Hypnosis

Hypnosis is the process of going into trance.

Hypnotherapy is the use of this trance state to make changes to behavior and habits.

Modern hypnotherapy incorporates many therapeutic techniques that have proven to be effective.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) can both be used successfully with hypnotized subjects.

Hypnotic subjects respond differently to suggestions so having a varied repertoire of techniques is a definite requirement for any hypnotherapist.

The core therapy though, still involves using the characteristics of the unconscious mind to create changes based around the character and experiences of the hypnotic subject.  Ideally, all therapy is very specifically tailored to the individual. 

There are two principle types of hypnotherapy; direct and indirect. These terms can be confusing as they apply both to the induction style as well as the therapeutic style.

There are two reasonably well known exponents of these two different styles.

Milton Erickson, who contributed considerably to the indirect school of hypnotherapy.

Dave Elman who is a good example of the traditional, direct style.

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Direct Hypnosis

There are several direct techniques to produce and deepen a trance state. Traditionally there were considered to be five levels of trance to which you could descend deeper and deeper from one to the other. Probably these are just different states as most therapeutic work can be conducted in any of these states, even in what was considered a very light trance.

A summary of these techniques and examples of their application by Dave Elman are given here.

Dave Elman’s book ‘Hypnotherapy’ discusses all of these in detail, with case histories for particular conditions.

Traditional Direct Hypnosis Session

There are 5 distinct stages that follow one another in sequence

  • 1. Pre Induction Period
  • 2. Induction
  • 3. Deepening
  • 4. Therapeutic Sessions
  • 5. Termination & Ratification

    • These 5 stages are discussed in detail here. Read more.

    An important part of the pre-induction period and something that is also used in indirect methods is Rapport. Without rapport the induction and therapy is going to be difficult

    Read more about rapport.

    Ericksonian Hypnosis

    Milton Erickson developed an indirect hypnotherapy technique. There is no formal structure as in direct hypnosis, though this was helped by his advanced ability to analyze his clients from non verbal behavioral cues. Practitioners new to this field will still find the traditional hypnotherapy structure useful for diagnosis.

    Hypnotic Phenomena

    As in traditional hypnosis, various hypnotic behaviors can be demonstrated with a patient.

    Read more on types of hypnotic phenomena.

    Suggestibility and Hypnotic Style

    The difference between the traditional and the Ericksonian approach is the that types of phenomena demonstrated by a particular patent held important clues as to the style of hypnosis and the subsequent therapy to be used. People are generally more suggestible in one way rather than another. This is an important diagnostic step and suggests the best ‘hypnotic style’ to be used.

    They tend to fall into one of four categories:

  • 1. Sensory Input
  • 2. Automatic behavior and dissociation
  • 3. Time Changes
  • 4. Memory

    • Read more on suggestibility and hypnotic style.

    Hypnotic Language

    The most important technique in indirect hypnosis is probably the language use. Specific sentence structures have a very persuasive and hypnotic effect. There are some excellent books to be found on this subject but it is not well documented online.

    1. Mind Reading

    2. Lost Performative

    3. Cause Effect

    4. Complex Equivalence

    5. Presupposition

    6. Quantifiers

    7. Modal Operators

    8. Nominalizations

    9. Unspecified Verb

    10. Tag Questions

    11. Conversational Postulate

    12. Referential Index

    13. Comparative Deletion

    14. Pacing

    15. Ordinal Numbers

    16. Double Bind

    17. Selectional Restriction Violation

    18. Ambiguity

    19. Utilization

    20. Embedded Commands

    Ericksonian Induction Example Script

    If you want an idea of what this all looks like when Put together, here is an example of a typical Erickson induction

    Historical - James Braid

    James Braid was one of the founding fathers of modern hypnotherapy and first used the term 'hypnosis'. His original work 'Neurypnology' is reproduced here in its entirety. Neurypnology was the term he later favored as he considered 'hypnosis' to be a misnomer.

    James Braid - Neurypnology

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    Bibliography

    A list of currently available books and research papers. See the reading list.

    Links

    Links to various resources.
     

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