Prime minister of Malaysia, bad! Kill naughty man! Kill naughty man! Can you make people do funny things? Yes. Can you make people want to
kill the president of Malaysia? It's not gonna happen. Hello, my name's Karl Smith, and I'm an international
hypnotist and hypnotherapist, and I've been teaching
people how to use hypnosis and hypnotherapy around the
world for about 15 years. Today, we're gonna be
looking at clips of hypnotism and judging how real they are. Now you're feeling very sleepy. We do use focal points sometimes to guide someone into a state
of heightened suggestibility. She is actually right that hypnosis is a pure state of focus. That's all hypnosis is,
is a pure state of focus. Nothing more, nothing less. To start the hypnosis
process, I could just say, "Just think about your
little toe." [snaps fingers] People would be listening to me now, but now they're now
thinking about their foot. I've already altered your
state of consciousness. [spoon clinking] With the cup-stirring and the way that she's making that noise, to be quite honest, that's not anything to do with hypnosis. If I was doing that in
a session with somebody, they would get really irritated. That type of conditioning
wouldn't really work. [spoon clinking]
[Chris whimpers] Missy: You think it was your fault. The young lad has got his eyes wide open and having a reaction, as in
starting to let go of emotions. That's quite common. A lot of people think that in hypnosis your eyes have to be closed. It doesn't. Your eyes
don't have to be closed. They can be fully open, and
you can still have reactions and still feel and have sensations of emotions being released and revisit a traumatic event and go through the whole lot, and they're just staring at
you and going through it. How do you feel now? I can't move. In hypnosis, we can have a bodily reaction called catalepsy. It's the stiffness and
rigidity of muscle groups, or the looseness. And it is possible for
somebody to feel rigid or feel like they're stuck in a chair or feel, like, a light weight
being pushed down on them. You can't move. Chris: Why can't I move? You're paralyzed. This is another misconception. You cannot take somebody into hypnosis without their knowledge, without anything, without them putting up a fight. If I say I'm a hypnotist and they go, "I don't want to be hypnotized," that's the end of the story. It's not happening. Go down the streets of London, just grab people by the arm, and go, "Sleep," and see what happens. There has to be a pre-talk and a preamble. There has to be something
prior to the event. There are conversational
techniques that you can use. But on this length, no,
that's not happening. Some people have that sensation of falling or drifting or floating, so it is quite plausible
that this could happen. The young lad is viewing the
person as a third person, and that's quite common as well. I would give this movie a 3. It was more counseling and
misconceptions than anything. Peter: Ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So, the most common things
that I see people for are phobias, anxiety,
weight loss, stop smoking. And I predominantly work within
the field of post-trauma. Relax every muscle in your body, beginning with your
toes to your fingertips. Now I want you to relax your legs. This is what's called a
progressive muscle relaxation, where you would get somebody to relax from the tips of their toes
up to the top of their head and go through every single muscle group to get them to relax. It's been squashed for the TV. It would be a little bit
longer but on the same token. This is quite normal for the session. Lay down. One. Karl: In this scene, we see the therapist have some type of cardiac arrest. All it would take would
be somebody in the room to just say, "Open your
eyes," "Wakey, wakey," or, "Come back into the room." It's not down to the hypnotist's voice that they're gonna be locked in. People get worried about that. They get worried about
getting stuck in hypnosis. You can't. You can't get stuck. I'll give it an 8, because
it is quite realistic. However, it has been
amplified just for TV, so it does give a misconception
of what we really do. Let this wonderful '80s
classic soothe you. Just a nice, warm, happy time. Video hypnosis works, but
not to the same extent if somebody sat in front of me. You don't have to be in the same room. The biggest drawback is
there's nothing better than having a human
being in the same room, because there are certain
things, as a hypnotist, that I'm looking for.
