The Transparent Hypnotist

Once upon a time there was a man name Sigmund Freud who became a legend in the psychiatric field. This particular man decided to use hypnosis in his practice. Through the use of authoritative hypnosis techniques, he had his clients access the unconscious to help with various mental afflictions. However, he had a few issues with this. He believed that the unconscious mind was a collection of the unseemly aspects of the human mind. It is also rumored that he did not like this process and wandered away from it because many of the clients felt like they had fixed themselves, rather than with heralding Freud with the success. (1)

Though if Freud were reading this, I suspect he might balk at it and reprimand me in that famous German accent we all love to imitate. It may be further noted that he was opposed to Bernheim’s hypnotic suggestions (direct, authoritative suggestion for symptom removal), but he himself was known to be intense and leading in an authoritative manner. (2) This would either cause the client to never return or “remember” traumas that caused their hysteria (often sexual abuse). We could talk about false memories here, which has been a problem in the history of regression hypnosis, and more about Freud’s hypnotic processes but that would cause us to digress, so we shall save it for another post.

So then, where is leading, Ms. Blunt, you might ask? This segways from authoritative techniques to the need for more permissive ones, where the client is not forced to create memories and feels more secure in the therapist’s hands or rather - words.

Enter Milton Erickson, the more modern hero for the present hypnotist. Feeling a bit of an opposite, he believed it was just fine for the client to feel they had fixed themselves. One might say, he had his ego a little more together than Freud (ouch, I feel the harsh slap across the dimensions of time and space). Sorry. Erickson also found success in using the client’s own belief system and terminology to induce a trance. The idea of being kinder and more supportive of the client was felt in his hypnotic work. And one of his biggest concepts brought out the use of the metaphors as a handy tool. But again I digress. We will come to that later.

Let’s go back a few sentences to “Feeling a bit of an opposite, he believed it was just fine for the client to feel they had fixed themselves.” Erickson was the one who believed that unconscious mind was full of solutions and possibilities and that a person could find their own inner answers to their ailments. By being polite and allowing clients to feeling in control during hypnosis, they would relax more easily and be more open. (1)

So hence, we have permissive hypnosis.

Sources:

1. Headcleaners.com
2. Freud and hypnosis: The hypno-suggestive roots of the Oedipus complex
3. Getting Past that Old-Style Hypnosis

Life is settling back down after the holidays and here we are, back to our long, and oh, so drawn out discussion on forms of hypnosis. To briefly recap (it has been a while), we discussed our working definition of hypnosis, the intake process, pre-talk, the analytic client, progressive relaxation, traditional hypnosis, analytic inductions, and left off with authoritative hypnosis. So that brings us to permissive hypnosis.

DO THIS! DO THAT! NOW!

A little off putting, perhaps? Do you find yourself reacting better to statements such as, “would you like to do this? Maybe you would rather do that? When your subconscious mind absorbs these suggestions…” These are the difference between authoritative and permissive hypnosis techniques. One tells you what to do, the other plays to the idea of allowing you to feel in control at all times, along with the idea of still making decisions for yourself.

Perhaps you have found yourself thinking, “I’d like to try hypnosis, but the idea of not being in control during the hypnotic process is really scary (or insert adjective here).” Well, relax my friend, you are so in luck. Permissive hypnosis is a form of hypnosis that optimizes the client control experience. It is a kinder, gentler hypnotic structure. It engages the thinking mind and ask questions of it, allowing you to control where you go, what you do, and what you experience in the session.

If you are the type who rebels against authority and fears the loss of control, permissive hypnosis is very much akin to total self, hypnosis. You are left feeling like you came up with your solution (which ultimately you do in any form of hypnosis).

For the hypnotist who finds that they are not so pleased with being authoritarian, permissive techniques may be a strength. It allows you to gently guide the client where they need to go.

Brunt toast, lost packages, the sand in the hour glass running out…

So - good morning. And onto our discussion of forms of hypnosis.

Are you hip? Or are you old school, old school as in a hypnotist who only practices authoritarian hypnosis or are you a hypnotist who keeps the style in their back pocket when needed? Are you a client who wants to learn and really work on issues or do you just want to be told what to do and do it?

