Hypnosis In the office of a【1】______,a young man is reg

Hypnosis
   A young man rushes about a small room, hiding himself behind a chair, jumping on the desk, jabbing the air with his pencil. To an outsider there appears to be no reason for these strange acts.
   However, the young man is the subject of an experiment in hypnosis. He is in the office of apsychologist. The psychologist suggested that a fierce dog is at large in the room. There is no dog in the room. But being hypnotized, the young man has accepted the suggestion that there is one. So he acts as though there were.
   No one can yet explain exactly what hypnosis is. According to the popular conception of hypnosis, a hypnotized person is in a state like sleepwalking seemingly awake yet out of touch with his or her normal waking awareness and self-control. There are, however, enormous differences between the sleepwalker and the hypnotized person. First, the sleepwalker, unlike the hypnotized person, pays no attention to other people and does not take instructions. Second, the sleepwalker does not remember sleepwalking, while the hypnotized person remembers everything that went on under hypnosis, as long as he or she is not given specific instructions to forget.
   Obviously, sleep and hypnosis are very different states of consciousness. But what exactly is hypnosis? After years of experimentation with hypnotism psychologists still do not have a firm answer to this question. In fact, the difficulty of defining hypnosis except by describing the behavior of hypnotized people has caused many to doubt whether it represents a unique state of consciousness at all. Although hypnosis has been successfully put to a range of medical uses, there is little clear agreement as to how hypnosis works.
   Many people are farmiliar with the process by which a person becomes hypnotized. The hypnotist induces a sleep-like condition by slowly persuading the subject to relax and focus on the hypnotist’s suggestions. According to one estimate, about 19 in 20 people can be hypnotized to some degree if they want to be and if they trust the hypnotist. Hypnotists stress that the relationship between a hypnotist and a subject involves cooperation—not domination, If this relationship has been established— the subject can be hypnotized easily and follow instructions. The hypnotist suggests that the water on the table is an ice cream soda and the subject enjoys the "soda". However, there are certain things a subject cannot do. For example, he cannot speak a language he has never learned—no matter how much the hypnotist insists that he can. In hypnosis each person remains himself. The way he follows the suggestion depends on his own past experiences and on many other things.
   In hypnosis a subject often finds it easy to recall past events. Some doctors use information gained this way in treating mental illness. In at least one instance hypnosis has saved a man’s life. A murder suspect could not remember where he had been on the night of the crime. When hypnotized, he could give a complete account of his activities. It was then clear that he had nothing to do with the crime. The innocent man was released.
   A hypnotized person is not asleep. He knows what is going on around him, although he talks and moves about less than he actually does. In some experiments he acts as if he were awake. One psychologist hypnotized and awakened one subject several times in the course of a dinner party. The other guests never realized it.
   At present scientists agree that a hypnotized person is more relaxed than usual. He is more willing to accept and act on the suggestions of another person. But it is not at all clear what is going on in his brain or how hypnosis can affect what he sees, hears or feels. Only when scientists can understand all this can the full potential of hypnosis in medical treatment be exploited.