Hypnosis Definitions

Affect bridge - The connection (or bridge) you make when your hypnotist helps you connect a feeling you have now to the incident that provoked the feeling for the first time.

Age progression - The hypnotically produced process of seeing yourself in the future.

Age regression - The hypnotically produced process of seeing yourself as you were in the past.

Analgesia - The inability to feel pain even though you are fully conscious.

Anesthesia - The inability to feel anything at all.

Autohypnosis - The process of getting yourself into the hypnotic state without a hypnotist.

Autonomic nervous system - Controls your unconscious bodily functions such as your heartbeat, blood pressure, and digestion.

Behavioral anesthesiology - Also called conscious sedation or nonpharmacological analgesia, this is the condition of anesthesia caused without chemicals that put you to sleep.

Bruxism - The habit of unconsciously grinding your teeth.

Catalepsy - The inhibition of all voluntary movements because of intense focus on an alternative reality.

Chevreul's Pendulum - An exercise in which a person attempts to move a handheld pendulum by focusing his mind rather than by moving his arm.

Clinical - Any process that pertains to the direct treatment and/or observation of patients.

Clinical hypnosis - The process that transpires when a hypnotist speaks to a client while that client is an altered state of consciousness.

Clinical trial - An investigation that searches for a new treatment for a specific disease by evaluating the effect of that new treatment on volunteer patients.

Confabulating - When you fill in the gaps of your memory by guessing or fabricating some details, you are confabulating.

Confusion technique - A bombardment of bewildering terms and instructions presented by a hypnotist to facilitate a resistant client's trance state.

Conscious sedation - See behavioral anesthesiology.

Deepening - The process of using words to intensify the hypnotic experience.

Dermatologist - A medical doctor who specializes in treating disorders of the skin.

Dissociation - Paying attention to one part of what you're experiencing and ignoring the rest of the experience.

Embedded suggestions - Emphasized words or phrases purposely inserted into a regular conversation or hypnotic induction.

Encoding - The process of putting your experience into your memory. This happens automatically, all day long, without any effort on your part.

Endorphins - The category of chemicals that your body produces to eliminate pain.

False memory syndrome - The condition you suffer from if false memories were created by suggestion while you were hypnotized.

Forensic hypnosis - Hypnosis used as part of legal and investigative proceedings.

Glove anesthesia - A hypnotic pain-control technique. You are given the suggestion that your hand is numb and that numbness is transferred to any part of your body that your hand touches.

Habit - A pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition.

Hetero-hypnosis - The process by which you are hypnotized by another person.

Hidden observer - A term coined to describe the part of your personality that maintains an objective grasp on reality while you are engrossed in a hypnotic experience.

Hypermnesia - The enhanced recall of detailed information from past events while under hypnosis.

Hypnotherapy - Psychotherapy that uses hypnosis as part of its treatment.

Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP) - An established hypnotic susceptibility scale that formally tests your responsiveness to hypnosis.

Ideomotor movements - Subtle muscle movements that occur in response to a thought or feeling; they are automatic responses that you do not control.

Imagery - The term for the pictures in your mind that represent specific objects or events and the feelings that you associate with those pictures.

Indirect suggestion - Hints that prompt you to think about a particular situation and about a subtly suggested course of action.

Induction - The process that a hypnotist uses to guide you from your ordinary state of consciousness into the trance state.

Levitation - The rising up into the air of something, someone, or some part of the body in apparent defiance of gravity.

Metaphor - An implied comparison between two unlike things that surprisingly do have something in common.

Neutral hypnosis - The state you are in after an induction is given, but before suggestions are offered.

Nonpharmacological analgesia - See behavioral anesthesiology.

Pacing - A technique during which the hypnotist recognizes and matches your speech patterns and some of your movements and behaviors.

Past-life regression (PLR) - A process used by hypnotists who believe in reincarnation and past lives to guide their clients backward in time to their previous lives.

Pendulum - A pendulum is a weight suspended in such a way that it is free to swing.

Phobia - A persistent illogical fear.

Posthypnotic amnesia - The inability of a person to remember what was said during a hypnotic session.

Posthypnotic suggestions - Suggestions told to you while you're in a trance to influence your future behavior.

Pseudo memories - False memories created by suggestion while you are in a hypnotic state.

Re-alerting - An imprecise term referring to the process of coming out of the hypnotic trance; also called "reawakening" and "returning to regular."

Reframing - Looking at a situation from a new viewpoint.

Script - Any written suggestions the hypnotist says to you while you are hypnotized.

Sleep hygiene - All your habits of daily living that promote good sleep.

Sports psychology - The study of the psychological and mental factors that influence performance, and the application of that knowledge to real-life situations.

Suggestibility test - A test consisting of a short relaxation induction followed by a simple suggestion, used to gauge your receptivity to hypnosis.

Trance - A state of heightened mental alertness, diminished physical movement, and susceptibility to suggestion.

Trance logic - Refers to the ability of the hypnotized person to accept a suggestion even though the suggestion is impossible and illogical.

Trichotillomania - The irresistible urge to pull out your own hair.

Waking hypnosis - A strong suggestion given by a person in authority and absorbed by another person who is not necessarily in a hypnotic trance.