treated in a state of somnambulism caused by monotonous stimuli and verbal suggestions.

In a state of deep hypnotic sleep (a generally accepted incorrect but convenient term even among professionals) all those miracles occur, from which the impression was formed that under hypnosis people lose free will. About one person out of five to seven is able to reach the last, somnambulistic stage of hypnosis, even under the guidance of an experienced hypnotist. But he can jump around the stage like a frog, shy away from a scarf, sincerely believing that it is a snake, lie for a long time in the so-called cataleptic bridge, leaning on the backs of chairs only with the back of his head and heels, gnawing with pleasure on a vigorous onion, without crying and feeling the taste of a suggested apple... Stage magicians and early researchers of the phenomenon of hypnotic suggestion tried everything that came to their minds - and indeed, under hypnosis a person can carry out any order of the hypnotist. Almost anyone.

Crime and Punishment

Under no kind of hypnosis can a person be forced to do something that is at odds with his sense of self-preservation or moral principles. For example, you can suggest to a somnambulist that he (s) does not see anyone present. If this invisible man picks up a vase standing on the table, the hypnotic will be sincerely surprised that it has taken off by itself and is hanging in the air. He will also “believe” that the room is completely empty, but after the order to walk in a straight line, he will carefully walk around the tables and chairs. He can sincerely agree that in front of him is not a window on... the eleventh floor, but a door, “to see” people entering through it (or, if you want, unprecedented animals), but he will categorically refuse to go out through this “door”. And if a somnambulist agrees to cause harm to his neighbor (for example, pouring “acid” on a hypnologist’s assistant), there is never any certainty that in the corner of his consciousness he does not understand that this is just make-believe. True, one of the old books describes a case when a subject, having struck an “enemy” lying on a couch with a dagger, after coming out of a trance, as expected, did not remember anything that happened to him, but fell into depression, lost his appetite and sleep... Waste away and he stopped drying up only after, in a state of hypnosis, he was shown a stuffed animal pierced with a dagger and was told that he had not killed anyone.

Programs to create “zombies” most likely were actually carried out in the NKVD-MGB-KGB, and in the CIA, and in similar institutions in other countries. But rumors about the mysterious suicides of all those involved in the information about the “party gold”, that the killers of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King acted under the influence of suggestion, etc., look like obvious fabrications. Moreover, hundreds of attempts by criminals known in the history of criminology to justify themselves by the fact that they acted not of their own free will, but under hypnosis, were not confirmed. Only in a few cases were the instigators of crimes (and then property crimes) actually hypnotists, but the perpetrators could clearly be incited to do the same thing in reality.

Post-hypnotic suggestion is possible, but the less bizarre the task, the more likely it is to be completed. An hour after the end of the session, take a certain book from the shelf, open it to a given page and read a passage aloud - please! The subject will not be able to explain why he was drawn to do this, or he will invent something plausible. And when reminded “wouldn’t you like, my friend, to crawl under the table and crow three times,” even a perfectly hypnotizable subject will most likely admit that this stupid thought just came into his head, but he immediately discarded it.

Are you suggestible?

Suggestibility (or rather, hypnotizability) can be determined using dozens of different tests.
The most common is the test for “sticking” fingers, especially convenient for selecting people from a whole hall who can be brought on stage and demonstrated “miracles of hypnosis” (in the USSR, hypnosis on stage was banned in 1984, but free environmental The niche was immediately filled by psychics). It sounds something like this: “Sit comfortably... Interlace your fingers and place them on your knees... I will count to ten, and for each count you will squeeze your fingers a little tighter... Your hands are heavy and warm... One... Squeeze your fingers a little... Hands they fill with warmth and become heavier...” And so on - the most suggestible after counting “ten” will not be able to unstick their fingers without the hypnotist’s permission. You can show another trick with them: “I put my hands on the back of your head. When I remove them, you will be pulled back, you will begin to fall - but don’t worry, I will catch you...” At the same time, such tests also work as a preparation for the actual euthanasia.
It is difficult to describe in words how street scammers identify suggestible people. About the same as any of you can understand that if a poorly shaven man in a rumpled suit, with shifty eyes and a puffy face offers you to buy a diamond ring for a thousand rubles, you must, holding your pocket with your wallet with your hand, silently and quickly walk away from him further away.
Is it possible to resist hypnosis? If you know that they are going to hypnotize you, but for some reason you don’t want it, it’s elementary. Just do not follow the instructions, sing songs out loud, dance (if you are not tied up, of course), etc. It is impossible to hypnotize a person who knows that they are going to put him to sleep without his consent! And if they start talking to you on the street, keep in mind that all sorts of suspicious individuals who stop you under some dubious pretext can not only (and not so much) hypnotize you, but simply snatch your wallet when you start exchanging money with them, or slip a “doll”, etc. And no street hypnosis works instantly: the object of influence has enough time to understand that they are not just starting a conversation with you, but are trying to sell you some kind of product or simply unobtrusively take away your money. And if they call you with an offer to buy a miracle cure (a fairly common method of fooling, especially older people, in which hypnosis is not necessary; pure suggestion with a completely clear consciousness of the person being deceived also works) - just hang up.

