The term “hypnosis” comes from the ancient Greek word hypnos (sleep) and osis (put to sleep).
Hypnosis or hypnotism is the strange phenomena in which a person gives control over his or her mind to another person. The latter person is called a hypnotist. Most people, by their personal nature and ethics, do not allow anyone to have control of their most personal, private, valued possession; their own mind. Yet, some people do such an incredible thing and these people do not posses sufficient, standard judgment and awareness in the cognitive areas of the brain to make the rational decisions they should be making.
The hypnotist takes great advantage of such people having extreme mental deficiency that is an extreme mental flaw such individuals seem to be born with.
Science proves we all can experience a form of hypnosis by staring at fixed or moving lines for a period of time which may leave us with a “blank” or mindless feeling. This can be emphasized by the following animation.
Therefore “staring” is often the basis of the process of hypnosis Hence the subject is instructed to look or stare at a pendulum, swinging pocket watch or even the eyes of the hypnotist.
At stage hypnosis shows, where there is a large audience, the hypnotist tries to hypnotize the entire audience. A hypnotic suggestion is given, but though it is called simply a suggestion( to perform a certain activity); the hypnotist utters it as a command. The hypnotic suggestion can be for the members of the audience to clasp their hands tightly; then the audience is told they cannot open their hands, no matter how hard they try. The individuals who cannot open their hands after a short time, are told by the hypnotist that they can now separate their hands. Then, the few audience members that seemed to need the hypnotist’s help to unclasp their hands are told by the hypnotist to go on the stage where there are chairs, and then sit down.
The hypnotist then tries to deepen(intensify) the trance(the hypnotic state of mind which resembles a person in a sleeping mode but still able to hear, see, and feel) through more hypnotic suggestions to that effect. The hypnotism show has these subjects(hypnotized people) do silly, embarrassing things while the audience roars with laughter at these crazed individuals.
Hypnotized people can be made to act like animals, such as chickens, hound dogs, or roosters, especially imitating animals baying. These entranced people can be told they are feeling warmer and warmer and warmer and they respond accordingly. Or such mindless human robots can be told they are feeling colder and colder and colder and they respond accordingly. Other times the hypnotist makes hypnotized people see people and things that are not there: hallucinations.
Obviously, the people under hypnosis on these stage shows are showing themselves as psychotic; unable to differentiate reality from non reality at all and thus exposes a dangerous vulnerability of mentality they have.
Sometimes at hypnotic shows, people with a strange sense of humor and willingness to engage in games, pretend to be hypnotized, go on stage, and act out an imaginary hypnosis; doing it all to play a hoax on the hypnotist and the rest of the audience.
Before the hypnosis show ends, the hypnotist reverses all the previous hypnotic suggestions; tells the people they shall be the same before they were hypnotized and that words will be words with no special meanings. Then, the hypnotic people are awaken from the trance; that is the hypnosis(hypnotism) is completely over and done with.
