Is Hypnosis Real?

A treatment used during the 1700-1900 period was hypnosis. Essentially, hypnosis is when a patient falls into a trance-like state and loses awareness of the environment. The patient has amplified attention to him or herself. Hypnosis was used to treat hysterical patients who claimed to have been suffering with organic diseases like deafness. In order to perform hypnosis, hypnotists like Freud in the late 1800s would allow his patient to comfortably relax and ask him to concentrate on the two fingers of his right hand. Meanwhile, Freud would ask his patient to observe and fall into the sensations that would occur. Afterwards, the hypnotist would make suggestions that would allow the patient to be more open or willing to hear advice because of the patient's heightened concentration on their inner thoughts with no distractions. At the time, people believed that hypnosis can cause hysterical paralysis and make patients trace the origin of their symptoms.

Usually, patients would trace the origin of their symptoms by unlocking closed memories that they wanted to forget. As a result, there would be a heavy and emotional reaction to these exposed traumas that would often remove their symptoms. Overall, hypnosis is a psychological therapy process that is still used. It's a mechanism that can help people confront and heal from their stress, anxiety, or traumatic experiences by revealing these difficult memories or emotions. However, hypnosis is not effective for everyone. Not everyone can fully enter into a trance-like state or feel relaxed enough to enter in their inner thoughts.

Picture Source: time.com