# Do you think you could be hypnotized? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753 "2008-09-22T23:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/21 "2008-09-23T20:31:50Z")
I don’t believe hypnotism exists, except as a type of relaxation, or social contract between the performer and person being “hypnotised.” So no, I don’t believe I can be hypnotised. I have seen performance type hypnostists many years ago and was never close to feeling anything when they tested the audience. I was trying to do exactly what they said and was not resisting in any way. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/22 "2008-09-23T20:34:43Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/23 "2008-09-23T20:35:00Z")
I never thought I could be hypnotized, until I was. I went to a qualified hypnotherapist for weight loss. It ultimately didn’t last, but not becuase I wasn’t hypnotized, but rather because I stopped going and I didn’t like what he was telling me about food and my relation to it. I’ll go another step and even say he was right and I was wrong, but since I didn’t want to hear it, it didn’t matter. As for being hypnotized, I still remember thinking NO WAY, till he told me my arm was too heavy to lift and I wouldn’t be able to lift it. Believe me, I tried. I really tried. I couldn’t lift it until he told me I was again able to. So, yeah, I’ve been hypnotized. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/24 "2008-09-23T20:50:35Z")
I don’t think I could be hypnotized, but I’ve never had the opportunity. Wouldn’t be likely to try it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/25 "2008-09-23T20:53:37Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > The more I think about it…the harder it is to picture myself ever being able to be hypnotized. I think my mind and thoughts would get into the way every time and it would keep making it impossible to go under. I go into trance quite easily if I’m relaxed and trusting of the person. I was hypnotized once by a professional hypnotist (I was looking to lose weight) and was told I went deeper than some of her clients who’d been coming to her for months. I was aware the entire time, however, and the hypnotist could not have made me do anything against my will. I didn’t follow up on the sessions… I seem to remember we had some financial issue come up that precluded it. Here’s where I sound freaky-deak, and this may get a little more detailed than the OP is wanting, but there are levels of hypnosis and trance and a person can learn control over each. I participated in several guided meditations in the past where I went to such a deep level of self-hypnosis/relaxation/whatever that it took me some time to come back to full awareness. On one occasion it really frightened me, and on another it frightened the woman leading the meditation. It got to a point where I wouldn’t participate in any guided meditation unless I knew the leader very well and knew what imagery they would use. I did a workshop at a festival with a great guy who helped me learn a technique to keep a small speck of conscious control during these “adventures,” and I haven’t had a problem since. Of course, this is back when I was going to pagan festivals regularly and practicing and training within an active coven. That all fell by the wayside a few years back, and now I simply find the mechanics of it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/26 "2008-09-23T21:05:15Z")
I was supposedly hypnotized, at a young age. Once. For about twenty minutes (seriously!) The purpose was to help with a childhood illness. From my perspective I remember sitting in his office while he did the whole “relaxy talk” thing. As tends to happen when people croon relaxingly about nothing in particular when you’re miserable and exhausted - I fell asleep. Woke up at the end of the session. The hypnotist swore, in response to my claim that I’d merely been sleeping, that during the session I remained lucid and responsive. My response when I was but a wee lad: :rolleyes: My response now: :rolleyes: And what a douchebag lying to a kid like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/27 "2008-09-23T21:07:18Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > I was hypnotized once by a professional hypnotist (I was looking to lose weight) and was told I went deeper than some of her clients who’d been coming to her for months. I was aware the entire time, however, and the hypnotist could not have made me do anything against my will. I don’t understand. If you’re fully aware, and the hypnotist can’t make you do anything, then how can that be considered “hypnotized”? And how could the hypnotist say how “deep” you’ve gone if you’re aware and in control? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753/28 "2008-09-23T21:29:23Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > I don’t understand. If you’re fully aware, and the hypnotist can’t make you do anything, then how can that be considered “hypnotized”? And how could the hypnotist say how “deep” you’ve gone if you’re aware and in control? Well she wasn’t asking me to march up and down the square. She was giving me suggestions about eating healthy and exercising, which I wanted to do anyway. I would have been aware if she was programming me into a Manchurian Candidate, or even if she was trying to plant a suggestion that I wanted to pay her double. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-you-could-be-hypnotized/464753.md?page=1)