Hypnosis referred to as hypnotherapy or hypnotic suggestion, is a trance-like state in which you have heightened focus and concentration.

1. HYPNOSIS :MYTHS AND
FACTS
NAYANA MOHANAN
MSC FORENSIC SCIENCE

2. INTRODUCTION
American Psychological Association describes hypnosis as
a “state of consciousness involving focused attention and
reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced
capacity for response to a suggestion”.
It is also described as a cooperative interaction in which the
participant responds to the suggestions of the hypnotist.

3. HYPNOSIS
It is an altered state of consciousness during which an
individual exhibits heightened susceptibility to suggestions
or commands of the hypnotist.
hypnosis is an accepted form of medical treatment.
The average person experiences hypnosis at least twice a
day.
Everyone experiences trance-like hypnosis every day, such
as when we are day-dreaming, in deep thought, or watching
television.
Advertisers try to use hypnosis tricks to imprint consumers
with keywords and images that will invoke a response when

4. HISTOR
Y All ancient cultures, including the Sumerian, Persian, Chinese,
Indian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, used hypnosis in some
form.
Franz Anton Mesmer(1734-1815)
James Braid(1795-1860)
Jean Martin Charcot(1825-1893)
Hypotite-Marie Bernheim(1840-1919)
Hysteria vs. suggestion
Pierre Janet(1859-1947)

5. In the late18 CENTURY
 Dr. FRANZ ANTON MESMER(1734-1815)
Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism or fluidism.
Related to an invisible substance –a ‘magnetic
like’ fluid that runs within the subject or between
suject or therapist i.e, the hypnotist or magnetizer.
His treatment of patients using mesmeric
techniques bought great success for a time.
Animal magnetism is similar to ‘chi’ or ‘ki’ .
It is still practiced in some countries as an
alternative form of medicine.

6. JAMES BRAID(1795-1860)
Coined the term hypnotism
Derived from Greek word
meaning sleep.
Hypnosis was not synonymous
sleep, but rather a state of
consciousness some where
wake fullness and sleep
characterized by concentrated
and sustained attention

7. JEAN MARTIN CHARCOT(1825-1893)
Thought hypnotism to be special physiological state.
used hypnotism for treatment of hysteria.
 HYPOTITE-MARIE BERNHEIM(1840-1919)
Hypnotism to be a physiological state of heightened suggestibility.
 PIEERE JANET(1859-1947)
Developed theories of unconscious process ,dissociation ,and traumatic
memory.
 SIGMUND FREUD: used hypnosis early in his career to help patients
from repressed memories.
- ABERACTION.

8. REQUIREMENTS OF HYPNOSIS
Willingness to cooperate.
Absorption(subscale of openness).
Comfortable and relaxed.
TECHNIQUES OF HYPNOSIS
Fixed gaze induction or eye fixation.
Rapid
Progressive relaxation and imagery.
Loss of balance.

9. THEORIES OF HYPNOSIS
ROLE THEORY
STATE THEORY
DISSOCIATION THEORY
DURING HYPNOSIS
Trance state , conscious, eyes closed.
Can speak and understand.
Aroused by strong verbal command.
Attention to external sound without distraction.
Partial loss of voluntary control.

10. APPLICATIONS
Hypnotherapy
Military
Self-hypnosis
Stage hypnosis
Music hypnosis
Crime
 Confidence building
 Stress reduction
 Motivation
 Sleep disorders
 surgery
 Smoking cessation

11. MYTHS
 A person doesn’t remember anything that happens while under
hypnosis.
A person can be hypnotized against their will. Once a person has
been hypnotized, they can no longer resist it.
 A person can be made to do things he or she does not want to
do.
Not everyone can be hypnotized. weak-minded people can be
hypnotized easily.

12. Hypnosis is mind control.
Hypnosis is sleep.
A person under hypnosis might reveal his or her deepest
secrets.
 Hypnosis can be used to accurately recall everything that has
happened to you.
 A person can get stuck in a trance forever.
Hypnosis can help remember the exact details of the past.
Hypnotists have special power.

13. FACTS
some of the earliest recorded descriptions of hypnosis date back to
ancient Egypt in 1500 B.C.
In 1958, the American Medical Association approved the medical use
of hypnosis.
 A person cannot be hypnotized against their will.
A human stays completely awake during hypnosis.
Hypnosis can be used as an anesthesia.

14. side effects to hypnosis are rare, they can include anxiety,
weariness, headache, and the creation of false memories.
Stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis are very different.
Hypnotherapy and hypnosis are not the same. Hypnotherapy is a
more guided type of hypnosis with the aim of helping a patient
overcome a psychological problem.
Psychotics and feeble minded people are not good candidates for
hypnosis.

15. THANK YOU