Definitions of Hypnosis
WHAT IS HYPNOSIS?
There is no definitive answer to this as there are many different theories about what hypnosis is. I believe Hypnosis is a natural state everyone accesses when daydreaming, watching TV, driving, and reading and many other times we have a focused attention.
Below are some definitions so that you can begin to understand it better.
HYPNOSIS DEFINITIONS
Estabrooks, Hypnotism, 1943
Hypnotism is simply exaggerated suggestibility.
The Hypnotism Act, 1952
“Hypnotism” includes hypnotism, mesmerism and any similar act or process which produces or is intended to produce in any person any form of induced sleep or trance in which the susceptibility of the mind of that person to suggestion or direction is increased or intended to be increased but does not include hypnotism, mesmerism or any similar act or process which is self-induced”
BMA, ‘Medical use of Hypnotism’, 1955
“A temporary condition of altered attention in the subject which may be induced by another person and in which a variety of phenomena may appear spontaneously or in response to verbal or other stimuli”
“These phenomena include alterations in consciousness and memory, increased susceptibility to suggestion, and the production in the subject of responses and ideas unfamiliar to him in his usual state of mind. Further, phenomena such as anaesthesia, paralysis and rigidity of muscles, and vasomotor changes can be produced and removed in the hypnotic state”
Milton Erickson,
“The induction of a peculiar psychological state which permits the subject to re-associate and reorganize his inner psychological complexities in a way suitable to the unique items of his own inner psychological experiences”
Dave Elman
“The bypass of the critical faculties and the establishment of selective acceptable ideas, concepts and”
The British Medical Association (BMA)
First recognised the genuineness of hypnosis and its therapeutic benefits back in 1892, then again following a more thorough report in 1955. The following, rather technical, medical definition of hypnosis was proposed by their committee of experts: A temporary condition of altered attention in the subject which may be induced by another person and in which a variety of phenomena may appear spontaneously or in response to verbal or other stimuli. These phenomena include alterations in consciousness and memory, increased susceptibility to suggestion, and the production in the subject of responses and ideas unfamiliar to him in his usual state of mind. Further, phenomena such as anaesthesia, paralysis and rigidity of muscles, and vasomotor changes can be produced and removed in the hypnotic state. [BMA, 'Medical use of Hypnotism', BMJ 1955]
Hypnotherapy which is combined with integrative psychotherapy is known as ‘hypnopsychotherapy.’
Hypno-psychotherapy is officially recognised as an established model of psychotherapy by the UK Council for Psychotherapy the lead body for psychotherapy in the UK. Hypno-psychotherapy is also recognised at an international level by the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP), a fact formalised in the Strasbourg Declaration on Psychotherapy (1990), an international protocol whose signatories are thereby committed to respect the multiplicity of psychotherapy models, including hypno-psychotherapy. The UKCP are signatories of the Declaration, as are lead psychotherapy bodies in many other countries around the world.
