Can hypnotism help hallucination

Answer 1

Hypnosis can exaggerate hallucinations and precipitate psychotic episodes. Avoid any practitioner who suggests hypnosis for hallucinations like the plague. He or she is a quack. Hallucinations are serious manifestations of possibly severe mental problems, and should be treated by a psychiatrist -- in other words, by an expert with many years of training.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible to hallucinate whilst in hypnosis, especially if in a somnambulistic hypnotic state.

Whilst in hypnosis I have danced with imaginary people, had "conversations" with famous historical figures, juggled non existent balls, and "eaten" all manner of food. At the time it all seemed totally "real" - I saw the people and objects, heard music, voices etc, but remained aware that everything was, in fact, just a fantasy construction of my own imagination. It was a bit like dreaming whilst knowing you were doing so. Strange but very interesting. It will only happen with someone who has good imaginative capabilities and a willingness to "go with the flow" and follow the hypnotist's suggestions in an uncritical manner.

I have hypnotized many people, and some were equally responsive. One friend was so deeply engaged in the process she was able readily to revisit and relive all manner of episodes from her life: she even wrote her name in a childlike scrawl when "revisiting" her seventh birthday, and her language was that of a seven year old rather than the 35 year old woman she actually was. She also spent protracted periods playing with an imaginary balloon, stroking a non-existent pet rabbit, and "talking" with her friends. Afterwards, it was quite hard to convince her that everything had been imagined!

Generally, only about 10% of people have the right mix of personal characteristics to experience such profound hallucinations in hypnosis. They are "somnambulists" who enter trance readily: they are highly responsive to suggestion, and are usually of above average intelligence with good powers of concentration and imagination. They usually had imaginary friends in childhood; are frequent "daydreamers", and often experience "lucid dreams" during normal sleep. They also tend frequently to experience hypnagogic and hypnopompic phenomena when falling asleep/ waking. Above all, however, they are willing participants in hypnotization, usually because they are interested in the mind and its potential to create "alternate realities", and, therefore, are willing to be guided/ directed into a dissociated mental state where hallucinations may be suggested.