After being hypnotized, can people really do whatever they are told to do? Don't be fooled by movies and TV shows

Author: ACC Psychology Popular Science Author

Reviewer: Yang Xiaoyang, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University

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A hypnotist can hypnotize ordinary people, causing them to lose themselves and only obey the hypnotist's instructions.

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Let me first state the conclusion. This is an artistic exaggeration in film and television works. Hypnosis in real life is not like this. A mysterious hypnotist shakes a pocket watch in front of a passerby and chants a spell: "You feel very sleepy, more and more sleepy..." Then the passerby falls into a deep sleep and even obeys the magician's words. This is the hypnosis we often see in film and television works.

In the movie Now You See Me, Merritt, one of the Four Horsemen, is a master hypnotist who can not only influence the other party's perception and memory through hypnosis, but can even hypnotize almost the entire bank's staff, making them see a series of false images in order to cover up the team members' infiltration into the bank and ultimately complete the theft.

In the public's impression, hypnosis seems to be a mysterious "magic". Can this "magic" really make people lose consciousness and fall completely under the control of the hypnotist? Will the hypnotized person forget the hypnosis process afterwards? Do hypnotists really have "magic powers" different from ordinary people? Next, let's take a look at what hypnosis is and what interesting misunderstandings people have about it.

What exactly is hypnosis?

From a psychological perspective, hypnosis refers to a psychotherapy technique in which the therapist often uses verbal suggestion, imagination guidance, etc. to allow the hypnotized person to shift his or her attention from the external environment to the internal experience, making it easier for the therapist to accept the advice given or change his or her thinking and behavior patterns.

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Therefore, hypnosis is not a mysterious or supernatural phenomenon, but a natural psychological state . People also experience similar states in their daily lives, such as meditation, concentration, fascination or flow state.

When people are in such a state, their brains process the information they receive more carefully, and psychological treatment becomes more effective. Therefore, hypnosis is often used to treat various mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Therefore, compared with the magical hypnosis in movies and TV shows, real hypnosis in life is mediocre.

Next, let’s talk about common misunderstandings about hypnosis.

Myth 1: The hypnotized person will allow the hypnotist to control them

In many movies and TV shows, hypnosis is often used to make people lose consciousness and allow them to be controlled by the hypnotist. No matter what the hypnotist says or suggests, the hypnotized person will obey unconditionally. A survey found that 49% of the public believe that hypnotized people cannot resist the hypnotist's instructions.

But in fact, hypnosis is not a method to confuse or control other people's thoughts and behaviors. The goal of the hypnotist is to help the hypnotized person to be more receptive to guidance and suggestions in the hypnotic state, so as to relieve the physical pain or psychological distress of the hypnotized person, rather than to control them.

Moreover, during the hypnosis process, the hypnotized person can still maintain a certain degree of self-awareness and is able to accept or reject the hypnotist's suggestions or instructions.

Many times, the hypnosis we see in movies and TV shows is one-sided manipulation, but in reality, hypnosis is a collaborative process. The hypnotist needs to establish a trusting relationship with the hypnotized person and requires the voluntary participation and cooperation of the hypnotized person. If the hypnotized person feels uneasy or unwilling to continue, they can interrupt the hypnotic state at any time.

Myth 2: Hypnosis puts people into a special unconscious state

Hypnosis is often mistakenly believed to be a "special state of physical relaxation and unconsciousness" in which the hypnotized person can go deep into his or her subconscious mind or fall into a trance similar to sleepwalking.

Although hypnosis is usually performed when people are relaxed, **relaxation is not a necessary factor for hypnosis. You can enter a hypnotic state even if your body is not relaxed. **Also, physical relaxation does not mean that you will lose control of your body, it just becomes less tense.

Similarly, hypnosis is not a "special state of unconsciousness", nor is it a state similar to sleep or sleepwalking. In fact, the hypnotized person is still in a waking state and can maintain a certain degree of consciousness and perception, and can observe and discover changes in the surrounding environment just like when awake.

Myth 3: Everyone can be hypnotized/hypnosis is impossible

Some people are deeply influenced by popular culture and think that hypnosis is scary and that hypnotists can hypnotize anyone they want. Some people also think that hypnosis is something made up out of thin air and is just a scam that does not actually exist. In fact, hypnosis is a therapeutic technique that some therapists claim to have used in clinical practice and have achieved certain results.

