As we approach Halloween, I think of how Hypnosis is viewed as something that is scary, mystical, exotic.. It’s all wrapped up in the origins back in the 18th century, with Anton Mesmer and his “patients” in big hot tubs, being “mesmerized” by his “passes” with magnetized batons.
That’s like making a judgement about medicine based on how it was practiced in the 18th century, with leeches, arsenic, and bare handed surgery. It is true though that our culture continues to support this view of hypnosis: Take the trailer from the popular Jordan Peele film Get Out, the notorious “Sunken Place” scene. That is one horrifying scene from this sci fi horror movie: Worthy of Halloween viewing for sure!
But Hypnosis simply means trance + suggestion. All of us fall into a trance when we are daydreaming, watching a good movie, show, or concert, praying, in love, in a beautiful spot in nature, etc. And we are subject to the power of suggestion all the time.
Advertisers know this. Why do you think good looking young men and women actors are used to sell drugs for erectile dysfunction, hair loss and anxiety. If these “patients,” have these problems, then it’s ok for us normal shmos to have these disorders. One set of ads, “ForHims” and “ForHers” promises that these folks with these troubling problems can get responses from “real doctors” “confidentially,” with drugs coming in plain white boxes. “Medicine as it should be” a comforting voice intones. Great mantra, isn’t it?
Religious leaders know about the power of suggestion. If we are believers, the words of a priest, minister, rabbi, iman, or monk may carry enough spiritual weight to change the course of our lives.
If the words of a religious leader, teacher, politician or media host are in tune with the values we share, or the values of our family, friends—our tribe—their utterances can hold us, trance like in their power. Unfortunately, bigots and despots have known how to do this throughout history. Think of Father Coughlin, the most popular radio host throughout the 1930’s, with his dangerous antisemitic diatribes. Think of Adolf Hitler. In recent times, look at Rodrigo Duerte, who was the elected President of the Phillipines. He bragged about murdering thousands of drug dealers and drug users and anyone who stood in his way. And he was very popular.
As a physician during the years of the Covid pandemic, I have been amazed about the power of people on the fringes to give people the wildest and untrue ideas about vaccines and the Covid virus. Suggestion works on repetition. If these ideas are repeated often enough, and by media hosts who speak nonsense with enough conviction, we will believe it.
A friend of mine who is a very bright African American engineer and photographer, and who has certainly faced bigotry in his life, told me that logic is always trumped by tow emotions: love and fear. If someone on TV, the radio, or the internet repeats a nonsensical conspiracy theory that ties into our fears of those others we do not know, or that may threaten those whom we love, we may be likely to believe it.
This power of suggestion may lead millions to believe that our 2020 Presidential election was stolen—all evidence to the contrary— or that there is an international cabal of Jews, or Liberals, or people of color threatening to take over, that human produced Climate Change is a hoax, or the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary school was staged.
When I am asked, can clinical hypnosis be hazardous? Yes, possibly, if used by an unscrupulous and unskilled yet persuasive practitioner. Yet popular politicians and mediaat hosts and “influencers” who mesmerize their followers with hateful lies are much more dangerous.
