Question:

What are the reasons behind some people believing they have been hypnotized when they have not? How can one differentiate between those who have actually been under hypnosis and those who have not?

Answer:

Interestingly the opposite is probably far more common. Although people do claim to have been hypnotised against their will to do things, it’s actually far more frequent that people are in a hypnotic state without even knowing they are.

After the fact of somebody being in hypnosis or not, it’s practically impossible to tell if they were actually ‘under’ or not. Hypnosis is a natural state we all go into and out of numerous times a day, every day without even realising it (like zoning out while driving or getting absorbed in a book). And as the question specifically says “those who have actually 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 under hypnosis and those who 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 not?” I assume you are interested in hypnosis past-tense and not signs people are currently under hypnosis. So, sorry, but there’s no reliable retrospective test. Another factor you need to take into consideration is that hypnosis is not what most people think it is. Real hypnosis is nothing like how it is depicted in movies and on TV shows. You are not a mindless drone that will blindly follow any instruction given with real hypnosis.

While under hypnosis there are pointers (deeper breathing, increased lacrimation, reddening around the eyes and nose, etc), and none of these on their own signify it, it’s clusters you need to look for, and they fade quickly, hence them being indistinguishable later. But after it has happened (or has claimed to have happened), there is no way to tell.

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