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Hypnotism
Presents the methodology of hypnotism and its usefulness in education, psychology, and medicine
Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 9, 2019
G.H. Estabrooks comes across like a kid in a candy store. He's so excited to share everything he knows about hypnotism.
I picked up this book out of sheer curiosity and to see where my perspective on hypnotism may land. Is it helpful or is it harmful? Based on Estabrooks' enthusiasm, it's the best thing since sliced bread and he doesn't try to PC his way through it. There are no codes of conduct or professional ethical practices followed. He experiments with impunity, but seems to have a decent, albeit unconscious, moral compass by which he functions. Decent according to the experiences he recounts in this book, anyway. Maybe there's more he's not telling? With this much enthusiasm and willingness to try anything, I wonder.....
Estabrooks claims people can't do anything under hypnotism that they wouldn't do when fully conscious. Depending on the level and investment of hypnotism, that is false.
He does lay out how to hypnotize others, but that's not the main target of this text. So I wouldn't pick this up as a "How To" instructional guide.
Interesting. Hypnotism is a tool and like all other tools; guns, magic, hammers, can be used for good or used for evil.
I'm not going to catalog his other books in my Goodreads list, but I also have these on loan from the library:
1. Man; The Mechanical Misfit - biology & nature of the body; written in '41; not convincing
2. Hypnosis: Current Problems - reads like an academic article; totally opposite of Hypnotism
3. Death in the Mind - WW II fiction
4. Spiritism - exploring suggestion (ghosts, mediums, seances, a bit of repeating from Hypnotism)
I picked up this book out of sheer curiosity and to see where my perspective on hypnotism may land. Is it helpful or is it harmful? Based on Estabrooks' enthusiasm, it's the best thing since sliced bread and he doesn't try to PC his way through it. There are no codes of conduct or professional ethical practices followed. He experiments with impunity, but seems to have a decent, albeit unconscious, moral compass by which he functions. Decent according to the experiences he recounts in this book, anyway. Maybe there's more he's not telling? With this much enthusiasm and willingness to try anything, I wonder.....
Estabrooks claims people can't do anything under hypnotism that they wouldn't do when fully conscious. Depending on the level and investment of hypnotism, that is false.
He does lay out how to hypnotize others, but that's not the main target of this text. So I wouldn't pick this up as a "How To" instructional guide.
Interesting. Hypnotism is a tool and like all other tools; guns, magic, hammers, can be used for good or used for evil.
I'm not going to catalog his other books in my Goodreads list, but I also have these on loan from the library:
1. Man; The Mechanical Misfit - biology & nature of the body; written in '41; not convincing
2. Hypnosis: Current Problems - reads like an academic article; totally opposite of Hypnotism
3. Death in the Mind - WW II fiction
4. Spiritism - exploring suggestion (ghosts, mediums, seances, a bit of repeating from Hypnotism)
January 6, 2024
This book had me hypnotized .. haha :)
December 20, 2022
The seamier side of hypnosis
Remember the movie "KIM" (1950) with Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell (KIM) as Kim sees the broken pot being put back together? The warning not to let someone gesture in a certain way?
Well G.H. Seabrook covers it all from that angle. Although covering a large range of information he concentrates on what may be the negatives as shown in the table of contents.
1. Meet Hypnotism
2. The Introduction of Hypnotism
3. Usual Phenomena in Hypnotism
4. Posthypnotic Suggestion and Autosuggestion
5. Hypnotic States in Everyday Life
6. The Basic Nature of Hypnotism
7. Medial Uses of Hypnotism
8. Hypnotism in Crime
9. Hypnotism in Warfare
10. Hypnotism and Human Affairs
11. Conclusion
Remember the movie "KIM" (1950) with Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell (KIM) as Kim sees the broken pot being put back together? The warning not to let someone gesture in a certain way?
Well G.H. Seabrook covers it all from that angle. Although covering a large range of information he concentrates on what may be the negatives as shown in the table of contents.
1. Meet Hypnotism
2. The Introduction of Hypnotism
3. Usual Phenomena in Hypnotism
4. Posthypnotic Suggestion and Autosuggestion
5. Hypnotic States in Everyday Life
6. The Basic Nature of Hypnotism
7. Medial Uses of Hypnotism
8. Hypnotism in Crime
9. Hypnotism in Warfare
10. Hypnotism and Human Affairs
11. Conclusion
February 5, 2020
I had expected more of a detailed how-to. I paid a lot to get this second hand book and the how-to parts mention stuff that doesn't fill all the details in.
It is a good read for hearing what can be achieved however
It is a good read for hearing what can be achieved however
May 29, 2026
One of my new favorite books. Estabrooks worked for intelligence agencies during and after WWII. You can see him talk up to the border of what he would be allowed and can only imagine what was beyond that. In particular, he talks about the already implemented technique where they would hypnotize someone, effectively splitting their mind to create a subpersonality inaccessible to the person, who could then be used as a mole in organizations. The main personality could be a sincere and genuine member of that organization, but then triggers or instructions could then be given to involuntarily activate the subpersonality who would be a sincere and genuine enemy of that organization. This subpersonality would then report on everything the main personality had seen or did.
The hypnotist could implant triggers for behaviors in a person to do something. Experiments were done where a subject knew what would be done and on ignorant ones. It would be successful on both. (This was assuming it was already determined they were able to be hypnotized, with only a fraction of the population able to be.). Both types of subjects felt an overwhelming urge to carry out the instructions. What was most interesting is that they would come up with completely false but plausible explanations for it.
One example was they told a hypnotized man to go to the parking lot and memorize all the out of state license plates. They then brought him out of trance and the man gave some (false) excuse that he had to go outside. The man was gone for a while and came back and gave another (false) excuse why he was gone so long. They then put him under again and he successfully recited all the out of state license plates. Not only was him memory far more capable while under trance, but when they asked him for the same information out of trance, he couldn’t recall any of it.
This and other books on hypnotism have really shifted the way I understand the human mind to work. To think this feature/bug of the human psyche is only used in these scenarios is naive. It is also naive to think this former intelligence officer told us all known capabilities or that nothing has progressed since.
The hypnotist could implant triggers for behaviors in a person to do something. Experiments were done where a subject knew what would be done and on ignorant ones. It would be successful on both. (This was assuming it was already determined they were able to be hypnotized, with only a fraction of the population able to be.). Both types of subjects felt an overwhelming urge to carry out the instructions. What was most interesting is that they would come up with completely false but plausible explanations for it.
One example was they told a hypnotized man to go to the parking lot and memorize all the out of state license plates. They then brought him out of trance and the man gave some (false) excuse that he had to go outside. The man was gone for a while and came back and gave another (false) excuse why he was gone so long. They then put him under again and he successfully recited all the out of state license plates. Not only was him memory far more capable while under trance, but when they asked him for the same information out of trance, he couldn’t recall any of it.
This and other books on hypnotism have really shifted the way I understand the human mind to work. To think this feature/bug of the human psyche is only used in these scenarios is naive. It is also naive to think this former intelligence officer told us all known capabilities or that nothing has progressed since.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews