Stage hypnosis
A modern stage hypnosis performance typically delivers a comedic show rather than simply a demonstration to impress an audience with powers of persuasion.
Others maintain that it can be explained by a combination of psychological factors observed in group settings such as disorientation, compliance, peer pressure, and ordinary suggestion.
Scottish surgeon James Braid developed his technique of hypnosis after witnessing a stage performance by the traveling Swiss magnetic demonstrator Charles Lafontaine (1803–1892) in November 1841.
Their voluntary motions will be completely controlled, so that, they can neither rise up nor sit down, except at the will of the operator; their memory will be taken away, so that they will forget their own name and that of their most intimate friends; they will be made to stammer, and to feel pain in any part of their body at the option of the operator – a walking stick will be made to appear a snake, the taste of water will be changed to vinegar, honey, coffee, milk, brandy, wormwood, lemonade, etc., etc., etc.
[7] These are identical to many of the demonstrations which became central to subsequent "stage hypnosis", in fact it seems that little changes except the name and the introduction of the hypnotic induction, etc.
Likewise, the novelist Mark Twain similarly recounts a mesmeric performance which clearly resembles 20th century stage hypnosis, in his autobiography.
In the United States, for example, in the 1890s, there was a small group of highly skilled stage hypnotists, all whom were managed by Thomas F. Adkin, who toured country-wide, playing to packed houses.
[10] Throughout the 20th century, despite adopting the term "hypnotism", stage hypnotists continued to explain their performances to audiences by reference to supernatural powers and animal magnetism.
[11] However, this is not what Braid meant by "hypnotism", a term coined in opposition to theories of mesmerism, to stress the fact that the results were due to ordinary psychological and physiological processes, such as suggestion and focused attention, rather than telepathy or animal magnetism.
My theory, moreover, has this additional recommendation, that it is level to our comprehension, and adequate to account for all which is demonstrably true, without offering any violence to reason and common sense, or being at variance with generally admitted physiological and psychological principles.
They had originally claimed to produce the same effects by means of telepathy and animal magnetism, and only later began to explain their shows in terms of hypnotic trance and suggestion.
[citation needed] Most notably, the well-known American magician and performer, Kreskin, has frequently carried out typical stage hypnosis demonstrations without using any hypnotic induction.
[16] While debunking the "sleep-trance" concept, Kreskin, like other skeptics adopting the nonstate position, was keen to emphasize that he felt the value of hypnotic suggestion had been frequently underestimated.
[22] On the other hand, those who argue for a substantial "state" of hypnosis cite clinical claims (not actually evidenced in any case of stage performance, one hopes) such as the following: "... editorial implying most subjects have no will or interest in not following the suggestion of the hypnotist, conveniently omit the primary interest in hypnotism came in the early 1800s before ether and morphine were widely available.
Whilst Esdaile claimed his patients felt no pain observers on behalf of an independent commission of inquiry for the Bengal government reported scenes of those undergoing such operations writhing in agony.
Moreover, Barber also points out that invariably, cases of hypnotic surgery do use local anaesthetic at the area of incision, whilst internal organs are not capable of registering pain in response to a skilled cut rendering many such operations feasible without general anaesthetic, the role of hypnotic influence being essentially at an emotional or anxiolytic level.
[citation needed] Historically, stage hypnotists often made claims for hypnotically induced enhancements to volunteer abilities beyond normal limits.
The hypnotist starts them off by having them imagine ordinary situations that they have likely encountered, like being cold or hot, hungry or thirsty then gradually builds to giving them a suggestion to do something that is totally out of character, such as tap dancing, singing like Elvis Presley, clucking like a chicken or forgetting a number.
[citation needed] The desire to be the center of attention, having an excuse to violate their own inner fear suppressors and the pressure to please, plus the expectation of the audience wanting them to provide some entertainment is usually enough to persuade some people to do almost anything.
"[29] This was a critical point of distinction and represents a formal recognition of the "as if" nature of behavior in stage hypnotism in contradistinction to claims for its supposed subjective reality.
[citation needed] In Belgium, stage hypnosis has been forbidden since 1892;[30] the law was mentioned in 2017 to force the cancellation of a spectacle by Messmer (hypnotist) [fr].
