The Transparent Hypnotist

In blogging about serious subjects, ahem, like hypnosis, every now and then, a break is needed. I dread monotony like I dread the cold descending upon the body that has been warmed in the blankets of sleep.

This past weekend, I saw the movie Enchanted (which I loved by the way) and then last night in perusing the tele, there was some horror movie themed around Snow White. So, three is a charm. There is a new book by Harald Walter Azmann called The True Snow White - Limited Premiere Edition. So there she is, ever popping into my life this week. Am I feeling the ungraceful elements of aging or the a blossoming experience of adulthood, which Azmann’s book delves into?

But one thought about that story has continued to nag at me today. It is the whole poisoned apple thing. Is this not perhaps another form of hypnosis - such as chemical hypnosis? I should add that to the list. One could look at the poisoned apple as literal poison with an antidote (or anti-venom) that is caused by the components of a simple kiss. Or is it something more akin to hypnosis - the suggestion that only a true love’s kiss can awaken the princess from her trance or that without she would die if it was not administered at a particular time (I suspect Sleeping Beauty’s fate is a more apt reference, but since Snow White is the one nagging at me, I feel inclined to discuss her). One might say it is not so much suggestion because how did Snow White know the parameters of the poison? Here we could go even farther and say it was Universal Consciousness. LOL.

Actually now that I think about it, fairy tales are a great subject for hypnosis and how it could be an element in so many. And really, when you come down to it, fairy tales are a form of Ericksonian hypnosis, hypnosis based around metaphors and such. We will definitely be talking about this more.

Last I week I mentioned we would be talking about the various forms of hypnosis, and guess what - we are. It is not something that can go in one post, but is going to take some time. Also, please feel free to jump in the comment section to voice your thoughts, opinions, and questions. It would be great if we could get a definitive list of types of hypnosis, but it seems to be ever growing and changing.

Here is a basic list of what comes to my mind this Tuesday morning:

• Traditional Hypnosis
• Authoritative Hypnosis
• Permissive Hypnosis
• Animal Hypnosis
• Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism
• Conversational Hypnosis
• Clinical Hypnosis
• Scripted Hypnosis
• Self-hypnosis
• Interactive Hypnosis
• Regression
• Parts Therapy
• Manchester Protocol
• North Carolina Protocol
• Theatrical Hypnosis
• Ericksonian Hypnosis
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming (I am torn on this one - I am not so sure that it should be considered hypnosis, as it is its own thing, but it is used in hypnosis…any thoughts?)
• Distance Hypnosis
• Emotional Freedom Technique (again this is its own thing, but is sometimes used in hypnosis)
• Forensic Hypnosis
• Emergency Hypnosis
• Non-verbal Hypnosis
• Group Hypnosis
• Driving Hypnosis
• Covert Hypnosis
• Media Hypnosis
• Tapping (this is more technique, but I think it counts)

Again, this is just what comes to my mind on my first cup of tea. I really would like to keep the list going, so please do add to it.

Perhaps this would make a better section on the blog entitled “In the News,” but I am not so sure this story involving hypnosis truly would deserve such a label.

Apparently this week in Marlborough, New Hampshire (this would have been more fun if it had been Marlborough, Massachusetts) there was a robbery involving hypnosis. So, if you were anything like me, upon hearing the subject of the story, you might have said to yourself something that would involve the notion that “well, you can only be hypnotized if you want to be,” blah, blah, blah.

Read on. I found a fairly in depth article about it from a local New Hampshire station. Click here to read it and see the surveillance footage. Turns out the robbers did some handy, dandy little magic tricks and a bit of blackmail, along with a dab of hypnosis to convince the owner of the convince store to hand over $1000. They had told the owner that they were guruji, a form of Hindu priests and could read his mind. With what sounds like a fairly normal parlor trick (I had a waiter show me this on a cruise once) and probably some NLP knowledge, they were able to convince the owner that they were mind readers. It is not clear in the video what was actually said (bummer), so it is hard to tell. I guess they gave enough suggestions and NPL to convince the the owner he wanted to give them the $1000.

Any thoughts?

Just ran across this quote about what a trance is, as well as what happens to the hypnotist when trancing with a client. I think it is wonderful!

“…trance is not a state of being asleep, unconscious, or ‘under’…Trance is a state of hypersuggestibility…If the suggestions are designed to focus attention, it will then tend to be focused on a designated object or mode of experiencing or thinking. And, of course, in a trance one can be more in touch than usual with that we call the Unconscious Mind. In fact, Erickson’s last definition of hypnosis was that hypnosis is the evocation and utilization of unconscious leanings.

Hypnosis can make possible intense communication between people, communication on more levels than usual. Many have had the experience, when in trance while working therapeutically, of responding to our patient’s mood and thoughts even before they were verbalized. it seemed like mind reading, but undoubtedly it came from increased sensitivity and increased recollection of past patterns of thinking, as well as increased awareness of minimal sensory and bodily clues.”

This is from Sidney Rosen’s “One Thousand Induction Techniques and Their Application to Therapy and Thinking” from Ericksonian Methods.