There are two schools of thoughts regarding the general effects of hypnosis.

Focused Attention:
According to this theory, hypnosis is a state, which is very similar to other states of extreme concentration, where a person becomes unaware to the surroundings while lost in the thought. There are many examples of focused attention in the daily life. A driver often finds his or herself much further down the road without any memory of driving the intervening distance. Sometimes, a person watches television so intensely that he/ she forgets to be aware of the sides of the screen or when a person thinks much about another subject while reading, suddenly he/ she realizes that he/ she has read several pages without consciously doing so, or without understanding any of the contents.

Hypnosis and Suggestibility:
The act of hypnosis is actually the act of deliberately or mechanically inducing a similar state. Psychologists have developed studies that show a strong correlation between how easily a person can be put in a state of hypnosis and their level of suggestibility. Hypnosis was further described as the suspension of the critical factor that further elaborates the idea of `increased suggestibility`. A person who is under hypnotism might accept the statements as true which he/ she would normally have denied. This can be illustrated further by example. For instance, if a subject has been told that he/ she has forgotten his/ her name he/ she would deny the fact in normal condition but hypnotic individuals would easily accept the fact and indeed start to believe that he/ she has forgotten the name.