While in a state of hypnosis, the client is not powerless, or paralyzed, and is fully aware of where they are and what they’re doing. They can challenge the authority of the Hypnotist or Hypnotherapist at any time and can choose to open their eyes and leave the hypnoidal state at any moment.
No one ever gets stuck in hypnosis as the client can choose to leave hypnosis at any time. If the hypnotherapist were to leave the room and fail to return, the client may fall asleep for a brief moment or simply open their eyes after not hearing the voice of the hypnotherapist. If an emergency should occur the client would recognize the urgency of the situation and return to full alertness.
Much of what is thought to be true about hypnosis comes from what we’ve seen in movies or read in fiction novels. The hypnoidal state is actually a natural state of mind which everyone experiences multiple times daily and has nothing to do with magic, wizardry, or the occult. While there are some that consider their hypnotherapy results magical, this is only because the negative elements within themselves that they were fighting with are gone within a short time.
While amnesia can occur in very rare cases, people generally remember everything that occurred while they were hypnotized. However, hypnotherapy can have a significant effect on memory. Post-hypnotic amnesia can lead an individual to forget certain things that occurred before or during hypnosis, though this effect is generally limited and only temporary. The removal of memory attached to an event in the past is recognized by most professionals within the field as unethical.
Hypnotherapists have no special or mystical powers. However, a competently trained hypnotherapist is able to use their knowledge to guide the client into a state of hypnosis, through the use of different types of induction. Once the hypnoidal state is achieved, the hypnotherapist will then use different therapeutic techniques to affect positive change in that client’s life.
Hypnosis requires voluntary participation on the part of the client. The hypnotherapist can never make you surrender your own will or make you do anything that is outside your moral code. Usually, a person in the hypnoidal state already determines their own level of participation in the process. Therefore, if a suggestion given is unacceptable, it will simply be rejected and will usually cause the client to instantly come out of hypnosis.
The opposite is actually true. Hypnosis requires intelligence as well as the capability to focus, concentrate, and create vivid imagery within the mind. Motivation and cooperation are also necessary for optimum success. The weak-minded will struggle to focus, concentrate, and create vivid imagery within their mind. This does not mean they cannot be hypnotized, but only that it may take them longer to enter a deep state of hypnosis.
The strong-minded are those who are intelligent, with the capability to focus, concentrate, and create vivid imagery within their minds. This is what it takes to easily go into a deep state of hypnosis. A person may choose not to allow themselves to be induced into hypnosis by not following the suggestions of the Hypnotherapist due to fear of being controlled, or simply the fear of the unknown. Once this fear is overcome the client can then be easily induced into hypnosis.
In the hypnoidal state you will only reveal what you choose, and it is possible to edit or lie while in a state of hypnosis. If this were possible there would be no need for courts, law enforcement would simply hypnotize the suspect to tell the truth, or confess.
The hypnoidal state is a natural state of awareness that bypasses the conscious critical faculty while selective thinking is maintained. For example, when we get immersed in a movie or a book and begin to feel all the emotional feelings intended by the writer, or when you become so lost in thought that you did not hear the conversation in front of you, you are in a state of hypnosis. Hypnosis is a state of mind which everyone experiences multiple times daily.