The Transparent Hypnotist

(TM) Twentieth Century Fox Corporation

This Sunday Question is posting late, I know. Like many others this weekend, I have company at the house and it’s made for a highly enjoyable but slightly hectic day.

This does, on the other hand, bring up a question that I get from time to time: “So, do you hypnotize your kids to do their homework?” No, I don’t, though I have to admit to a certain level of temptation in that area. ;^)

Joking aside, there are certainly times when it comes in handy to be a hypnotist. Today my girlfriend Julie accidentally touched a hot pan handle in the kitchen and received a small but painful burn. We did all the usual first-aid things — a bag of frozen broccoli applied immediately for a form-fitting cold pack, for example — but when it came to the pain I was without any of the usual topical anesthetics that people normally stock for that. Instead, I used hypnosis to remove the pain and gave her suggestions for rapid healing (something that worked marvelously for my teacher, Marcia Proctor, when her daughter had a burn on her face) and all was well.

It occurred to me during all this that I have never used hypnosis with a family member. I’ve taken my children to Marcia in their younger days and have, once or twice, induced trance in someone with a family member around (usually a quick demonstration), but nobody in my immediate family has ever asked me to hypnotize them. I wonder whether they believe I can do it, since they’ve known me for so long as just plain Michael the computer geek and dad.

So with all that in mind, my Sunday Question for you is:

Do you use hypnosis on members of your own family? If not, why not?

<MR>

And so synchronicity strikes again, much like a random lightening bolt illuminating during a hot spell. Yesterday’s client story about success with an up and coming psychologist came about at an interesting time. As I continue to shift through past files, I came across two stories from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. I suppose writer Michaela Gibson Morris has an interesting sense of irony. In this case, on May 9, she published two stories about hypnosis

One was a very personable article about two hypnotist, one a social worker who uses hypnosis for dealing with traumas (Melissa Ratliff) and one who does smoking cessation and phobia work (Steve Dunn). The article talks about their methods and philosophies.

But interestingly enough, on this same day, Morris wrote another article titled “Hypnosis not always best choice.” It is based on an interview with a clinical psychologist. This particular professional is a bit skeptical about using anything but “cognitive” approaches. The article does wisely point out some of the ideas that are important with work in hypnosis, such as it is not an instant, miracle cure for things like weight loss (you still have to do the work). On the whole, it is not a bad article and does state some good points, but it is just oddly titled perhaps. What a strange piece overall.

I should note that there are time stamps on the articles. The negative one actually appeared before the positive one. Perhaps the positive one happened because the paper wanted to show both sides? If so, bravo Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Over dinner last night, my partner and I discussed these articles. His take on hypnosis and psychology is that it would not be productive often in a psychology setting because it would mean less time seeing the same patients. It would mean a decrease in appointments, hence a potential decrease in income. That may be a good point. I would love to know Melissa Ratliff’s, the social worker first mentioned in this post, take on it.

And these articles are synchronistic because of the unusual session I had with a psychologist and her ideas that hypnosis can cut to the case in certain therapy situations. It can often lead to the break-through “ah ha” moment. Now I know I cannot really say such things, not being a psychologist myself, but I have heard this from other psychologists who have recommend clients my way. Maybe that will be a story for tomorrow.

I am just not done. I cannot get him out of my system. He lingers on the brain as I sip another cup of coffee. He speaks sweet nothings during tea time, and though I try to move on, I just can’t. One might say I am mesmerized.

Mesmer is on the brain and will not leave until I have dug away at all the paths, so I hope you will indulge me in my little look back into history.

Like a faithful student to the art of hypnosis, procedure in the various ways hypnosis is handled is always something to ponder. Mesmer’s Animal Magnetism is no different. So, let us look at what he did on a one-on-one session.

Let us put this in terms of you. That is so much more personal. You would sit, facing him, your legs between his knees. You would feel the press of his hands around your hands- thumbs, actually, and he would stare deeply into your eyes. Intense. Then he would begin sweeping the air downward along your limbs, very close but not quite touching. Then he might press his thumbs directly upon your abdomen.

At this point, you might find yourself entranced, laughing (hey, he counted it), or even convulsing. There were even cases of vomiting. This Mesmer believed, was your magnetic fluid purging the impurities and realigning in harmony with the universe.

Source: The Bakken Library

The fire crackled in the growing night and there was something completely decadent about the French-pressed coffee, the slightly burned marshmallows being sandwiched between chocolate and graham crackers, and the laughter of children being allowed a few wild moments. The temperature was just cool enough to be refreshing and the heat of the fire, warming. My hiking boots sat beside me like an old friend as my feet also enjoyed the feeling of air and heat. All was well on this twilight time of day. It had been a moderate day hike; just challenging enough that it felt good to stretch out and just sit for a while. My group was all amenable to one another and our campfire showed the remains of a day well spent.