Hypnosis is also useless for detectives. Attempts to obtain testimony from criminal suspects under hypnosis led to the fact that the person under investigation would invent what he thought the hypnotist wanted from him, or continued to insist on his innocence, and when persistent demands for confession were made, he began to have a hysterical fit. In most countries, including Russia, such methods of investigation are prohibited. From time to time, lawyers try again and again to use hypnosis to help a witness remember forgotten details, but it is never known whether he remembered them or imagined them. In any case, this way you can only obtain operational information, and testimony obtained in any altered state of consciousness has no legal force.

But to bully the brains in order to seize material assets you can use hypnotic techniques (although not with such effectiveness as the authors of horror stories describe).

Speak your teeth

Verbal suggestion acts not only on thoughts and feelings, but also on such physiological functions that are absolutely not amenable to conscious control. The most striking example of this is the inhumane experiment described in many books on hypnosis and suggestion on a criminal sentenced to death, who was told that he would be executed by bleeding from his veins, was blindfolded, scratched on the wrist with something sharp, and had a stream of warm water run down his arm. . After some time, the test subject died with all the external symptoms of blood loss. The original source of this story has been lost in retellings - it may be a story, but it is quite plausible. Blisters indistinguishable from real burns also appeared in volunteers who, under deep hypnosis, were told that a “hot iron” (actually a pencil) was being applied to their skin.

In less dangerous experiments, hypnologists have studied the effects of suggestion on a variety of physiological functions. A person who “drinks” a liter of inspired water increases the excretion of urine, which is light and of low density. And from the imaginary sweet syrup, the concentration of sugar in the blood increases, and in proportion to the amount drunk. Suggestion even influences unconditioned reflexes- for example, pupillary: if a somnambulist in a semi-dark room is told that he sees bright light, his pupils will narrow (and vice versa, they will dilate in the light when darkness is suggested). The number of leukocytes in the blood changes in accordance with the suggested feeling of satiety or hunger - and so on: thousands of articles and books describe dozens of studied physiological and biochemical effects of suggestion and self-hypnosis. One of the effects of suggestion well known to specialists is stopping bleeding due to spasm of smooth (not under conscious control!) muscles. blood vessels And rapid growth number of platelets in the blood. Hypnotic anesthesia is completely banal: complex operations, including abdominal operations, were performed under hypnosis a century and a half ago, at the dawn of scientific hypnology. True, “chemistry” turned out to be more reliable and simpler.

The expression “to talk teeth” was once used in a literal (and quite positive!) sense. And the word “doctor” goes back to the Old Slavonic “to lie” - “to speak”: from time immemorial, spells and spells have been mandatory among all peoples, if not the only method of treatment. Suggestion and self-hypnosis help cure not only neuroses and more serious illnesses from the “nervous and mental” section, but also those that seem to have nothing to do with the state of mind. No miracles: almost half of all bodily ailments are completely or partially psychosomatic, and many organic diseases, especially severe ones, lead to depression. Through suggestion, you can break the vicious circle of painful states of body and soul that support and reinforce each other. It is suggestion (and not at all biofields, qi energy and clearing of the chakras) that explain the results of healings with the help of psychics, hereditary magicians, charged newspapers, amulets, absolutely useless and even clearly harmful drugs, etc. Quite often, especially with pure psychosomatic illnesses, all this really helps. But being treated by charlatans is about the same as downloading hacked programs from suspicious sites. It is much easier for a non-professional to develop some kind of complication like hypnodependence (and many healers intentionally cause it in patients). And most importantly, a psychotherapist with a medical diploma is unlikely to miss a disease for which you need to run to surgeons, oncologists, cardiologists, etc. When “treating” charlatans, this happens all the time: the patient subjectively feels better, but the disease progresses to the point of death outcome.

