The foreign word hypnosis comes from the Greek word hypnos, the sleep. The layman speaks of being able to induce an artificial state of sleep through hypnosis. Objectively, it is more accurate to speak of a state of constricted consciousness.
Are Christians allowed to use hypnosis actively or passively?
A parishioner asked Dr. Kurt Koch about the legitimacy of hypnosis, or more precisely, whether believing Christians should be allowed to use hypnosis actively or passively. He replied:
“Even doctors disagree on this. There are doctors who radically reject hypnosis as an intrusion into the personality of the person. There are those who represent their justification in the diagnosis. There are also doctors who use hypnosis for diagnosis and therapy. I do not force my attitude on anyone. Based on my experience in counseling, I myself reject hypnosis in any form, because here the human being is degraded to a passive test object. In passivity, alien powers easily creep in on humans, especially when the subject is medially inclined.
The fact that I always found hypnosis in the East in connection with magic, with spiritualism and similar dubious currents, strengthened me in my defensive attitude towards hypnosis. Of course, one must distinguish between the hypnosis of charlatans and specialists. But there are also doctors who reject hypnosis in any form because they have observed long-lasting damage to the soul caused by hypnosis.”
Examples from the book: “Occult ABC”.
In Argentina, a woman was brought to the chief physician, Dr. Winther. She suffered from a spider complex. This tormented woman saw spiders everywhere in her apartment day and night. On the floor, on the walls, on the ceilings. And she suffered terribly from it. All good coaxing had no meaning and no value. Dr. Winther hypnotized her. Under hypnosis, he talked at her, “When you wake up again, you won’t see any more spiders.” This therapy was successful. When the woman woke up again, she breathed a sigh of relief. All the spiders were gone. So far, the experiment was successful. But now the flip side. Dr. Winther told me that from that day on, the woman became a very strong, extreme alcoholic. She got rid of the spiders, but now she is totally addicted to alcohol. This experience and another one moved Dr. Winther to give up hypnosis in the future. He said that in both cases it was only a relocation and not an exemption.
Decidedly to be rejected are the shows where magic tricks and hypnosis attempts are shown. Even the experts in the field of hypnosis call these shows a nonsense that should be banned. And yet, there are always principals who hold such school events and cause serious harm to their school children.
Some examples on the topic of school events.
B 129 A girl in Tokyo was hypnotized by a charlatan at a school party. He was not able to bring it back from hypnosis. The girl emitted animal sounds, developed high fever and could be brought back to consciousness only after several days by special doctors.
B 130 A woman came to me for counseling and told me the following. The principal of the school had scheduled an evening of entertainment. Various tricks were shown. The showman also tried his hand at hypnosis. In the case of my reporter’s thirteen-year-old son, he succeeded in hypnosis. However, the boy had severe anxiety dreams from that day on. In his sleep he often groaned, “The black guy is coming, the black guy is coming. Why don’t you get that black guy off my back?” These anxiety dreams of the boy lasted for years. The mother was terribly angry with this showman.
Never invite showmen for an evening of entertainment who also practice hypnosis. (Source: “Occult ABC, Dr. Kurt Koch)
