by cardigan » November 22nd, 2005, 4:13 pm
Since psychosomatic ilness is possible - for instance a victim of rape becoming mute afterwards - even though she spoke normally all her life before the crime, and doctors can find nothing wrong physically, it is clear that our own minds can shut off our senses, shut off our ability to move, or make us fatally ill. It can do so for a small period or for the rest of our lives - we seldom have a choice in the matter.
So even though I have never tried causing for instance blindness for myself or others, I am convinced that it would be possible to do so. But remember rule nr. 1: you cannot be hypnotised into doing something that you are really against.
But you probably know that with hypnosis you can cause complete numbness in a limb or a region of the body, so that it is possible to operate without anaestesia? That is cutting off signals - signals of pain. So that is entirely possible with hypnosis, and some dentists or doctors still use hypnosis from time to time.