The experience is different for different people. For most people, however, hypnosis is a pleasant state of deep inner calm and physical relaxation. Deep hypnosis is similar in many ways to the kind of profound trance found in expert yoga or meditation practitioners.

Modern psychological hypnosis was first developed in 1843 by the Scottish physician James Braid. However, it has its origins in an earlier form of trance healing called 'Mesmerism', after the famous Eighteenth century Austrian Franz Anton Mesmer.

Yes. Hypnosis has fascinated psychologists and medical professionals for over a century and has been subject to a great deal of rigorous testing and research. It also has an enviable and long- standing reputation for effectiveness among the general public.

Absolutely. There are no known records of anyone having been physically or mentally harmed as a direct result of hypnosis itself. It is utterly impossible for anyone to get 'stuck' in hypnosis.

Hypnotherapy is basically any therapy done in conjunction with hypnotic trance. It is often classed as a form of complementary medicine but is perhaps better viewed as a branch of psychotherapy. Hypnosis is not an occult or esoteric art, it is a scientifically acknowledged psychological and therapeutic discipline. When a registered psychotherapist employs hypnosis alongside other forms of psychotherapy this is technically known as 'hypno-psychotherapy'. Hypnotherapists tend to use an integrative approach, which may combine programs of direct verbal suggestion or visualization with 'analytic' psychotherapy techniques such as age regression.

'Hypnotism' is legally acknowledged and defined by the Hypnotism Act 1952, in the UK Book of Statutes.

In their 1892 Hypnotism Report, the British Medical Association (BMA) officially recognized the hypnotic trance: 'The Committee, having completed such investigation of hypnotism as time permitted, have to report that they have satisfied themselves of the genuineness of the hypnotic state.' The Committee also acknowledged that 'as a therapeutic agent hypnotism is frequently effective in relieving pain, procuring sleep, and alleviating many functional ailments' (BMA, 1892). Is it officially recognized?

In 1955 a follow-up report was commissioned which endorsed the findings of the original 1892 Committee, and added the conclusions that hypnotism is of value and may be the treatment of choice in some cases of so-called psycho-somatic disorder and psychoneurosis. It may also be of value for revealing unrecognized motives and conflicts in such conditions. As a treatment, in the opinion of the Subcommittee it has proved its ability to remove symptoms and to alter morbid habits of thought and behavior. In addition to the treatment of psychiatric disabilities, there is a place for hypnotism in the production of anesthesia or analgesia for surgical and dental operations, and in suitable subjects it is an effective method of relieving pain in childbirth without altering the normal course of labor.' (BMA, 1955).