Supplemental: The Problems of Hypnosis

Updated Thursday, July 7, 2022 at 12:33 AM.

We do speak negatively of hypnosis because it is a dangerous practice, seeing it as a means for demons to implant demonic ideas and suggestions while hypnotized, and possibly to possess the person. Having met a possessed person once, I am certainly leary of this happening. However, even if we ignore this possibility, hypnosis should still concern us deeply. I have personally witnessed how hypnosis can easily and permanently misfire and there are examples where unethical psychiatrists have misused it. So there are good reasons to distrust its use.

False Claims

Induced hypnosis is often compared to "self-hypnosis" in which you enter into a relaxed, unfocussed state, but this is not a proper comparison. "Self-hypnosis" rarely puts you to sleep and never makes you suggestible. In fact, the term itself is not accurate. Induced hypnosis, on the other hand, bypasses your hippocampus, taking away your ability to evaluate things said to you as well as your ability to filter your own thoughts and actions or even your ability to self-actualize. You are completely at the mercy of anyone in your immediate environment.

Some literature claims that you cannot be made to do anything during hypnosis that you have a strong aversion to, but then belies such claim by cavieting that some who "wish" they had such high morals turn out not to in reality and may thus succumb to an immoral suggestion. In other words, yes, a person can be made to break God's laws even though they would otherwise not be inclined to just because they normally have to resist temptation. But the fact is, because your hippocampus is shut down, your brain will actually allow you to do anything which it will let you dream about because it also shuts down in sleep. In sleep, we might dream about doing things we are normally repulsed by; even things we would never tell others about. In fact, such could be based on a fear or be representative of something entirely unrelated, or triggered by a single word, or random succession of words, said that day.

It is also said that you cannot be asked, while in a hypnotic state, to do something after you wake that your hippocampus would be inclined to filter. However, regardless of whether we accept that claim or not, you can be asked to do things while in a hypnotic state that you would otherwise filter as wrong. Even your memory of ever being in the state, and whatever happened in that state, can be blocked by the hypnotizer. Additionally, your thinking can also be altered so that you may come to different conclusions after hypnosis, changing how you respond to input. Thus it can fundamentally change how you cope with circumstances or how you interpret and respond to input from others and your environment, even if the suggestion causes cognitive dissonance.

Quick Hacking

When a person is doing a low function task that they typically do on autopilot, they are in a state of increased suggestability. This may be while cooking a usual meal, repetitive office tasks or listening to relaxing music. Thus, a hypnotist can easily induce hypnosis while the person is performing such a task.

A keyword can be used to induce hypnotic susceptibility in anyone who has been hypnotized. Hypnotists use this to prime the subject for hypnotism and suggestibility. Stating a phrase with the keyword in the hypnotist’s actual voice, prompts the person's mind to switch into the suggestive state.

Dissociative identity disorder is a rare mental illness in which a person is said to create an identity to escape into under circumstances that are difficult for the core personality to address, each with a different name and a personality capable of coping with specific circumstances. Usually this involves three distinct identities (The core personality and two others), though a few have been known to create over 100 identities. The creation of these personalities is a coping mechanism for some who have undergone severe trauma or threat.

But now a hypnotist will often create a personality in the hypnotized person that makes it easier to access the hypnotic state at any time by requesting to speak to that identity. They will give this identity a unique name and connect it to a facet of the hypnotized person's personality or period in their life. So the hypnotist has created a backdoor key to access the person's mind by inducing dissociative identity disorder. Does this sound healthy? Would you want anyone to have this kind of easy access to hacking your unconscious mind?

Bad Effects

Many negative post-hypnotic effects have been reported that include headaches (common even during hypnosis), dizziness, drowsiness, cognitive distortions, confusion, increased anxiety and depression, related dreams, ticks, new unusual habits, convulsions, episodes of spontaneous hypnotism, implanted or altered memories, catalepsy (vegetable), increased psychosis, and even spontaneous sexual inhibition or attraction to the hypnotizer (without the need for such suggestion). Casualties (persons damaged this way) in a clinical setting are still higher than half (around 13%) that of stage entertainment, which is at 25%. There have even been deaths and long term consequences, though rare. Most symptoms wear off with time (usually around 3 weeks), but permanent issues are still over 2% (which I have witnessed). In my research at Google Scholar, the hypnotic state itself has been compared to schizophrenia by hypnotherapists. Even the death rate of COVID-19 was less than 2% at its peak and still the entire world shut down. Even invasive physical surgeries have a lower average casualty rate and a comparable rate for brain tumor surgery.

So the claims about your safety are not just exaggerated, but an outright lie. Letting someone else influence your mind without your awareness is a trust no one should put in anyone. Humans are not only fallible, but also sinners. Giving any human that kind of power, without the infallible wisdom necessary to wield it properly, is dangerous. Putting our mind into the hands of those who could lead you away from Jehovah with a single suggestion or misspoken word, or add to your problems instead of curing them (as I witnessed), is unwise.

The Bible's View

More importantly than these things, however, regardless of how innocent psychiatrists make it out to be "in the right hands", there are also scriptural reasons to avoid hypnosis. Hypnotism is actually an ancient practice that goes back to before Avicenna of Persia (11th century BCE). The Bible calls hypnotism in Hebrew "keh'-shef" (כֶּשֶׁף), often translated "sorcery", meaning someone who induces an hypnotic state (as with a seductive voice or drugs), whether in themselves or someone else (compare Nahum 3:4), and it speaks of it with other demonic practices, saying that the very one who practices it is detestable to Jehovah. (Deut. 18:10-12) It also says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are advantageous. All things are lawful for me, but I will not let myself be controlled by anything." (2Co 6:12) Obviously, then, we follow Paul's example and avoid letting ourselves be controlled by the practice of hypnotism. Our autonomy is vitally important in the Scriptures. There is a reason why some destructive cults practice hypnotism. We must always be aware of our choices. The path is forever before us and we must continually choose the road to life in order to receive life.—De 30:19; Jer 8:3.

If at any time you undergo hypnotism, then you sacrifice your autonomy to the hands of someone else. Do you want to cease being your own person and mindlessly let someone else do your thinking? Someone who might be: an atheist? A disgruntled former member? A recruiter for a destructive cult? A hater of Jehovah's people? A violent person? A consulter of spirit mediums? A demonized person? That is what hypnosis is. You can never know the other person well enough to know that they would not do bad. Just like you never know who could be a child molester, you never know who would seek to manipulate you for their own ends. We certainly never want to make ourselves susceptible to demons.

For detailed discussions of our views on hypnotism, see the July 8 2003 Awake!, pp. 26-27, the September 8, 1974 Awake!, pp. 27-28 and May 22, 1965 Awake!, pp. 8-12.

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