What Is Hypnosis? Describe the Psychological and Physical Aspects of Hypnosis and Discuss the Role of Relaxation in Hypnotherapy.

2586 Words11 Pages
Chrysalis HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT No.1 Essay (2495 words) Essay Title; What is hypnosis? Describe the psychological and physical aspects of hypnosis and discuss the role of relaxation in Hypnotherapy. Introduction Hypnosis is a phenomenon that has been practised and described in different forms from ancient civilisations up to the present day. It is a phenomenon that has been used both for entertainment and for therapy, and in the last two centuries, by some practitioners for both at the same time, in the same way that operating theatres were used for both surgery and as a diversion for the spectators. Hypnosis continues to have high entertainment value as demonstrated by celebrity practitioners such as Paul McKenna and Derren Brown. In the public imagination and collective consciousness it continues to have an image of mystery, partly from the stagecraft of McKenna & Brown, and also more occult associations generated by films such as Svengali & Trilby, (Waterfield 2004) and folk memories such as the 'evil eye'. Given these frivolous and murky associations, the man-in-the-street can be forgiven for being wary of the use of hypnosis for good. Definition of Hypnosis Hypnosis is a phenomenon that is much easier to describe than define. There is even disagreement about whether hypnosis is an altered state of mind. (Waterfield 2004) Those who believe that there is no altered state argue that the labels 'trance' and 'dissociation' are misleading, because they are descriptions of the results of responsiveness and compliance, which are simply normal psychological phenomena. They also aver that all behaviours that occur in hypnosis are within normal human abilities. Whatever the merits of the 'no state' hypothesis, there is scientific evidence from EEG studies (see below) that our states of mind and consciousness are not fixed, and vary during normal
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