Hypnotism shows are popular along the Wasatch Front with as many as four different shows on stage on any given Saturday night between Ogden and Provo. But some local church leaders urge caution and even avoidance for church members.
The strongest objections come from leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science religions. Those religions advise members to avoid hypnotism completely, both for entertainment and therapy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says hypnotism can be appropriate for medical purposes but urges members not to allow themselves to be hypnotized for entertainment or demonstration purposes.Local hypnotists believe the religious policies stem from myths and misconceptions about hypnotism -- a sleep-like condition that is psychically induced, creating a state of altered consciousness in which those who are hypnotized are influenced by suggestions from the hypnotist. Hypnotists say their subjects are not under total control and that responses are limited by moral values and other influences. They say there is no loss of free will.
Diane Bradshaw, director for Positive Changes Hypnosis of Utah and a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists, said all hypnosis is self-induced and that subjects must be willing for hypnosis to work.
"Hypnotism will only set aside inhibitions," Bradshaw said. "It won't touch morals or values."
The only danger she sees is in bad therapy.
That reassurance holds little sway with some churches.
"We have nothing whatsoever to do with that," Michelle Newport of the committee on publication for Utah in the Christian Science Church said. "Hypnotism is not in compliance with Christian Science."
She said the church believes man is self-governed and except for God's influence, he should not be governed by any other mind. Guidance should come through prayer, not hypnotism.
Newport said this stand is well-known by church members.
Roy Swingle, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Holladay, said his church also does not believe in hypnosis.
"It's something that's related to spiritualism," he said. "We've been warned against letting others get into our minds," Swingle says.
He said the policy against hypnosis has been well outlined in the church's Watchtower and Awake publications over the years.
The LDS policy is not as stringent.
"The use of hypnosis under professional supervision for the treatment of diseases or mental disorders is a question to be determined by competent medical authorities," LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills said. "Church members should not participate in hypnosis for the purposes of demonstrations for entertainment."
Policies of other local religions are less defined.
Monsignor M. Francis Mannion of the Roman Catholic Church's Salt Lake Diocese, said the church has no official position. However, he said members should follow good medical advice, and he believes hypnosis can be positive as long as it does not interfere with a person's sense of responsibility.
The Rev. Mike Gray of the Southeast Baptist Church, said Southern Baptists also have no defined policy. The decision is left to individual ministers and congregations.
He advises sound counseling and feels there are some very good hypnotists around, but members need to check things out very thoroughly.
In Buddhism, methods of Zen are sometimes referred to as a form of self-hypnosis, but Joe Weed of Kanzeon Zen Center of Utah said Zen is not hypnosis but religious meditation.
He said hypnosis itself is not an issue in Buddhism and there are no set policies regarding it.
Local Unitarian and Jewish leaders say their religions have no official policies.
"Hypnosis is a natural state of daydreaming and pondering," said the guild's Bradshaw. "We do that all the time."
She said she believes intense television viewing can induce a hypnotic state.
She believes the religious directives against hypnosis come from a lack of understanding.
"It's not mind control. You won't lose your free agency. . . . There's a fear of the name, a misconception that someone else will control you."
Bradshaw said even in a hypnotism on stage, if someone doesn't want to take the suggestion being given, they won't.
She believes hypnosis can tap the power of a person's mind to help them lose weight, stop smoking, manage stress or enhance their performance in sports. However, she says, a person has to truly want to make that change.
John Daughters, who stages regular hypnotism shows at Salt Lake's Avalon Theater, said he is a very religious person, and that his programs are always done in good taste. He agrees hypnosis can't make someone do anything they don't want to do. He has been performing up to twice monthly for 20 years and says he asks only those who really want to be hypnotized to come on stage.
"I can't do it if they don't want to," he said.
Daughters said therapy hypnosis focuses on habit patterns. For stage performances, the accent is on creating a temporary altered belief system.
For example, he said he might hypnotize someone to believe they are Madonna or Superman.
"It's not going to last very long," he said, explaining the person also has to be comfortable with the impersonation, at least a fantasy.
He said hypnosis is not unlike a dream state, where people often use their short term memories.
"It's based on their willingness," he said. "Your creativity is in the unconscious state."
Daughters is particularly keen on using hypnosis to enhance a golfer's game, believing most play well below their physical and mental abilities.
He said he's not aware of anywhere else in the county where so many regular stage hypnotism performances thrive.
Mark Livingston's hypnotism show at Ogden's Country Club Theater has been going for some 320 consecutive Saturday evenings.
The audience for the Utah shows are primarily young adults, high school or college students, according to Daughters.