Pseudoscience Paper: “Hypnosis”

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Recommended: What differentiates science from pseudoscience

Although Science and Pseudoscience are evidently two completely different topics, what is considered to be classified as a Science or Pseudoscience is a controversy topic that’s still being debated today. While science builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world through the scientific method, pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as science, but lacks support of evidence and cannot be reliably tested. Hypnosis is one topic several psychologists and those in the field of science are seemingly still debating today, in result to its several different uses. Although hypnosis is shown to work when dealing with certain phenomena’s like stress, there are several uses it is considered to be very ineffective and simply not a science.

Hypnosis has been used for a wide range of problems from, opting to remove some symptoms of certain mental diseases, reducing stress and psychological traumas, and treating phobias, to aiming to cause weight loss and cure one from illness and diseases (Keller, 2008). Although hypnosis in general, is considered to be safe and totally harmless when controlled by a physician, the present era has attached danger to it, in that it creates delusions through other people’s lives. According to MacKenzie (2011), “Hypnosis has been perceived as clouding people’s imaginations while they undergo relaxation, both internally and externally. While under hypnosis we experience a heightened sense of imagination and are open to suggestions and changes.” Coker (2010) found Pseudoscience to encourage people to believe anything they want. “It supplies specious "arguments" for fooling yourself into thinking that any and all beliefs are equally valid...

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Peter. (2001). True or false: hypnosis works for the management of stress, weight loss and more?. Explore the world of hypnosis and be amazed, Retrived from http://www.hypnotherapytechniques.com/DisquiisedHypnosisBlog/true-or-false- hypnosis-works-for-the-management-of-stress-weight-loss-and-more/

Rockler, Gladen. (2010). Avoid unsubstantiated claims with statistics, examples,

analogies. Evidence for Persuasive Speeches and Essays, Retrieved from http: //www.Suite101.com/content/evidence-for-persuassive-speeches-and-essays-a190058

Zeratsky, Katherine . (2009, June 04). Is hypnosis effective for weight loss?. Mayo Clinic,

Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-hypnosis/AN01617

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