Has anyone been hypnotised?

[Angela Harlem]

I don't get how it works. To be honest I don't believe in it. I'd love to hear from anyone who has.

 

[kariatari]

i wasn't too sure that i believed in it either until i actually saw saw a hypnotist at an after-prom party. to select the people that would go up and be hypnotized, he did a lil exercise where he tried to hypnotize the whole audience into believing that their hands were fused together. those that were truly hypnotized were then "unhypnotized" and were asked to go up on stage and take part in the show. it didn't work for me, and i was suspicious of all the people up on stage because there were a few of my friends up there that did a lot of theater and improv, so i figured they were just acting. (and turns out they were!)

anyway, after the one hour show, one of the parents who was volunteering and had taken part in the pre-show screening or whatever hurried to the side of the stage to speak to the hypnotist. she had to ask him to de-hypnotize her because her hands were still stuck together.

 

[*BOOMCHAA!*]

I tried it once.
He couldn't hynotize me.

 

[najeena]

I used to do it to people when I was younger... it takes a willing subject. I'd ask the person to look at my eyes and blink everytime I said a number. When I got to fifteen or so I'd start to include suggestions with the number... "relax, listen to my voice, relax, your eyes are getting heavy, relax", etc. When their eyes were closed I'd take them on an 'elevator ride', saying that every floor we went down would put them deeper into this relaxed feeling. It was always a pleasant thing, never frightening to them. When we got to the basement... "you're as deep as you can go...", I'd ask them to remember a birthday party when they were five or some such thing, then give them a post-hypnotic suggestion, that they'd want to try to write backwards or tear up a piece of paper when they heard a certain word, something harmless. I'd tell them that when they heard me snap my fingers they'd awake feeling better than they had all day, and they would- I never had a person not enjoy the experience.

 

[tiny dancer]

It didn't work for me.

 

[U2Kitten]

I haven't but I have had some weird experiences. When I was a kid, there was a game we played where somebody would lay down, and everyone would put their hands over them in a pile, one at a time, then remove them in the same order. Then we'd put the index fingers of both our hands together, and, no matter how fat the person was, that was enough to lift them! Before the ritual, we couldn't lift the person with all our strength in both hands!

 

[U2Kitten]

I mean it was really weird, the person felt light as air!

We thought it was some kind of magic. The teenage girl who taught us was called a witch by some of the parents

 

[AvsGirl41]

I've always wanted to be hypnotized.

Everyone says it would work on me, I'm so susceptible...

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

I mean it was really weird, the person felt light as air!

We thought it was some kind of magic. The teenage girl who taught us was called a witch by some of the parents

I've done that too....it's a bit easier when the person is sitting (we lifted some teachers for a talent show once)..I still don't know why it works. Maybe the power of suggestion, or being relaxed, dunno.

We had a hypnotist come to our school once, high school and put on a show. He did the same trick kari mentioned, about the hands, then chose audience members, based on how they were doing. Generally, as it was am hour show, we coul dtell who was faking it and who wasn't. I swear though, as will some of the people on stage, these people were legitimately hypnotized. I was friends with one of the guys there who had a suggestion put into his mind that the wall was leaking water....being friends with the guy, I've questioned him about it a few times, and he always swears he doesn't even remember it, but when he watches the video, he says he must have clearly thought at the time that the wall was leaking...

anyway, it was a hilarious show, regardless. Whether it was true, I don't know. I'd always be a bit scared to find out myself...

 

[U2girl02]

I've always been skeptical of hypnotists, but one guy came to my school to do a show and it was pretty interesting. He did the hand thing that Kari and TST mentioned, but it didn't work on me. My friend's hands wouldn't come apart, though, and she flipped out and started crying

I always figured people just fake it when they're hypnotized, but some of the people onstage at the show I saw were acting sooo differently than normal, and they weren't very good actors. So who knows? I'm still a little skeptical, but watching people make fools out of themselves is always funny!

 

[Mongpoovian]

I've always wanted to be hypnotized. Such an interesting phenomenon.

 

[BonoBabe40]

yeah...one day, someone put on a U2 CD, hypnotized me...made this suggestion that I would become obsessed with this band, collect their CDs, videos, and bootlegs, and drool whenever I saw an *elevated* pic of Bono....well...it worked

Actually I did try it once...to quit smoking...*lights another Marlboro*...that one didn't work.

 

[Mrs. Edge]

I would love to be hypnotized, but I am kind of afraid of it. I have heard all kinds of stories of people being hypnotized to find out how they lived in past lives (if you believe in past lives) and sometimes, the subjects relive their deaths...which are sometimes violent and terrifying. I don't know if I could put myself through that.

 

[Angela Harlem]

BonoBabe40, did it actually work then?

Sounds like it would be interesting, I just dont see how its possible.

 

[najeena]

I never tried to take someone back past an early birthday, something I could be pretty sure would be free of trauma. The post-hypnotic suggestions were always harmless things that wouldn't embarrass the subject. I never would have attempted to do anything I thought might be dangerous, I would have never thought of doing it at all if not for my child prodigy of a sister who decided to find out how it was done. For the record I've never been hypnotized myself- I couldn't manage to go with it, knowing the procedure as I did. But it's real, and in the right context it can help people accomplish (or remember) things they can't manage without the help of their subconscience.

 

[verte76]

I was first hypnotised by a psychotherapist. I then learned self-hypnosis. It can be used for therapy to good effect. The catch is that it doesn't work for everyone. It only works for certain people. I'm lucky enough to be one of those people. It's great for stress. I love stuff that's great for stress!!