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- Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy Volumes 1 and 2 have been combined to create the single most comprehensive source of scripts and strategies that can be used by hypnotherapists of all levels of experience to build a successful framework for any therapy session. It covers inductions, deepeners and actual scripts for a wide range of problems from nail-biting to insomnia, sports performance to past life recall, pain management to resolving sexual problems. There is a particularly comprehensive section on smoking cessation. All scripts can be used as they stand or adapted for specific situations. "Provides an imaginative source of scripts covering the most commonly met cases. For the newly qualified therapist it is a useful addition and for the more experienced it is a source of inspiration." - European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2003
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Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy
The Complete Works
Roger P. Allen, Dp, Hyp, PsyV
Dedicated to the memory of my friend Peter Langdon.
Contents
Preface
The years have rolled by and I am approaching the end of my journey. It is now time for me to review my work, update it where necessary and add some new material.
We learn continually throughout life. Old ideas are sometimes confounded, but in most cases they are improved with better understanding. The benefit of advancing years is a wealth of experience which we can pass on to others. Advances in digital technology mean we can now record our thoughts and deliberations on a variety of devices, but I believe the most enduring medium is the written word, so there are no apologies from me there!
Roger P. Allen
Introduction
In the last iteration of this book, I wrote that it was a book I did not expect to write because I thought I’d already done enough to help new and beginning therapists through my scripted material. However, I find myself a victim (or victor) of new knowledge and experience. As we explore the further reaches of our understanding, we must continuously reassess what is considered ‘fact’ and ‘truth’.
Even now, fifteen years after Script and Strategies in Hypnotherapy: The Complete Works was published, I am contacted by new and established practitioners seeking advice on how to help their clients. It is most gratifying to know that, all over the planet, my recorded scripts have become the basis for interventions which have so much potential to assist others.
Hypnotherapy is an ancient art that has survived and been refined across the centuries. It is now accepted by the mainstream medical profession, which in the past has seen it as either outlandish or a threat. Now, doctors the world over have embraced hypnotherapy and use it with their patients.
I have no illusions about the nature of man. The huge majority of us are compassionate beings. In a small minority, there is a primitive urge that overrides what we think of as our basic humanity, allowing despicable attacks on our own kind in the name of religion or ethnicity. There are also massive social disparities, and this can invoke jealousy and be a perceived justification for those who are disadvantaged to punish those who have more. History has shown that religion can be used as a controlling mechanism that promotes fear of divine retribution in those who do not adhere to the dogma laid down by the upper echelons of society. Perhaps you too may feel that such influence can have detrimental consequences for the attainment of balance and self-worth.
Beliefs can be deeply embedded. It is important that prejudices which suggest that certain cultural and religious concepts are in some way ‘less deserving’ are set aside for the better understanding of all humankind. We all have fears and prejudices, and we resist giving them up because we hope that what we trust and rely on can be changed for the better. The old wisdom that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ does have credence, but only if we lack the ambition to achieve more – and that often means giving up what is considered safe and taking a chance.
My thoughts have been shaped by the things I have experienced in life and my penchant for watching other people – and wondering why they think what they do and do what they do. I have been an elected politician and my involvement in this arena has taught me that it does not pay to concern myself too much with the fact that people will criticise me and disagree with my views. I write what I think in the full knowledge that there are those who will take great exception to my perceptions, beliefs and conventions.
It is extremely important that, as therapists, we do not get drawn into debate with our clients – to do so can be fraught with danger. Remember that in an argument very little is achieved. We must listen to what is being said if we are to gain the understanding that is important to the client. If you are a therapist, you will know that the role is carried into just about everything you do. In conversation with a complete stranger, it is amazing how, having detected a willing and considerate listener, they will seize upon the opportunity to unburden themselves of all manner of personal baggage. It’s all good experience, as is learning the necessary disentanglement techniques.
I began the last iteration of this book with the assumption that the reader would likely be a new or beginning hypnotherapist, although I also recognise it will be useful to many experienced, and even eminent, hypnotherapists. We all sometimes feel the need to consult with our peers. I have been influenced by what I have read in magazines and books, ideas picked up from seminars and from other therapists and, of course, from life’s rich pageant. Often, I have questioned and discarded the conclusions of others as flawed and unrealistic. But I have also become a collector of thoughts and emotional responses, so I now have a substantial database of scripted material, notes and strategies to refer to whenever I am planning my therapy sessions.
It has been established in various schools of therapy that students who use scripts in their induction procedures invariably achieve better results. To begin with, the use of a script to induce hypnosis may appear rather restrictive, rather like building a model from a preformed kit. No imagination is needed: you just follow the instructions and at the end you have your model plane or whatever. But, any new journey requires direction, and shortcuts and alternative routes will be learned with time and experience.
