# Anyone else here into hypnosis? Ask an amateur hypnotist anything **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2016, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046 "2016-11-15T09:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/41 "2016-11-26T03:23:06Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Seems dangerously unreliable and prone to failure. Getting people to do things they really don’t want to do with hypnosis is quite difficult. Getting people to forget things is unreliable, particularly if it’s something quite nasty. I… would not think this is a good idea, even setting aside morality, given how likely it is to fail. > > Here’s a question for you guys. Anyone here interested in _being_ hypnotized? I’m interested in being hypnotized. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/42 "2016-11-28T10:05:30Z")
> [@Lee\_Q](#): > > I’m interested in being hypnotized. Just shoot me a PM with your skype. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/43 "2016-11-28T18:14:35Z")
Lets say a person has to study all night for an exam. Can you put them in a trance for say half an hour so they will awaken and then not need to sleep? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/44 "2016-11-28T23:38:05Z")
I’ve wondered how this situation would have transpired… Back in college, a hypnotist had a few students on stage, one of his early routines was to put a $50 bill on stage and ask each subject to try and pick it up, if they could put it in their pocket, it was theirs… Each subject picked up the bill, as they lifted the bill, the hypnotist said “that’s one hundred pounds”, every subject’s hand dropped to the stage like the bill suddenly weighed 100 lbs… I wondered how one of my friends would have fared, none of the people at my table fell for any tricks beyond his “I bite into a lemon and you taste it too” power of suggestion trick, oh did I forget to mention this friend is from England? Would his mind transform the $50 to a £100, and allow him to pocket it, or would he read the pounds as weight, not currency denomination? It’d be hilarious if the hypnotist would be out the cash from a simple difference in word meanings ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/45 "2016-11-29T07:14:55Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Lets say a person has to study all night for an exam. Can you put them in a trance for say half an hour so they will awaken and then not need to sleep? A bit outside my wheelhouse, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Your body and mind would still very much get extremely tired. The best you could do is give them some repetitive trigger that goes off whenever they’re about to nod off, like a collar that gave them a shock whenever they nodded off. But making it so that they don’t feel tired at all? I don’t think you could do that with hypnosis. > [@MacTech](#): > > I’ve wondered how this situation would have transpired… > > Back in college, a hypnotist had a few students on stage, one of his early routines was to put a $50 bill on stage and ask each subject to try and pick it up, if they could put it in their pocket, it was theirs… > > Each subject picked up the bill, as they lifted the bill, the hypnotist said “that’s one hundred pounds”, every subject’s hand dropped to the stage like the bill suddenly weighed 100 lbs… > > I wondered how one of my friends would have fared, none of the people at my table fell for any tricks beyond his “I bite into a lemon and you taste it too” power of suggestion trick, oh did I forget to mention this friend is from England? > > Would his mind transform the $50 to a £100, and allow him to pocket it, or would he read the pounds as weight, not currency denomination? > > It’d be hilarious if the hypnotist would be out the cash from a simple difference in word meanings You’d think the hypnotist would spend more time reinforcing the idea of how heavy it is, to avoid this kind of misunderstanding. Really depends on the phrasing, and how suggestible the subject is. Seems like a very risky trick to do if you’re not using ringers. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/46 "2016-11-29T09:35:43Z")
So let’s say that somebody learned a piano piece very well, played it at a recital, and then didn’t play the piano for 40 years. If that person were hypnotized, could they sit down and play this piece? Let’s say it’s something relatively short and simple, and that in general, they think they don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/47 "2016-12-03T20:54:25Z")
So many hypnotists advertise abilities like that handshake video. They claim they can hypnotize someone against their will - or rather before they realize enough to protest. Is it possible to somehow train a person _not_ to be susceptible to that? (Why yes, I do have a young daughter, how’d you guess?) Brought to you [by this horrific story.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/ohio-lawyer-hypnotized-six-female-clients-then-he-molested-them/?utm_term=.b9604c3c5a1f) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/48 "2016-12-08T10:11:39Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > So let’s say that somebody learned a piano piece very well, played it at a recital, and then didn’t play the piano for 40 years. If that person were hypnotized, could they sit down and play this piece? Let’s say it’s something relatively short and simple, and that in general, they think they don’t remember it. I don’t know. I am pretty sure that at that point it just wouldn’t be in their heads any more, so no attempt to “get it back” would be likely to succeed. > [@TruCelt](#): > > So many hypnotists advertise abilities like that handshake video. They claim they can hypnotize someone against their will - or rather before they realize enough to protest. > > Is it possible to somehow train a person _not_ to be susceptible to that? (Why yes, I do have a young daughter, how’d you guess?) > > Brought to you [by this horrific story.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/ohio-lawyer-hypnotized-six-female-clients-then-he-molested-them/?utm_term=.b9604c3c5a1f) I don’t know. It is, however, very difficult to fall into trance when you don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/49 "2016-12-08T15:37:52Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > So many hypnotists advertise abilities like that handshake video. They claim they can hypnotize someone against their will - or rather before they realize enough to protest. > > Is it possible to somehow train a person _not_ to be susceptible to that? (Why yes, I do have a young daughter, how’d you guess?) > > Brought to you [by this horrific story.