Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI),[2] reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.[3]
There are competing theories explaining hypnosis and related phenomena. Altered state theories see hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary state of consciousness.[4][5] In contrast, non-state theories see hypnosis as, variously, a type of placebo effect,[6][7] a redefinition of an interaction with a therapist[8] or a form of imaginative role enactment.[9][10][11]
During hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and concentration[12][13] and an increased response to suggestions.[14]
Hypnosis usually begins with a hypnotic induction involving a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. The use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy",[15] while its use as a form of entertainment for an audience is known as "stage hypnosis", a form of mentalism.
Hypnosis-based therapies for the management of irritable bowel syndrome and menopause are supported by evidence.[16][17] The use of hypnosis as a form of therapy to retrieve and integrate early trauma is controversial within the scientific mainstream. Research indicates that hypnotising an individual may aid the formation of false memories,[18][19] and that hypnosis "does not help people recall events more accurately".[20] Medical hypnosis is often considered pseudoscience or quackery.[21]
^In 2015, the American Psychological Association Division 30 defined hypnosis as a "state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion". For critical commentary on this definition, see: Lynn SJ, Green JP, Kirsch I, Capafons A, Lilienfeld SO, Laurence JR, Montgomery GH (April 2015). "Grounding Hypnosis in Science: The "New" APA Division 30 Definition of Hypnosis as a Step Backward". The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 57 (4): 390–401. doi:10.1080/00029157.2015.1011472. PMID25928778. S2CID10797114.
^Encyclopædia Britannica, 2004: "a special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state".
^Kirsch I (October 1994). "Clinical hypnosis as a nondeceptive placebo: empirically derived techniques". The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 37 (2): 95–106. doi:10.1080/00029157.1994.10403122. PMID7992808.
^Kirsch, I., "Clinical Hypnosis as a Nondeceptive Placebo", pp. 211–25 in Kirsch, I., Capafons, A., Cardeña-Buelna, E., Amigó, S. (eds.), Clinical Hypnosis and Self-Regulation: Cognitive-Behavioral Perspectives, American Psychological Association, (Washington), 1999 ISBN1-55798-535-9
^Lynn S, Fassler O, Knox J (2005). "Hypnosis and the altered state debate: something more or nothing more?". Contemporary Hypnosis. 22: 39–45. doi:10.1002/ch.21.
^Coe WC, Buckner LG, Howard ML, Kobayashi K (July 1972). "Hypnosis as role enactment: focus on a role specific skill". The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 15 (1): 41–45. doi:10.1080/00029157.1972.10402209. PMID4679790.
^Orne, M. T. (1962). On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. American
Psychologist, 17, 776-783
^Segi, Sherril (2012). "Hypnosis for pain management, anxiety and behavioral disorders". The Clinical Advisor: For Nurse Practitioners. 15 (3): 80. ISSN1524-7317.
^Spanos, N. P., Spillane, J., & McPeake, J. D. (1976). Cognitive strategies and response to suggestion in hypnotic
and task-motivated subjects. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18, 252-262.
^Lynn, Steven Jay; Krackow, Elisa; Loftus, Elizabeth F.; Locke, Timothy G.; Lilienfeld, Scott O. (2014). "Constructing the past: problematic memory recovery techniques in psychotherapy". In Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Lynn, Steven Jay; Lohr, Jeffrey M. (eds.). Science and pseudoscience in clinical psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. pp. 245–275. ISBN9781462517510. OCLC890851087.
^Naudet, Florian; Falissard, Bruno; Boussageon, Rémy; Healy, David (2015). "Has evidence-based medicine left quackery behind?"(PDF). Internal and Emergency Medicine. 10 (5): 631–634. doi:10.1007/s11739-015-1227-3. ISSN1970-9366. PMID25828467. S2CID20697592. Treatments such as relaxation techniques, chiropractic, therapeutic massage, special diets, megavitamins, acupuncture, naturopathy, homeopathy, hypnosis and psychoanalysis are often considered as pseudoscience or quackery with no credible or respectable place in medicine, because in evaluation they have not been shown to work