Myths about hypnosis

There are a number of serious misconceptions about hypnosis. Many of these misconceptions have been replicated in films, and although they tickle the nerves of the viewer, these are pure fiction and have no relation to the truth.
The hypnotist has magical power or supernatural powers.
A hypnotist is an ordinary person who has mastered the necessary knowledge and skills (of course, talent is also needed in this matter). It only helps the patient to throw off psychological shackles, relax as much as possible and achieve a state of trance.
A hypnotized person is not aware of his actions.
A subject under hypnosis is able to sufficiently control his actions. He simply focuses his attention on the hypnotist's instructions and ignores everything else.
Not all people are hypnotizable.
A qualified hypnotist will sooner or later be able to put almost any willing person into hypnosis. However, this process is influenced by many factors: the motivation and mood of a person, the state of his nervous system, the ability (or inability) to quickly relax, the authority of the hypnotist, the environment, etc.
Only people who are weak-willed and incapable of concentration can be hypnotized.
Quite the contrary. Will is a person’s ability to purposefully concentrate on performing specific tasks, so strong-willed people can force themselves to quickly relax, concentrate on the words of the hypnotist and enter a state of hypnosis. The book by psychophysiologist Leonid Pavlovich Grimak, “Modeling States in Hypnosis,” describes how a group of test pilots (obviously strong-willed people) successfully entered the deepest phases of hypnosis. But people with unfocused attention and incapable of concentration (including on the content of suggestion) are difficult to hypnosis.
Hypnosis is dangerous to health.
No. The hypnotic state is a natural state of harmony, calm and relaxation induced by suggestion. During the day, a person repeatedly falls into short-term trance states. In this way, the psyche protects itself from overload. How can a natural and necessary state for a person be dangerous?

There is nothing new under the sun

TO end of the 19th century century, hypnosis became a generally accepted method of psychotherapy, and for a hundred years nothing extraordinary happened in this area. A revolution in hypnology almost occurred in the 1980s: all over the world (and in the USSR that had just emerged from behind the Iron Curtain) there was a buzz about neurolinguistic programming.

In fact, NLP is nothing more than another psychological theory, no worse, but no better than a couple of dozen others. It grew out of attempts to break down the method of the American psychotherapist Milton Erickson - a truly brilliant doctor who could achieve in one session the same thing that in classical psychoanalysis required several years of weekly lying on the couch. Cases from his practice are no less exciting reading than the most twisted detective story.

The fact that it is possible to achieve the therapeutic effect of suggestion not in a somnambulistic state, but in the most early stages hypnotic trance has been known for a long time. Erickson used surface trance as the only method of hypnosis, and also generalized the known ones and developed a number of new techniques that allowed him to quickly and effectively “talk his teeth” to the patient and unobtrusively introduce the necessary thoughts and actions into his head. Another secret of Ericksonian hypnosis is the personality of Erickson himself. The tablets prescribed by the Luminary of Medicine work much better than the same ones prescribed by the local therapist. And in such a fragile and imprecise field as psychotherapy, this “effect of a promoted brand” is much more noticeable, so that the rays of glory of the Founding Father continue to warm his followers even a quarter of a century after his death. But, as in any other art, in order to achieve anything similar to what Erickson could do, in addition to talent, you also need years of study and work.

Psychotherapists apply the theoretical principles of NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis with the same, no more and no less, success than other theories and classical methods of hypnotization: the effect here depends not on a specific school, but on the skill of the doctor.

Professor L.L. Vasiliev, corresponding member. USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and head. Department of Human and Animal Physiology of Leningradsky state university, became interested in telepathy while still a student - shortly before the First World War. And all his life he studied “Suggestion at a Distance” and other “Mysterious Phenomena of the Human Psyche” (these are the names of his two popular books published in the middle of the last century). For which he regularly got the full punishment. No, not for the seditious topic of research, but because every single one of them are telepaths, telekinetics and other paranormals - or people, to put it delicately, with an unhealthy psyche, or scammers. Or both at the same time. One lady with an absolutely phenomenal talent for suggestion was appointed by Leonid Leonidovich to the department as a laboratory assistant to search for a “brain radio”. In her free time from research, the lady sold telephone booths at the gallery of Gostiny Dvor (“Galery” was a favorite habitat of black marketeers, speculators and scammers). Having convinced the buyer that it was a refrigerator (they were in great short supply in the Soviet Union), she managed to disappear along with the money, while the movers called by the lucky one were puzzled and explained to the customer. In creative handwriting they took it...

