This document discusses the differing views that Christians and clinicians have regarding hypnosis. Christians often view hypnosis negatively as "mesmerism" or something that undermines spiritual dependence on God. Clinicians see hypnosis as utilizing normal trance states to facilitate healing, and that it is a tool rather than the cause of healing. The document argues that when hypnosis is properly used by trained professionals guided by ethical principles, it can help healing in a way that is compatible with Christian spirituality by using the power of words to create helpful images and reduce suffering.

1. Christians and Verbal First Aid or Therapeutic Hypnosis
c. 2009, Judith Acosta
Recently, a Christian colleague made it clear to me that he found the use of
hypnosis at the very least questionable and at the very worst “dark.” He asked
me to refrain from using it with my contract patients in the agency he founded.
For lack of time, I assured him that I would honor his wishes, but quickly
pointed out to him that the use of hypnosis (whether it was formal trance or
Verbal First Aid, which is the use of words to facilitate healing in acute
situations, such as accidents or shock) was no different than a the use of a knife.
In the hands of a good surgeon, it could be a life-saver. In the hands of a
madman, it would be dark indeed.
Afterwards, it became clear to me that his understanding of hypnosis and mine
were quite different. And any good debate must begin with a clarification of
terms. Too many reasonable discussions deteriorate into pointless argument
because no one fully defines himself.
What do we mean then by trance and hypnosis? More specifically, what do
Christians who fear hypnosis mean by it and what do ethical clinicians mean by
it? For our purposes today, we will leave the madmen out of it.
The Christian Definitions:
1. “Mesmerism”
It is very important to address this because what Christians fear about hypnosis
is something rather fearful: deliberation manipulation, external mind control, or
spell-casting. They form their impressions of the technique from what they have
read in popular media (including the early reports on “Mesmerism,” which was
presented as a demonic seduction of young women by irresistible and wretched
old men), watched on TV, or seen in lounge acts where hypnosis is reduced to
having some poor sot play air guitar or bite happily into an onion.
It is not hard to see what makes them uneasy. And, what is worse is that there
are people in the world who use hypnotic trance unethically. They may not be
madmen, but they should not be calling themselves healers by any means.

2. In fact, the worst of these “trance inducers” have nothing to do with lounge acts
or private practices. There are at least two times a day when most people are in
the deepest, most vulnerable and suggestible trances they are ever in: When they
are driving in their cars and when they are at home watching television. And the
messages they receive in those states—usually corporate advertising—are what
they are unconsciously absorbing.
2. Spiritual Bankruptcy
In Christianity’s beginnings, as in early Judaism, sickness (or insanity) was seen
as a function of sin or possession. And the ONLY thing that could cure sin was
God and our faith in Him. Anything that interfered with that relationship and
dependence on God was prohibited. In those days, that interference usually took
the shape of idolatry and pagan religions.
When seen as “mesmerism” or as a loss of control to an unknown entity (e.g., the
intentions or spirituality of the hypnotherapist), hypnosis leaves the individual
vulnerable to literally who-knows-what—malevolent suggestion, criminal
manipulation, and demons.
As Father Russell Radoicich, an Orthodox priest from Butte, Montana, wrote,
“Christianity has always called people to live in full awareness, in reality, with
nothing having mastery over us except God.” When hypnosis is defined as
making one person subject to another (spiritually or mentally), is it any wonder
that it is seen as questionable if not downright dangerous?
Hypnosis seen this way—as a quick fix with little depth—can also be considered
a crutch or a deterrent to spiritual growth, which is why Father Russell reminds
us that “the spiritual work must be done or there is no true rehabilitation. People
may lose weight or stop smoking, but the deeper matter has not been
addressed.”
What if hypnosis, when used as a proper tool in a healing manner, can actually
help to facilitate what Fr. Russell is referring to as “the spiritual work” or “the
deeper matter?” What if there is more common ground to hypnosis and
spirituality that most people think? We will return to this question later.
3. The Loosening of Moral Inhibition

