124 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: HYPNOSIS CANNOT HELP FILE: UFO3360
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Hypnosis cannot help with smoking or getting at truth
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06/26/92
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The Toronto Star
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LET'S BE clear about it: there's no such thing as hypnosis! At
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least, not the mystical, occult, trance-like state promoted as
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Mesmerism, or "animal magnetism," by Franz Anton Mesmer
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back in the 18th century.
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Hypnosis, the word itself, was derived form the Greek Hypnos,
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meaning sleep. It's long been known that the hypnotized person is
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not in a sleep or trance state. He or she is really awake and
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participating in the practice of auto-suggestion. And that is what
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it's all about.
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Hypnosis has been given a lot of credit for many things which have
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been attributed to an altered state of consciousness, but which
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were really done through perfectly normal functions of the human
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mind.
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Some examples:
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Many therapists claim to use hypnosis to help cure people of
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habitual behaviors which they otherwise could not shake off.
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Cigarette smoking is a good case in point. Now, in many cases the
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therapist does help. But it is not hypnosis that does the job, it's
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the ability of the therapist to use suggestions that reinforce the
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subject's desire to quit the habit.
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Then there's the subject of controlling pain. There have been
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numerous claims of patients who have undergone dental procedures,
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or even surgery, with no painful experience while under hypnosis.
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Here again, many people, but not all, can control pain - a
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subjective experience - through self-conditioning and relaxation.
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And some such cases of surgery which have been investigated have
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shown that the outer layer of skin has been anesthetized - and
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that is where the majority of pain originates, when the incision
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is made.
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The so-called hypnosis is definitely an aid to the auto-suggested
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exercise.
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One of the fallacies associated with hypnosis is that one can get
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at the truth through a reinforcement of one's memory.
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A recent example was the tragic Kristen French abduction case in
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St. Catharines.
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There were witnesses who claimed to have seen the teenager forced
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into a cream-colored Camaro. In an attempt to elicit more
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information - perhaps a license number - the police had a few of
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these witnesses hypnotized in order to "refresh" their memories.
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It was no surprise to this writer that the effort was fruitless.
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There is no authenticated case on record that accurate memories can
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be recalled by this method. There have been cases where further
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details have been dredged up, but, on investigation, many of these
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have been proven erroneous.
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Memory recall can often be riddled with distortions. Confabulation
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- the tendency for individuals to confuse fact with fiction -
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often surfaces when hypnosis is employed. It can, therefore,
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introduce an element of distortion in a criminal case, an element
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which can have a serious effect on the disposition of justice.
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Dr. Robert A. Baker, psychology professor at University of
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Kentucky, in his book They Call It Hypnosis writes:
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"Our memories are not like computers or phonograph records, but
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more like the village storyteller. Our brain doesn't passively
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store the facts and nothing but the facts; instead it takes the
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facts and weaves them into a plausible and coherent story that,
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surprisingly enough, is recreated with each telling."
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Dr. Baker conducted studies over a period of almost four years on
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the effect of hypnosis on memory. The results: negative.
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The question often arises, why do people brought forward during a
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hypnotist's stage performance seem to fall under the hypnotists
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spell and obey his every command, even to making themselves look
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silly in the process.
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The answer is given by Peter Reveen himself, the foremost stage
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hypnotist of our time. He refers to the "pleasing the operator"
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effect - the "operator" being the hypnotist. "The subject," writes
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Reveen in The Skeptical Inquirer, "feels a strong inner compulsion
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to go through the motions of obeying, even when the only way he
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can do so is by simulating whatever effect he thinks the operator
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expects.'
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The current fascination for the tales of UFO abductions has been
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promoted by the use of regressive hypnosis on the fantasy-prone
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individuals who claim to have been violated. Here again, the
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subject co-operates with the hypnotist who helps impose his strong
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beliefs in the UFO abduction myth. Another example of "pleasing
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the operator."
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It should be stressed that the fantasy-prone are not necessarily
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mentally disturbed. They are normal people who are easily
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suggestible, and who are most easily "hypnotized." And in most
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cases they have read about and been impressed by the many UFO
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abduction stories in circulation.
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One wonders why these "abductions" are not reported to the
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authorities, instead of just being aired in a book and in a movie
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bringing profit to the hypnotist-author. After all, kidnapping is
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a crime, is it not?
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*********************************************************************
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* -------->>> THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo <<<------- *
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