Have you ever been hypnotized?

[Alan Mendelson]

Years ago, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college (yeah it was that many years ago), a psychologist failed to hypnotize me. It was explained to me that to be hypnotized you had to submit and allow yourself to be hypnotized. I guess I really didn't want to be hypnotized.

But I've always been curious about people who have been hypnotized. What was it like? What did they feel? What do they remember? And why?

When I was a kid -- and this goes many, many years ago -- even before the time of the dinosaurs -- my mother told me she was hypnotized as part of a show at the Concord Hotel up in the Borscht Belt in the Catskills north of New York City. I think the hypnotist made her dance and cluck like a chicken, or something like that.

But today, I know that hypnosis is used to treat weight problems, insomnia and to help people stop smoking.

Have you undergone hypnosis to treat a condition or problem? Did it work?

Or, did you undergo hypnosis and did you dance and cluck like chicken? Do you have some video you can share?

[Count Room]

Instead of being hypnotized, I try to listen carefully to what my instincts and my body are telling me just in the "here and now". Years of hard experience taught me that I was right a long time ago on certain things, but I ignored the "inner voice" and fell prey to societal noise. My instincts say hypnosis can be dangerous, and if you don't want to be hynotized it might be best to follow that instinct.