Hypnosis incompatible with asperger?

Post Reply New Topic

Does asperger make people function in such way that hypnosis doesn't work, or work poorly? (like interpretating communication litterarly)
I have read a lot about it. There's numerous examples that it does work, but I fail to see how it really could work unless an inherent and slightly obsessive drive to follow peers that seem common with NTs enables the process?

Hypnosis I think works mainly on Hysterics, who are the polar opposite of Aspergers.

While still living in the UK, I attended 2 NLP courses (neuro-linguistic programming). The hypnosis was conducted by a fairly well known hypnotist, Paul McKenna, he is supposed to be very good. There was a whole theater full of people attending, everybody seemed to be getting hypnotized except me. I didn't know that I had Asperger's then. lol So what you are saying makes sense in my case.

Hypnosis can't work against your will, it won't affect you if you don't let you go.

Hypnosis only works if you believe in it Nobody can hypnotize another person. People merely play along with the suggestions of a so-called hypnotist and bullsh*t themselves into a trance-like state. If you aren't very suggestible or simply not willing to play along, it won't work on you.

i used to think i could not be hypnotised but i realised it is not the case; i am very susceptible to suggestion. it seems to work better when it is a one-on-one situation as opposed to a big group, because then a person may be more relaxed.

to my great frustration, i am utterly non-suggestible. i WISH i could be mesmerized so i could do a past life regression. but i was told by more than one practitioner, that i was one of the very few who needed sodium thiopental induction in order to relax sufficient for it to work. my aching back and aching body in general are always distracting me. damned mr. arthur itis

Well, first of all let's get clear what hypnosis is. It's not some sort of mind control and it's got nothing to do with psychic powers. Hypnosis is quite simply a state of relaxed focus--one you've probably already been in sometime during your life; for example, perhaps you've zoned out while watching the patterns on a computer screensaver? It's a little like that. In a very real way, people who are hypnotized are actually hypnotizing themselves; the person doing the hypnotism is guiding them. That's why hypnotized people won't do anything against their own ethical standards.

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness, probably related to dissociation (daydreaming, zoning out), meditation, and hyperfocus. It's useful. It can reduce distress during minor surgery or dental work; some people find it helpful for breaking habits or overcoming fears. And, apparently, it's good entertainment at parties. Don't ask me why people find it fun to stand up and have someone convince them to act like a chicken.

I don't see why any of this would cause someone with AS to be less able to be hypnotized. Someone with AS-related social phobia might not be able to relax enough to do it, but that's not directly AS-related; and anyway, it's possible to put oneself into a trance, with enough training--it doesn't really take a hypnotist (though that's the easiest way to learn).

I'm very hyperaware and hyperconscious and doubt I could be hypnotized that way.

When I was in high school back in the late fifties a man came into our "science" class and hypnotized most of the class. I "learned" how to do it just from watching in the back row. Over the years I hypnotized many people to help them out of anxious situations... like learning their lines for a play... one time I hypnotized my daughter on the way to her dentist appointment, while I was driving her to the dentist's office. I told her when the drill noise started, she would instantly be on the beach at Rehobeth. She tells me it still happens three decades later.

IMO people who have AS are in a state of self-hypnosis quite a lot. Hell, on this forum I don't even need to elaborate about zoning out for hours and feeling as if only minutes had passed. Hypnosis is just an altered state of focus. When it comes to being 'hypnotized' by another individual the social phobias, anxiety, and lack of external focus, that are so common in AS, would tend to be a wall I would think. This is also why I've never been able to meditate when it's in a group. I know I'm generalizing but I think this is true for many aspies.

I know it didn't work for me. It started to work for the NT hubby. We went to a group stop smoking session. I couldn't at all. I wasn't even relaxed. Way too literal I guess and too analytic.

Seems to point in the direction I suspected. It's hard to understand something that is tailored to a wiring that you don't have. Like a Wintel virus for Macintosh

So how could it work?, what specific way being NTs make one open to this?

You are all getting very sleepy, this text is going to control your mindssss...You are now going to send me all of the money in your bank accounts to mine when I snap my fingers...


*Snap*

Where would you like this check for 37 cents mailed?

*EDIT* ooops, forgot I need to buy a stamp, you're SOL.