The conclusion of most contemporary psychologists is that hypnotized subjects may believe that their actions under hypnosis are involuntary when, in fact, those subjects who are considered "hypnotizable" generally are responding to their expectations and their desire to validate the hypnotist's expectations too. That also would explain why some people are not hypnotizable at all and why hypnotized people generally will not follow directions that they would consider highly offensive when they are not hypnotized (Pinker, 2002). Therefore, this should not be a concern.
Hypnotic Suggestion for Memory Enhancement, Studying, and Pain Relief
Because hypnosis is similar to meditation, it has been used with some success to help people overcome fears and addictive habits (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008; Pinker, 2002). People who have a strong desire to improve their study habits or their memory can potentially use either traditional meditation or mental visualization techniques to help achieve those goals; hypnotism can likely provide similar benefits, particularly in subjects who are highly motivated to achieve...
Furthermore, those who are highly hypnotizable can achieve pain management goals through hypnosis. In their case, the fact that hypnosis is likely nothing more than another form of meditation does not detract from its potential value. Even the early studies of Hilgard did likely demonstrate this potential, irrespective of the fact that his conclusions about how hypnotism works were later disproved by Spanos and others (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2002).
Ultimately, hypnosis may be useful for pain management and increased academic focus, but that is probably dependent on the subjects strongly desiring those results and also believing that hypnotism works before their attempts to submit to hypnosis for those purposes. Conversely, those who are not particularly motivated to achieve those goals and/or who are skeptical about hypnosis beforehand will probably not experience any benefits from it.
References
Gerrig R, Zimbardo P. (2008). Psychology and Life. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Pinker S. (2002). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New…