Surely in various “secret centers” in educational plans training in NLP methods is also included, but it is unlikely that the most trained agent will be able to seduce anyone he meets better than a skilled gypsy. And short-term courses for everyone... Would you take a two-month violin course with a guarantee of Paganini's mastery? Many people have attended and attended similar NLP classes...

No hypnosis!

Have you noticed that the terms “hypnosis” and “suggestion” are used almost interchangeably here? For suggestion - the uncritical perception of other people's ideas as one's own - hypnosis, by and large, is not needed. And this is also not news at all: it is impossible to say better about everyday suggestion than what he wrote more than a century ago in the brochure “The Role of Suggestion in public life» famous Russian psychiatrist and neurologist V.M. Bekhterev: “Suggestion comes down to the direct instillation of certain mental states from one person to another... occurring without the participation of the will (and attention) of the receiving person and often even without a clear consciousness on his part... Nowadays, there is so much talk about physical contagion in through... microbes, which, in my opinion, is worth remembering about... mental infection, the microbes of which, although invisible under a microscope, nevertheless, like real physical microbes, act everywhere and everywhere and are transmitted through words, gestures and movements of surrounding persons, through books, newspapers, etc., in a word, wherever we are, in the society around us, we are already exposed to the action of psychic microbes and, therefore, are in danger of being mentally infected.”

In the second edition (1908) of the brochure, Bekhterev quotes the book “Psychology of Suggestion” by the American philosopher Boris Sidis, translated into Russian in 1902: “In the middle of the street... a merchant stops and begins to pour out streams of chatter... praising his product... A few more minutes - and the crowd begins to buy things about which the merchant suggests that they are “wonderful, cheap”... His evidence is absurd, his motives are despicable, and yet he usually carries away the masses with him...”

Perhaps the invention of television did not greatly enhance the role of suggestion in public life. And the saying “forewarned is forearmed” was invented back in Ancient Rome.

Techniques for entering trance have been used for a very long time. Everyone has heard at least once about hypnosis and its effect on a person. But discussions on the topic of whether this method of suggestion is fact or fiction do not subside to this day. Even in ancient times, people were forced into a trance to do unthinkable things - sacrifice themselves to the gods or agree to be buried alive with the pharaohs.

Description of the technique

Hypnosis is a state of light or deep trance, characterized by sharp focusing on one object, which distracts the mind and imparts a high degree of suggestion. The hypnotic state occurs under outside influence or becomes the result of self-hypnosis. Hypnosis is in no way like sleep; it cannot be induced against one's will. Introduction to trance significantly increases the possibility of influencing consciousness, which leads to the appearance of false memories.

There are several types of hypnotic states.

A classic type of treatment used to cure diseases.
Hidden view - widely used in advertising and political propaganda.
Psychotropogenic effects - bringing the body to a state of trance, obtaining euphoria with the help of medications due to the effect of the psychotropic component included in the drug.

The state of trance as reality

There is a lot of evidence of the existence of the hypnotic state as a phenomenon of influence on the psyche of people. Since the 18th century, induction into trance has been widely used both in everyday life and in medicine. Household hypnosis - suggestion in conditions Everyday life. This is how street scammers operate by putting a person into a light trance using simple phrases They can easily take away all your money or force you to buy absolutely useless things.

It is possible to hypnotize people; this is confirmed by a large amount of literature on the effects and methods of inducing trance.

Books, dissertations, scientific works written by famous psychologists and doctors of science in the field of psychoanalysis.

The existence of an impact on the consciousness of another individual is confirmed by the presence of successful addiction coding practices and rehabilitation training after severe injuries. By inducing a trance, people restore memory or repress unpleasant moments.

You can personally verify the existence of hypnosis by testing it on yourself. To feel the state of the hypnotized person, the following conditions are necessary:

Silence.
Concentration.
Patience.

In order to verify the veracity of the statement about the existence of hypnosis, you can arrange a test on yourself or on a stranger who agrees to take part in the experiment. At the time of the trance introduction session, the subject must be completely relaxed.

