--- title: How Safe is Hypnosis? description: Is hypnosis safe? We asked some experts. canonical: https://time.com/4068201/how-safe-is-hypnosis/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-09T20:41:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:31.179Z article:section: Health og:title: How Safe is Hypnosis? og:description: Is hypnosis safe? We asked some experts. og:url: https://time.com/4068201/how-safe-is-hypnosis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1527b72ca1ddfbc/6988604b524fc0f68ddf4298/alzheimers-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1000 og:image:height: 563 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock health alzheimers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Safe is Hypnosis? twitter:description: Is hypnosis safe? We asked some experts. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1527b72ca1ddfbc/6988604b524fc0f68ddf4298/alzheimers-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Safe is Hypnosis? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=da053f38-a29f-453e-a67f-fa285dd436ac&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Curious Case of Lonni Sue's Amnesia [Watch (HLS stream): The Curious Case of Lonni Sue's Amnesia](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hXpU2aFn.m3u8) (8:18)  _Published 2013-08-14. Lonni Sue Johnson, an accomplished illustrator suddenly loses memory of her life, friends and family, yet continues her creative life_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 9, 2015 8:41 PM UTC  Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 9, 2015 8:41 PM UTC A years-long case involving a teacher’s use of hypnosis on students and staff members at a Florida school was back in the [news](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FHYPNOTIST%5FPRINCIPAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT) this week when the case was settled before going to trial. Since it was not tried in court, culpability has not been determined, but it has raised some questions about the safety and efficacy of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is an induced trance-like state that’s intended to provide an intensive awareness of the present moment; indeed, its clinical application bears no resemblance to the “You are getting sleepy” parlor tricks depicted in horror movies and on TV. “Contrary to how hypnosis is sometimes portrayed, you don’t lose control over your behavior while under hypnosis,” experts at the Mayo Clinic write. “You generally remain aware of and remember what happens under hypnosis.” Dr. Andrew Weil, a physician and leading expert in integrative medicine, says hypnosis is safe and effective, adding that the practice would benefit from more study. “I think it has been insufficiently researched because it has generally not been taken seriously by the research community,” he says. Weil says he’s seen most benefit in people with stress-related skin conditions, GI issues, autoimmune diseases and for kicking bad habits like smoking. “I think it has been tainted by its association with stage hypnosis,” Weil says. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) says hypnotherapy has been studied for conditions including anxiety, headaches, pain control, irritable bowl syndrome, and quitting smoking. The agency cites [some research](https://nccih.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/102212) that suggests clinical hypnosis can help some women with hot flashes. Some evidence suggests hypnosis relaxation therapy could help with pain management. “Hypnosis is a mental state, not, per se, a treatment,” says Dr. David Spiegel, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. “People think it is a means of taking away control, but it is actually a means of enhancing control—over perceptions such as pain, anxiety, habits, stress.” Typically in hypnosis, a practitioner guides an individual into a trance-like state, usually after discussing an individual’s thoughts, expectations and goals. Once a person is in that state, the therapist will speak to the patient and may ask them to do some visualization. Often, people are then taught how to do this on their own. “All hypnosis is really self-hypnosis,” says Spiegel. “I teach my patients to use it for themselves to address the problem they are dealing with. It is a powerful treatment extender. They don’t need to keep seeing me to get benefits. I see many of my patients only one time to assess them, measure their hypnotizability, and teach them self-hypnosis to address the problem.” It’s recommended that people who want to try hypnosis choose a therapist or health care professional that has been trained and licensed. Members of [The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) ](http://www.asch.net/)are licensed healthcare workers who are credentialed and trained in an accredited field of study. You can search for a licensed professional on the ASCH website [here](http://www.asch.net/Public/MemberReferralSearch.aspx). Spiegel says that if used in a misguided or dangerous way, a