s that they had apparently forgotten. Various researchers have put forth differing theories of what hypnosis is and how it could be understood, but there is still no generally accepted explanatory theory to this phenomenon. Here is an example of what hypnosis can be like.
             Imagine lying on an operating table in a cold hospital tent near a battlefront during World War II. Feeling incredible pain, pleading with the medics for some morphine to relieve the pain in your leg which was nearly blown off-thanks to an enemy grenade. But the supply lines were interrupted hours ago, and there are no more anesthetics. Just then the doctor says that your leg can't be saved. You hear someone in the background say, "If they don't operate immediately, he will bleed to death for sure." Then the nurse sits down beside you, leans over and looks into your eyes and calmly says, "It's going to be all right." "I know you are a little nervous but you are in excellent hands. You're going to feel a little pressure while we fix you up." Her voice is so reassuring that you want to believe her, you also are telling yourself that you are just a little nervous, and you even feel relieved now that you are in excellent hands. As the doctor tends to your leg, your nurse !
             keeps reassuring you that you are going to be all right, talking to you as if nothing is happening at all. Then she interrupts your calm bliss to tell you that the surgery is over and everything is going to be all right. You successfully had your leg removed without anesthetic, and it was nearly a painless operation and you later learn that the nurse had been using hypnosis on you the whole time.
             What you just experienced was the power of suggestion or, as it is known to many, hypnosis. Thanks to hypnosis the pain of amputation was nearly non-existent in this scenario.
             In the stereotypical image of hypnotic induction there is a...