Can You be Hypnotised Against Your Will?

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 125, 10 May 1928, Page 6

Can You be Hypnotised Against Your Will?

Technique of a Strange Art

In YPNOTISM Is a peculiar state ot the mind in which the subject appears to be asleep. But it is a very curious sleep Decause he will, within limits, do anything which the hypnotist tells him. He is asleep yet he acts at times as if awake. This is not as contradictory as It sounds. A person may talk in his sleep but not remember what he says. Better still, a person may walk in his sleep with the same result. You may ask the sleep talker a question and often he will answer you. From this you may engage him in conversation and request him to go tor a walk with you or you may give him other simple orders. You are now in touch with the subconscious mind and he is to all intents and purposes hypnotised. When the doctor hypnotises a person, he simply, bj means of a special technique, puts the person into this condition wherein he is asleep and yet can do many things which are impossible to the ordinary sleeper. He does not know consciously what is happening but the hypnotist Is in touch with the subconscious mind and through it can control the body and make the subject carry out his orders. • The two outstanding points ot interest in hypnotism are suggestibility and rapport. By suggestibility we mean that the subject is very open to suggestions; .e will literally believe or do anything you tell him, within certain limits. If you Assure him there is a bear in the room he will see it and show every evidence of extreme fear. If you tell him that he is a dog he will get down on all fours and bark. If you give him a rubber dagger and tell him to stab someone, he will oblige. R;- rapport we mean that the subject is in touch only with the hypnotist. No one else can influence him. A dozen other people may shout orders at him and he will remain perfectly unaffected, only to carry out

the slightest request from the hypnotist. He acts as if he were deaf to all other voices than that of the operator.

Now, as to whether a person can be hypnotised against his will. The answer is "Yes," at least in some cases. Only about one-fifth of adult people can be deeply hypnotised under any conditions. So obviously we cannot say that all people can be hypnotised against their wills. There are, however, several conditions under which those who can be hypnotised might be acted upon against their wills. First, after a person has once been deeply hypnotised, the hypnotist can often give certain suggestions, as a result of which the subject can be hypnotised at any future date without his consent or even against his will. Consequently, we may say that once a person has been really hypnotised by a clever operator, he may then be put to sleep by this operator at any time, regardless of his will. There are also a few people who by their very nature are extremely susceptible to hypnotism. Certain types of hysteriacs fall in this class. Without the least doubt, these people, it caught oft their guard, could easily be hypnotised, at least without their consent.

But these cases are exceptional. Can the ordinary individual who is susceptible to hypnotism be influenced against his wishes? Undoubtedly he can. in some cases. Anyone can resist hypnotism provided he knows he can do so. There is the hitch. The moment a person gets in a panic or becomes afraid that the

operator may succeed, just at that moment he Is beaten. For example, we all know the stern discipline in the German Army be fore the war. A certain German psychologist wished to try an experiment, so he announced to a number of soldiers that he was going to hypnotise them. Their officer, who was in league with the hypnotist, told him to go ahead, but absolutely for bade the men to allow him to hypno tise them. The hypnotist had rather startling success. The men knew nothing of hypnotism. The very name struck tear in their hearts Moreover, the command of their offi cer merely made matters worse. They realised it would be a serious offence if they allowed the hypnotist to succeed. Consequently they were In mortal terror lest he should succeed and yet regarded him as some un canny sort of person wielding a power against which they could do nothing. They literally hypnotised themselves. Let us now consider the power which the hypnotist can exert over hie subject. In general, this is summed up In ordinary psychological opinion by saying that the individual will do nothing in the hypnotic state which is fundamentally opposed to his moral nature and which he would not do when fully awake. For instance, we can get a subject to commit mur der with a rubber dagger or to "shoot" a person with a gun that isn’t loaded or forge a cheque which will be torn up 10 minutes later. In other words, the subject knows he is playing a part. His unconscious mind sizes up the situation and realises that it is all a farce In which he is to assist —and he does so. Give him a real dagger or a loaded gun and results would be different. He would bluntly refuse to do as requested and prob ably wake up. To all of which I agree, says a medical writer, but beg to point out that 't really does not answer the question. In fact, I believe the hypno tist’s power to be unlimited—or rather

to be limited only by his intelligence and his scruples. For example, let us consider a hypothetical case. Sup pose I hypnotise Mr. A. and suggest to him that at three o’clock to-mor-row afternoon he will go to Mr. B.'s office and shoot him with a gun which I hand him. Then let us suppose that I turn to my assistant and explain to him, so Mr. A. can hear me, that the whole thing Is an experiment and that the gun Is loaded with dummy bullets. Actually I hand Mr. A. a gun loaded with live ammunition, and Mr. A. thinks it is the usual farce in which he is to take his part. I wonder how many of my readers would be willing to act as Mr. B.? Personally I am convinced that Mr. A. would commit the murder. But the hypnotist can go even farther than this, provided he be a really unscrupulous person. For example, he can take Mr. A. and suggest to him in the hypnotic state that Mr. B. insulted him yesterday. This memory will be just as real to Mr. A. as if it really occurred. And from here he can gradually work on Mr. A.’s feelings, slowly building up in him a positive hatred of Mr. B. To be sure, this will take time but I firmly believe that in six months or a year a skilful operator could accomplish his ends even to the extent of having murder committed. All of which indicates that hypnotism is a very bad toy to play with. It is a highly dangerous weapon in the hands of the unscrupulous and everyone who permits himself to be hypnotised by any other than a fullycompetent and reliable psychologist or medical man Is Inviting trouble.