I seem to recall some years ago that “Skeptical Inquirer” had a series of articles that basically said that hypnosis as popularly presented does not exist.
Then how did the idea get started.
The Skeptic’s Dictionary has a great entry on . Also found, is a [url=“http://www.hypnosis.org.uk/whatis.htm#A BRIEF EARLY HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS”]history of hypnosis.
Simply because someone came up with an idea doesn’t make it valid or useful. Maybe hypnosis is useful, but the mere fact that someone thought it up says nothing about it. Think about all the weirdness people dream up, from homeopathy to hard-core chiropractors to scientologists. All of these things are propagated from their original inventor via True Believers[sup]tm[/sup].
FWIW, several of us branched off into a discussion on hypnosis in the Repressed Memory thread, which you can find at:
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000832.html