abstract:Stage hypnosis is hypnosis performed in front of an audience for the purposes of entertainment, usually in a theatre or club. Expert opinion is divided over whether participants' responses are best explained as being due to an altered state of consciousness ("hypnotic trance") or by a combination of deliberate deception and ordinary social psychological factors such as disorientation, compliance, peer pressure, and ordinary suggestion.
"We are quite certain that in future all stage hypnotists will give a proper warning of the dangers involved in volunteering to take part in a stagehypnosis show, " he said.