What is old school hypnosis? That is the same as asking what is the authoritarian style? Well, in talking about traditional hypnosis, one may think of the hypnotist stereotype, but as we discussed earlier, traditional hypnosis is just a form of hypnosis that is all about preconceived suggestions that are thought up before the session and used during the hypnotic period. But now, we must relook at the stereotype hypnotist to talk about authoritarian style.

The Authoritarian Hypnotist

Imagine the hypnotist there before you, commanding you to watch the swinging pocket watch go back and forth and forth and back. Your eyes move back and forth and forth and back and finally the monotony of the monotone voice begins to lulls you into another state of consciousness. Then forcefully you are directed to “sleep.” It is at this point you are commanded directly to make changes.

Authoritarian Hypnosis - The Premise
Authoritarian hypnosis is done in a very domineering way, where it seems as though the hypnotist is in control of the experience. But this is not true. The client is always in charge of the their own experience, yes, even in authoritarian hypnosis. The thing is that the client chooses to allow themselves to be told what to do. And here is the crux - this form of hypnosis has a much lower rate of success in general because how many of you out there really want to be told what to do? I take that back, there may be a few of you who would prefer to go that route. In those cases, having a hypnotist who takes an authoritarian road may be the way to go. And I have definetly worked with a few of these types.

The Patter
Literally, the patter would go something like, “Now I want you to take a deep breath in and let it out,” and to continue using terminology in a forceful way. But as Henry Bolduc believes, the idea of using the words “I want you to” create a hesitancy in a lot of people. Why would you want to do what the hypnotist wants you to do? You want to do what you want to do. Does this make sense?

For The Hypnotist
To test a person to see if they will respond to this type of style, it is doing just that, seeing how they respond. When doing pre-testing, try out different methods and get a feel for how they react. You can try to be authoritative and if this is received positively, then you know this might be the way to go for a particular client. When testing, tell them what to do giving little opportunity for them to think for themselves. Do they resist this? Do they respond by giving you good results? If they do the latter, test again to be sure. Three positive test are a really good indicator.

If they do not respond to this or maybe this is just not your forte, that leads us to other concepts like resistant (sorry, but it is still in the vocabulary and should be understood as to why it is not a good term) or permissive. But they are for another day.

We are still puttering along our exploration of forms of hypnosis. So far, we have covered traditional hypnosis and elements that are inherent in it and other types of hypnosis. These include intake procedures, the pre-talk, and testing a person’s hypnotizability. We have also covered a few types of inductions including progressive relaxation and those that are analytical.

If you are blinking at this screen and wondering when I discussed hypnotizability, you will find the beginnings of it in my posts on analytic testing. To sum that up, there are test that help the hypnotist know how the client is dealing with certain information, in other words, do they think and analyze the suggestions or do they tend to be more suggestible.

Bill balked a bit at this discussion, and I have to say I tend to agree with him. He mentioned that the way I described it, it sounded more like personality typing, which really is not the case most of the time. As I have come to learn, I am not so sure the idea of analytic testing is the correct idea.

Sometimes the testing is done under other names and ideas, which I find more appropriate. These include permissive, authoritarian, and or resistant (a word that several hypnotists feel should be removed from the hypnosis glossary). Testing may also be done to understand how you process information.

So, stay tuned as we discuss all this and more.

Since we are exploring the subject of analytic minds, here are my five favorite analytical scripts (this week) with you. When you look at these, you may notice that they are a bit different from the progressive relaxation inductions I posted a few weeks ago. These involve a form of giving the conscious mind a task to focus on or adding an element of confusion to the mix and thus stopping the mind in its tracks and causing it to take a coffee break.

