In a multitude of movies and tv shows, everyone has heard the words “You’re getting sleepy”, and seen the other person be “hypnotized” and made to do something because their mind is being controlled by another individual. In present times this theory has been applied to helping those who are unable to quit a bad habit such as smoking for example. “Hypnotherapy or medical hypnosis” has been known to be a “controversial treatment for physical and psychiatric ailments”(Beattie-Moss). This treatment has been tested and experimented since the 18th century. Since then, many scientists have gone back and forth trying to prove and disprove the ability of putting patients into the so called “trace like state for healing purposes” (Beattie-Moss).

Illustration depicting a sign with a hypnotherapy concept.

Hypnotherapy has been used as a tool by certain therapists believing in its healing ability to help patients “break negative patterns of behavior, as with mass habit-control programs”(How Stuff Works). Hypnotherapy does this by releasing“deep and entrenched personal problems…addressing phobias…bringing underlying problems up to the conscience level”(How Stuff Works). This area of hypnosis has been a tool that has been utilized by law enforcement to “fill in details of a case” that a witness believes they cannot recall. In addition, both medical professionals and spiritual leaders profess how they believe hypnotherapy to aid and in some cases cure subjects for their illness, ailment, or an addiction that is hindering them. In terms of evidence however, most is purely anecdotal forcing a lot of the studies relating to this topic to be inconclusive or not strong enough of a verdict to eliminate the possibility that chance is controlling the outcome of the study.

Melissa Beattie-Moss, wrote an article for Penn State in regards to the credibility of this theory. In her article, she details how a psychology professor at Penn State, William Ray researched “hypnosis as a tool to better understand the brain, including its response to pain” through the use of a “variety of EEG studies”(Beattie-Moss). Ray detailed his findings stating  “In the 1950s, reliable measures of hypnotizability were developed, which allowed this research field to gain validity. We’ve seen more than 12,000 articles on hypnosis published since then in medical and psychological journals. Today, there’s general agreement that hypnosis can be an important part of treatment for some conditions, including phobias, addictions and chronic pain”(Beattie-Moss). In today’s society many experimental studies have been performed on the effectiveness of hypnosis on weight loss and smoking, being as those two issues seem to be plaguing the largest amount of people.

A recent study was conducted to look at the difference in the effectiveness of one’s ability to quit smoking by means of hypnosis. The study took 93 females and 93 males and used a combination of “hypnosis and aversion treatments”(Empowerment). After the conclusion of experiment, the subjects were brought in for a “3-month follow up” and at this examination it was clear that “86% of men and 87% of women” were able to quit smoking. This study along with 632 others were accumulated to conduct a meta-analysis on the “71,806 smokers who reported” on their ability to either quit or not. In conclusion those who conducted the analysis stated that use of hypnosis was “more than 2 times greater than self-care methods(books and support groups) and nicotine gum, and 3 times greater than physician intervention)” (Empowerment). These studies along with a multitude of others, reiterate the similar finding that hypnotherapy does have a positive impact in enabling those struggling in their lives to break strong addictive behaviors such as smoking, and can help them with other emotional, mental, and physical issues.

The American Psychological Association, explains how hypnosis “can create a highly relaxed state of inner concentration and focused attention for patients, and the technique can be tailored to different treatment methods, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy”(American Psychological Association).  Since the mid to late 19th century, hypnosis was utilized in many fields and forms as a means of controlling a person’s pain, such as army surgeons during the civil war before performing amputations on patients.(American Psychological Association). Therefore, even more “recent studies have confirmed its effectiveness as a tool to reduce pain.” (American Psychological Association). Hypnotherapy in this case is scene to extend to the physical sense by allowing a patient to be relieved from a tremendous amount of pain. Guy H. Montgomery, PhD, has tested his hypnosis theory by conducting an experiment on the “effectiveness of a 15-minute pre-surgery hypnosis session”(American Psychological Association). in a “clinical trial with 200 breast cancer patients”. His findings, published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute in 2007, explain how patients receiving the treatment “reported less post-surgical pain, nausea, fatigue, and discomfort…also the hospital saved $772 per patient…due to reduced surgical time [by way of] less of the analgesic lidocaine and sedative”(American Psychological Association).

“Understanding the exact mechanism behind hypnosis may require decoding the workings of the unconscious mind. While it may be near-impossible to arrive at that knowledge”(Beattie-Moss) strides have been made to utilize hypnosis as a tool to better many lives. Hypnotherapy has been gaining scientific backing since the early 18th century and continues to prove its effectiveness in the majority of studies it is used in. The positive momentum behind this controversial therapy suggests that this is not the end of its popularity, and that it will only continue to be tested and utilized by many.

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