A New Definition of Hypnosis

Many practitioners of hypnosis own a great debt to the work of Dave Elman. Among his contributions to the field is his often-cited definition of hypnosis as “The bypass of the critical factor of the conscious mind followed by selective acceptable suggestion.”

As useful as hypnotists find this definition it is not without weakness. Might it be time for an alternate definition?

One of the great fears of those who have never been hypnotized is the fear of giving up control to another person. Among some religious groups hypnosis is equated with giving over one’s will to another person. Popular culture portrays hypnosis as a state of submission to another’s will. Consequently the uninformed or inexperienced will often fear being made to do something foolish, or being made to reveal some hidden secret, or violating one's values or beliefs

The inaccurate portrayal of hypnosis in popular media is certain partly to blame, but not completely. The commonly given definition of hypnosis may be contributing to this fear. If the critical factor is bypassed what keeps a person’s will from being taken over by another? If critical factor is bypassed how can a person reject any suggestion, since isn’t it the critical factor that determines whether or not a suggestion is acceptable?

To allay these fears hypnotist assure clients that even when the critical factor is bypassed, the protective function of the subconscious is still active. The protective function keeps the person from following any suggestion that is contrary to his or her values or beliefs.

It's a fine idea, but the protective function isn't all that bright. Isn't this the same protective function that allows a person to keep smoking for years and years, or keep a person at an unhealthy weight despite struggling to eliminate excess weight? Can a person really trust the protective function to rightly judge the acceptability of suggestions?

One useful perspective to address these questions is to employ Occam's Razor. Also called the "principle of parsimony," Occam's razor requires that one not make more assumptions than necessary. In other words, the simplest solution is likely the best. As every hypnotist knows one can not be made to do something against one’s will. To definite hypnosis as the bypass of the critical factor requires us to posit a secondary protective function. There is, however, a simpler explanation.

In hypnosis a person is more open to suggestion, which is another way of saying that a person is more open to suspending habitual perceptual and thinking biases. There is already a term to describe this mode of thought: critical thinking. Critical thinking allows purposes, questions, information, inferences, concepts, assumptions, implications, points of view, beliefs, and situations to be analyzed, evaluated and restructured with reduced constraints of habitual conscious or unconscious mental biases.

Furthermore, hypnosis is a process in which a person adopts new patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling and behaving. Another term for the adoption of new patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling and behavior is learning.

Thus we can derive a new definition of hypnosis: Hypnosis is a specific learning state; it is the enhancement of critical thinking followed by selective acceptable suggestion.

This definition explains increased openness to suggestion without suspension of judgment. Critical thinking is expansive; it is open to multiple possibilities. It can consider a situation (or suggestion) from multiple perspectives. Rather than rejecting reflexively it can allow a suggestion to accepted as true, and consider and act upon it as true, when it is in the best interest of the person, and yet retain the ability to reject it when is contrary to core beliefs and values.

Consider the commonly used convincer suggestion, “your arm is stiff, rigid and you are unable to bend it, the harder you try the more rigid it becomes”. In the normal state a person rejects the suggestion as ridiculous. With the expansive thinking characteristic of hypnosis the person can accept the suggestion as true, and experience it as true.

Critical thinking shares the quality of expansive thinking with that of child-like thinking. For this reason many people regard hypnosis as a regression to child-like thinking patterns. The important difference is that critical is not merely expansive, it is also informed.

For example, the person desiring, but unable to stop smoking is already informed, at least on the conscious level. There are rigid patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling or behaving that keep the smoking habit going. When critical thinking is enhanced the person can experience new patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling and behaving that support his or her desire to be a non-smoker. He or she can begin to perceive self as a non-smoker.

This definition explains the value of regression work. In regression a person does not merely relive an event. He applies new judgments and evaluations to that event.

Critical thinking is important wherever the quality of human thinking significantly impacts the quality of life. For example, success in human life is tied to success in learning. At the same time, every phase in the learning process is tied to critical thinking. Critical thinking is “a way of taking up the problems of life.” (William Graham Sumner, Folkways, 1906, cited in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking )

This is not to say other definitions of hypnosis should be scrapped, but there needs to be a truer understanding of hypnosis, that makes it an acceptable option for people whose current understanding (based on old definitions) makes it something to be avoided. The idea of having one's critical factor bypassed--there's something scary about that. Enhancing your learning, and thinking more critically-- now that's something nearly everyone can go for.