Variation in degrees and types of nervous disorders can be accounted for by the fact that people vary in their susceptibility to hypnosis. Those capable of entering a deep trance can, under certain circumstances, develop the more serious types of nervous disorder, while the less susceptible are only mildly affected. This explains those not infrequent cases of severe nervous illness which follow stage performances of hypnotism where only selected and highly susceptible subjects who can enter a deep trance are used. Emotion is such a tremendously powerful factor that when it enters the picture reason is relegated to the background, and conditions favourable to the onset of hypnosis are established. In even the lightest stage of hypnosis the power of suggestion, which is strong enough in the waking state, is enormously increased.
Modern life is full of such examples.
Even the most mediocre singers reduce their admirers to a condition bordering on hysteria by wallowing in false sentiment and emotion. In these days, when one man can address the whole world, it is more necessary than ever to understand the real nature and power of hypnosis and suggestion. Hypnosis, like all good things, can be abused. In the past it has been consistently opposed and given a bad name chiefly as the result of extravagant claims by stage and amateur performers, together with wildly improbable, sensational stories of the Svengali -Trilby type. Certain groups of people, notably Christian Scientists, have been especially active in condemning it.