Hypnotised against their will

I had this enquiry today:

Is it true that people could be hypnotised against their will? Is it just a myth? And how do mentalists hypnotise people within few minutes?

I replied:

It depends what you mean by hypnotized. Hypnosis takes many forms. Hypnosis has been defined as the art of planting suggestions into someone else's mind. The most common form of this of course, is advertising. When you are watching television, you are relaxed and your mind is open. At that point advertisers push their message into your brain suggesting that you buy their product. You didn't ask for this, you didn't agree to it, and it is inserting an idea into your mind against your will. People say they don't respond to advertising, but advertisers wouldn't do it if it didn't work. So yes, people can be hypnotised against their will.

If you're thinking of formal hypnosis, then no, you cannot hypnotise anyone who knows that you are trying to hypnotise them. If I know someone is trying to hypnotise me, all I have to do is repeat "NaNaNaNa" over and over in my mind and that will blank out whatever they are saying.

Hypnosis is a normal and natural process. We all go into hypnosis many times a day. Any time you daydream, any time you drive home and can't remember how you got there, any time you are lost in a computer game or a good book, you have been hypnotised. It is actually very easy to do.

All you have to do is to get people to focus on something and suggest that they stay focused on that you suggest that they are getting relaxed and tired and sleepy. Most people will go into trance within two or three minutes. It is no big deal. It certainly is not any kind of mystery.

You can learn to hypnotise people after an hour's training and study. The simplest methods will take ten minutes to put someone into trance. Faster methods will take less than a minute. It depends what you want to do after they are hypnotised.

However, nobody can be made to do anything they wouldn't normally do. You cannot go down to the bank and tell the manager to give you all their money and forget about it. It just doesn't happen. You can't tell a girl to fall in love with you. It doesn't happen. You cannot tell a girl to take her clothes off. That doesn't work either. Millions of men have tried it, and have failed every time.

So yes, you can hypnotise people against their will. But you cannot make them do anything that they wouldn't do when fully awake.

How would you deal with this ? Share your ideas below.