Do I lose control during hypnosis?

For centuries people have been using the healing effect of hypnosis and at least as long they have been afraid of it. And that's no wonder. After all, hypnosis is a powerful tool.

Do people lose their control under hypnosis and become docile tools in the hands of unscrupulous hypnotists? A look at how hypnosis works helps us better assess whether hypnosis is really dangerous.

At all times, people in hypnosis retain control over themselves and their bodies. People can determine themselves in hypnosis how deep they sink into the state, what they want to say out loud and when they want to wake up from the state again. It is more about regaining control for yourself and your life. Especially people who are afraid of letting go or relinquishing control are often surprised after hypnosis how easy it was for them to enter the process and feel safe and comfortable at all times. Show hypnosis or hypnosis in front of an audience on stage unfortunately still spreads a false image of hypnosis, in which the hypnotized person gives up control and the hypnotist or hypnotist takes full control - this is not so!

First, it is important to know that the hypnotic trance is a completely natural state of consciousness, comparable to the time between sleep and wakefulness or deep meditation. During this time, the brain shows strong activity in the so-called default mode network in functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An area that is particularly important for planning but also for daydreaming. Also the connection between a part of the prefrontal cortex and the insular cortex can be seen particularly pronounced during hypnosis. This connection supports the brain in the so-called dissociation. Here, the different levels of a stimulus are separated from each other and thus their aspects become clearer. This helps us, for example, to better distinguish the different emotional parts of a thought or a feeling. What is desire, what is fear, what is conditioning? This clarity enables us to establish a better contact with our subconscious. This increases our receptivity to suggestion and autosuggestion.

However, with all relaxation, all information still runs through the brain and consciousness. This means, every action is conscious to the client at the moment it takes place. The most important control during this time is the client's own subconscious mind, independent of conventions, prohibitions, or the ideas of others. In essence, the client is governed by his or her own free will during hypnosis. This can lead to a person under hypnosis experiencing thoughts and planning things that they would never have thought themselves capable of. However, it is completely impossible to make a person under hypnosis do something that he rejects or does not want inside himself. Hypnosis is one of the best ways to develop the free will of every individual.

So even though it can be a nice idea for some to have a comprehensive control over a person or to exercise power over someone's subconscious mind - no one can control someone else's subconscious mind. Even a hypnotist or hypnotherapist has magical powers or such special abilities that they could control your thoughts. And that's a good thing! Really the only person who can do that is you. Only you decide during a hypnosis session what suits you and what does not, which words have their effect and which are unimportant. You decide what happens, on a conscious and unconscious level. At all times you get to see what is happening in hypnosis, you are not "away" or unconscious as is often assumed. Rather, you are there and can fully engage in the change process while in trance. You have full control over what you say and what you don't say, and could end the hypnosis at any time if you wanted to.

In addition to the fear of losing control in hypnosis, there is agoraphobia, which is the fear of losing control in public, places and certain situations. Agoraphobia increasingly restricts freedom of movement and sufferers withdraw more and more.