hypnosis
Meaning of hypnosis: Responsiveness to suggestion is a fairly stable individual trait, and a minority of people barely respond to hypnotic technique at all.
Definition of hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of narrowed, absorbed attention entered through guided suggestion, in which a person becomes unusually responsive to what is suggested and less aware of surroundings. It is not sleep. Used clinically, it functions as an addition to standard care rather than a treatment in its own right, most often for pain, anxiety and distress during procedures.
What is happening during hypnosis?
A session typically begins with an induction, a period of focused attention on breathing, an image or the practitioner's voice, followed by suggestions aimed at a specific target such as reduced pain or steadier breathing. Brain imaging during hypnosis shows a pattern unlike sleep: activity shifts in the networks handling attention, self-monitoring and the emotional weight given to a sensation. That last point explains a recurring finding in pain research, where people report the sensation is still detectable but bothers them far less.
| State | Awareness | Brain activity |
|---|---|---|
| Hypnosis | Attention narrowed but present; responsive to speech | Awake pattern with altered attention and self-monitoring networks |
| Sleep | Awareness suspended | Distinct sleep stages with their own signatures |
| General anesthesia | Awareness abolished by drugs | Deep drug-induced suppression |
| Meditation | Attention trained, usually self-directed | Awake pattern, no external suggestion involved |
What is it used for in medicine?
Within medicine the best-studied applications are procedural pain and distress, irritable bowel symptoms, and anxiety before surgery or dental work. It has also been applied to smoking cessation and to nausea during cancer treatment, with more variable results. A trained practitioner works to a defined goal agreed in advance, and the technique is offered alongside standard treatment rather than instead of it.
What can hypnosis not do?
Two persistent beliefs are not supported. A hypnotized person does not surrender control and cannot be made to act against firmly held values; the state relies on cooperation and can be ended by the person at will. And memories retrieved under hypnosis are not more reliable than ordinary recall. Suggestion can add confident detail to a false memory, which is why many legal systems restrict testimony obtained this way. Responsiveness also varies: it is measurable on standard scales, is fairly stable across a lifetime, and is low enough in some people that the technique achieves little.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Hypnosis was offered as a supportive technique alongside standard pain management during the procedure.
Good to know
Hypnosis is a state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility rather than actual sleep, despite its name deriving from the Greek word for sleep, and brain activity during hypnosis differs from that seen during ordinary sleep.
Word origin
Where “hypnosis” comes from
From Greek hypnos, meaning sleep, combined with the suffix -osis, indicating a state or condition.