Over time you will develop a ‘feel’ for the manner in which the scripts are structured and, as your confidence grows, you will venture beyond the framework and begin to add to and adapt it from your own unconscious resources.
“Hypnotism is the most practical science of the age. It enters into our everyday life and confers advantages which cannot be acquired through any other medium. Its practice is no longer a mere pastime for amusement or sensation; as professional men of the highest standing now recognise its value and seek to profit by its benefits; and scientists regard it as a natural power, for ages kept dormant, but apparently destined to perform an active part in the welfare and development of future generations. To study hypnotism is like unfathoming the hidden mysteries of magic and human miracles and making them matters of absolute knowledge. Its possibilities are almost boundless and are interwoven with every phase of human life, and its powers are largely responsible for the successful terminations of modern business and social undertakings.
“It does not require years of study to become a hypnotist, for this great blessing to mankind is a natural endowment possessed by practically everyone and capable of being developed by all who will devote to its study the patience and energy always so necessary for the development of natural talents.” (Cook, 1901)
So you would be a hypnotherapist?
In this world of constant upheaval and change, it can seem that nothing is safe or can be relied upon. The anxiety that accompanies rapid and perpetual change drives our basic psychology – the fear of change and the unknown.
It is evident that we feel most comfortable with what we know and understand, even though our present condition may not be exactly ideal. What we have now – and what we hold on to – is that which we know to be safe and tested. It is what our experience tells us we can cope with. We know this to be true, and we also know that it can be a restraining influence, which holds so many in a self-limiting cycle.
When we make a change from what we have come to regard as safe and within our perceived limits of understanding and capability, we have to enter into the realm of the untested, where there is the risk of failure and of losing what we do have. The man who has a dish of beans can, if he wishes, strike out from the safety of what he knows and take a chance on the opportunity to feast on chicken and chips. However, the great mass of humanity will choose to remain with the beans because they can be assured of survival.
Win or fail, only those who take a risk stand to get the chicken and chips. (My apologies to those who hold strict vegetarian views, but the analogy holds true.) The winners tend to be those individuals who take a more positive line, believing that they can succeed and that to remain within the comfort of basic needs is to be stuck in a rut. If you want to win, first buy a ticket.
The situation doesn’t get any easier as we get older. As we learn more about the world, our cumulative experience will tend to make us even more cautious, as we have a growing awareness of what can go wrong. It is a huge shame that the majority of people do not use their knowledge to their advantage, and fail to understand that the experience they have under their belt can represent a huge and powerful truth.
Any man or woman, whatever their age, standard of living or health, has reached the present point in their life’s journey because, up to that juncture, matters have resolved themselves, things have worked out, solutions have been found. We survive and things work out, one way or another, until the day we die. Until that moment, life has been a success because of the mere fact of our survival.
That’s pretty obvious, I hear you say, and you are right. The winners in this life are the masters and mistresses of acceptance of the absolutely bleeding obvious, who do not spend their time cooking up reasons to ‘not do’, who do not put off difficult decisions until another day or until events overtake the opportunity for a decision to be of value. Jump or burn, our choices can be stark, but one choice leads to the opportunity for survival and the other to the certainty of failure.
This book – or, to be more specific, the compendium of previous works – is designed to be of assistance to therapists who have chosen to spend time combating the all too natural tendency of their clients to take the negative view. These people have often become victims of their own success in survival, in that they have chosen to behave in ways that restrict the quality of their life as they give way to the fear of failure.
The knowledge that we, as therapists, must carry with us at all times is that in every experience and in every situation (often termed the actuating or significant event), there is an emotional response which can be used either in a negative and destructive way or, with some guidance, reframed, rehashed and turned around to provide a reason for continuation and increased resolve. The language you use in your interventions with clients can, and should be, the key to unlocking the possibilities that exist for them to make significant and beneficial changes to their perceptions and beliefs.
Scripts are wonderful in that they can be reviewed and improved before being utilised in the consulting room. The trick is to use them as the basis of your interventions and then, as you become more experienced, you will begin to fine-tune them to make them more personal and more effective.
We need a range of different tools in our toolbox – a screwdriver for a screw and a hammer for a nail. Screws come in various shapes and sizes – slotted and cross-head to name just two – so we need different screwdrivers. Using a sledgehammer to tap in a panel pin would be overkill.
My aim is to provide you with the best toolkit I can, based on my own experiences as a therapist. If you use your screwdriver as a chisel, there are those purists who will frown and condemn. Always remember that if it works, if it is effective and provides the desired outcome, then it is fine. Criticism is only useful if it provides workable alternatives; if it doesn’t then it is just nastiness.
