We are becoming wise to the fact that mutually biological and environmental factors can forecast how deeply an individual goes into a trance. Identical twins raised apart often have extraordinarily similar responses to hypnosis. Additionally, an “eye roll” test, developed by Herbert Spiegel, M.D., measures how far a person can roll his eyes up under lowering lids; this is associated with the ability to be hypnotized, suggesting that hypnosis has a neurological basis. Early experiences also play a part in being hypnotizable. Children, who are absorbed in imaginative play and creative activities, usually grow up to respond strongly to hypnosis.
It is clear that skills necessary to respond to hypnosis are similar to those needed to experience a trance-like state in daily life. The best predictors are a predisposition to become engaged in the imaginary of the mind and the ability for blocking out the immediate environment similarly to when you are watching a movie. Researchers advocate that two groups of people are more easily hypnotized: Fantasizers and Dissociaters. These two groups make up approximately 5% of the general population; but, if a person can recognize possessing even a few of the qualities, he or she is most likely a good candidate to be assisted with hypnosis.
In 1981, a group of highly hypnotizable individuals, called “fantasizers, were surveyed regarding their childhoods and their current adult experiences. These subjects believed their imaginations were as real as reality. They fantasized 90% to 100% of their waking hours. It is thought that fantasizers embodied most or all of highly hypnotizable people.
Fantasizers have memories that are begin remarkably early in life. Their recollections are extremely comprehensive. Obviously, there is not a way to determine the accuracy of the fantasizers’ memories. Could they have been experiencing a recollection of childhood dreams, having actual fantasies or were they prompted regarding hallucinations experienced?
Fantasizers during childhood had at least one, but frequently many, imaginary friends often taken from storybook characters, an actual friend who has moved away, or pets and toys whom they alleged could speak.
The parents of fantasizers bolstered imaginative play. Fantasy remains quite a bit in these individuals’ adult lives, too, assisting them through tedious tasks and free time. Some fantasizers apply their daydreams into their daily responsibilities. Their parents also disciplined them by reasoning with them instead of applying rules carved in stone, by means of imagination to suggest empathy. For example, a child, who had a fight in school over a toy, remembered pushing down the other child. Her parents told her to think about what the other child might have felt when she fell. She then truly felt like she was the other child, falling on the floor, scratching her leg, and crying. She could sense the desperation of the other little girl who thought the toy doll was actually hers, though it belonged to the school.
Even though none of the fantasizers in the study conveyed undergoing childhood abuse, when they were disciplined, they usually used fantasy and imaginary friends to reestablish their self-esteem.
Predictably, fantasizers become so immersed in stories, movies and drama, they often become unaware of real-world events surrounding them. Frequently, they find it difficult to pull themselves away from a worthy novel except if there is someone yelling at them. They expand their dreamy beliefs integrating them into their daily lives, conversing with a book or film hero for days and even weeks after initially reading about them or viewing them onscreen.
Fantasizers experience visual images that can produce physical sensations. They acknowledge a sense of warmth and wanting a cool beverage, as a reaction to viewing a photograph of the desert. They also shiver during a snowy scene on the screen. Many female fantasizers experienced false pregnancy at one moment in their lives, including physiological changes.
Hypnosis naturally involves many of these imaginative experiences. Most fantasizers discover being in a hypnotic trance more meaningful than other imagery in their daily lives. All awaken alert after hypnosis and go into a trance instantly probably due to this is not being a different state of consciousness to emerge from. One shared reaction after hypnosis was a smile.