speculative hypnosis theme
Featured is a notion of hypnosis that goes well beyond what can be done in reality. In particular, this theme is used when a character is shown to "hypnotize" another character in order to make them carry out commands, or to implant "triggers" in their mind. The theme may also be used when the hypnosis has an immediate and notable effect, such as to bring back true memories.
Notes
Real hypnosis can be used in hypnotherapy and may have some effect in altering problematic habits for a willing subject. Typically, multiple sessions are required in order to produce limited effects, and not all subjects are receptive to it.
Examples
In voy4x17 "Retrospect", hypnosis used to bring out buried or suppressed old memories.
33 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 24 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| ahp4x09 | choice | Lucy became inhabited by the spirit of a 19th century spouse murderer each of the two times she was hypnotized by the self-proclaimed meta-physician Miles Farnham, or so it seemed. Lucy was briefly hypnotically regressed to her nine-year-old self. In the prologue, Alfred Hitchcock was hypnotically regressed to his four-year-old self. |
| tftc1989e7x09 | choice | The main novelty of the story was a device that could "hypnotize" people into accepting suggestions of varying complexity. The precise nature of the mechanics underpinning this process was not made clear but it involved making people vastly more suggestible by artificial means, much like in many other fictional hypnosis scenes in fiction. |
| columbo1971e4x06 | major | Mark hypnotized Nadia under the pretext of helping her pass a lie detector test. Instead he implanted a command that made her try to jump into the pool below her fifth story balcony, triggered by his command over the telephone. He knew full well that she would not survive the plunge. |
| movie: Creature of Destruction (1968) | major | Dr. Basso used hypnotic regression to take his assistant Doreena back to a prehistoric past life as an amphibious humanoid monster. |
| movie: Looker (1981) | major | Reston Industries was using hypnotic television commercials to market products. |
| movie: The Incredible Hulk: Married (1978) | major | David tried an experimental form of hypnotherapy in an effort to try to prevent himself from transforming into the Hulk. |
| movie: The She-Creature (1956) | major | Dr. Lombardi hypnotically regressed Andrea not only to a 17th century Englishwoman, but also back to a prehistoric sea monster of humanoid form. |
| nightgallery1x01a | major | John Fearing used hypnosis to control John's ability. |
| nightgallery3x08 | major | Pete Tuttle had used hypnosis on Charlie and the physiological states Charlie exhibited matched his mental experiences. For instance, his fingers blistered when Pete asked Charlie to place his hand imaginary boiling water. Later Charlie experienced hypoxia when instructed to fly a jet under hypnosis, and then burned to death when he crashed it. |
| ahp4x27 | minor | It was said that the recently executed barber Bourdette hypnotized his victims before murdering them. In the end, Bourdette hypnotized Raymond to be in a trance-like state before slitting his throat, or so it seemed. |