Hypnophobia

Hypnophobia
This is the fear of being hypnotized. However, as hypno also means sleep, hypnophobia can also literally mean fear of sleep. Fear of sleep is not a common phobia, as you would expect, as sleep is a natural process, but fear of being hypnotized is a phobia alive and well among the general populace.
As you are no doubt aware, many phobias stem from early childhood experiences, but hypnophobia has different origins.
Mesmerism, one of the oldest forms of hypnosis, worked by creating a negative trance in which the subject became very disturbed and usually went into convulsions. Franz Mesmer was of the opinion that this was required to effect a cure. Mesmer’s views were discredited eventually by the scientific community of the time.
Some present day hypnotists still employ a similar authoritarian approach in an effort to bring on an instant trance, but these hypnotists tend to lose their popularity eventually, as they struggle to get volunteer subjects! We all have heard of this sort of negative induction, whether it be from the reputation of the mad hypnotist, Svengali, or the evil Russian, Rasputin. Many people have also witnessed negative inductions first –hand at stage shows. Some people are so affected by all this to the extent that they become hypnophobic, dead scared of being hypnotized!