Conspiracy Test TV - James Randi - Rick Brown - Margaret Thaler Singer - Secrets of the Occult TV - Michael Mosley TV - Penn & Teller TV - Derren Brown TV - Charles Fort - Hippolyte Bernheim - James Braid - Michael Nash R - Zombies: The Truth TV - Louis Theroux TV - In Search of … TV - David Icke -
Can memories reclaimed through guided hypnosis be relied on? Conspiracy Test: Alien Abductions, 2007
An agreement between an operator and a subject to fantasise together. James Randi
Probably 99% of the people who come to me do not go into past lives; probably only 1% of people have spontaneous regressions. Rick Brown, hypnotherapist
People think that hypnosis is some mysterious esoteric thing and it’s not; it’s just simply a mental transaction in which a person has focused their attention – they’ve stopped being critical - and they’re more open to suggestion. Dr Margaret Thaler Singer, University of California
In Paris medical astrologer Franz Anton Mesmer stumbled almost by accident upon hypnosis. At the time Mesmer was experimenting with magnets as a means of curing illness. Secrets of the Occult, 2007
Charcot’s observations of hysteria led him towards a radical conclusion: if symptoms could be induced or relieved by hypnosis, then perhaps they were not signs of a pathological disease. Perhaps they were caused by emotions. Michael Mosley, The Story of Science: Power, Proof & Passion, BBC 2010
Hypnosis – what is it? The problem is there is no it. Hypnosis is a fake word – people use it for a bunch of related events – stage shows ... One person is talking and another person is going along with it. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s2e13: Hypnosis, Showtime 2004
Hypnosis is just the act of people bullshitting themselves. ibid.
It’s another when a hypnotist starts to mess around with someone who has real issues. ibid.
Is it possible to program somebody to kill and without them realising it? Derren Brown: The Experiments: The Assassin, Channel 4 2011
Under the 1952 Hypnotism Act we cannot broadcast the entire process of hypnotic induction. ibid.
In reality the mixture of my confidence and their expectation of that’s what they are supposed to do is enough for them to ... go back under. ibid.
Are they genuinely under some influence or playing along? ibid.
All four commit a highly dangerous act. ibid.
Almost all people are hypnotics. The proper authority saw to it that the proper belief should be induced, and the people believed properly. Charles Fort
I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar psychical [i.e. mental] condition which increases the susceptibility to suggestion. Often, it is true, the sleep that may be induced facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary preliminary. It is suggestion that rules hypnotism. Hippolyte Bernheim, Beyond the Keynesian Endpoint: Crushed by Credit and Deceived by Debt p197
By the term Hypnotism, or Nervous Sleep, I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it may be thrown by artificial contrivance, and which differs, in several respects, from common sleep or the waking condition. I do not allege that this condition is induced through the transmission of a magnetic or occult influence from my body into that of my patients; nor do I profess, by my processes, to produce the higher [i.e. supernatural] phenomena of the Mesmerists. My pretensions are of a much more humble character, and are all consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science. Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists. James Braid, The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid p200
Inasmuch as patients can throw themselves into the nervous sleep, and manifest all the usual phenomena of Mesmerism, through their own unaided efforts, as I have so repeatedly proved by causing them to maintain a steady fixed gaze at any point, concentrating their whole mental energies on the idea of the object looked at; or that the same may arise by the patient looking at the point of his own finger, or as the Magi of Persia and Yogi of India have practised for the last 2,400 years, for religious purposes, throwing themselves into their ecstatic trances by each maintaining a steady fixed gaze at the tip of his own nose; it is obvious that there is no need for an exoteric influence to produce the phenomena of Mesmerism. The great object in all these processes is to induce a habit of abstraction or concentration of attention, in which the subject is entirely absorbed with one idea, or train of ideas, whilst he is unconscious of, or indifferently conscious to, every other object, purpose, or action. James Braid
Using hypnosis, scientists have temporarily created hallucinations, compulsions, certain types of memory loss, false memories, and delusions in the laboratory so that these phenomena can be studied in a controlled environment. Michael Nash R, Scientific American July 2001
I’ve recommended hypnotherapy to help ease chronic pain, lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, alleviate symptoms of autoimmune disease, and counteract anxiety and sleep disorders. Hypnotherapy can also be used to improve performance skills, as a form of analgesia or sedation for medical and dental procedures – even to stop haemorrhaging in accident victims. In general, I believe that no condition is out of bounds for trying hypnotherapy on. Dr Andrew Weil, Ongoing Services: Ongoing Support for Your Healing Journey
To some experts hypnosis and mass mind control can also be seen to create a similar unquestioning follower which may share many of the characteristics with zombies. Zombies: The Truth, National Geographic 2010
Las Vegas, Nevada, a showbusiness capital built in the desert. I’d heard about a new generation of entertainers who’ve been transforming people’s lives using the mysterious powers of hypnosis. They form part of a multi-billion-dollar personal growth industry. Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends s3e1: Hypnosis, BBC 2000
Is it a moral mission or is it about making money? ibid. Louis to hypnotist
[Marshall] Silver was selling two programmes: a weekend of personal growth called Turning Point and a millionaire mentorship programme – a ten-week course in becoming a millionaire. ibid.
She is undergoing her operation using hypnosis as the only anaesthetic. Can she rely on the power of her mind to transport her to another place, a place without pain? In Search of s2e17 … Hypnosis, History 1978
Television is a massive, massive mass hypnotist to the global mind. David Icke