An induced condition of extreme suggestibility to the hypnotist. The typical hypnotic trance looks like sleep but is probably a very different state — the EEGS of people in hypnosis are apparently different from patterns associated with sleep. Despite the long history of interest in hypnosis, not much is understood about the condition. But it is clearly a real and potentially powerful PHENOMENON. As far back as the mid-19th century, two British surgeons, Braid and Esdaile, performed successful
battlefield surgery using hypnosis as a general anaesthetic. This practice stopped with the invention of chloroform.
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