In May-June 2008, I read two books on hypnosis borrowed from the Santa Clara County Library:

1. The Complete Book of Self-Hypnosis by Yates and Wallace (194 pages, 1984).
2. Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives by Brian Weiss (221 pages, 1988).

What is hypnosis?: A nice overview of hypnosis has been published by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (established in 1957). The wikipedia article on hypnosis is another good resource for general information. Hypnosis is one of many therapeutic techniques used by psychologists and psychotherapists. Those who specialize in just hypnosis are called hypnotherapists. The clinical utility of hypnotherapy for handling phobias, getting rid of cigarette addiction and helping people in weight loss is well established. Many medical insurance companies cover the cost of hypnotherapy.

Self hypnosis: The book by Yates and Wallace is well written and packed with information about psychology in general. Chapter 1 discusses hypnosis and clarifies several misconceptions. Chapter 2 describes one specific technique for self-hypnosis in great detail, and presents brief overviews of myriad other techniques from other traditions. Chapter 3 describes what to do once you are hypnotized, i.e., how to identify associations between your own memories to understand yourself better. Chapters 5 through 8 describe how self-hypnosis can handle four specific problems: cigarette smoking, weight loss, physical pain, and sexual problems. Chapter 9 presents a brief history of hypnosis.

Regression: A common technique for helping a hypnotized subject, for example, with addiction to cigarettes, is to ask the patient to remember events that motivated smoking in the first place. Once the person understands the real psychological reasons for the addiction, the motivation to leave the addiction becomes very strong. Such understanding is gained in a deep relaxed state and by asking one's mind to visit the past. Hypnotized persons can see scenes in vivid detail, just like some dreams. Whether such scenes correspond to actual events or not is debated by the research community. It is known that the human mind is capable of creating memories and scenes with vivid detail by imagination. So memories of a patient may or may not be recollections of actual events. Still, the therapeutic benefits of hypnotherapy are real and well documented.

Clinical uses: The most popular use of hypnotherapy is in helping cigarette smokers: an article that compares chemical-based techniques and hypnotherapy based techniques for quitting smoking. Between one to three sessions suffice. Another popular application is to help those who wish to lose weight understand themselves better, i.e., bolster their motivation to lose weight or make them comfortable with their current weight and body image.

Past life regression: Some hypnotherapists have encountered patients who speak of past lives under hypnosis. The book by Brian Weiss is a fascinating account of an experienced therapist with one particular patient. This book prompted other hypnotherapists to reveal that they have occasionally come across similar patients. The technique for taking patients to their past lives is called Past Life Regression. Post-therapy, patients undergoing past life regression get healed of phobias and addictions. However, what is not clear is whether such recollections correspond to actual events in the past, or whether these were conjured by the human mind. The Wikipedia article on reincarnation mentions Brian Weiss' work.

Connection with meditation: Being familiar with meditation, I became curious whether hypnosis and meditation were related because both are states of deep relaxation. Having never been hypnotized myself, I do not have first hand experience to comment on the similarities and differences between the two. A couple of recent articles explore this subject: The science of meditation and the state of hypnosis by Jean Holroyd (American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Oct 2003), and Eastern meditative techniques and hypnosis: a new synthesis by Otani, Akira (American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Oct 2003).