“How should I respond to invitations to be hypnotized?” New Era, July 1979, 17

“At a program the other night a hypnotist called for volunteers from the audience. As a member of the Church, how should I respond to such invitations?”

I have been asked similar questions on several occasions by high school and college students. My personal feeling and reaction is negative. I do not feel good about the idea of being hypnotized for entertainment purposes, and frankly, I would really have to be convinced of the need even in those few cases where there may be some value from a medical standpoint. I have some very strong feelings about the great importance of free will and agency, and of the need, insofar as possible, for a person always to be consciously in control of his thoughts and actions. There is an unusual power inherent in our conscious and subconscious minds. We really know very little about the capacity of the human brain. I do not feel it is wise to use what little we know about the power of suggestion and hypnosis for entertainment purposes. Hypnosis is a powerful force and in my opinion should be employed only by the best-trained and most ethical professionals for very important reasons, such as making possible surgery and other medical and dental procedures without pain in those few cases where a patient is allergic to ordinary anesthetics.

Hypnosis is of very ancient origin and has played a part in witchcraft, magic, and tribal medicine for centuries. A Dr. Franz Mesmer in Vienna began the first scientific study of how hypnosis could be used in treating patients in medical practice way back in the 1700s. You may have heard of the word mesmerism, which gets its name from him; and though many of Dr. Mesmer’s theories of “animal magnetism” were later discredited, some medical doctors and others have continued to hold interest in the phenomena associated with it.

I thought it interesting to learn that Dr. James Braid in the middle 1800s coined the word hypnotism and performed many scientific experiments with it. Over the years interest has continued to grow in its medical use, and in the 1950s the American and British Medical Associates approved the medical use of hypnosis and suggested that untrained individuals should avoid using it.

You may be interested in the counsel published by the leaders of the Church in a Priesthood Bulletin article not long ago:

“Reports have been received of unfortunate results to persons engaging in group hypnosis demonstrations or in popular mind control courses of study. There are reports that some Church leaders have arranged hypnosis demonstrations as a means of entertainment. Leaders should advise members of the Church against participating in such activities. Certainly, they should not be sponsored or encouraged by leaders of the Church as has been reported.”

I believe that is sound counsel, and we would be wise to follow it.