Hypnosis is a natural state of aroused, attentive focal concentration coupled with a relative suspension of peripheral awareness. This intensity of focus allows the hypnotized person to make maximal use of innate abilities to control perception, memory, and somatic function. Since the ability to experience hypnosis is a normal and widely distributed trait, and since entry into hypnotic states occurs spontaneously, hypnotic phenomena occur frequently. The alteration of consciousness that hypnotized individuals experience has a variety of therapeutic applications.

Hypnotic experience involves three main factors: absorption, dissociation, and suggestibility.