Hypnosis

[Vlinny-kun]

Does it actually work or is it just new age bullshit? Does it have any actual therapeutic effects or is it people playing pretend for and hour with 160$ gone from your pocket?

 

[Silver Chariot]

Hypnosis has a 60% chance to work.

Spoiler: source

Studies done in Multiple Regions Show 60% Success Rate of Hypnosis

 

[Win98SE]

I've sat in on a group session hosted by a guy who did it professionally, as in full-time income from helping people stop smoking, change habits, etc. It had zero effects on me, and I'd describe it as "guided daydreaming" more than anything else. He said some people were just immune to it because they have trouble giving up control of a certain part of their brain - or something. A few other people in the group had profound experiences and started having regular sessions with him.

I think it's a bit of a paradox in that you need to believe it's real for you to actually experience it. If you're skeptical like I was, then it'll probably fail.

 

[Vlinny-kun]

Hypnosis has a 60% chance to work.

Spoiler: source

Studies done in Multiple Regions Show 60% Success Rate of Hypnosis

Fuck you. You got me.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

Hypnosis- as in the side-show trick of suggestion- does work, although you can't really use hypnosis to force someone to do anything more than, perhaps, something mildly amusing and embarrassing.
If you're talking about hypnotherapy, things get a bit shadier. There is evidence that it can help people's mental state, but how much of that is the placebo effect and how much of it is actual benefit is uncertain. And the use of hypnosis to recover "repressed memories" is bull; the desire to appease the therapist, the unreliable nature of memory, the fact that hypnotic states loosen the ability to distinguish fantasy and reality- all of these factors make any "recovered memory" completely unreliable. Look at Michelle Remembers and the entire Satanic Panic for an example.

 

[kūhaku]

I’ve done medical hypnosis before and to be honest hypnosis is a really stupid word for it because at not at all what’s happening. It’s more trying to plant an idea in yourself subconsciously so it can help you break or make a habit. It doesn’t work on its own and I’ve been kind of suspecting bullshit from the dude I’m working with but it’s under my insurance so whatever. Very interesting even if it is fake.

 

[Burning Fanatic]

I do think it is a real thing, though it mainly depends on how effective the hypnotist is and how susceptible the person being hypnotized can be.

Otherwise, I think common perception of hypnosis has boiled down to either being a gag used for comedy bits or a niche fetish used in porn.

 

[Boris Blank's glass eye]

AFAIK it mostly works on willing subjects.

 

[Vlinny-kun]

There is evidence that it can help people's mental state, but how much of that is the placebo effect and how much of it is actual benefit is uncertain.

From what I can gather, all hypnosis is is a placebo effect. Someone telling you to think certain things or feel a certain way and you do so believing that it's real. Very much like that expirement of giving people cups of water and telling them it's boze and later on they acted like they downed two 6 packs and couldn't walk straight. Now apply that to therapy to someone that is susceptable to being hypnosis to treat things like for example, anxiety disorder. In theory, sufferers can benefit greatly from these sections. Of course there will be bullshit disguised as "hypnotherapy" but I really don't think that counts and falls more into a scam more than anything.

So I don't exactly know what you mean by "placebo effect vs actual benefit." Are you saying that hypnosis isn't just a placebo and that the benefits of hypnotherapy can come separate and are very real in comparison? Please explain.

 

[Chad Nasty]

If it was effective all the troons would be having high body counts.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

From what I can gather, all hypnosis is is a placebo effect. Someone telling you to think certain things or feel a certain way and you do so believing that it's real. Very much like that expirement of giving people cups of water and telling them it's boze and later on they acted like they downed two 6 packs and couldn't walk straight. Now apply that to therapy to someone that is susceptable to being hypnosis to treat things like for example, anxiety disorder. In theory, sufferers can benefit greatly from these sections. Of course there will be bullshit disguised as "hypnotherapy" but I really don't think that counts and falls more into a scam more than anything.

So I don't exactly know what you mean by "placebo effect vs actual benefit." Are you saying that hypnosis isn't just a placebo and that the benefits of hypnotherapy can come separate and are very real in comparison? Please explain.

I was couching my statement in defensive language, as I don't follow scientific studies involving hypnosis.