Hypnosis and the Critical Factor of the Brilliant Mind
- Colette Condorcita Schmitt
- Jul 8
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 21
For those with brilliant, neurodivergent minds, change can feel both deeply desired and fiercely resisted. Neurodivergent brains are often wired for vigilance, constantly scanning, interpreting, protecting, and questioning.
Their brilliance lies in their depth, their pattern recognition, their refusal to accept surface-level truths. But this same brilliance can sometimes act as a barrier to transformation.
Protective mechanisms that once served survival may now reject even supportive suggestions. New ideas must pass through a web of logic, skepticism, and past experience.
This is where hypnosis becomes a powerful ally. Unlike cognitive approaches that try to persuade the conscious mind, hypnosis invites the nervous system into a state of safety and softens the edges of resistance.
It bypasses the critical factor (the part of the mind that filters, critiques, and often blocks change) and opens a direct channel to the deeper self. In this state, transformation becomes not just possible, but intuitive and self-directed. For the neurodivergent mind especially, hypnosis doesn’t overwrite autonomy. It honors it, offering a gentler way in.
Key Takeaways:
Hypnosis quiets the brain’s internal gatekeeper. This allows the mind to become more open to suggestion, immersive experiences, and emotional shifts without overanalyzing or resisting.
Hypnosis rewires connection between body, emotion, and focus. In highly hypnotizable individuals, hypnosis increases functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the insula, enhancing self-regulation, emotional processing, and somatic awareness. This supports hypnosis’ effectiveness for issues like pain, stress, and trauma.
Hypnosis alters self-perception by disconnecting self-reflection from executive control. This leads to deep absorption, less self-referential thinking, and a sense of timelessness or detachment from habitual identity patterns.
What Is Hypnosis and the Hypnotic State?
Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique that induces a trance-like state of focused attention and increased suggestibility and neuroplasticity. Contrary to myths of mind control or sleep states, hypnosis is a waking state where the conscious mind temporarily softens, allowing direct communication with the unconscious. Similar to self-directed neuroplasticity, the hypnotic process can be self-guided or guided by a professional who can help you reach positive outcomes.
The truth is, we go in and out of hypnotic and trance states all the time depending on our varying levels of concentration and attention. Everyone shifts into slightly more or less hypnotic states throughout the day, but certain exercises or activities can shift us into deeper states.
Hypnosis does not always involve a deep, zoned-out trance. In reality, subtle trance states are a natural part of everyday life. For example, driving a familiar route and arriving without remembering the journey is a form of light trance, in which you are focused, automatic, and deeply absorbed. Hypnosis often works in these subtle, yet powerful, states of awareness.
Ann Williamson said it best:
“Hypnosis can be seen as ‘a waking state of awareness, (or consciousness), in which a person’s attention is detached from his or her immediate environment and is absorbed by inner experiences… Hypnotic induction involves focusing attention and imaginative involvement to the point where what is being imagined feels real. By the use and acceptance of suggestions, the clinician and patient construct a hypnotic reality… Our conscious awareness of our surroundings versus an inner awareness is on a continuum, so that, when in these states, one’s focus is predominantly internal, but one does not necessarily lose all outer awareness. Hypnosis could be seen as a meditative state, which one can learn to access consciously and deliberately, for a therapeutic purpose. [T]he main usefulness of the hypnotic state is the increased effectiveness of suggestion and access to mind/body links or unconscious processing” (2019).
Induction involves guided relaxation, visualization, or focused repetition. Once in this altered state, the person becomes more receptive to suggestion, imagination, and the reframing of experience.
Debunking Hypnosis and Hypnotism Myths
Despite its growing clinical use, hypnosis is still surrounded by myths. Let’s clear a few up:
Is Hypnosis Mind Control?
No. Hypnosis is a collaborative process. You remain aware and in control throughout.
Is Hypnosis Like Sleep?
No. You’re in a relaxed but alert state. It is more similar to meditation than unconsciousness or sleep.
Can Only “Suggestible” People Become Hypnotized?
Most people can experience some level of hypnosis, especially when motivated and open. Some individuals are innately more hypnotizable and some less. Some individuals fall into hypnotic states more easily and frequently than others.
Is Hypnosis a Quick Fix?
No. Like all forms of therapy, real change takes repetition, intention, and integration.
Is Hypnosis Dangerous?
When practiced by a trained professional, hypnosis is safe and widely used in clinical settings. Like other therapeutic tools, there is both a potential for harm and a potential for healing.
How Do We Know Hypnosis is Real?
In psychology, the critical factor refers to the part of the mind responsible for evaluating, filtering, and often rejecting new information. It’s like an internal fact-checker that is protective, cautious, and skeptical, and this faculty of the mind is largely associated with the prefrontal cortex.
While this function is vital for survival, it can also block change. Many of us, especially those who are neurodivergent or trauma-aware, have highly developed critical factors.
We question everything. We detect inconsistencies. We protect ourselves from manipulation. These are strengths, but they can also prevent us from fully receiving new beliefs, ideas, or healing narratives.
During hypnosis, the critical factor is temporarily bypassed. The prefrontal cortex, the brain region tied to analytical thinking, shows reduced activity, while areas involved in attention, focus, and emotional processing light up (Spiegel et al., 2016).
“There has been debate regarding whether hypnosis is a distinct neurophysiological state or simply the product of expectation and social influence…This study was designed to identify differences in resting-state brain activity (i.e. connectivity of the EC, SN, and DMN) between highly hypnotizable and low hypnotizable individuals during hypnosis.”
Spiegel and colleagues’ findings were three-fold:
The brain region involved in evaluating what to pay attention to (like scanning for threats, overthinking, or filtering information), the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) showed quieter activity in highly hypnotizable people. This suggests an increase in openness and suggestibility.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (involved in executive control) became more connected to the insula, which helps us sense emotions, bodily states, and pain. This connection grew stronger during hypnosis (but not at rest), and the effect was strongest in people who felt most deeply hypnotized.
There was a decrease in connection between executive control regions and the default mode network, showing a decrease in self-referential thought and an increase in a neutral, perceptual state of information intake.
Overall, the findings surrounding the altered state of consciousness known as hypnosis allows the mind to consider suggestions it might otherwise reject and access the deeper realms of unconscious memory, belief, and behavior, and this is observable neurologically as well as experientially.
Exploring Hypnotherapy: The History of Trance and Hypnosis
The history of hypnosis can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Greece, where the use of trance states for healing and spiritual purposes was common. However, the modern concept of hypnosis as a therapeutic technique can be traced to the work of Franz Mesmer, an Austrian physician in the 18th century.
Mesmer developed a theory of "animal magnetism," which posited that the human body was influenced by a universal force that could be harnessed for healing. He developed a method of inducing a trance-like state, which he called "mesmerism," that involved passing of his hands over the patient's body.
Mesmer's work became highly controversial, and he was eventually discredited by the medical community. However, his ideas and methods laid the groundwork for the development of hypnosis as a therapeutic technique.
In the 19th century, James Braid, a Scottish physician, introduced the term "hypnosis," derived from the Greek word for sleep, as a more accurate description of the trance-like state induced by hypnotic techniques. Braid also developed a more scientific understanding of hypnosis, describing it as a form of nervous sleep that could be induced through focused attention and suggestion.
In the 20th century, hypnosis gained widespread popularity as a therapeutic technique, particularly in the field of psychotherapy. In the mid-20th century, the American psychiatrist Milton Erickson developed a highly influential form of hypnotherapy that focused on utilizing the individual's own experiences and resources to promote healing and change.
Today, hypnosis is recognized as a valid and effective form of therapy by many healthcare professionals and is used to treat a wide range of conditions, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and addiction. It is often used in conjunction with other forms of therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), to enhance effectiveness.
Many people today also seek out hypnosis for weight loss, hypnotherapy for smoking, sleep hypnosis, previous life regression, and more. The claims are many, but when it comes to things like hypnosis and weight loss, there is a lot more research that would need to be done to indicate anything close to efficacy.
It’s safe to say that if that’s your main goal, you might want to hold off on paying any hypnotist who claims to be able to help you drop some pounds. When it comes to working through anxiety or depression, however, you might just be in luck.
Why Hypnotherapy Matters for Neurodivergent Minds
Neurodivergent individuals (such as those with autism, ADHD, ADD, OCD, dyslexia, brain injury, or trauma for example) often experience heightened sensitivity, overactive pattern recognition, and strong internal resistance to external control. The idea of “letting go” or “trusting suggestion” may feel especially foreign or even unsafe.
When practiced with care, safety, and consent, hypnosis can be a profound tool. It speaks the language of metaphor and feeling, intuitive, imagistic language, and offers an opportunity for bypassing the mind’s gatekeepers for deeper change potential.
Many neurodivergent folks are fluent in these symbolic, highly imaginative states, with higher suggestibility, or what Spiegel and colleagues called “high hypnotizability.” Other neurodivergent folks experience the opposite, with more rigidity, literalism, and critical factor.
This spectrum of suggestibility plays a key role in how individuals respond to set, setting, and expectation—factors at the heart of the placebo effect. In fact, recent research suggests that what we call “placebo” may be better understood as a complex neurocognitive phenomenon rooted in belief, imagination, and context.
When exploring tools like hypnosis and psychedelics, both of which are tools for enhancing suggestibility, we have to be really aware of the unique ways in which these altered states may impact neurodivergent individuals versus neurotypicals.
That being said, hypnosis and hypnotherapy can be profound tools when explored safely for supporting anyone, including neurodivergent individuals, who seek a reframing of thought patterns, beliefs, and behaviors, as well as a way to enter deeply regulating and healing states.
Further Reading:
Personalized, Digital Health Tools & Neurodiversity-Informed Psychedelic Education for You
Thank you for exploring this topic with us! We hope the insights resonate with your goals for personal growth, healing, or professional development. To dive deeper into neuroplasticity, psychedelic therapy, and how neurodiversity intersects with these fields, visit our blog for cutting-edge articles, our practical tools for personalized support, and stay up to date on our latest releases!
If you’re ready to take the next step on your journey, we invite you to explore our Neurodelics platform. Whether you’re seeking personalized tools for mental health support, neurodiverse communities, or psychedelic education, we are here to support you. Neurodelics is dedicated to providing you with neurodiversity-informed and research-backed tools for psychedelic integration and support.
Explore Neurodelics Today
Subscribe to Our Newsletter to stay in the loop and receive your guide on self-directed neuroplasticity.
Learn About Our Platform and discover upcoming courses, community spaces, and more.
Follow Us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube for the latest updates and content.
Comments