Do you believe in Hypnosis?

I gave it an honest try once and it didn't work on me. I think it's possible, but percentage of success are low.
 
I've gone to a couple of different hypnotist shows of Mike Mandel (related to Howie) over 20 years ago.

There is definitely something to what he does. I wasn't influenced by it (other than my face hurt from laughing for so long), but I know a girl who was personally affected. Mandel was able to tell within a few minutes who was more susceptible than others as far as people that were on stage. The one thing that stood out for me with the two different shows is there was no pauses when he spoke; it was non-stop dialogue. Attention spans can only last for so long and I am wondering when people tune out is when he is able to plant his suggestions.
 
I saw a convincing demonstration from a guest speaker in public school. Totally changed my view. Had a professor say how self-hypnosis was how he took tests in college. Don't know the extent of it but I thin there's something to it. Part of me wants to have a use for it and part of me doubts I'd be able to focus and relax enough (or whatever it takes).
 
I think some people are just born stupid and naive. It works only because superstitious dummies want to believe.

Show me someone that can hypnotize me and make me do something I'd never do and I'll give them every cent I have.

Having said that I have an uncle who is not stupid by any means and he was able to quit smoking with it. I guess if it works for you, why not..
 
I saw some videos of conmen using hypnosis to convince the victims give them money...pretty amazing how they manage to do it in just a few seconds
 
Hypnosis seems like a thing where they gradually see who is the most gullible and willing to go along with their schemes. It's people willingly going into a state of heightened suggestibility.

I'll bet if he asked anyone on that stage to do something really bad, they'd magically wake up. As long as it's stupid shit like quack like a duck people play along. If he said rape that girl in the corner or stab this baby or send me all the money in your checking account, you really think they'd do it? I think not.

Yeah that's pretty much inline with most of what I'v heard on the subject, you can add though that ontop of potentially being a little more suggestible the people involved are put into a situation where there freed from reasonability, doing something a little silly on stage with the excuse that "you were hypnotised". I say as well that along with the OP's story shy people might actually be more effected by that, as mentioned in another thread recently a lot of people who perform publically like standups are actually naturally introspective the rest of the time.

My only experience of a stage show as at a student even when I was a freshman at Uni and the main thing I remember is when the volunteers were told to "lie down and sleep" onstage one of the girls started to take her top off and gave a quick bralass flash to the audience before the guy running the show noticed and got her to put it back on, I'm guessing a secret exhibitionist streak? <45>
 
I believe in it, but I had a hypnotist who failed to hypnotize me, tell me that only a certain type of mind can actually be put under hypnosis, and I wasn't one of them.

Then again, maybe he was just making excuses for being a shitty hypnotist.


Why would you believe in something you've seen no proof of?

-Considering you submitted yourself to be hypnotized and it didn't work-
 
Why would you believe in something you've seen no proof of?

-Considering you submitted yourself to be hypnotized and it didn't work-

Nah, I've seen others. The dude I talked to was one of those entertainers who tour college campuses, and puts groups under hypnosis in bars and whatnot, and gets them to do stupid shit. I was one of the people on stage. Now, the guy also told me there is an element to people wanting to play along in those situations, but I asked around and the people who were "under" swear they had no idea what was going on. What I found interesting, was that I was attempting to play along, but the dude could tell it wasn't genuine, and gave me and a few others the boot off stage who he knew weren't actually hypnotized. That's what sparked my interest in the first place and got me talking to the dude about it. I was curious how he knew I was faking. That's when we got talking about the whole process.

Flimsy, anecdotal example, I know, but I believe the people who told me they were hypnotized. They had no reason to lend any credibility to it. There are also countless stories I've seen on TV, that seem legit as well, like putting people under to remember details of a crime, or whatever. I believe it can be done. Just not to everyone.
 
Hypnosis is about as real as palm reading.
 
Nah, I've seen others. The dude I talked to was one of those entertainers who tour college campuses, and puts groups under hypnosis in bars and whatnot, and gets them to do stupid shit. I was one of the people on stage. Now, the guy also told me there is an element to people wanting to play along in those situations, but I asked around and the people who were "under" swear they had no idea what was going on. What I found interesting, was that I was attempting to play along, but the dude could tell it wasn't genuine, and gave me and a few others the boot off stage who he knew weren't actually hypnotized. That's what sparked my interest in the first place and got me talking to the dude about it. I was curious how he knew I was faking. That's when we got talking about the whole process.

Flimsy, anecdotal example, I know, but I believe the people who told me they were hypnotized. They had no reason to lend any credibility to it. There are also countless stories I've seen on TV, that seem legit as well, like putting people under to remember details of a crime, or whatever. I believe it can be done. Just not to everyone.


I don't believe them when they say they don't remember. It seems like they wanted to be hypnotized.

If it were real, then why doesn't anyone use it in crime? Nobody gets hypnotized to rob a bank or give up all their checking account. It's always innocent and stupid things for fun on stage. It's people who want to be there and who want to be hypnotized. They are just playing along.

You probably just weren't a good enough stage presence to stay up there. He wants cute girls and funny looking people.
 
I believe that there are people who think they're hypnotized. If you want to believe it, it will "happen" (but not really).
 
