I got hypnotized to recall a childhood trauma.

In part one of The Hypnotist, I interviewed several hypnotherapists to answer the question: what is hypnosis? The short answer is “a trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject.”

In part two, I try hypnosis for myself to see what all the fuss is about. You see, when I was 8-months old, I pulled the cord of an electric rice cooker and suffered 3rd-degree burns on the left side of my body. I don’t remember a thing. In this episode, I’ll let you listen to my hypnotic regression session. Then, hear for yourself if I was able to recover these lost memories.

Hypnotic regression: What is it, and how does it work?

Dreams are flashes of our fears, desires, emotions. Sometimes when we wake up, we believe it really happened. But we all know dreams aren’t real. Dreams are lucid stories our minds create while we are sleeping. So, is hypnotic regression be any different?

Many believe that hypnosis can tap into lost memories and also past lives. Some hypnotherapists even claim to take you back to the moment of birth and have you reexperience sliding out of your mother’s womb. I personally find the whole thing hard to believe. But part of me wants to experience it for myself. In this episode, you will listen to an edited-down version of my hypnosis session.

Is hypnosis just another form of the placebo effect?

Dr. Irving Kirsch is an Associate Director of the Placebo Studies Program at Harvard Medical School. He has a very different take on hypnosis. He says that the effects of hypnosis can feel and be very real. But… there’s a catch.

He claims that hypnosis by itself doesn’t do anything. But when you add hypnosis to a clinical setting, you can increase its effect.

Dr. Kirsch says hypnosis isn’t much different than the placebo effect. A placebo is a drug or a treatment that doesn’t really work. It has no genuine medical value. But if you’re taking medication for arthritis and don’t know that it’s just a sugar pill, you might still get the benefits of the drug and actually start feeling better. It’s a phenomenon used all the time in clinical trials.

He calls this notion the response expectancy. The basic idea is that people will experience what they anticipate experiencing. In other words, if you undergo hypnosis and you expect to work, it will work. To him, hypnosis is a “non-deceptive placebo.”