Peng 1 Lin Peng Mrs. Leslie Wolcott ENC 3315 July 10, 2013 Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness?

Hypnosis has been promoted as a manipulative or negative tool to control another human being. When the word hypnosis come into play, the first thing that comes to peoples mind is: mind control without the will of the subject. However, Dr. John Ryder argues differently. To be hypnotized is not a sign of weakness, but it may be a sign of empowerment. His article Is hypnosis really an altered state of consciousness? argues whether or not if hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness through defining the truth and fiction or myth of hypnosis. According to Dr. Ryder, hypnosis is the art of persuasion through the state of trance; Trance means your mind is in two places at the same time (Ryder). Hypnotic trance happens to every person every day. For instance, have you ever been so concentrated on driving that you forget about the last few miles, and all of a sudden youre aware youre almost at your destination. This is called the highway hypnosis or a light form of self-hypnosis (Brown). If used properly and skillfully, hypnosis can be a major asset to promote the subconscious part of your mind. With the brief introduction of what hypnosis is, this paper will further evaluate the Dr. Ryders argument through components from Toulmins model and rhetoric appeals. We will first begin with the question of What is the argument in Ryders article? Psychology, hypnotherapist, and author of Positive Directions, John Ryder, Ph.D. argues that hypnosis is an efficient and effective therapeutic yet artistic technique through the process of trance, therefore it can be considered as an altered state of consciousness (Ryder). He supported

Peng 2 his argument with direct experiences between one of his patients, Jack and him. Jack came to Dr. Ryder to stop smoking. In turn, Dr. Ryder suggested the use of self-hypnosis through direct and indirect communicationincluding metaphors, emotional tone, and imagery. Although, this piece of evidence did appeal to my emotions as a reader, it was still not very effective because Dr. Ryder did not delve into detail on what happened during the self-hypnosis session with Jack. All he stated was During the trance, Jack was given the internal tools he needed repeatedly to overcome his weaknesses and successfully quit smoking. If I was interested in self-hypnosis or hypnotherapy, reading this would leave me with questions as to what was the internal tools Jack used? and how did Jack overcome successfully? Although, the experience is credible, the support was not specific enough for any potential patients to relate themselves with. The relationship between this support and the argument of is hypnosis an altered state of consciousness? is connected by an implicit warrant. Hypnosis or trance allows patients to communicate directly to the subconscious part of the mind. Therefore, the implicit warrant is patients are able to alter their conscious state by communicating with their subconscious. Another support he used was with a personal experience that many of us may have experienced before: Do you remember getting lost in thought? yet the most common example is when you are in a car, bus, or train, thinking about something until you get surprised, catching yourself reaching your stop or exit and you return to the normal alert state of awareness (Ryder). The relationship between this particular support and the argument is again connected by an implicit warrant. The implicit warrant is defined as the art of persuasion in consciousness, a shift in awareness in the direction of sleep without falling asleep (Ryder). The warrants within this article are all implicit because of the target audience, which we will discuss in the next paragraph.

Peng 3 The audience has shaped the content and context of this article based on the factors of vocabulary and examples. In this article, new words and definitions such as trance and hypothesis are introduced, but the meanings of the terms are very limited. The word trance is explained through the typical example of catching yourself reaching your destination without being aware of how you got there in the first place, which could still be unclear to readers outside of the target audience. In this case, the target audience of this specific article is psychology-related interest groups or individualsincluding psychologists, therapists, researchers, and patients. Many of the information within this article are implicitfrom the terms to the content itself. Therefore, readers must have basic background knowledge on the concepts of trance, hypnosis, self-hypnosis, consciousness and altered state of consciousness. Furthermore, the publication, Psychology Today itself is another indicator of who the target audience might be, in which most readers are psychology-related interest groups or individuals. In turn, the audience and the publication brings us to the question of how can the audience trust the content and context of this article or even the rhetor, himself. The publication, Psychology Today is a psychology-based magazine and website intended for a mass audience of non-psychologists. The publication has over 750 ideas and thoughts contributed by academics, psychiatrists, psychologist and authors. Therefore, the credibility of this publication is trustworthy. However, what about the author or rhetor, Dr. Ryder? Dr. Ryder has researched on how the brain works for over 15 years, he has published over a dozen articles of his research on brain function, and he has worked at Harvard, the Boston VA Hospital and served as an Assistant Professor at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York ("John Ryder, Ph.D."). As a result, the appeal of ethos from the publication and the rhetor, himself was the strongest appeal while the weakest appeal was the emotional and logical appeals,

Peng 4 which were very limited within this article, which brings us to the next section on logical and emotional appeals. Dr. Ryder provided two emotionally and logically appealing examples of direct and personal experiences of oneself while in trance and of Jacks hypnotherapy session. However, as mentioned before, it lacked specific detailsit barely scratch the surface. In addition, the examples failed to appeal my emotions as a reader because it lacked a strong association between pathos and me, as an audience; it did not have the powerful emotionally appealing words. The article provided a global view of evidence between the relationships of hypnosis and altered state of consciousness such that Hypnosis tends to be a shift of awareness in the direction of sleep without actually falling asleep (Ryder). This evidence may leads to questions such as What does shift of awareness mean? and am I conscious or not conscious? The evidence is global because of the target audience; it is assumed that the audience already has a knowledgeable background on related concepts. Throughout this article, Dr. Ryder did not provide any data or statistics, but he did provide logical examples as mentioned above of ones experiences concurrent with the emotional appeal. However, without the help statistics and data, the logical appeal failed to be effective because again it did not provide specific details. In conclusion, the article lacked extensive and detailed support and evidence as to the relationships between hypnosis and the altered state of consciousness, as well as the different related concepts. Due to Dr. Ryders ethos, many readers from the psychology community may think other ways because of their existing background knowledge on the topic. However, in my opinion, it was not a well-effective argument unless you are an easily suggestible person.

Peng 5 Works Cited Brown, Sandra. "Pathological Relationships." Am I Under His Spell? Psy, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 09 July 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pathologicalrelationships/201209/am-i-under-his-spell>. "John Ryder, Ph.D." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a Therapist. Psychology Today, n.d. Web. 12 July 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/john-ryderphd>. Ryder, John. "Hypnosis: The Power of Trance." Is Hypnosis Really an Altered State of Consciousness? Psychology Today, 29 May 2009. Web. 09 July 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hypnosis-the-power-trance/200905/is-hypnosisreally-altered-state-consciousness>.