Was Howie Mandel really hypnotized by Chris Jones?
What’s Hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a cooperative work between the hypnotist and the client. It is a natural state. It is accessing your subconscious to create positive changes.
In reality the hypnotist does not hypnotize the participant. He or she guides the person to go into self-hypnosis.
Hypnosis cannot make you do something. You must want to do it first.
Hypnosis has helped many people with many problems including Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder (OCD), so it could help someone like Howie Mandel that is a germophobic.
Now the question here is … Does Howie Mandel really want to get rid of his germophobia?
I don’t know. He is the only one who knows the answer, but if I were in a show and a young man, Chris Jones already very popular for his Stage Hypnosis, creates a situation where I can shake hands easily. I will go back to my Psychologist and ask him or her to do hypnosis on me to get rid of the problem.
In the world of hypnosis there are a lot of misconceptions and myths … mind control, make me do, diabolic, special power, empty mind, etc.
- Hypnosis is just a process, a technique is not therapy by itself.
- It is not mind control, you must want to make the change.
- Is not diabolic or risk of possession because your mind is empty. It is the other way around your mind is very busy, concentrated and focused in creating positive changes or just having fun like in Stage Hypnosis.
For Hypnosis to work you need three things:
- You are able to concentrate and follow instructions. The smarter the better.
- You want to follow those instructions.
- A hypnotist that guides you to create positive changes in your mind.
Howie Mandel is a very smart person and a very smart person is easy to hypnotize. Contrary to what some people think, that only gullible or ignorant people can be hypnotized.
Chris Jones is well respected by his Stage Hypnosis.
So there you have two key ingredients to be hypnotized, but there is one missing “you want to be hypnotized”.
Some times is tricky because a person can “pretend”, specially in Stage Hypnosis and the hypnotist may not realize it.
In motivational hypnosis or clinical hypnosis “the pretending” doesn’t happen. No person will visit my office, pay me to motivate him/her and then pretend.
If Howie Mandel was hypnotized was there really a need for him to go back to his Psychologist to fix the problem caused by Hypnosis. What problem? Being a germophobic and shaking hands, is that a problem? I would be very happy if I had that problem.
And if you watched the second part where Chris Jones did hypnosis and it was very obvious that they wanted to get rid of him. Well you got the idea.
In stage hypnosis, hypnosis works, because the person wants to participate. They can do crazy things because they can always blame it on the hypnotist.
In hypnosis for motivation or in hypnotherapy, hypnosis works because the client really want to fix the problem or create changes in his/her life.
If a person comes to me and says “My wife wants me to quit smoking”. I will answer “come back when you want to quit smoking”. Hypnosis is a powerful technique and can help you create positive changes in your life, but cannot control your mind to force you to do those changes.
Of course in both cases the experience, and professionalism of the Hypnotist or Hypnotherapist will make a big difference.
My humble opinion 🙂
Olivier
Olivier Hidalgo
Certified Life Coach.
Certified Consulting Hypnotist. NLPP.
Member of NGH and NLP Global Standards.
Member of Association Collegial of Professional Hypnosis (Spanish).
151 York Street, London, Ontario
N6A 1A8
519-495-6405