An Altay shaman beating a gong. Music was one way that Siberian shamans entered trance.Stage hypnotists use trance to entertain crowds. Due to stage hypnotists' showmanship, many people believe hypnosis is a sort of mind control. However, the real power of stage hypnosis comes from people granting hypnotists the ability to take over their critical thinking.The desire to be the center of attention, having an excuse to violate their own inner fear suppressors and the pressure to please are thought to convince subjects to 'play along'.
Influencing crowds through common longings and yearnings by a demagogue is called "mass hypnosis." "Religious trance" can be brought about through music and dance.
Main article: Post-hypnotic suggestion
Post-hypnotic suggestion can be used to change people's behavior outside of the trance state. One author wrote that "a person can act, some time later, on a suggestion seeded during the hypnotic session...A hypnotherapist told one of his patients, who was also a friend: 'When I touch you on the finger you will immediately be hypnotized.' Fourteen years later, at a dinner party, he touched him deliberately on the finger and his head fell back against the chair.
Hypnotism has also been used in forensics, sports, education, physical therapy and rehabilitation. |
New AC Book helps Coaches use Psychometric Tools to Best Effect