When the subject is relaxed, the hypnotist comes close to him from behind and in a monotonous voice begins to put him into a state of trance. When repeating a set of phrases, it slowly penetrates into consciousness. An example text of hypnotic influence sounds like this:

“With every word I say you relax. Your arms are getting weaker, your legs are getting weaker. Your eyes close and you hear my voice more and more clearly. Your body is soft and flexible, the pain goes away. You slowly fall asleep."

The impact consists of monotonous phrases and movements repeated many times. Introduction to a state of hypnosis is carried out using objects on which patients focus their gaze. They act like a pendulum.

Independent hypnotic influence can clearly demonstrate the existence of hypnosis. With the help of light manipulations, the possibility of easy introduction into trance opens up.

It is important to understand that real hypnosis is not easy and dangerous; we are talking about influencing nervous system person.

Degrees of change in consciousness

The degree of hypnotizability is determined by many factors; there is a classification of trance states.

The state of light trance is a superficial degree. A person under such influence is able to be aware of what is happening around him, and after the session he will easily remember the entire procedure.
Introduction to a deep state of trance, accompanied by immobilization and control of the subconscious. Such a session results in partial memory loss.
Somnambulistic state with complete submission. A person under influence moves, talks and lives his own life, only consciousness is controlled by another individual.

Confirmation of the existence of hypnosis as a phenomenon

Does hypnosis exist, who can succumb to it, how not to fall under suggestion - all this interests almost everyone. It must be borne in mind that a good hypnotist is able to subjugate any person to his will.

There are 2 types of suggestion:

Emotional, inherent in extroverted people.
Physical, inherent to introverts.

Considering a person’s hypnotizability from the point of view of suggestibility, one can find some exceptions to the rules. If you meet scammers on the street and try to take advantage of you, you can protect yourself by following this advice: do not stop and continue the conversation for more than 3 minutes. Never allow anyone to touch you or look into your eyes, look away and do not concentrate on bright details.

A person with well-developed willpower is less susceptible to hypnosis than a weak-willed person who does not have his own opinion.

Strength of character and the ability to stand up for oneself determines the degree of hypnotizability. Resilient people succumb only to superficial influences and can easily come out of a light trance, almost without feeling the manipulation.

Application in practice

Proof of the existence of hypnosis is the wide range of areas of its application. Putting people into a trance helps to avoid many psychological problems, forgetting or remembering an episode from life. Hypnotherapy is officially used by psychotherapists and psychologists. Induction into a trance state is not a treatment, but images obtained through suggestion are capable of changing a person’s behavior at the subconscious level. While under hypnosis, a person tries new thoughts and feelings that displace old ones.

Application is possible in a number of cases:

Anxiety states.
Gastrointestinal tract disorder.
Depressive state, apathy.
Insomnia.
Increased self-esteem.
Treatment of fears.
Saving a person from suicidal tendencies by instilling positive thoughts.
Relief from pain, partial or complete.

Help with addiction to alcohol, drugs, smoking and gambling. Getting rid of childhood complexes, eliminating the problem of nervous disorder. When treating with hypnosis, direct suggestion is often used, but its disadvantage is the inability to subjugate extroverted people to one’s will. The peculiarity of hypnosis is to divide people according to the degree and type of suggestibility. To help a person cope with personal problems, it is necessary to determine the type of impact: physical or psychological.

The strategy for treatment using hypnosis is to cooperate with the personality of the person being hypnotized, rather than suppress it.

An alternative to the opinion of specialists

Many famous psychologists claim that the physiological state is a lie. Introduction to trance - expected behavior from the object.

The essence of the alternative view is that a person, wanting to be convinced of the degree of effectiveness and truthfulness of hypnosis, obeys the hypnotist and passes off his actions as suggested. During the experiments, the veracity of the belief was proven. The introduction of a group of people into hypnosis showed a dependence on the motivation and expectations of the person under the influence.

Conclusion

Does hypnosis really exist - yes. And the best thing about this is its wide application in various areas of life. Putting a person into a trance is becoming increasingly popular in psychology. Help with addiction, psychological rehabilitation, treatment of pain by influencing the subconscious prove the effectiveness and veracity of the method.

