Before I tell you about hypnosis, let?s get a few myths out of the way. Hypnosis is not a cure-all, or a magical power. It isn?t going to make you a millionaire or let you ?cast spells? to make women fall madly in love with you. It?s not a science, but it?s not a complete load of rubbish either.
So what is hypnosis? Basically, it is the power of suggestion. Hypnotists use relaxation to put you into a more suggestible state, where you can both answer questions about what lies in the deeper part of your mind and have new suggestions planted there. This is useful for many things ? most famously, it can be quite reliably used to treat irrational phobias, by finding the source of the phobia in the memory and attempting to bypass it.
However, many scientists say that hypnotism should not be relied upon. Although it is often successful, it also has a high failure rate when it comes to curing conditions. When using hypnotism on patients to extract repressed memories, it can often have the effect of causing them simply to invent new ones ? and, worse, to believe them as if they were true. This can have a deeply traumatising effect on the patient, not to mention introducing miscarriages of justice if evidence from hypnotism is admitted in a court of law. Several times, hypnotised witnesses or victims have truly believed that things happen they said, only for irrefutable evidence to the contrary to emerge.
Used sensibly, hypnosis can be a useful tool. It is important, however, to use it only as one step in any course of treatment, and not to rely on it too heavily at any time. You should also make sure to avoid irresponsible hypnotism, such as that which promises to uncover repressed memories or even past life experiences, as you could do irrevocable damage to your mind.
