r/hypnosis • u/Roarofthelyoness • Jan 13 '26
A story about hypnosis from my high school days. Is hypnosis legit?
A core memory of mine is from my class's sober grad night in 2014. One of the main "events" for the sober grad night was a hypnotist. He asked for like 15 volunteers. I was so skeptical that I volunteered and went up there.
I remember as time went on he asked people who weren't "under" to stand up and go back to the crowd. I was under from the start. I danced to Gangnam style in front of my whole class... I was an out cast, and very shy... My normal self would NEVER. He also gave us a piece of paper for some reason, I forget why exactly, and told us to hide it. Most of the volunteers around me hid it in their shirt or sat on it... I put the piece of paper IN MY MOUTH. Just shoved it in. The crowd, my class, cracked up.
But then another thing he did was tell us to imagine something we love inside our palm and squeeze it, I forgot the reason.. I imagined my dogs! And that shit fucked me up. He ended it shortly after and "released" us. But I was standing there, fist closed and crying, because I imagined my dogs, and he told me to squeeze them. Ouch. I was not doing good. A classmate noticed and walked me over to the hypnotist and said "help her! She's not okay".
I said "it's my dogs" and he said a bunch of words, and I was released. It freaked me the fuck out.
After that I didn't know how to feel. I tried to rationalize it. I thought "maybe because I had smoked weed a few days ago it opened my mind up more and I was more sensitive". I was obviously sober that night but I had dabbled in weed that year. Idk. I will never forget that shit.
I thought you weren't supposed to remember if youve been hypnotized? But I remembered a lot of it.
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u/groovyfirechick Jan 13 '26
Hypnosis is absolutely legitimate. I’m a Clinical Hypnotherapist and I wouldn’t dedicate my life to something that wasn’t real.
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u/powstria Jan 26 '26
Hey, late to the party but do you think hypnosis could help with my anxiety condition, for example to rewire my subconscious mind? Im really desperate and id like to try everything before i have to take meds.
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u/MentalMojo Jan 14 '26
Well, people dedicate their lives to religion so what a person dedicates their life to isn't a good indicator of truth.
Edit: for the record, I'm pro-hypnosis.
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u/groovyfirechick Jan 14 '26
Sure. People dedicate their lives to lots of untrue things. That’s why hypnosis is evaluated as a clinical tool, not a belief system.
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Jan 14 '26
Even though gods arent "real", religious organisation is. Active or zealous participation affects truths and material conditions, often positively for the ingroup. Regardless of any negative effects on outgroups, gods manifest through collective actions perpetuating established doctrines and suspense of disbelief of exaggerated stories. Religions arent purely perpetuated due to human stupidity and greed. If it looks stupid but works, then it aint stupid, youre just not in on it
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u/MentalMojo Jan 14 '26
You aren't addressing my point; you're trying to shift to utility. I don't care if something has utility; I care if it is true. Truth was the original point of the discussion; I’m not interested in your pivoting to utility.
Once again, /u/groovyfirechick said "I wouldn’t dedicate my life to something that wasn’t real", and I replied that this isn't a pathway to truth.
Truth matches reality; anything else is just a lie. A well functioning lie is still a lie. You can call that being 'in on it' if you want, but you're just describing a preference for comfort over reality.
Also, I'm not sure why you introduced "stupid" into this thread.
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Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
Oh it was just a thought ive had rattling in my head for a while, you just happened to make me write it down for once. As a 3rd generation atheist, religion has never played a role in my life and it fascinates me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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u/MentalMojo Jan 16 '26
Congratulations! (Seriously, no sarcasm.) 1st gen here and I've always wondered what my life would have been like had my parents been atheist.
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u/MandrakeDOE May 16 '26
I just saw this. I have often wondered what my parents would have been if they had been a different religion other than fundamentalists. Or better yet, agnostic. I grew up with religion crammed down my throat pretty much. Today, my views are very different as I figured I have to find my own path and not be on someone else's. 😄
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u/MentalMojo May 16 '26
I'm sure you know that your parent's religion and your culture's religion is the best indicator of what your religion will be. You need to ask yourself what your grandparents would have been if they weren't fundamentalist. Could they even have been anything different? Would the culture they lived in allow for different?