Many of us have heard about the existence of such a mysterious phenomenon as hypnosis, but doubt whether it really exists or is it just an invention of psychic charlatans. Let's try to look in more detail at such a complex and mysterious phenomenon as hypnosis.

What is hypnosis?

Everyone knows the word “hypnosis”, but few know its true meaning. Hypnosis is a special altered state of consciousness into which a person is deliberately introduced by another person through suggestion. Why is this being done? The goals can be completely different: treatment of mental or physical diseases by influencing the subconscious, instilling certain thoughts, feelings or states, the desire to force a person to do something - but they all come down to one thing - introducing into the person’s subconscious the ideas and ideas necessary for the hypnotist or the suggestible person himself. provisions, which leads to some change in worldview and behavior.

Today in science there is no question whether hypnosis exists or not - the possibility of influencing the human subconscious has been used for a very long time, almost as long as humanity itself has existed. The real effect of hypnosis has its scientific confirmation: scientists and doctors have been convinced in practice that it is possible to influence the subconscious of people through hypnotization. Back in the 18th century, Professor Franz Antoine Mesmer began to massively use the coding of the human subconscious through hypnosis and thus heal the sick.

Moreover, on modern stage development of esotericism and medicine highlight different kinds hypnosis

Types of hypnosis:

Classic (open direct exposure): used mainly for medical purposes;

Hidden (hidden influence on the human subconscious to obtain some benefit): used in advertising, politics, business, this also includes neurolinguistic programming (NLP), the so-called gypsy hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnosis;

Psychotropogenic (or pharmacological): the use of special drugs (psychotropic or narcotic), which, influencing the human psyche, make the subconscious and consciousness of the latter very susceptible to external influence; - pathological: a person enters a state of special, pathological trance as a result of a mental or somatic illness - hysteria, schizophrenia, epilepsy, poisoning, etc., and in this state he perceives reality and reacts to what is happening around him in a completely different way than usual , and receptivity to the words of other people greatly increases.

Another confirmation of the existence and spread of hypnosis is the huge amount of different literature devoted to this topic. ABCs of hypnosis, reference books, tutorials, written not only by esotericists and psychics, but also by famous doctors, look at us from the shelves of bookstores and from the pages of the Internet, urging us to begin the path to mastering various hypnotic practices. And it’s not even worth talking about the numerous courses and trainings devoted to influencing another person through hypnotization - the Internet is simply replete with advertisements on this topic. Therefore, the question “Does hypnosis exist” cannot be answered in the negative.

How can you convince yourself of the existence of hypnosis?

Anyone can test and believe that hypnosis really exists. This requires a little silence, concentration and patience. You can practice self-hypnosis or try to hypnotize another person (with the consent of the subject, of course). The main condition for successful hypnosis is that the person being hypnotized (you yourself or another person) must be completely relaxed.

After relaxation, the hypnotist (the one who hypnotizes) repeatedly repeats in a calm, quiet voice approximately the following set of phrases: “You relax more and more with each breath. A pleasant heaviness spreads throughout your body. Your eyelids also become heavy and close. You're no longer interested the world. You are calm and relaxed. You feel good and want to sleep. Time slows down. You fall into a pleasant half-asleep.”

It has been verified: if you pronounce these phrases many times, a person begins to enter a state of some kind of trance. You can also supplement verbal suggestion with action: try to fix the gaze of the hypnotized person on some object slowly moving from side to side (such as a pendulum).

You need to understand that the above technique is unlikely to put a person into a deep hypnotic state - this requires long and hard study. But an easy hypnotic trance, confirming in practice the real existence of hypnosis as a phenomenon, is guaranteed.

Hypnotic states

Depending on the degree of suggestibility of the hypnotized person and the goals, capabilities, and talent of the hypnotist, hypnosis can manifest itself in different states:

*it can be superficial (a state of light trance): the person is fully aware of what is happening, and then can remember his feelings;

* it can also be deep: in this case, suppression or changes in sensory and motor functions occur and the person does not remember what happened during the hypnosis session;

* another hypnotic state is somnambulistic: the person looks normal, awake, but his consciousness is under the control of the hypnotist.

Who is influenced by a hypnotist?

Most of us can be hypnotized if certain conditions are met. Scientists have proven that hypnotizability is not affected by factors such as gender, age, or race. But if a person has strong internal resistance, it is quite difficult to put him into a hypnotic state. The depth of this state can also vary from person to person, and sometimes even from one person to another at different times.