As the sun set on this little picture, just as it was getting dark, I noticed several of the wild children were settling down, chocolate smeared faces and all - only, they were beginning to settle down around me. Someone had told them I am a hypnotist. There were the choruses of “hypnotize me” and suddenly they were asking a thousand questions and trying desperately to get their parents to consent to letting me hypnotize them. They ranged from eight year-olds to prepubescent teens.

“Pleeeeaaaassseee, Ellie. PLEASE. I have wanted to be hypnotized for so long.”

And so, I tried to answer their questions and bow out of hypnotizing this little mass, opting instead to do a “good night story” (do you see where I was headed?). Nope. And the more I answered questions, the more a feeling of their disillusionment crept in upon me. Yes, I know, prime opportunity to dispel some myths, and try though I did, once again I found myself in the position of people wanting me to do parlor tricks. If you have been reading this blog long, you may remember that at some point, we had talked about actually using such moments to our advantage in adult parties. But I have never been in a position of dealing with children like this.

Finally, my partner got me out of it by telling the children this was my day off. You don’t see us asking their father to perform brain surgery here, do you?

So just when I had thought I could deal well with adults in this situation, it hits at a different angle. I had thought about showing them how it works by using a fellow hiker, but they were all too comfortable to consent. And many said it would egg on the children more.

So, hypnotists who are parents out there, surely I am not alone in such experiences. How have you dealt with this?

As hypnotists our jobs are to help people with everyday problems they are having within their life. This could be anything from Smoking Cessations, Weight Loss, Sports Improvement, etc. Usually we are the last ones our clients visit as they haven’t been able to be helped by their doctors or other licensed professions. So when a client comes to us they are hoping we can help them when no one else can. They have come to us as a final solution for their problems. So when they book an appointment with us and pay the price we are asking they have now committed to the process. So when they come to our office we talk to them a little, give them a good pre-talk and begin our progressive relaxation inductions.

The client has paid us to work on their situation and they are expecting to get their money worth for each session. Yet, some hypnotists waste a good potion of time that could be committed to helping the client on the Progressive Relaxation Induction. We as hypnotists should know that hypnosis isn’t relaxation. The induction doesn’t do anything, but help a person to get to hypnosis. Technically the moment the person enters our office they are in hypnosis. So in reality, the only real important parts of the process are the intake, pre-talk and the actual work. So why are we as hypnotists wasting the client’s money and time with these long inductions?

We have the ability to get people into hypnosis within 4 seconds to 4 minutes and I’m talking about a deep level of hypnosis where the work we do becomes much more powerful. Now don’t get me wrong Progressive Relaxation Inductions work well for stuff such as relaxation, stress management and a few other items and they can serve a purpose. Yet, when it comes to dealing with the issues that require deep work and time why are we not using instant and rapid inductions. Why are we not spending more time on the parts that actual help the client. I believe in giving the client’s what they paid for and for that to happen we must have the time needed to deal with the situation.

Some of you may respond that they can come back for multiple sessions. I stick to a goal of one to two sessions at the most. These people have already spent everything they have in their prior attempts for help. So what is better for profession? Getting paid more money or affecting serious change within the person in the least amount of time? Imagine the word of mouth referrals from people who have stopped smoking in one session or whatever the situation may be. When dealing with issues that require basic direct suggestion remember the law of compounding. Imagine if your induction was only 10 seconds long. Imagine how many more positive suggestions you could give your client within that extra time. Understand that if you use Progressive Relaxation Inductions and they work for you that’s fine, but I’m just trying to give you something to think about here.

So my question I pose to you is the following: What is your view on using instant and rapid inductions in a professional practice?

Joshua Houghton

www.whatsonmybrain.com

Today millions of Christians are celebrating their faith’s seminal holiday, Easter. While it has been largely secularized by the odd concept of egg-laying bunnies, thanks to my Catholic upbringing I still tend to think of Easter as primarily a religious holiday, so my last guest post this Easter weekend will touch on religion as it relates to hypnosis.

Some religious sects to this day teach that hypnosis is a tool of the devil — that by clearing your mind to enter a trance, you allow Satan access to corrupt your heart and soul. Born-again Christians seem prone to this view, at least from what I’ve heard and experienced, though I doubt the attitude is limited to that group and I don’t have a good citation for you.

But someone who believes that being hypnotized will jeopardize their immortal soul is unlikely to show up in a hypnotist’s office anyway, so as a practical matter that belief isn’t all that relevant to client interactions. What I have found on occasion are clients who draw strength or pride from their religious faith and for whom it is an important component of their lives.