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Related research has found that different people have different susceptibility to hypnosis, that is, some people are more likely to enter a hypnotic state and are more receptive to the advice given by the hypnotist, while others are more resistant to the hypnotic process and experience. Survey data shows that the proportion of people with high or low susceptibility in the total population is between 15% and 20%, and the rest are of medium susceptibility.

Brain science research has also found that there are significant differences in the structure and function of the frontal lobe of the brain between people with high and low susceptibility, indicating that the ease with which each person can be hypnotized is indeed different.

Myth 4: Strong-willed people cannot be hypnotized

Some people believe that hypnosis is only suitable for those with weak wills, and that it is impossible to hypnotize a strong-willed person.

An early study in 1989 suggested that people's hypnotizability did not change over time without intervention. But a 2010 review found that at least 15 studies found that people could improve their hypnotizability through some hypnosis training program, with about 50% of participants changing from low to high hypnotizability, and the change lasted at least 2.5 years.

In addition, hypnotists can also change the effect of hypnosis through some behavioral cues, drugs and non-invasive brain stimulation. For example, in a controlled experiment, researcher David Wilson suggested to a group of subjects that the room they were in was turning red, and quietly made the room appear a light red, aiming to suggest that the subjects would experience any instructions from the hypnotist. Subsequent hypnotic susceptibility tests found that the susceptibility of this group of subjects was significantly higher.

Therefore, whether or not one can be hypnotized does not entirely depend on one's strong will, but rather on one's personal view of hypnosis and the influence one is exposed to.

Myth 5: Hypnotists have some kind of “magic power” or gift

There is a popular misconception that some hypnotists have superb skills, like a magician, who can hypnotize anyone. In a survey, 79% of the participants also believed that the effect of hypnosis depends on the ability of the hypnotist.

In fact, hypnosis does not require any special abilities. Most people can master the technique of hypnosis by receiving professional hypnosis skills training, which includes the theory, technology and ethical norms of hypnosis.

However, hypnosis can only be used by professionals who have undergone professional training and have certain specific certifications or qualifications. When conducting hypnosis treatment, hypnotists must follow the ethical standards stipulated by the country or region where they are located and obtain the informed consent of the person being hypnotized to ensure that hypnosis techniques can be applied safely and effectively.

Myth 6: Hypnosis can retrieve or manipulate memories

In many film and television works, hypnosis is often used to help the hypnotist retrieve long-forgotten experiences, even memories of past lives, or to unconsciously forget a certain memory, implant a non-existent memory, etc. For example, a survey found that as many as 55.4% of the American public believe that "hypnosis can be used to help witnesses accurately recall the details of a crime."

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**But in fact, the US courts do not recognize this kind of unreliable recollection evidence. **Dozens of academic studies have found that hypnotized people tend to exaggerate the reliability of the experiences they recall during hypnosis, and have many inaccurate or even false memories, which are often inconsistent.

We all know that most people don’t remember what happened when they were young, and our brains tend to forget these distant memories. Researchers have found that the childhood memories recalled by hypnotized people often do not match the characteristics of the corresponding age, and those who claim to remember the memories of their past lives often do not match the actual history.

Therefore, the effect of hypnosis on memory is almost entirely based on the imagination of the person involved, and there is currently no reliable research to prove this.

In short, hypnosis is not as magical as described in movies and TV shows. It is just an auxiliary technique that requires professional training to master, helping therapists better deal with people's mental health problems or relieve pain.

It should also be pointed out that hypnosis technology has not been widely recognized by the academic community. There are still quite a few studies that believe that hypnosis does not play a significant role in psychotherapy, or the effect is relatively small . Hypnosis therapy is also relatively niche in China. Therefore, if you encounter individuals or organizations that use hypnosis as a selling point, please be sure to keep your eyes open and carefully identify them.

in conclusion

The various magical effects of hypnosis are actually exaggerated artistic treatments in film and television works, and they never happen in real life.

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[2] Lynn, SJ, Kirsch, I., Terhune, DB, & Green, JP (2020). Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(6), 1253-1264.

[3] Landry, M., Lifshitz, M., & Raz, A. (2017). Brain correlates of hypnosis: A systematic review and meta-analytic exploration. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 81, 75-98.

[4] Valentine, KE, Milling, LS, Clark, LJ, & Moriarty, CL (2019). The efficacy of hypnosis as a treatment for anxiety: a meta-analysis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 67(3), 336-363.

[5] Thompson, T., Terhune, DB, Oram, C., Sharangparni, J., Rouf, R., Solmi, M., ... & Stubbs, B. (2019). The effectiveness of hypnosis for pain relief: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 85 controlled experimental trials. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 99, 298-310.

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