TV Show Bull shows you how to Hypnotise someone to commit a murder..or does it?

If you are a fan of Bull starring Michael Weatherly you will already know that despite the air of complex mind work, it’s really a confectionary of a show. You will probably already work out who did what before Bull does. Despite that fact it is still an entertaining way to spend an hour.

This week in episode 20 called “Make Me” Hypnosis and mind control took centre stage.

From the opening scene where we watched two friends playing golf on a driving range something was up. Suddenly one of them picked up a golf club, and with a steely gaze started clubbing his friend to death. At this point, I had already worked out that this would be a take on hypnosis before Bull had even appeared on screen.

“Troy Dickerson is 25 years old...he enrolled in an alternative learning centre” says a doctor. Bull already thinks it is a cult.

At this point we find out that in fact they were not just friends, he had actually killed his father, and here we learn that he doesn’t even have any memory of the incident. After a lie detector test and an MRI  he seems to be telling the truth. According to the video taken at the golf club, it is clear that he killed his father...but was he aware?

Do you forget everything when you are Hypnotised?

So, we are already being shown that according to this people can just forget what happens in hypnosis.

Bull, uses his own hitherto hypnosis skills to hypnotise the suspect with a coin. It’s not unlike that watch that people think hypnotists use...like the one in this video?

Bull instantly starts asking questions and after about two minutes he decides that “A young man, highly susceptible to brainwashing, was brainwashed to kill.”

Once I stopped laughing I was at least able to give the show credit for the fact that they did explain that hypnosis can be used to help people quit smoking and change bad habits.

In this case he was hypnotised to kill his father and then a trigger made him kill his father.

Off they all go to find out who really did this. Off I went for a cup of tea. As I say it’s all interesting as a show but it won’t surprise you to know that you can’t hypnotise people to kill people.

Hypnosis is a natural and normal state, and you can’t make anyone do anything that they don’t want to do. Unless Troy wanted to kill his father, then he wouldn’t want to kill him.

Spoiler Alert...

So, if you haven’t seen the show yet, I will give away a little more about what happened so you may want to come back after you have watched it.

The Biggest challenge?

Bull says that the biggest challenge is to convince people that hypnosis is real. If you want to find out about the power of suggestion then you can watch the video below where I hypnotise your arms to move...in different directions..

The Cult leader.

When we see the cult leader we do see how they use language to their advantage. Is that hypnosis though, or simply preying on people who are vulnerable? Much has been written about this elsewhere.

So, in this show the cult leader had a private session with the suspect, but in a twist that noone saw coming, it turns out that the cult leader was the actual target and in fact it all went wrong. The defence for the jury still rests on understanding how hypnosis works.

I wasn't sure why they were making such a big deal about it. Then again, it's possibly because of TV shows like this one making out that you can do things that you cannot. It's like pop culture is eating itself.

According to the expert on the show you can use hypnosis to make someone commit murder.

Well that's Bull on Bull. You simply can't make someone do something that they would normally do. We are off into Lala land now in the show. I think if people were going around hypnotising other people to murder you would probably hear a little more about it!

They proved hypnosis exists by saying th word "RED" a lot, and then the next day everyone on the jury wore red without even realising. That was interesting. I couldn't help thinking that if I had been on the jury I couldn't have worn red as I don't have any red clothes! 

Enjoy the show, take it with a pinch of salt and check out the video below that talks all about myths about hypnosis...