Defining Hypnosis: The UK Experience

This paper discusses approaches to defining hypnosis with reference to three components: suggestion, trance, and induction. The author favors a “minimalist” approach that specifies the essential features of the procedure adopted by the hypnotist. Hypnosis having been thus defined, the processes that underlie the diverse responses and experiences of subjects are determined empirically, rather than included in the definition. This approach is compared and contrasted with the Division 30 definition of hypnosis.