Covert hypnosis? How do you protect yourself from it?

[GeorginaS]

That's an interesting test list, zooby, because it sounds similar to the check-list run through by every stage magician I've ever seen perform. We had a stage hypnotist perform at one of our corporate Christmas parties, and the people from my office who participated were a) hams and uninhibited to begin with and b) reported afterwards that they were in a light trance state at the beginning of the performance but it didn't sustain throughout, even though they continued to participate. Again, all anecdotal.

The private sessions I attended that had a definitive purpose, no, didn't feature any of that "responsiveness" chart testing. I've watched documentaries discussing more modern testing involving hypnosis that's applied for practical purposes. It strikes me, though, that beliefs about hypnosis in 1938 may be out of date and fairly antiquated.

But a straight answer to your question: no, there was no suggestibility assessment administered.

 

[zoobyshoe]

But a straight answer to your question: no, there was no suggestibility assessment administered.

How do you think you'd rate, say on #9? If the hypnotist directed you to hear the sound of a fly buzzing, would you be able to hear that so vividly it would be indistinguishable from a real fly?

 

[GeorginaS]

How do you think you'd rate, say on #9? If the hypnotist directed you to hear the sound of a fly buzzing, would you be able to hear that so vividly it would be indistinguishable from a real fly?

I can't answer that because he didn't make any attempts at redirecting my attention or calling my attention to external stimulus.

The best way that I can describe the hypnosis that I participated in was him aiding me in relaxing to the point of achieving a meditative state (now, please, I'm not being literal, here, I'm simply using words that I think can illustrate the situation) and, once I achieved that state, he then had a discussion with my "subconscious mind" to help me with behaviour modification. Once we were finished, I haven't ever experienced such an intense feeling of internal warmth and satisfaction and comfort and general sense of well being. And the behaviour modification worked, too.