• -Hypnosis is a wakeful state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility
• with diminished peripheral awareness.
• Asklepios, Greek god of medicine, healing, and hypnosi,
• was said to oversee the treatment of sick people in "dream healing temples.
• "According to the American Psychological Association's Division 30, hypnosis may bring about "...changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior.
• " The hypnotic state may also facilitate change in the body: it has been successfully used as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome,
• As an alternative to chemical anaesthesia,and it has been studied as a way to soothe skin ailments.

Asklepios, Greek god of medicine, healing, and hypnosis, was said to oversee the treatment of sick people in "dream healing temples."According to the American Psychological Association's Division 30, hypnosis may bring about "...changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior." The hypnotic state may also facilitate change in the body: it has been successfully used as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, as an alternative to chemical anaesthesia,[and it has been studied as a way to soothe skin ailments.

Skeptics point out the difficulty distinguishing between hypnosis and the placebo effect, proposing that the state called hypnosis is

"so heavily reliant upon the effects of suggestion and belief that it would be hard to imagine how a credible placebo control could ever be devised for a hypnotism study."

Self-hypnosis is popularly used by people who want to quit smoking and reduce stress,while stage hypnosis can be used to persuade people to perform unusual public feats
Hypnosis has been studied in many clinical situations with varying degrees of success. It has been used as a painkiller,an adjunct to weight loss, a treatment of skin disease,and a way to soothe anxious surgical patients. It has also been used as part of psychological therapy, a method of habit control, a way to relax, and a tool to enhance sports performance.