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/ohio-lawyer-hypnotized-six-female-clients-then-he-molested-them/?utm_term=.b9604c3c5a1f) I suspect that the person in the handshake video referenced above was already subjected to formal or informal induction and was primed to “go under” with that handshake. That, or it was staged. Yeah, that story is disturbing. Wasn’t aware someone could be abused against their will like that, even when hypnotized. There may have been other factors involved. You can’t really be hypnotized against your will, as has been said. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/50 "2016-12-08T20:59:53Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I remember talking to my psych professor during a class break about this. I mentioned that I had difficulty speaking impromptu in front of a group. He said “Do you mind if I try something?” I agreed. He placed his index finger about six inches in front of my eyes, asked me to focus on it, then told me to follow it upward, even after in disappeared from view, i.e., trying to see it through the top of my head. Next thing I knew, he told me to open my eyes and he was standing about six feet away. “Very interesting”, he says. “We’ll try something later in class, if you agree.” (I didn’t) > > What do you suppose the “Very interesting” comment was about? Were you still wearing pants? That’s the first thing I would have checked. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/51 "2016-12-09T04:33:34Z")
I’ve read in the UK they use hypnotherapy for dementia and alzheimer’s patients. I was going to ask my Mother’s gerontologist to see if she can write a script for her to have some sessions of hypnotherapy to help relieve her anxiety when she forgets where she puts stuff. (And if it doesn’t work she’ll enjoy the attention.) Have you heard about hypnosis on dementia patients? ---
**Author:** ![lazurm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@lazurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazurm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/52 "2017-12-26T21:14:50Z")
If an atheist was open minded to belief (understands its strengths as well as its limits) can he/she be hypnotized to believe (ie, need) God and associate religious rituals with something emotionally meaningful to the point where they end up changing their point of view in favor of religion, over time? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/53 "2017-12-26T23:37:05Z")
> [@Magicicada](#): > > . . . Is it possible to use hypnosis to accurately retrieve information that has been forgotten? I’ve been trying, for several years, to write about a particular time in my life. . . . Things you can try on your own include exposing yourself to an identifiable smell from that time and listening to music associated with it. Pictures may help, too. Were you watching TV then? Look for clips and stills online. See what you can put together, even old ads and commercials. Maybe one thing will lead to another. Is revisiting the location possible? Maybe you could go for a stroll on Google Earth. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/54 "2017-12-27T14:39:09Z")
When we see a hypnotist act at a comedy club… Are the subjects really hypnotized into clucking like chickens, or are they just playing along with a gag. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/55 "2017-12-27T15:29:26Z")
> [@lazurm](#): > > If an atheist was open minded to belief (understands its strengths as well as its limits) can he/she be hypnotized to believe (ie, need) God and associate religious rituals with something emotionally meaningful to the point where they end up changing their point of view in favor of religion, over time? Probably not. I’ve seen a very accomplished stage hypnotist do all the usual tricks with what looked like very good subjects. Then he asked one to give him his wallet. The subject said no without hesitation. I’m not an expert - and I find it difficult to believe in hypnosis even though I’ve observed it many times - but every account I’ve heard hold that non-trivial behaviors are difficult to influence without the subject’s own volition. Trying to get someone to quit smoking through hypnosis may yield results, for example, but not overwhelming success. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/56 "2017-12-27T16:25:16Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > When we see a hypnotist act at a comedy club… Are the subjects really hypnotized into clucking like chickens, or are they just playing along with a gag. I guess I can’t answer authoritatively as either a hypnotist or subject, but I was at a performance where my wife and a few of her coworkers were chosen and hypnotized. I know for a fact they were not coached ahead of time, nor did they play along as stooges. They were definitely “put under” and did silly things which they did not recall doing afterward. Very funny. A few people did not get hypnotized and were released to go back to their chairs by the hypnotist. ---
**Author:** ![SeniorCitizen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@SeniorCitizen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeniorCitizen007)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/57 "2017-12-27T17:45:48Z")
I have a lazy left eye … I 've never been able to read with it. Opticians did not seem to really understand how this was influencing me … so I sought out the most highly qualified one in Wales (where I was living at tbe time). After acting in what I thought was a ratther strange way he placed a patch over what I thought was my bad eye and asked me to read the board … which I did, no problem. He then smiled and took the patch from over my good eye. The instant I realised that I’d been reading, with very good vision, with my bad eye, it reverted back to its usual poor image state. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046/58 "2017-12-27T20:49:41Z")
There seems to be a general agreement that a hypnotized subject cannot be made to do anything against his own morals or ethics or otherwise really bad. What prevents this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-here-into-hypnosis-ask-an-amateur-hypnotist-anything/772046.md?page=2)