Hypnotism

[Zephyr]

A brief story followed by the point...

So at our senior all night party, we had a hypnotist and I was one of the lucky 20 people to go up in front of everybody and get hypnotised. We sat in chairs and as we entered the hypnotic state, we all fell out of our chairs onto the gym floor once we were super relaxed. Everytime he told us to do something, we did it. For example: one time he told us that on the count of three, the person next to us would suddenly smell VERY good. It happened. Then we told us it would get 1,000 times stronger, and it did. This girl Jordanne and I were all over each other, smelling each other's hair, shoulders and neck (it looked like we were making out, lol). And in another instant, we were all supposed to be sexy super models 1-10 and strut our stuff when he called our number out. As soon as he told us to stop, we automatically dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Then he gave me the power to put people to sleep by touching them on the nose that were also in the show and it worked. It was weird, but cool =)

So the question is... do you think hypnotism really works?

Keep in mind: when hypnotised, you are only in a highly suggestable state but aware of what's going on, and you have the power to come out of it. Also you cannot be forced to do anything against your moral will while hypnotised.

[The Batman]

I believe in it and I've always wanted to get hypnotised

[george]

Same here :D I believe that it could totally work and I wanna be hypnotised someday.

[Bobby]

I think it's real...but not magic. Just a trick of the human mind.

[kitkat92]

I dnt have a clue how it works but i no i wud luv 2 be able 2 do it and wud like 2 be Hypnotised

[byee]

Steph, there's something about your school. First, the teacher who actually had students convinced they were similiar to mass murderers, and now hypnotists at proms. Don't the adults there have any judgement?

Anyway, hypnotism isn't magic. As you discovered, it's a very deep state of relaxation, and when people are in that state, they're more suggestible. That's it, no hocus pocus. You did what was asked because you wanted to, it was really quite conscious.

Another myth about hypnotism is that you can be hypnotised to do things you ordinarily wouldn't do, like maybe mass murder (!) or walking around naked on stage, etc. This, too is false, if you aren't likely to do something in 'real' life, then you cannot be convinced to do it outside of your will.

It's a parlour trick.

[Zephyr]

It wasn't prom,
It was the senior all night party,
And it wans't poor judgement,
It was for fun because we requested it.
And you've blown the mass murderer thing out of porportion,
He wouldn't have done it if he thought we'd take it personally,
We're AP students...a little more responsible than the average student.

Anywho...

It was all concious effort in the highly suggestable state, yes.

[redcar]

Most people are very suggestible. It's human nature really. Some people are just very good at doing it. Although the power of suggestion is a very scary thing.

Advertisement is a version of it. Companies spend billions on it. Yet have you ever watched an ad and though "Fuck I need to go out and buy that product now!!!". All these little messages planted in your head. Then combine them with other things, such as in store displays can trigger you to remember and you suddenly need to buy that product.

Anyway that was a tangent.

Hypnosis I find fascinating.

[Techno Monster]

I don`t know if i think it is real or not, I think that anything can happen.

[Antares]

Wow that sounds cool!
Well if it happened to you then it must be real!
I don't know much about hypnotism but I do know that sometimes things can go awry so yeah. That sounds like a cool thing. I will be incorporating that into ideas for our school in the future :D

[Medical Kid]

its so interesting! its tapping into ones sub conscious and making the person feel so psychosomatic (meaning they believe so strongly that something is happening to there body, that it actually does!) but the question is.......how would one learn it?

[LifeIsMyJoke]

I was always very sceptical about hypnotism, then one year at the Royal Brisbane Show, our school toured a hypnotists act, and he called me down.

Its funny because I can actually remember what I was doing, but I was in such a blissful state of mind that I felt I could do anything I want: the result - me hopping around on one leg singing the national anthem at the top of my voice, with 5000 people cacking themselves. Not a proud moment in the life of Adam!

[Camazotz]

IMO hypnosism isnt magic. The human brain can be easily persuaded to do things when tricked.