People call it gullibility, which applies more to the stage version -- and would therefore shortchange the therapeutic process. I don't think gullibility is the word I'd use for people who want to make improvements on their lives but lack the willpower to do so. I think there's a fair amount of "wanting it to happen," especially in the therapy arena, but hypnotism susceptibility is also a real thing, of varying degrees.



Honestly, Ive never heard anyone say its supernatural. Just something you learn how to do.
But I kinda get what he means though. There's the stereotype of the hypnotist being some spooky brooding far East svengali who makes people do the impossible for nefarious gain.
 
But I kinda get what he means though. There's the stereotype of the hypnotist being some spooky brooding far East svengali who makes people do the impossible for nefarious gain.

I suppose on that level its bullshit. For me personally, thats not what I think about when I think of hypnosis, though. I just think of people clucking like a chicken or thinking they have no clothes on. We had a hypnotist come to to my high school a few times for an assembly. Thats basically all he did. Had another dude hypnotize my buddy while were sitting around and chatting. Just made him think my balls were hanging out and all. No big deal. To me its just a skill you can learn and it works on some people and not others.






But it isnt like you can make somebody:



naked_gun_jackson_1-h_2016.jpg
 
Last edited:
I don't believe them when they say they don't remember. It seems like they wanted to be hypnotized.

Perhaps, but it's not like one or two people were claiming this to me. It was bunch of folks hyping this dude up, because they had been put under, and they had the same description of being lost in time and blacking out.

When you have 20-25 people telling you the same thing, it's hard for me to believe they were all full of the same shit.

If it were real, then why doesn't anyone use it in crime? Nobody gets hypnotized to rob a bank or give up all their checking account. It's always innocent and stupid things for fun on stage. It's people who want to be there and who want to be hypnotized. They are just playing along.

Well, that's the most extreme example of hypnotism, and more of a Hollywood representation of the craft. No, I don't believe in total mind control. Putting you in a dreamlike state, to make you open to suggestion, yeah, I think it can be done.

There are also other forms too, like putting you under to jog your memory, and more subtle forms like that, that are totally believable.

You probably just weren't a good enough stage presence to stay up there. He wants cute girls and funny looking people.

Nah. It's not like it was being filmed, or anything. He didn't give a shit about stage presence, and the group wasn't carefully selected or anything. He was more concerned with people like me fucking up his show if I chose to clown him, because I wasn't under.
 
Nah, I've seen others. The dude I talked to was one of those entertainers who tour college campuses, and puts groups under hypnosis in bars and whatnot, and gets them to do stupid shit. I was one of the people on stage. Now, the guy also told me there is an element to people wanting to play along in those situations, but I asked around and the people who were "under" swear they had no idea what was going on. What I found interesting, was that I was attempting to play along, but the dude could tell it wasn't genuine, and gave me and a few others the boot off stage who he knew weren't actually hypnotized. That's what sparked my interest in the first place and got me talking to the dude about it. I was curious how he knew I was faking. That's when we got talking about the whole process.

Flimsy, anecdotal example, I know, but I believe the people who told me they were hypnotized. They had no reason to lend any credibility to it. There are also countless stories I've seen on TV, that seem legit as well, like putting people under to remember details of a crime, or whatever. I believe it can be done. Just not to everyone.


I attended a stage hyposis show at Uni.

I went at it with an open mind, but it had sweet F all affect on me. But i recognised one of the audience members that got put under and couldnt see her being a stooge.

So ive always been torn: common sense tells me its hokum, but i saw what i saw.

Uk mentalist/physchological illusionist Derren Brown talks interms of some people being more suggestable than others.

But i think overrall he says its not real.

I will remain skeptical, id never 'believe' in it.
 
In short, yes. If you don't believe it, look at the MK Ultra program. It's a more extreme form of hypnosis, but it goes along the same lines.

The brain is like a computer. You can rewire it to do many things. You can also program the brain to do different things. And similar to multiple profiles on one computer, you can do the same exact thing with the brain.

That's more or less what I believe as well. To me it's like if you take a guy who is nervous about approaching women. Then one day he finally musters up the courage to do it and get's shot down bad. More often than not, this guy is going to be hesitant as hell to do it again anytime soon because of this past experience that had occurred. I'd bet depending on the severity of how bad he got shot down, it could potentially affect him years down the line.

Now I think this is where a persons subconscious comes into play. The next time this guy decides to approach a woman, you think his inner dialogue is going to be "man you got this, no problem." Most likely not. In some cases this person could be somewhat traumatized, especially if he rarely approaches women and say there was an audience around who were laughing at help when he was rejected.

I believe what hypnotist do is target the subconscious and facilitate a state where you can relive an experience like this, but now this time be guided through the emotions of the experience. Sometimes, that's all a person needs; another shot at the same experience to address it in a different way.

Ultimately though, I do believe there are a ton of quacks out there, but per the research that is provided through various studies and claims various types of people have made how hypnotherapy have changed their life around, I do think there are great benefits that can be attained if you allow yourself to be open to the experience.
 
I believe in it, but I had a hypnotist who failed to hypnotize me, tell me that only a certain type of mind can actually be put under hypnosis, and I wasn't one of them.

Then again, maybe he was just making excuses for being a shitty hypnotist.
I have heard you have to be willing on some psychological level to want to do the things a hypnotist makes you do, or it won't work. I guess that's why they call it being "suggestible" and not "compellable".

There's probably something to it but I'm not messing with that shit.
 
Back
Top