What is hypnosis?

“Hypnotism” and “hypnosis” are the terms applied to a unique, complex form of unusual

but normal behavior which can probably be induced in every normal person under

suitable conditions and also in persons suffering from many types of abnormality. It is

primarily a special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling

sleep only superficially, and characterized by a functioning of the individual at a level of

awareness other than the ordinary state, a level of awareness termed, for convenience in

conceptualization, unconscious or subconscious awareness.

When hypnotized, or in the hypnotic trance, the subject can think, act, and behave as

adequately as, and often better than, he can in the ordinary state of psychological

awareness, quite possibly because of the intensity of his attention to his task and his

freedom from distraction.

He is not, as is commonly believed, without willpower or under the will of the hypnotist.

Instead, the relationship between the hypnotist and subject is one of interpersonal

cooperation, based upon mutually acceptable and reasonable considerations. Hence, the

subject cannot be forced to do things against his will, but rather he can be aided in

achieving desired goals. However, frequent failures in hypnotic therapy of patients

disclose limitations of hypnosis in accomplishing even desired goals, and the more

extensive and reliably controlled experimental studies discredit the possibility of utilizing

hypnosis for antisocial purposes.

-Milton H. Erickson, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1954