Stage HypnosisStage Hypnosis

Ok, we’ve posted plenty about hypnosis and hypnotherapy and some of the reasons why people

turn to it for help. But what about stage hypnosis? How is i t

s imilar to “real” hypnosis or cl inical hypnosis and how is i t

different?

Stage hypnosis comes in two main types. The f irst sort is the best known sort – where you have a hypnotist up on the stage who cal ls up volunteers from the

audience to be put into what is referred to as a trance. Once the volunteers are put into a trance

they are given a series of commands, usual ly to do

something r idiculous or hi lar ious, though usual ly within the bounds of good taste and decency. The

volunteer might be told that when they put on a huge pair of

sunglasses,

they wil l see everyone in the audience with no clothes on; they

wil l not be instructed to take their clothes off… or at least not

in any of the stage hypnosis shows I’ve seen or heard of.

The second type of stage hypnosis was used as part of a tradit ional magic show. In these old shows, the conjurer’s ass istant was put into a trance (or appeared to be put into a trance, anyway) before

being used for i l lus ions such as being sawn in half ,

levitated up off a table covered in a sheet, put into a cabinet to

have sabres seemingly thrust through them and more.

This writer recently saw an old Laurel and Hardy black and

white f i lm (“A Haunting We Wil l Go”) where the comic duo act as ass istants to the conjurer Dante,

and Dante seemed to use this form of stage hypnosis quite

frequently.

(At one point, he tr ies to put Stanley into a trance, and when

Dante wiggles his f ingers, Stanley wiggles his ears… but I’m gett ing

distracted and I’d better stop before I tel l you the whole plot. )

The main thing that stage hypnosis of both types has in

common with cl inical hypnosis is the trance. The trance state is

considered to be the hal lmark of hypnosis and is what gave

hypnosis i ts name ( it comes from the Greek word for s leep and a trance state looks l ike s leep to

the outsider) .

In both types of stage hypnosis , the subject (the volunteer or the ass istant) is told to stare into the

hypnotist’s eyes. This mimics what happens in cl inical hypnosis ,

where the subject (the cl ient seeking help from hypnotherapy) stares at a focal point. the trance.

In stage hypnosis , i t appears to be the eyes of the hypnotist and

his/her personal energy or power that puts the subject into

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However, in cl inical hypnosis , i t isn’t so much the eyes of the hypnotist as the voice. The

subject of cl inical hypnosis can stare at any focal point they

wish, even their hands or a pin on the cei l ing.

In stage hypnosis of both kinds, al l the power seems to be in the hands of the hypnotist and the subject seems to fal l into the trance against their wi l l . In

cl inical hypnosis , i t is frequently stressed that nobody can be

hypnotized against their wi l l.

The get-volunteers-to-do-s i l ly-things type of stage hypnosis has

another paral lel with cl inical hypnosis: suggest ions. Suggest ions implanted by the hypnotist while the subject is in the trance affect the actions of the subject once he/she comes out of the trance,

with the altered subconscious (where the suggest ions have been implanted) producing the change

in behavior. This happens in cl inical hypnosis and is how

hypnotherapy works, to put it very brief ly. This principle of suggest ion is exaggerated for

effect in stage hypnosis .

There a number of other ways that stage hypnosis differs from cl inical hypnosis . First ly, stage hypnosis is always very publ ic. It’s a show and everything is

made to be as dramatic a spectacle as possible. Cl inical

hypnosis , on the other hand, is very private,

especial ly as it is usual ly done to help someone with a problem that can be quite intimate and

personal . And the sort of trance induced in stage hypnosis isn’t a real trance at al l , as any cl inical

hypnotherapist wi l l tel l you.

The subject is not in a relaxed state and the trance appears to be induced almost instantly – a real

trance requires relaxation and takes t ime.

So what is going on real ly with stage hypnosis i f the subject isn’t in a real trance? Why do you see

that staid person from the accounting department rushing

around the room squawking l ike a chicken when they’re normally as

dul l and quiet as a calculator?

Why does the conjurer have to put the lady in the sparkl ing leotard into a trance before

sawing her in half?

It’s easy to explain what’s going on with the conjurer’s type of hypnosis . Here, i t’s part of the

atmosphere of mystery and i l lus ion. There’s something a l i tt le

uncanny about even cl inical hypnosis , and it is no secret that even cl inical hypnosis has drawn

on the techniques of the yogis and gurus and has a touch of

mysticism about it .

Stage conjurers draw on this to give a sense of mystery and

supernatural power as part of their act – and the ass istant is faking it as part of that act. What’s more, the act ions of the “hypnotized” subject and the actions of the

conjurer as

he/she puts the ass istant into the trance also serve to distract the audience from the mechanism of the tr ick. Not al l conjurers use

fake hypnosis as part of their act and plenty of profess ionals get on

just f ine without it .

But what about the other sort of stage hypnosis? What’s going on here is more complex. When a

person volunteers to be the subject of a stage hypnotist , he

or she probably knows the sort of thing that they’l l be asked to do

It is highly l ikely that the volunteer actual ly wants to do

these crazy things in publ ic. Yes – even the staid, boring types. The

hypnotist gives the subject an excuse to act l ike an idiot in publ ic and get away with it – after al l they “can’t help it”

because “I was under the power of the hypnotist”.

In the case of the dul l accountant described above, probably he/she has been itching to break out of

that profess ional role and get out of the rut but without

endangering their business image. Humans are funny creatures…

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