Not all religious people are Christian, of course. There are devout Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, pagan, and every other persuasion everywhere and inevitably some will seek out a hypnotist. When I encounter such a person I try to incorporate that faith when formulating suggestions because I believe that it helps if the client perceives that I understand and respect their religion even if I don’t share it (and of course I don’t bring up my own religious background at all). That requires a certain amount of caution, though, because if I misstate something important to their faith it breaks rapport.

Having said that, my Easter Sunday Question for you is:

What do you do differently, if anything, with a highly religious client?

<MR>

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This brings my run as guest blogger to an end. Ellie will be back tomorrow, hopefully refreshed and energized by her time away. I look forward to her return, and I thank all of you for reading and commenting on my posts. And thank you, Ellie, for lending me the big chair. ;^)

In researching Ellie’s Favorite Five, I end up spending a great amount of time on my fellow hypnotists web sites. It is a rather enjoyable occupation, if you ask me. I love exploring how we all define the hypnotic experience, so I thought periodically I would share some of these definitions with you.

This first one is not from a hypnosis site, actually. It is from The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Dictionary of Medical Terms (I was there for other research needs).

Hypnosis:

A trance-like state in which a person becomes more aware and focused and is more open to suggestion.

I find this particularly interesting because of the usage of the word “trance-like.” This is a historical (I actually mistyped that as hysterical, whoops) debate among those practicing hypnosis - is there such a thing as trance? I guess using the word “trance-like” allows room for either.

As always, your opinion is appreciated.

Click here to view my definition.

So here it is, 2008. There always seems to be a little sadness in leaving the old year behind us, but maybe that is part of the magic of moving forward.

I suspect the blogisphere is full of new resolutions this morning and it seems like a prime opportunity to create a list of some sort. But I am not today. Rather, I will let you in on my resolution. As a hypnotist, this is a popular time to tout the ideas of change since everyone seems primed to do so. Instead of coming up of one of many things to change, I am resolved this year to do something I have wanted to do for awhile. As mentioned yesterday, I am going to use 2008 as a ground for experimentation. I am going to go through the various process out there in the world that tout evolving the self, creating a peaceful consciousness, moving forward form the static. The new blog is being ready (have you suggested a name for it?).

My first exploration involves hypnosis, how could it not? We will be delving into Sophie Nicholls’ Hypnotic Journaling: Learn powerful creative journaling techniques that will help you to explore yourself and your feelings in just five days. Sounds like the perfect beginning point for a blog. It is also easily accessible in an ebook format, so if any of you want to do this with me, please consider doing so. To learn more about this book, Sophie, or to purchase it, visit her web site at www.hypnoticjournaling.com. She has also agreed to be present during the process, so this is really exciting.

Here are her four key points for why one would be interested in her process:

1. If you’re the kind of person who wants to break free from old habits and limited patterns of thinking, this book will help you to do just that.
2. If you’ve already discovered the secrets of self-hypnosis as a powerful tool for personal transformation, but you’re always on the look out for new techniques, then this is the book for you.
3. If you love to write but never quite know how to begin, this is the book for you.
4. If there’s an issue or situation that you feel you’d like to work through, privately, in your own time, then you can start that process right now, even if it’s the middle of the night, by downloading Hypnotic Journaling.

The time frame:
I am deciding on blog titles until this Thursday.
On Friday, I hope to unveil the new blog.
I hope to begin Hypnotic Journaling next Monday.

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?

As a hypnotist I occasionally run into things that I would rather not know. This ranges from people growing up in abusive households to certain medical procedures. Just the idea of these procedures is enough to turn my blood cold, but then I have to remind myself I am too far into this to turn my back on a few queasy moments.

Today is a case in point. I had a consultation with a young woman whose mother is dealing with Parkinson’s disease. It is not so much the disease that requires my services but to assist with another therapeutic procedure called Deep Brain Stimulation (this is the part I almost would rather not know about). According to an article on Bettercare.com about Parkinson’s disease, this procedure is a form of brain surgery, where electrodes are implanted into areas of the brain to stimulate it. A battery runs this and is placed under the skin in the patient’s chest. The battery creates electrical signals. These signals are there to block any abnormal nerve signals that cause the Parkinson tremors.

From what the daughter tells me, her mother has the same reaction I have to this therapy. It sounds great, but I would not want to go through it - neither does she. However, she has read about hypnosis as being a possible way to get through the treatment (that and from the recent post about hypnosis used for anesthesiology for tonsillectomies). If the treatment works out, it will be the difference between living with her family or living in nursing homes for the rest of her existance, not to mention the symptoms of Parkinson’s, as well.

So, the next step will involve me meeting with her and if she feels good about me, we will go forward by discussing with her doctor the potential of her using hypnosis to get through the procedure.