noun

• 1The induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behavior by suggestion, has been revived but is still controversial.

  ‘Others use hypnosis to recover repressed memories of sexual abuse or of past lives.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Treatment approaches have included traditional psychoanalysis, hypnosis, and behavior therapy techniques.’
  • ‘More recently you will recall the hullabaloo about the use of hypnosis to recover lost memories, to help solve crimes, or in therapy.’
  • ‘Studies of cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy and hypnosis suggest that these approaches may also hold promise.’
  • ‘If you have none, hypnosis or cognitive behavior therapy may help your periods restart.’
  • ‘I'm seeing a therapist who wants me to undergo hypnosis to retrieve memories that I may have repressed.’
  • ‘As far as I was aware, they had no supernatural powers of hypnosis or mind control.’
  • ‘The syndrome involves patients unconsciously inventing false memories of childhood abuse under therapy and hypnosis.’
  • ‘After a few minutes, he moves on to hypnosis - but he says it's not hypnosis, just the power of suggestion.’
  • ‘He was investigating whether hypnosis enhanced accurate eyewitness memory recall.’
  • ‘Another article will provide an overview of alternative therapies, such as hypnosis, music, and guided imagery.’
  • ‘The American Medical Association adopted hypnosis as a complementary therapy in 1958.’
  • ‘Treatments such as massage therapy, hypnosis, or acupuncture are sometimes used to manage pain.’
  • ‘Several persons do try out hypnosis and speech therapy with varying degree of success but there hasn't been a clinching cure.’
  • ‘Some therapists think hypnosis opens a window to the unconscious mind where memories of past lives are stored.’
  • ‘Given what we know about hypnosis and the power of suggestion, this simply isn't a sane question.’
  • ‘The power of hypnosis exists largely in the direct communication with the subconscious.’
  • ‘Paul is a firm believer in the power of hypnosis but he has far less faith in certain other therapeutic techniques.’
  • ‘In all these instances, the basic issue is the reliability of memory and the effects of procedures like hypnosis on memory.’
  • ‘Also, contrary to what many people believe, hypnosis does not aid memory's accuracy.’

  Synonyms

  mesmerism, hypnotism, hypnotic suggestion, autosuggestion

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1The state of consciousness produced by hypnosis.
     ‘I was regressed under hypnosis’
     More example sentences

     • ‘As far as the hypnosis goes that's a technique used by the police.’
     • ‘After the hypnosis, Hal predictably meets Rosemary, a good-hearted girl that is morbidly obese.’
     • ‘One of the recurring themes the hypnosis brought out was a sense that ‘people like me aren't welcome here except to serve the yuppies,’ he says.’
     • ‘When he awakes from the hypnosis, he can see ghosts.’
     • ‘I have way too many control issues to go under, but I felt sorry for him so I pretended the hypnosis was working.’
     • ‘Anyway, the session ended and he seemed to have enough ‘pre-work’ data in his head to do the hypnosis.’
     • ‘Will their relationship survive when Hal's equally shallow friend undoes the hypnosis?’
     • ‘Throughout the hypnosis session, images of the beach, horses, and an ornate chandelier keep emerging in Marcus mind.’
     • ‘Well it's not, and the hypnosis is a complete side issue and irrelevant.’
     • ‘His mother momentarily broke the hypnosis without taking her eyes away from it.’
     • ‘You were the one who solved the vampire case, and the hypnosis case right?’
     • ‘Anyway, have written the text for the hypnosis tape and will record it over the weekend.’
     • ‘I've been placing Maggie under hypnosis, and under hypnosis her personality and memory are returning.’