My years in the field of hypnotherapy have left me with some impressions that it may be helpful to put before those who may be less experienced, and perhaps entering into the profession with misconceptions that it may be advantageous to eliminate at an early stage. Unfortunately, some will see me as one of life’s cynics, but I do not accept that at all. My views are based on the best analysis I can muster. It is my belief that I promote views based on a realistic appreciation of what it is possible for us to understand and with an acceptance of what is beyond our comprehension.
I have met therapists who, in their huge arrogance, believe they have become something other than the normal type of human personality, taking for themselves the role of healer extraordinaire. They carry with them an air of omnipotence as they go about their business of imposing on all their concept of the world and the values they believe should be embraced universally.
Somewhere along the way, these individuals have lost the truth that they are human, with the same limitations, fears and capacity to be flawed as the rest of us. Here is the beginning of a problem: having determined how people should think and act, they campaign to ensure that their personal dogma and values are thrust down others’ throats.
Vulnerable people with diminished self-esteem are only too willing to cede control to others, to let others make decisions for them and assume responsibility. What good therapeutic practice should be about is establishing mechanisms for people to recognise that they are the only ones who can accept responsibility for themselves. They have to make their own decisions and take back their lives from the detrimental influence of others.
I am the best person I know to look after me with no hidden agenda.
I find that this is a particular problem with therapists who conduct therapy within a religious framework. There is a tendency, which overrides all other considerations, to think that the client’s problems are caused by a lack of faith and they will be brought back to emotional health once they are back in the fold.
Religious faith can be a great comfort. In a world where nothing is certain, it is natural to seek out answers to questions that have existed from day one of our existence. The concept of God is easily understood; after all, it is reasonable to assume that there must be an intelligence at work when we look around us at the marvels of creation.
Over the years, I have frequently turned to the Encyclopedia of Psychological Problems by Dr Clyde M. Narramore, one of a number of works by the author. It is extremely useful in determining the dynamics of various conditions and suggesting which direction the therapy should take. The following is taken from the final paragraph of a chapter dealing with incest, and to my mind it is unfortunate that it does not appear to allow for any view other than the religious belief of the author:
“After understanding the immorality associated with incestual relationships, the person can come to a knowledge of God’s complete forgiveness for his misdeeds. Subsequent Christian activities will help him grow in every way, thus becoming a more adequate, responsible person.” (Narramore, 1966)
I would prefer to attach importance to the client forming a new and more beneficial understanding of the event.
If religion can provide solace and the means to reach a level of understanding and acceptance, then that is fine. But I would argue vehemently against any suggestion that religious acceptance can be imposed or can be a condition of forgiveness and self-acceptance.
From the earliest days of recorded history, man has demonstrated a need to feel that he is part of a complex matrix of consciousness that is controlled by a force that is all-powerful, divine and majestic. The problem begins when we start looking for answers to questions that can only be answered in direct consultation with God. He doesn’t talk to us and he doesn’t give us clear answers to the questions that we would like answered. We cannot even confirm the existence of a God.
There are, of course, men and women who will tell us that God talks to them; they are God’s representatives on earth and there is no need for mere mortals to concern themselves with such mysteries. It is all there for us in the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon or whatever holy book is being portrayed as the ‘truth’. I see no good reason for God to write anything down when he, in his all-enveloping power, has the capacity to control our thoughts and to implant in us the instinctive concept of his being.
The more cynical among us, and if I’m being honest I have to include myself, will look at the historical facts and come to a conclusion based on the recorded antics of bodies such as the Catholic Church or the behaviour of Islamic fundamentalists, Buddhists and many more of the world’s religions, sects and factions through the ages. Immediately evident is the huge element of control that it has been possible for the Church to extend through the promise of paradise, alongside a promotion of fear, and indeed terror, as the consequence of non-belief or lack of compliance.
Is there a God? I don’t know. Why is my opinion important? I don’t have any evidence that will convince me either way, and I’m certainly not prepared to accept the word of those who purport to have the answers when their sources are no more credible than mine.
Do I keep an open mind? Yes, because I don’t have the evidence to come to a definitive conclusion. For no reason other than I choose to be hopeful, it is a matter that is dependent on individual choice. Do I believe in life after death? Once again, I keep an open mind as there is no evidence to either prove or disprove it.
My point is that I cannot justify imposing my belief, or lack of belief, upon anyone else. The dangers of that path are manifest. Belief is subjective, personal and dependent on the ability of an individual to accept one set of facts as opposed to another. There is another truth to consider, which is that those who subscribe to a creed or deeply held belief need others around them to share in that belief. There is a perceived security in numbers.
