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CaringandReal -> RE: Hypnnsis (7/24/2010 6:55:41 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: realwhiteknight
No offense but I don't believe it. People who think or act like they've been hypnotized *want* to believe they were. It may be therapeutic in that someone becomes more open to listening to the hypnotist. But hypnosis is bullshit.
No offence taken. But I've expereinced it--repeatedly. It's definitely an altered state of consciousness. Not a hammerhead blow, such as a drug-induced change of consciousness, but very clearly defined and different from normal, everyday consciousness for me. (As an aside, a state of consciousness I have personally experienced but even so still find very hard to believe exists is anesthesia. It's such an unreal experience: one second you're awake; the next second you're awake but hours or even days have passed. The disorientation from that experience, the disbelief that I could have lost so much time in a blink of an eye never stops amazing me. Some newer types of anesthesia give you dreams, and they are considerably less disorienting--perhaps because it feels like natural sleep: my mind faintly remembers having done something during the blackout period.)
As a general statement, when someone hasn't experienced something, and especially if this something goes against beliefs they hold, they deny that the experience exists. ("I am the Head of Balliol College..." ;) ) Some people deny power-exchange relationships exist for this reason: they've never experienced them and also don't believe they "should" exist. I don't know where you stand on hypnosis, except that you don't believe it exists as a separate condition, but it seems to me that you are rationalizing away something you haven't experience with as due to some other (and perhaps more acceptable to youself?) cause. This is common human behavior, and we all do it, so I really can't throw stones. This one came to my attention because I have had extensive experience with the state that many (you aren't the only one I've heard this from) claim doesn't exist.
There was a time when the existence of fibromyalgia (as an actual experience that individuals suffered--I'm not talking about it credibility or acceptance as a named or defined syndrome) was treated similarly. Likewise, chronic fatigue syndrome. Initially, people complaining of these conditions were told they were hysterically over-imagining the pain or, in the case of CFS, just lazy and using this supposed syndrome as an excuse to get out of doing their fair share of work. Opinions have changed about both of these experiences, luckily for the sufferers, as redefining these situations as real and not imagined meant they were worth alleviating, worth finding causes for them as well as relief.
I don't know if opinions will change about hypnosis, though. It isn't particularly critical or life threatening that some people do not believe it exists. I expect it will just remain a fringe interest which not too many people have direct experience with or understanding of. That's perfectly fine with me as long as there is no movement to outlaw or ban it due to its alleged "non-existence" (How would you ban something that doesn't exist? I am not sure, but I do have quite a bit of confidence that our complex modern codes of law would be more than equal to such a trivial task!)
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