Blog - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Hypnosis, But Didn't Know Who to Ask

In the previous blog entry, I discussed the first misconception about hypnosis:  Fear of losing control.  Due primarily to the entertainment industry, many people wind up thinking that being hypnotized means giving over control to someone else, usually a hypnotist, who is typically someone they have never met before.

Hypnosis is often misunderstood, so part of the goal of this blog is to help clarify what it isn’t, and then to discuss what it is and the various ways it can be useful in people’s lives.

Most of the misconceptions surrounding hypnotism can be attributed to the entertainment industry.

Many of us have seen pictures of a (usually male) Svengali-type character with piercing eyes, as if throwing off lightning bolts, as he stares down at some (usually) helpless female victim. The concept of Svengali came from an 1895 novel, Trilby, by George du Maurier. In it, Svengali hypnotizes Trilby, a young girl, to become a famous singer.