3. One of Christianity’s great fears about hypnosis is that it induces a moral laxity
and makes the prohibited permissible. And, again, when hypnosis is seen this
way its prohibition is understandable.
The truth, however, is that clinical hypnosis cannot make anyone do anything
that would undermine their moral or ethical resolve.
In an article interview on www.hypnosisnetwork.com Paul Durbin, a United
Methodist minister with a long history of clinical and pastoral service, recalls a
famous story about Milton Erickson, M.D., one of the great hypnotherapists and
psychiatrists of the last century.
One day Dr. Erickson went to his secretary and told her he was tired and wanted
to rest. If anyone called, he told her, she was to say that he was out of the office.
She agreed to do this for him. Some time later he put her in a hypnotic trance. He
then made the same request—to tell people he was out of the office when he was
in fact taking a break. While still in a formally induced trance, she refused him.
“Why?” he wanted to know.
”Because,” she said, “it would be a lie.”
Ironically, in hypnosis she had a stronger moral resolve than in her normal
waking state.
Hypnosis is not “brainwashing,” as Durbin points out. Brainwashing can be
accomplished at any time, with or without formal trance simply by the constant
repetition of suggestion. In our culture we call this advertising and media
bombardment.
The Clinical Definitions:
1. Trance As An Ordinary State of Consciousness
Perhaps the most important definition from the clinical point of view is that
hypnosis only utilizes a state of consciousness that is already natural and normal.
Trance is not something that is artificially induced in a person. It is simply a state
of awareness in which we are more focused on an internal process (breathing,
thoughts) and most importantly it is something all of us move in and out of all
day.

4. Trance is normal rather than exceptional. What a good clinician will do is utilize
that ordinary ability to shift awareness so that pain can be relieved,
psychological blockages removed (e.g., fixations on traumatic events), and
healing can be facilitated in a variety of ways.
This normal shift of awareness is even more common when we are frightened,
hurt, or ill, which is why Verbal First Aid works so well to help stop bleeding,
reduce an inflammatory response, and lower blood pressure. We can see it even
more dramatically when it is used with children who enter fairly easily and
frequently into “trance.”
2. Hypnosis is a Tool. Healing is Spiritual.
Healing is not dependent on one technique. A good healer has more than one
tool in her tool kit. Hypnosis may be one of them, but it is almost never the only
one.
Hypnosis, when seen this way, as just another tool, becomes less threatening.
Most clinicians acknowledge that the deepest healing is often spiritual in nature
and that they are facilitators, not magicians.
Pope Pius addressed the concerns of Catholics regarding hypnosis in childbirth
and stated that when used by a health care professional who was properly
trained, treatment was permitted.
He also cautioned us that:
• Hypnosis was a serious issue and that it should not be toyed with;
• Practitioners should be guided by the same moral principles (Judeo-
Christian ones) in their use of hypnosis as with anything else;
• The rules of good medicine must apply as much to hypnosis as to any
other technique.
The truth is that no one other than God knows how healing actually occurs. We
can suture skin together, but how it knits together remains an ineffable mystery.
How Verbal First Aid Works in Alliance with Faith and the Faithful

5. If the definitions of trance as clinicians use it are accurate (and I believe they are)
and the dangers are real as Christians see them (and I believe they certainly can
be), how can the healing use of imagery work together with the faithful so that as
Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that they may have life and have it more
abundantly.”
In the beginning was the word.
That words are powerful is a familiar concept to those who read the Bible.
According to many biblical scholars, the first sin was not pride, was not
disobedience, was not sex. It was gossip—the misuse of words. And it is a most
serious act with terribly dire consequences. The serpent whispers to Eve: “You
shall not surely die.” He lied. He misled her and all of humanity, for with those
words he surely brought us death. And the only sin for which the Lord will not
find us guiltless is using His name in vain.
Words have a prominent position in the Bible from the third sentence: And GOD
SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT. He did not create with His “hands” or eyes. The
“word” is used throughout to mean the “truth.” He spoke—“By the word of the
Lord were the heavens made (Ps. 33).” To speak is to WILL into existence. What
we say and how we say it is a co-creative act. What we say hangs somewhere
between heaven and earth.
Words matter. The mystics have always known this. Only now is science
catching up.
Why? Because they create images in the mind of the person to whom we are
speaking. Those images and the thoughts that flow with them generate cascades
of chemistry that dictate not only how we feel emotionally, but how fast or slow
our hearts beat, how high our blood pressure goes, how profoundly we feel the
pain of an injury, even the way our livers function.
We all use words all the time. And they have the power to help or to harm. Isn’t
it our obligation to make what we say as healing as possible?
Hypnosis is no different than a sermon, a lecture, a television show or a good
book. It is the use of words to move us. When used in the right way with a
proper intention, those words can help us heal.

6. Judith Acosta, LISW, LCSW, Cht, is a licensed psychotherapist, classical
homeopath, and crisis counselor near Albuquerque, NM. She specializes in the
treatment of trauma, anxiety disorders, depression, and grief. She lectures
around the country on Verbal First Aid, animal-assisted therapy, trauma and
stress-reduction.
She is the co-author of The Worst is Over (2002, Jodere) and Verbal First Aid
(2010, Penguin) and the author of numerous articles on mental health, cultural,
and spiritual issues.
You can find her at www.verbalfirstaidforchildren.com, www.viralfear.com, or
www.wordsaremedicine.com.