Body language, twitching. The idea behind the swirlies is that as you're looking at it
going inwards like that, all you're doing is focusing
on the middle of that. So you're just keeping focused. You can do the same principle by just holding your finger up. Prime minister of Malaysia, bad! Martial arts, good! Kill naughty man! Kill naughty man! Kill naughty man! Can you make people do funny things? Yes. Can you make people change
beliefs in certain things, maybe relationship issues, smoking, you know, post-trauma, the way that they feel
about it, perceptions? Yes, absolutely. Do you want to kill the
president of Malaysia? It's not gonna happen. People's beliefs and morals would kick in. And that's, you know, if you want somebody to do something that's outside of their scope or their morals and
beliefs, they're gonna stop. But I do like this movie. I'll rate this movie 1 out of 10. I am in your power. Boss me around. The pocket-watch side of things. It's 1870s, 1860s theatrics. It's got nothing to do with hypnosis. You could use the pocket
watch just to cause the focus, but that's about all it is. When I snap my fingers, you will transform into a ... famous historian. [snaps] Look at me! I'm a famous historian! When anyone performs like this, would they do that with
hypnosis or without hypnosis? Because the chances are is that they would do it without hypnosis. You are a young boy, yourself at 12 years old. It's a beautiful summer day
at the old swimming hole. [gasps] Oh, my God! It is possible that you may go up on stage to go do something that's for fun, but the subconscious unconscious goes, "Well, while we're up here,
we'll clear this out." So there may be a traumatic event that may want to come out. And as a hypnotist, you have
to always be prepared for that. Hypnotism can go wrong in the wrong hands. It takes years and years
and years of skill crafted. Watch people to understand. I'd give that a 4 because
some of it was real, but it's so hard when you're
dealing with a caricature. By focusing and following
the flow of my words as you're flowing and floating [snaps], which is why you're [snaps]
focusing on my commands. We watched the hypnotist
walk up behind the person and then start to talk in some weird and wonderful hypnotic language. We have hypnotic language, but that wouldn't happen in this scenario. With hypnosis, there has to
be a pre-talk, a preamble. The person needs to know
where they're going. They need to know that it's hypnosis. The snapping side of things, I utilize snapping when
I'm clicking my fingers, but not in this scenario. What they're trying to do here is just add on to what they're doing so it amplifies the state,
when actually it doesn't. When I use clicking or I use a clap, it's to jolt the subconscious unconscious to bring an emotion to the surface. Look at the light. Listen to your own voice. Now, I've made the claim that -- Now, I've made the claim
that Octa 8 is pure magic. But the truth is, that's just
one of those things I say. The team apparently giving the young man instructions via an earpiece. You could do that normally. I find it very difficult
to believe that somebody, in that very short space of time, could have got somebody into hypnosis. It's not realistic. It's possible for some people to have a natural hypnotic voice, but to put it on, you
don't have to do that. The way that I'm talking
to you now is identical to the way that I would
hypnotize somebody. I would give this clip a 5 because some of it is hypnosis, the subliminal work in the background, but most of it was compressed and condensed really for theater. It wasn't real hypnosis. So on that, I'll give it a 5. Come on, it's a hypnosis tape. This woman at work used
it for two weeks straight, and she hasn't smoked since. So, hypnosis MP3s and tapes, for hypnotists and
hypnotherapists out there, I'm gonna really upset them. My personal opinion on these, on MP3s, is they're placebo. I think if you tell somebody
from a state of authority, if you go, "If you listen
to that for two weeks, that will change your life,"
it will change your life. Not because of the suggestions, but because of your belief. In a hypnosis session, you would do a lot more than
what they're doing just here. You would make them hate cigarettes, really amplify the smell of cigarettes. I don't want that cigarette. I don't need it. I don't want it in my body. You want the person to do that. Recording: You are now completely asleep. You don't need to smoke. When people talk about hypnosis, they believe that it's a form of sleep. It's not. It's got
nothing to do with sleep. Hypnosis was a word that was coined because nobody knew a word
in the late 18th century, what to call it. So what they did is they said,
"Oh, Hypnos, god of sleep. We'll use that, and it's hypnosis." It's to do with just pure focus. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm gonna give this clip a rating of 2. Natalie: Palms up. Very good. Resist. Resist. Resist. In this scene, we're seeing what's called a hypnosis induction. The mechanics of what
we're seeing in here, of the hands are pushing
down, that's realistic. I've done that. Where