hypnotist could, in theory, exploit those he is working on. “I think it should be much more widely used,” says Weil. “It’s safe, it’s inexpensive and it can produce dramatic results.” ## Transcript { MUSIC ] She lives in a narrow sliver of the present moment. And as the present moment moves on. The moments from before are vanishing. With Lonnie Sue, only, living in the present moments, then what else was there? Memory is fundamental to everything we are. All of your knowledge about who you are, what has happened to you, that's memory. Lonnie Sue has lost her memories of her life. First of all, thank you for listening. [ MUSIC ] Lonni Sue Johnson is my sister. Lonni Sue Johnson is my daughter. Loni Sue had been a top illustrator. She had cover illustration's in the New Yorker Magazine. She did illustrations for the New York Times. At the end of 2007 suddenly she nearly died. Suddenly her chunk got enciphalitis and which left her with profound amnesia and her life changed and our lives changed as well. I like the rhythm of laughter too. [ LAUGH ] Johns Hopkins University comes to our house to do research on Loni Sue. How are you? I'm fine I'm starting to get better. I started working with Lonnie Sue About two years ago, but I, I know she doesn't recognize us. Are you gonna ask any questions? Yeah I'm gonna ask you questions. Lonni Sue's case is very interesting. She very unfortunately has very extensive damage to th Hipparchus, this area of the brain that's crucial for memory. I, as long as you have some awareness, that her memory doesn't work quite right, but she doesn't, she's not fully aware of the extent of the diffuculties she has. A typical day is the dining room table and spilling in to the living room, or his computer equipment, camers, tripods, and there Lonnie Sue is at the table. Babies are so cute. You might expect that someone who had lost so much would be sort of an empty shell of some kind. But nothing could be further from the truth, and that's one of the really fascinating things about, about her. If he had to relearn how to walk, talk, and eat. So you seem to be in a very small world. Well, do you know what the story is with daddy? Why he's not here right now? What is he doing? One evening we were, sitting by Lonnie Sue's dad, that was the nursing home, there, and Lonnie Sue said, how's daddy? Is he sick? No, well, you remember, he died. He died? What year did he die? Eighteen years ago. And then two minutes later, my sister said how's Daddy? Eighteen years ago? Don't you remeber we told you that? At first, we would try to get her interested. In getting a line on a paper. One day I took a marker and I drew a rectangle with a notch in it and she actually copied it in reverse. This was really something to be excited about. Many of the pieces that you look at in the post illness art they quickly become, over the months, these amazing works of art. It's, it's just tremendously creative. Could you draw a paper cub? The fact that she was such an accomplished graphic artists, she was an amateur violist. She was an amateur pilot. Thanks for asking me to do this. Mm- hm. It's surprising that she has these, these, these areas of spare knowledge. Very surprising in the context of the many, many losses. Because of her amnesia, everything she wants to remember has to be in front of her. The closets are empty, but all the shelves are filled. Everything that crosses her mind. Weather it's visual images, or words, she tries to record this on the page. From the moment she wakes to the moment she goes to sleep. What kind of colors do you want to do this in? I mean just to make it. Well, this matches my shirt. [ LAUGH ] Sure does. Because her pencil leaves a trace of her earlier thoughts. And so she connect, can connect the earlier moments with a private moment, and she can build ideas. My mother gave her a dictionary, which she would browse through for new words. You have fingered through it and. It's a mess. It's improved your vocabulary from zero to better than mine Zero? The alphabet is an amazing scaffolding for her. Let's see. A, B, C, D. Once she discovered the alphabet she has not let go. W, X, Y Z. Oh it fits. Oh good. One of the folders that she carries with her, in her bag is her biography. This is her past life. And you notice how those pages are looked over so much and the edges are Let's make a toast to daddy. Hm. Yeah. That we would love it if he were here. Oh yes. It's not all grim, because we see some good things coming out of it and the research. And in Lonnie Sue's mostly joyful attitude. This is to all the lovely opportunities in the world that each one of us has. Maybe one of the reasons she's so positive is that every day a new thing is like something new to her. My bio has some really interesting things I've had a chance to experience. Hm. When I read it, I can't believe it. That sort of rhymed. [ LAUGH ] So, life is never boring. And we have to think of it that way as, that it's an adventure. Not all of it is wonderful, but some of it is. 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