How "Real" is Hypnosis?

Before and after one of my Hypnotic Experience shows I’m often asked by audience members if hypnosis is real.  Has the volunteer truly entered an alternate state of consciousness?  Or are they simply playing along with a suggestion?

It’s a fair question, and academic and medical researchers have yet to provide a definitive answer.  Here is a nice write-up of the findings of a recent study conducted at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex.

Candidly, the conclusion reached through the study is a bit opaque and still leads much in doubt.

"This study does not tell us whether hypnotically suggested actions are genuinely involuntary, or whether it is the person's own experience of the action that changes,” said Peter Lush, one of the researchers. “However, our interpretation of the results is that hypnotically suggested involuntary actions are voluntary actions that are experienced as involuntary." 

So…how do I answer the question about the validity of hypnosis?

Hypnosis is as real as the volunteer wants it to be. 

Are they volunteers truly hypnotized?  Science remains unsure.