Do you believe in hypnotism?

[Shadowtek]

Do you believe in hypnotism? Its a simple enough question, with one catch. Im not talking about someone dangling a watch in front of you and and making you quack like a duck. Im talking about true hypnotism. Although completely voluntary, its side effects can be brutal. Such as emotional conditioning. It can be good to be relatively numb at times, most others you need to have emotions intact. This type of hypnotism Im speaking of could also be called "brain washing", whether it be voluntary, involuntary, self-inflicted, or unintentional. Basically Im talking about anything that would, either in short term or long, alter our psyche to better suit a purpose. These very well could be constructive or destructive uses.

But my question remains, Do you believe? What are your reasons?