Top Gear Hypnosis

[Loosehead]

I was watching an episode of Top Gear last night, the one with Paul Mckenna on, anyway he ended up hypnotising Richard Hammond. What I want to know is what does he do back stage? I mean you never actully see it. I just find it hard to beleive that they are not putting it on although it does look convincing, I mean at one point he convinced Hammond that he couldn't drive! Anyway just before Hammond was decided on as a subject, Jeremy said well "James and I can't be hynotised so It'll have to be Richard". Does that mean that it only works on certain people? Does the subject have to cooperate? I mean in the hands of someone criminally minded it would be incredibly powerful. Is it all an act? Could you be hypnotised without knowing about it? As you can see I have very little understanding of this subject.

[pixi]

hi loosehead, well sorry i dont know the answer but i personally would be terrified of being hypnotised.  I saw a hypnotist on a night out once and although a lot of it looked set up, there were people from the audience who were doing what he told them, but you could actually see the confusion and fear in their faces.  Very scary indeed

[natalie_1982]

I think you have to be 'open' to it.  My friend was hynotised to give up smoking, they regressed her and all the rest of it (she started againn after 3 weeks) and another friend to the same place but after 3 hours the woman said she couldn't do it.

[natalie_1982]

Ey up!

( guess if you don't want to be hypnotised you can't be forced as you wouldn't concentrate or listen 'properly' to what they're saying?

[SublimeSelf]

To All

I am a hypnotherapist and will start to answer by defining hypnosis. It is a deeply relaxed state that you enter into voluntarily and can not be achieved without your permission. It is a state of dual awareness where you are aware of your surroundings and also aware of your subconscious and are able to access all it's contents. We all hypnostise ourselves in some degree every day! Watching TV, driving, reading...Hypnosis is nothing to be scared of as you have complete control. If a hypnotist instructs you to do something against your will you will simply awaken as from a light sleep and remember everything. Hypnosis is a very powerful tool and we should embrace it instead of being afraid of it. Hope this helps a little!

[Loosehead]

Thanks, sublimeself.

"if a hypnotist instructs you to do something against your will simply awaken as from a light sleep and remember everything"

So what about all these stage shows where they make people do stupid and sometimes degrading things that they would never normally do? Is that just an act with planted audience members/actors then? How could Mckenna convince Hammond that he couldn't drive?

Trying to understand.

[SublimeSelf]

Sometimes, sadly, yes. Some hypnotists do stage some shows or employ "props". And, yes, I am 100% convinced that those people would do those things normally. You have to remember that the hypnotist will only bring peolpe on the stage who are really susceptible to the instructions. If you have been to a show you will see that the hypnotist will to an array of little "tests" to determine the people who will be very susceptible and will cooperate. (People who have been in the military make excellent subjects as they are used to following instructions) And if you do not watch a live show you will not be aware of the people the hypnotist has sent back to their seats for not cooperating (people less susceptible to the "orders"). This then adds pressure on the remaining participants to perform or be made to go back to their seats and look like failures. You also need very good powers of imagination to be a good subject. Hammond obviously has these ;-) Keep on asking, hope this is helping...

[WaldoMcFroog]

I remember being hypnotised at college. I recall singing the Martian national anthem, seeing an elephant walk into the bar and move chairs out of its way and got drunk on water. I can say for a fact that I made up the Martian national athem, never saw an elephant and moved the chairs simply because I felt it would look good and got 'drunk' because all of a sudden lots of women were finding me very interesting! I enjoyed the opportunity to show off and be the centre of attention but I could have stopped had I wanted to. The 'hypnotism' simply gave me an excuse to behave in a way that I never would have done under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, I don't know whether any of the other people would report the same things. Perhaps they really did see an elephant... ;-) 

[Loosehead]

Sublime, coupling your's and Waldo's last reply's, it seems that the stage stuff is more of a exersize in adult psycology, a desire to fit in and cooperate. I would consider it a compliment to be sent back to my seat as it would confirm to me that I'm not easily manipualted.  From what Waldo was saying it seems that he just "went along" with it and therefore presumably could have refused to do anything that he didn't want to.

Thanks, I'm gaining understanding all the time.

So back to the original Hammond situation, they mentioned some process that McKenna went through before he was able to manipulate Hammond's behaviour, something back stage. What would that have been? What would he have done and what level of cooperation would Hammond have had to contribute?

[kaktus]

Hope you don't mind me asking some additional questions Loosehead

Sublimeself In Denmark there is a TV show called unit 1 (Rejseholdet). It's a detective show and fictional, but it base its stories on real cases. I saw one where a robber/killer was hypnotised to do the robbery, not the killing. In the show had a psychiatrist who said that there had been experiments with hypnosis to see what one could make people believe/do under hypnosis. In the experiment they put a man under hypnosis, give him a gun and tell him to shoot his wife. He refuses. Now they tell him that his wife is a angry dog and it will kill him, now he shoots his wife.

Is the above utter BS or is it possible? The point was that you can't make people do something they would never do normally (like you say and it makes sense to me), but you can make people believe things are different than they are and through that make people do what they normally never would do.

[SublimeSelf]

Dear Kaktus

You are absolutely correct. If a hypnotist could convince the person that they have to protect themselves or that someone they care for is in danger then you would be able to get someone to harm someone else under hypnosis. Eg: A woman lies next to her pool in privacy every day and she swims naked every day IN PRIVATE. If she sees a hypnotist who hypnotises her and then gives suggestions of a warm place where it tis very private and very warm then he could get her to undress. BUT he could not do it to someone who has never done it in real life. It depends on the suggestions given by the hypnotist...

[SublimeSelf]

Dear Loosehead

As I did not see the show I am unsure of what Paul did to Hammond. It could have happend or they are just adding it for effect.
The only thing Hammond would need in order to be hypnotised is powers of imagination and the ability to relax.

[kaktus]

Thanks a lot!