Web Magazine

Is hypnotism real, short answer? Yes.
Its not some mystical art known only to ancient druids and people who change their names by deed poll to ‘Moonstryder’. Nor is it a marketing scam dreamed up in some smelly squat by a bunch of techno-hippies.


Human beings have been using hypnosis for thousands of years. It was used by the ancient Egyptians as a medical treatment and has continued to be used for that purpose by the Chinese ever since. It fell out of favour in the west as the medical profession closed ranks squeezing it out. 19th Century travelers rediscovered it uses and, until the discovery of chloroform, it was widely used as an anesthetic for surgery.

Now to be honest it’s had a bit of a bad press. It’s been used in crappy horror films and rubbish TV dramas too often for it not to be seen as something a bit comic by many people. The media have popularized the myth of hypnosis without alluding to the reality therefore it’s not surprising many ask ‘is hypnotism real’. So let’s get something straight.

Hypnosis is a scientifically proven, empirically evidenced psychological technique based upon thousands upon thousands of well researched, fully substantiated case studies. Hypnotherapy has been successfully used to treat every psychological disorder from depression and low self esteem to alcohol and drug addiction.

It is not magic or anything difficult to understand it is quite simply a process which enables the hypnotist to focus the conscious mind of the patient or subject on an object or sound that enables them to work directly with the subconscious mind. The subconscious is where we store our beliefs and if you shape beliefs you shape behavior. To be honest I really can’t see why there’s so much debate about it.