1. Healing Stories and Scripts - Chaplain Paul G. Durbin - An Induction for the Analytical and Indirect Suggestible Client. This is Paul’s adaption of a script by Gordon Boyd. It is based on the idea of referencing the client’s experience of the hypnotic process and with a touch of little guided imagery suggestion.
2. Alliance Self-Empowerment, Inc. - Roy Hunter - Inductions for Analytical Resisters - Roy is one of my personal heroes in the world of hypnosis. I have learned so much from all his books that I just had to include him. This link takes you to his theories and ideas about analytic resisters and how to create an induction for them. It is not a straight script in that you can just print it out and read it to your next client, but it takes each section of the induction and explains it.
3. Hypnosense.com - Terrance Watts - Seven Plus or Minus Two. Michael and I are both big fans of this particular script. It is based on the idea that the conscious mind can hold a certain number of separate thoughts at one time. There is much thinking and maintaining in this induction.
4. Andy Moore Hypnosis - Double Dice Deepening or Induction. Andy presents an interesting script here that keeps the mind occupied with visualizations and tasks, along with suggestions for relaxation.
5. The Blackboard. This is one of my favorite inductions that I actually use for a deepener. It works really well for most people, no matter what personality. You will notice no link to this. It is because I could not find a free version of it in which to include. Just do an internet search for it and consider buying it from someone. It involves visualization, asking the client to pay no attention to your words, and suggestions for relaxation.

Here we are again. The start of another week, and yet, the same old tea. Perhaps a slice of sweet potato pie for breakfast would be a nice change.

One person answered my pole this week on intake sheets (thank you for that). Did the rest of you find it uninteresting, not clear, or could not relate to it? Hmmm. Perhaps I should keep the poll more general? Any thoughts? It really is my goal to keep this interesting for those returning. If there is something else you would like to see here, please let me know.

I do like to keep the polls going with a similar theme to things that are happening on the blog. So maybe, this new one will be about the internal mind processes.

The recent postings here have been about the analytic mind. I may have done it a great disservice by throwing in the word “creative.” Though testing for the analytical mind may sound similar to Myers Briggs, it really is not. It all has to do, I believe, with how one processes information given by a particular hypnotist. And it may also have to do with time. There are times personally when I do extremely well, if not better, with analytic inductions. This is usually when I am in a group session or feel uncomfortable. However, with others, I do really well with relaxation processes and visualization.

When I get a little more time, I will post what I really think about analytic testing and such.

P.S.
I am receiving many comments that I interrupt as spam. If you have commented and had it rejected and think it should be posted, please let me know (ellie.blunt at gmail.com). Also, the one criteria I have for including comments is that it have something to do with the posting for which it is attached. Advertising does not count. If you have a subject you think would make a good new topic, please email me and I will consider it.

If you have been reading the comment section for the recent discussion on analytic typing in hypnosis, you will know that Bill and I are honing in on the semantics of this idea.

So, this has me wondering if any of you other hypnotist out there test for people who are more susceptible to analytic hypnosis inductions? Or if you are a person who has experienced hypnosis, do you prefer analytical inductions? If so, we would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with an analytic inductions.

When you think to yourself, do you want a cup of coffee because it is warm and comforting or do you want a cup of tea because it is refreshing, your decision is based on a series of analytical processes. For instance, I am drinking tea this morning because my analytic prowess’s say that I am too lazy to make a pot of coffee. LOL.

When I learned about various hypnotism theories, it was stressed that there is an analytical scale on which everyone can be charted. Finding out a client’s place on this chart would help the hypnotist know what sort of induction to use that would benefit the client. If the client was found to be very analytic, relaxing in general might be difficult for that person, so progressive relaxation would not be the best way to begin to bring about a state of hypnosis.

The Analytical Scale
On one side of the analytical scale is a person who is a hundred percent analytical, which seems to mean totally rational and not so prone to uses of the imagination. On the other side is the exact opposite of this. It is a person who is extremely creative and very imaginative. Often this is shown as a line chart, but I think the idea of scale is much better. A scale has to balance and it creates a whole. In a line chart, this does not matter and so how can a person be balanced?

Testing for the Analytic Client
Sounds ominous, does it not? Really, it is very simple stuff that is more fun than not. This sort of thing may also be called testing for hypnotizability (is that even a word?), which is often done during stage hypnosis shows. Perhaps you have seen or experienced the whole “clasping your hands together and not being able to separate them” phenomenon?

