# Hypnosis and **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714 "2001-08-03T00:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/1 "2001-08-03T00:05:38Z")
We’ve all heard this one. A stage hypnotist hypnotizes a subject. He tells the subject that he is holding a lit cigarette on the subject’s palm. The subject reports pain–and, lo and behold, a burn blister appears on the subject’s skin, sometimes immediately, sometimes later. Or the hypnotist may tell the subject that he is cutting him lightly with a sharp knife. A slash appears, and the subject bleeds. Does this really happen? Are there any soundly documented incidents, or, better yet, laboratory studies? Or is this just an urban legend? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/2 "2001-08-03T00:33:48Z")
I’ve heard of this happening, but I’ve never heard it cited with names, a date, and place. If anyone can dig something like that up, I’d be grateful. Two points: 1. Burns and scars cannot “just appear” or be willed into existence, regardless of hypnosis being used or not. The mysteriousness and associations with the occult that hypnosis has makes it sound like it’s possible for things like this to happen, but it’s not. Hypnosis is a relaxation method. It is a cooperative interaction between the hypnotizer and hypnotizee. That’s it. Unless the hypnotizer suggests the hypnotizee slash or burn himself and the hypnotizee is all for it and starts self-mutilating, there’s no way wounds could happen as a result of hypnosis. 2. Keep in mind that this is **stage** hypnotism. The point of the demonstration is to entertain. It would be a pretty dull show if all the subject reported were sensations only he could feel, and it’s many times more exciting if wounds suddenly open up on their own and blood gushes out like water out of a busted fire hydrant. For those reasons, you have to be skeptical of such an event’s authenticity. If it’s on a stage and someone’s making money off of it, it’s likely bogus. ---
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/3 "2001-08-05T05:25:11Z")
This kinda sounds to me like the stigmata. One’s own mind influencing the body enough to cause effects. Not that I have any real evidence of either ever happening… ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/4 "2001-08-05T06:26:44Z")
I once read a 400 plus page book on hypnosis that was heavily footnoted. No stigmata effects. Hypnosis is a state of being open to suggestions. Stage hypnosis picks out the most apt candidates in the audience. I have found self-hypnosis very useful for controlling pain and relaxing, even though I am not a very good hypnosis candidate. Don’t try this in a car. Sit down, focus on a point a few feet away, relax. Breath deeply and count backwards from ten, one count per breath. Give yourself a suggestion, such as, send me a buck. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/5 "2001-08-05T16:32:38Z")
I’ve seen photos of the burning phenomenon, it wasn’t that impressive - the subject had a (room temperature) coin placed on his/her arm and a line was drawn around it; under hypnosis, it was suggested to the subject that the are was being touched by something very hot (I forget what) - after a few minutes, the area inside the circle became _slightly_ reddened, like I said it wasn’t very impressive. I’ll see if I can find the article again (I seem to remember it was in a [fairly] reputable publication, maybe NewScientist or NatGeo) As regards lacerations spontaneously appearing, I’d be very suspicious of any such claims. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/6 "2001-08-05T18:42:04Z")
The title line appears to have been chopped. Let me know what it was supposed to be, and I’ll fix it. ---
**Author:** ![GulDan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@GulDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GulDan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/7 "2001-08-07T02:55:16Z")
Though I don’t believe that it really happends to the extent mentioned, this is remarkable similar to the placebo effect, where people have been cured of warts by placing water on them and telling the people that the water is a powerful medicine. Isn’t the mind amazing? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/8 "2001-08-07T03:07:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > I’ve seen photos of the burning phenomenon, it wasn’t that impressive - the subject had a (room temperature) coin placed on his/her arm and a line was drawn around it; under hypnosis, it was suggested to the subject that the are was being touched by something very hot (I forget what) - after a few minutes, the area inside the circle became _slightly_ reddened, like I said it wasn’t very impressive. Well, if you _think_ there’s something hot in your hand, blood is going to start flowing there to aid in the healing of a potential burn. An actual burn blister, of course, is a physical process and can not be controlled by your mind, conscious or not. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/9 "2001-08-07T08:02:30Z")
I found a cite (I make no claims regarding it’s reliability): [hypnosis FAQ](http://www.psywww.com/asc/hyp/faq2.html) > [@](#): > > 2.7.5. Dermatological responses > Some of the most interesting hypnotic phenomena involve the apparent precision production of subtle skin responses by suggestion. Allergic reactions, pseudo-sunburns, blisters, and weals have been produced by suggestion. In addition, it has long been known that certain highly troublesome skin conditions have been influenced or healed in some people by suggestion (with or without hypnotic induction). > See the following for further information on studies of this: > Ullman & Dudek, 1960, “On the psyche and warts: II. Hypnotic suggestion and warts,” Psychosomatic Medicine, 22:68-76 > Rulison, 1942, “Warts, A statistical study of nine hundred and twenty one cases,” Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, 46:66-81. > Asher, 1956, “Respectable Hypnosis,” British Medical Journal, 1: 309-312. > R.F.Q. Johnson and T.X. Barber, 1976, “Hypnotic suggestions for blister formation: Subjective and physiological effects,” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 18: 172-181. > Mason, 1955, “Icthyosis and hypnosis,” British Medical Journal, 2: 57-58. > M. Ullman, 1947, "Herpes Simplex and second degree burn induced under hypnosis, American Journal of Psychiatry, 103: 828-830. Perhaps someone with access to these publications can look up one of those articles (that last one looks interesting) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/10 "2001-08-07T08:03:43Z")
Out of all that, it’s this phrase that troubles me most: > [@](#): > > …it has long been known… ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/11 "2001-08-07T08:16:44Z")
My high school english teacher told us about how there was some university that had part of it’s hazing rituals was to have a hot branding iron, and show it to the new guy, then go around behind and brand him - with a cold iron. A small percentage of them actually did blister as if burned. My confidence in factual info from high school english teachers is very low, but just last week I saw a show on stigmata where they were trying to explain certain religious people who’s hands bleed for no reason, symbolic of Jesus, blah blah blah… They mentioned the same branding experiments this time done by a scientist. They mentioned his name, but I don’t recall it. Apparently you can trick the body into thinking it’s damaged, and it will respond in such ways. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/12 "2001-08-07T09:00:00Z")
It’s still difficult to swallow though; simply because a blister is a local reaction to a local trauma, as far as we know the brain isn’t normally involved in the actual process of blistering, but maybe there’s more to it, maybe the brain _is_ involved in producing a blister in reaction to a burn, hmmmm. However even less likely is the idea that lacerations can be hypnotically induced; in order for this to follow the same logic as the burn phenomenon, we would have to believe that skin splits not because a knife cuts it, but because the brain senses the knife and sends a message to the skin to tell it to split, I find that most unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypnosis-and/74714/13 "2001-08-07T09:10:50Z")
[Here’s](http://www.unapixintl.com/newsletters/winter1998/p2/page2.htm) a page that lists the show I saw. It’s the thrid one down; stigmata. If anyone knows how to get specific info on the show, it would have the name of the guy that did the blistering study, and an explanation of how un-aided bleeding can occur.