TITLE

How Safe is Hypnosis?

DESCRIPTION

After a recent lawsuit in Florida (http://tinyurl.com/pog3btt) wherein the principal of a high school hypnotized three students who subsequently died (2 suicide and one auto accident), the question of the safety and validity of hypnosis has come into question. “Dr. Andrew Weil, a physician and leading expert in integrative medicine, says hypnosis is safe and effective, adding that the practice would benefit from more study.”  Hypnosis is often portrayed negatively in  the media, yet has been used for centuries by practitioners in positive healthful ways.  As the legal case settled, there was no final determination as to culpability in that no ruling was made as to whether hypnosis played a role in the deaths of the three students.

SOURCE

Time, October 9, 2015, By Alexandra Sifferlin

LINK TO RESOURCE

http://time.com/4068201/how-safe-is-hypnosis/

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

•What is hypnosis?  What are the realities and myths of how it functions?
•How is it explained in Psychology textbooks as a “state of consciousness??
•Is hypnosis a valid therapeutic tool?
*If yes to the last question:  for what types of problems has it been show to be effective?
•If possible, discuss the history of hypnosis in Psychology in terms of the work of Charcot and Freud.