This is quite an interesting debate. Could you actually force someone to be hypnotized? Could you hypnotize a person against their conscious will to stay awake?

There are many factors involved, unfortunately. It is unfortunate, because it means that somehow it can be done. You could be sent into dream-land against your conscious choice, and frankly – in some conditions, it can happen pretty fast.

The factors are:

1. The skill of the hypnotist – it does not have to be a professional person, and on the other hand not every professional hypnotist could do that. A high level of skill and self confidence (and one-up-man-ship, an attitude we’ve discussed here in the past) is required. By the way, most on-stage hypnotists would not be able to pull it off unless there’s a stage and an audience and a subject that is extremely nervous/excited at that moment…

2. The somnabulism level of the subject - of course, the trance habits of the person being hypnotized is also an important factor. If we’re dealing with a down to earth type of person, who is a determined and assertive person, or persuasive – then the chances of hypnotizing that person against his will are quite low.

3. The situation – even the most non-hypnotizeable individuals can be sent to a TDS in a second, if the situation allows it. Just look at hypnosis shows… People who are known to be very much in control of themselves (or of others) are acting like children, forgetting the number 3 or expressing themselves in the language of dolphins. Why? Because the situation makes them nervous (they’re on stage, surrounded by strangers and a hypnotist with the one-up-man-ship attitude, stared at by hunreds of entertainment consumers). That type of situation sends a normal person on a TDS (trance-derivational-search) automatically – their mind is looking for consistencies, for “knowns”, for guidance. The hypnotist offers all 3 – “here’s what you do, John, when I snap my fingers you will open your eyes and speak to your fellow dolphins… 1 2 3…” snap, John is acting as expected and out of his immediate conscious control. It’s an easy escape.

Fixing these factors, even up front, is quite easy for entertainment hypnosis. But, in real life, the chances for these factors to randomly be set is rare. You could be the greatest hypnotist in America, but without a proper situation or a highly suggestible subject (or both, to make your outcome easier to reach), there’s less chance for you to control other people with your skills.

And here’s a bigger “but”… BUT, if you focus on little mental movements instead of big time mind control, you’ll be taking your subjects faster to where you want them to go. I’ll finish with these words, because we also have a discussion about this very subject in our forum…