The Science of Monsters

Thankfully, Chris fights his captors to “get out” as the title urges. He avoids becoming like the victims before him, escaping his fate of living in the sunken place. His first experience of the sunken place is brought on as Missy Armitage, Rose’s mother, utilizes her knowledge of hypnosis to discern how susceptible Chris would be to mind control. She aptly clinks a spoon against the side of a teacup, creating a hypnotic rhythm that sends Chris floating.

How effective is hypnosis, and could it really be used on unsuspecting victims? Hypnosis is defined as a:

Special psychological state with certain physiological attributes, resembling sleep only superficially and marked by a functioning of the individual at a level of awareness other than the ordinary conscious state. This state is characterized by a degree of increased receptiveness and responsiveness in which inner experiential perceptions are given as much significance as is generally given only to external reality.²

We have all seen depictions of hypnosis in media. Vampires, for example, use a sort of charismatic mind control to lull their victims. There are also entertainment hypnotists, like Erick Kand, who explains on his website what to expect at his shows; “the hypnotic trance state creates a sense of heightened awareness that brings out the best in the volunteer performers. Your volunteers role-play in various hypnosis comedy routines that have your audience doubled over with laughter.”³ This is the classic “cluck like a chicken” sort of hypnosis that has been performed on stage since the eighteenth century. Although Kand and his counterparts assure we will be laughing at the hilarity that hypnosis can bring, the practice of stage hypnotism has been met with healthy skepticism. Kreskin, an American magician who performed comedic hypnosis for decades eventually maligned his former work:

For nineteen years I had believed in . . . the sleeplike “hypnotic trance,” practicing it constantly. Though I had nagging doubts at times, I wanted to believe in it. There was an overpowering mystique about putting someone to sleep, something that set me and all other “hypnotists” apart. We were marvelous Svengalis or Dr. Mesmers, engaged in a supernatural practice of sorts. Then it all collapsed. For me anyway.⁴

While stage hypnotists are strictly there for entertainment, hypnosis has been used for far more serious endeavors, including therapy, and to recall traumatic events from the past. Hypnotherapy is utilized in a number of different mental health scenarios. In a study published in 2014, researchers studied whether it worked for people suffering from clinical depression. Sachin K. Dwivedi and Anuradha Kotnala from the Department of Clinical Psychology in Hardwar, UK, concluded that hypnotherapy, as long as it was done by professionals with the proper approach, did improve the lives of people who were afflicted with depression:

Modern hypnotherapy is widely accepted for the treatment of anxiety, subclinical depression, certain habit disorders, to control irrational fears, as well as in the treatment of conditions such as insomnia and addiction. Hypnosis has also been used to enhance recovery from non-psychological conditions such as after surgical procedures and even with gastroenterological problems including Irritable Bowel Syndrome.⁵

Whether or not stage hypnotists are authentic, there is proven science behind the efficacy of hypnosis in a medical setting. Does this also include the recall of long buried memories? Are memories drawn from hypnosis to be believed? According to Dr. Brian Thompson, a licensed psychologist at Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center in Portland, Oregon, “ scientific data suggests that the use of hypnosis in recovering memories is very problematic.”⁶ Thompson goes on to assert that hypnosis hurts rather than helps:

Not only is hypnosis no better than regular recall, data suggest that recall during hypnosis can actually result in the creation of more false memories than recall while not under hypnosis. Furthermore, people who recall memories under hypnosis are more likely to believe in the accuracy of these memories, regardless of whether they are true or not. It is for these reasons that many professionals working with individuals who may have been abused as children strongly caution against the use of hypnosis as a tool to try to recover possible unremembered trauma. The American Medical Association took a stand warning against accuracy of memories recovered through hypnosis in 1985.⁷