HYPNOSIS is an artificially created state of altered consciousness – neither wakefulness nor sleep – in which the subject is susceptible to suggestion. Most people can be heypnotised but it is difficult, if not impossible, to hypnotise anyone against his will. The essence of hypnotism lies in persuading the patient to realx until he sinks into a trance. Once in a trance-like state, he automatically folows the hypnotist’s instructions, although it is generally believed that a patient under hypnosis will not do anything againsts his conscience.
Although hypnotherapy remains on the fringe of conventional medicine, it is bieng used more and more by orthodox medical practitioners. Some psychiatrists use it to relieve mental conditions such as a phobia, or physical ailments such as ashma, and it has been used to combat addictions like smoking and in pain relief during labour.