we push down, push down, push down, offer resistance, and then let go slowly so
they feel their body going. He feels and believes
that the state of hypnosis is being amplified by that induction. You don't actually need one. It's what's happened prior
to that event that you need. Hypnosis starts when it's mentioned. My hand. They tied my hands with something. It's straw. What we're seeing here is,
like, a recollection of events. And the stuttering and the
way that the person's talking is quite reflective of somebody that's been through a traumatic incident. You can see within the body language a fear of something
that's going on as well. That's common. During hypnosis, people's
speech patterns can change. The tonality, the speed,
maybe languages as well. The smell of something ro -- rotten. In this scene here, we've
got the five senses. He brings up smell first,
which is quite common. When I'm dealing with post-trauma, it's normally the smell
that comes out first. I'm gonna go for an 8. The way that it was drawn
out was quite realistic. The only thing is, for the viewer, people who don't know about hypnosis, it was quite a quick process. It's still good. You have come to the right place. This is the ideal locale to
lie down and take a rest. Lots of stage hypnotists would do this, but it's not something
that I would recommend, for safety reasons. Because if you're gonna make people go into hypnosis while stood up, the variables are out the window. You just can't control it. You could have people
falling over left and right. You could have people all over. So that's just a safety point for me. It's important that people
realize that safety comes first when we're doing any of this stuff. Jeez, he did it. It is quite possible to
hypnotize that amount of people at one time and do that. It is, but it has to be controlled. And I would have more than just me there just dealing with that. To have 100% like that, I'd like to know what happened before, but I would expect
maybe five or six people out of that still to be standing, to be brutally honest. And I'd give it a 9, because
it is quite accurate. What else makes you feel regret? That I did it again. One of the misconceptions for hypnosis is the therapist couch. You do not need to lay
on a therapist couch to do hypnosis. As for outbursts, it is
quite possible for people to sit there and say really dark things. You know, you're looking at the person and they're saying really terrible things and they're laughing at the same time, which obviously indicates there
is something far more deeper and a need for medical support. Dr. Thurman: What is going to happen? Frank is gonna kill. Is it possible for a client
to get up during a session and walk around and grab something? Yes. Is it possible for a client to self-harm? Yes, because I've seen it myself. That, the only thing you do is just make sure that you reassure them, stop them from doing what they're doing, and just make sure they're safe. In this scenario, I would
refer this person straight back to a GP or a physician
straight away anyway. Dr. Thurman: If this world were to end, there would only be you and him. I don't touch people in sessions. There are certain scenarios
when you can use touch for making somebody feel like they're going deeper into hypnosis. I've had people where they've
started grinding their hands and started attacking their hands and scratching their face as well. That's happened in hypnosis sessions. That's the only time that
I would intervene or touch. I'm going to give it a 7. I mean, bad acting and
a bad therapist, the 7. The way that the scene
was constructed is right. It's more theatrics for the
movie rather than realism. Elizabeth: I want you to close your eyes. Simon: We're starting, right? Elizabeth: And now your
mind is starting to think. I can get hypnosis in under 60 seconds. So, I could start hypnosis
with somebody in a room that's come to see me
who knows I'm a hypnotist and have hypnosis in roughly 60 seconds. 60 seconds to three minutes
is what I'm looking at. However, it's not just about me just getting somebody
who doesn't know who I am and sitting them down and
saying we're gonna do it, because I need time to
educate them and show them and get the belief system fired up rather than just pouncing
straight into it. [cellphone ringing] It's more of an irritant or embarrassment than have any effect on the hypnosis. A lot of people think it needs
to be a nice and quiet room. That's professionally, we'd like that, but you don't need it. Was I hypnotized? That's quite an interesting
statement, "Was I hypnotized?" That is a very, very
common statement of people that have been into
hypnosis and lose time. They lose time. It's very common for if I'm working with people
for around 45 minutes to go, "Oh, we've been
doing work for 45 minutes," and they'll say, "45? I thought
I was only in for five." But, yeah, it's quite common. That is quite peaceful, as well, to do it. If I was to give this
movie a rating out of 10, because of the theatrics
in it, I'll give it a 6. There's some realism in it, but obviously compressed for movies.