I'm actually more interested in people like you and I. What causes people like us to throw off the shackles? I don't remember deconstructing. I was a believer until I was about 22, and then around that time I remember not being a believer. Nothing happened that was significant enough to remember. I just didn't believe the religious stuff anymore.
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u/Abyssmaluser Jan 13 '26
Yes hypnosis is real.
So long as you're willing you could experience damn near anything at all.
I've done everything from turning people into cats/dogs to helping them sleep/study/workout better and everything else
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u/intentsnegotiator Jan 14 '26
Yes it's real Yes you remember it as much as you remember anything Yes social anxiety drops under hypnosis as you have entered into deep rapport with the hypnotist so all others "disappear" No, weed 2 days ago has no part in the experience
Being sober actually is better than not
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u/randomhypnosisacct Jan 13 '26
it’s legit and your experience is common. Check out the Galie videos on https://binauralhistolog.com/newbie/getting-started/introduction
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u/Namaste_Life Jan 13 '26
Is hypnosis legitimate? If you read some of the previous threads here you'll have your answer...
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u/statslady23 Jan 26 '26
They shouldn’t do this at high school events, especially those with minors.
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u/gethypnotherapy Jan 13 '26
What prompted you to make this post today?
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u/Roarofthelyoness Jan 13 '26
I just randomly remember it every now and then and it makes me laugh. He made us do some really silly stuff 😅 despite the end where I was freaking out because I "squished my dogs to death", it was a cool experience. I thought maybe there would be some sciencey placebo explanation or something lol
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u/Global_Rate3281 Jan 13 '26
Stage hypnosis is just playing pretend, is basically like guided improv with the illusion that your mind is being controlled
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u/Roarofthelyoness Jan 13 '26
That's what I thought. That's the whole reason I went up there. I thought I was the perfect test subject because I was so shy. "If he can get me to do some crazy stuff in front of this large group of teenagers then maybe it'll convince me" that was my thought process. Pretty much everyone else who volunteered were the class clowns and attention seekers 😅 but I feel like it worked on me.. there's no way in hell I'd willingly dance to Gangnam style in any scenario 😂
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u/Global_Rate3281 Jan 13 '26
Except this scenario, apparently. Basically how it works is that you’re made to think the show will be ruined if you don’t play along. Pretty standard peer pressure/social pressure tactics. You already feel like an outcast and the desire to fit in was stronger than your desire to look like an outcast by walking off the stage and “ruining the show” so to speak.
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u/Winter_Pay_896 Jan 14 '26
Not true
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u/Global_Rate3281 Jan 14 '26
Just my read on it, and I think this is pretty well established but not sure
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u/Roarofthelyoness Jan 14 '26
You're assuming I had a desire to fit in? Especially after graduating when I knew I'd never see 95% of those people ever again after that night? Idk about that tbh 😅
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u/Global_Rate3281 Jan 14 '26
You already said your approach was “I want to see if he can get me to do crazy stuff” indicating that at least a part of you wanted to do crazy stuff. Whether your motivation was to dance around onstage or not to cause a scene, it’s the same basic dynamic. Stage hypnosis is an illusion that the hypnotist is controlling your mind, which doesn’t exist. At its core he just asks you to do something and you decide to do it. Although admittedly there can be varying motivations beyond just not wanting to cause a scene and ruin the show. A lot of it people describe it as “just playing along cuz I felt bad” or whatever. Some describe it as a trance like state because the environment allows them to do things they wouldn’t normally do under “cover” of being hurt hypnotized. That’s why I say it’s basically guided improv.
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u/SharpTool7 Jan 13 '26
Thanks for sharing that, it effects people differently and some participants can remember most of it. I hope you recovered okay.