The Old Balloon and Sand Bag Test
One of the most famous test is that of closing your eyes, holding your arms straight out in front of the body, one palm turned up and the other down. Imagine or think about a balloon being tied to the wrist of the hand that is facing upwards. It is light and airy and begins to pull that arm upwards. Now, on the other wrist facing downwards, a bag of sand is looped over it and the weight drags the arm down. Mind you, the hypnotist guides you through this, also employing his or her voice to give the suggestions of the balloon pulling the arm up and the bag of sand pulling the other down. You are then asked to open your eyes and look at your arms. If the balloon arm is higher than then the sand one, it is believed that you are able to bypass the analytic side of your mind and use your imagination to image the weight changes. If your arms remained the same, it may mean that your analytic mind kicked in and said something to the affect of “there is no balloon or bag of sand, so why move the arms?”

So, what does this all mean? If the hypnotist believes that you are more analytical, the suggestion work of the session with revolve around giving your conscious mind tasks to focus on and occupy it while the hypnotist inputs the suggestions.

Also, confusion may be added into the mix on purpose to help bring about a new state of consciousness. What these procedures do is more of less catch you off guard and move you rapidly into a hypnotic state. They work on an element of surprise. Another confusion techniques is to overload the conscious mind to a point where it basically gives up critical thought processes and essentially takes a coffee break.

Where Words Fail
Some hypnotist use a form of hypnosis they term analytical hypnosis. To the transparent hypnotist, this would mean using the idea of keeping the mind focused on certain activities to create change. However, in researching this a bit, it sounds more like a hypnotherapy process of analysis, rather than analytic process. So, I will not be discussing “analytical” hypnosis because I disagree with the terminology, though I may cover the same concepts under a different title.

What say you?

Here I am, back again, coffee in hand, Cinnamon bread baking in the oven and a few moments to spend with you. As you may be aware, on this blog, we are slowly exploring the various forms of hypnosis. We have covered the concepts of traditional hypnosis and have begun exploring elements within it (that may also be used in other forms of hypnosis as well). One of these elements is the intake form and/or process.

Here is the question:

From your viewpoint what are the most important things a hypnotist should include on the intake form or intake process and why?

All the cliches come into your mind - swinging stop watches, swirls, a hypnotic voice that sounds a bit like Dracula honing in on his victim, people barking like dogs and quaking like ducks. Seem familiar? If you were to ask a modern day hypnotist about these things he or she would probably just grimace or embrace the cliche. But they are cliches none the less, and cliches, like stereotypes have come about for a reason. The reason is because people live up to the expectations.

So, here is where we will start our discussion on tradition hypnosis, keeping in in mind that hypnosis is all about using suggestions to create some form of inner change, whether long-term or short-term. The idea of traditional hypnosis fits this definition perfectly as it means that the hypnotist will make suggestions to the subconscious or unconscious part of the clients mind. It relies on post-hypnotic suggestions that the client responds to after the session. Post-hypnotic suggestions are instructions that the subconscious mind utilizes to help create the inner change.

So what happens during a traditional hypnosis session? You will probably fill out an intake form, be given a pre-talk, begin a relaxation process or be given a simple mental task to focus on, will be given a method to deepen your relaxation, which will be followed by the suggestions. Then you will be brought back to normal consciousness. Depending on the hypnotist, you may or may not be tested to see how suggestible you are to that particular hypnotist’s suggestions or may be given convincers that you are in a hypnotic state. We will delve into all this sooner rather than later because these concepts are found in much hypnosis work.

So what do the stereotypes have to do with all this? Well, the swinging watch is what is called an eye-fix induction, where the person being hypnotized is directed to focus on the object. While he or she focuses, suggestions are given for relaxation. This involves a little more than just saying the words “You are getting sleepy.” The placement of the watch in proximity to the client is important as are the visual cues the client gives during the process. The same goes for the swirl. The hypnotic voice? This is a simple technique to instill a little monotony, trust, and calmness. Barking like a dog and quaking like a duck? Those are the post-hypnotic suggestions (we will talk about this later, but rest assured you will only do what you are inclined to do with the post hypnotic suggestion, in other words you will not do anything against your will).

In a traditional hypnosis session, the session relies mainly on the hypnotist, who will do a great deal of talking. As the person being hypnotized, you will not be asked to interact very much, other than responding to various instructions. For most people, it is an incredibly relaxing experience.