Hypnosis and its subset, hypnotherapy, have always been mired in misconceptions. People either believe them to be falling in the domain of the occult, or don\’t regard them to be serious scientific endeavours. Some of the common myths associated with hypnosis and the truth behind them are discussed here.

Hypnosis has nothing to do with magic spells of any kind. It is a very easy technique, which can be understood without much difficulty with the help of psychology and other scientific procedures. The authenticity of hypnosis is doubted even by individuals who have seen it casting its spell on subjects. They believe that the subjects who have been under hypnosis are mentally not strong enough to resist the impact of the practitioner. But that is not true at all. Even mentally strong people can fall under the charms of a specialist hypnosis practitioner.

Another notion about hypnosis that people have made up arbitrarily is that it is an alternate state of consciousness. A hypnotized person is completely conscious of his surroundings. Hypnosis actually brings forth a state of complete relaxation characterized by a rise in levels of attentiveness, and this intensified sensitivity helps the subject to absorb new inputs with considerable ease.

Some scientific discoveries have stated that only about 5% of the population is suitable to be hypnotized, which is the third misconception on this list. The researchers are to some extent true in their own way, because they attempted hypnotising the group by the same hypnosis technique without considering individual differences in character and temperament. People differ in their natures and personalities, and thus there have to be different hypnosis methods to suit the temperaments of different people.

Many people take hypnosis to be a form of meditation. However, communication between the subject and the practitioner is indispensable in hypnosis, while meditation is like a communion with the self without any external interaction involved. Trance too has no connection with hypnosis at all. Just like meditation, trance is a mental state, and it is not associated with communication in any manner, on the other hand the very crux of the hypnosis method is communication.

Another myth is that bodily and behavioural changes in a person are not possible through hypnosis training or hypnotherapy. Hypnosis obviously cannot attain something that is abnormal to the body. But it can bring about a development in physical health by altering behavioural patterns like overeating and chain smoking by raising motivation levels in an individual.

If an individual believes in all the wrong notions that exist regarding hypnotherapy and doesn\’t venture to participate in a hypnotic session, then he will himself burn the bridge to a happier and healthier life.

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