Our belief system is personal. It is constructed over time from a blend of cultural influences and our own experience. It is important in that it provides a perceived safe haven within which life’s experience can be met and managed. To confront a person’s belief system can provoke reactions which may appear illogical and be defended with vehemence beyond comprehension. Faith is not easily described – it does not require proof in the clinical sense. We must expect that any argument which contradicts a person’s faith will be rejected or not even considered.
As we deal with our clients, it is essential that we become non-combatants as far as belief is concerned. We listen and we attempt to understand what our client is telling us about their beliefs. It is upon this understanding that we must base our intervention, in order that the client can form and determine for themself a new and more appropriate perspective.
The new perspective that works for them might be at complete odds with what we, as a therapist or as an individual, would choose to accept, but the overriding concern must remain the interest, welfare and emotional health of the client. Whatever works for them is fine. We need not analyse the catalyst, only consider the effect. Nor must we concern ourselves with morality, decency or any other judgemental considerations.
The term ‘passive observer’ goes way back. It conjures up the image of some Freudian analyst listening and making notes in the background, contributing little if anything. Being a hypnotherapist is different. We must listen and, equally, we must observe. Passively? I think not, because we have to understand what is being conveyed beyond what is actually being said. To understand the story within the words, we need to question and confirm our perceptions, so that we can devise an intervention that will best help our client to progress towards a better personal understanding of the nature of the problem and the solution that they need to employ.
The scripts and strategies in this volume are the result of my own sessions with clients over years, although some are based on the work of other therapists. The scripts are general – they cannot be client specific. Each person is different and each person needs to be dealt with in a manner that is appropriate to them. It is up to you, as a therapist, to use your judgement to construct your own interventions based around the frameworks I have provided. Question your own motivations at all times, recognise your own prejudices and preferences and ensure that you are not open to the charge that the client has been unduly influenced.
If you are my client and you want to know what I think, then the questions that I must pose are, ‘Why do you think that to be important? Are you seeking reassurance that your opinions are shared, or perhaps you want me to confirm your fear that you are not as good as you could be? If you think you are bad, what would be my motivation for confirming or denying this, when I too spend time being concerned that my own thoughts, perceptions and deductions are flawed in some way?’
It is important to recognise that each and every one of us is doing the best that we can. The fact that someone’s best may not meet a specific standard is irrelevant, and as therapists we cannot and must not fall into the trap of trying to put a person into a defined box. Diagnosis of mental health conditions relies on a multitude of elements and it can never be an exact science. Perhaps we may perceive a trait that appears to indicate a specific condition, but we are not qualified to come to conclusions that even a professional psychiatrist will make only after exhaustive investigation. It is essential that we do not stray into that area and, if we have concerns, to step aside and refer the client on. Diagnoses put people in boxes, but the fact is that one size does not fit all. As therapists, we can note that a client might have various identifiable personality traits, but it is not for us to come up with a definitive label. People are unique and diverse individuals.
It is always easiest to follow set procedures and obey the rules at first, but I have discovered for myself that it is often more thought-provoking and more productive to forget the rules and apply some original thinking. This is not always the most popular strategy. It is a good bet that if you follow this idiosyncratic course, you will be blamed for upsetting someone. It certainly did not help me during my time in the army – quite the opposite on many occasions!
I prefer to think that I do not upset other people. In light of the assumption that we are responsible for everything we do and think, then being upset appears to be a matter of choice. The more accurate explanation would therefore be that because I have not complied with a rule that has some perceived importance to someone, that the individual decides to become upset. Not my responsibility, I might think. It’s not within my control, unless I choose to deliberately upset someone, so why should I concern myself? If we all confined our actions to the rigid dictates of rules and conventions, there would be no free thinking, no invention and consequently no progress at all.
When we find ourselves confronted by a client who is experiencing problems that relate to either doing what is best for them or digressing from the course of action that is dictated by the rules, how do we react as therapists? Do we tell the person that they must comply, or do we perhaps suggest, while under hypnosis, that they move forward in time to when the problem has been resolved so we can prompt them to examine what changes were necessary for that beneficial change to occur?
Using hypnosis, it is possible to do just that. It is a very good technique for enabling clients to determine the most effective change that is needed for them to achieve the best outcome. If there is a rule that should be rigidly applied, then I would suggest that it must be that we, as therapists, allow our clients to resolve their own conflicts. Our interventions should not encroach over the border that defines guidance from diktat.
With experience comes confidence, and then reliance on your own subconscious which will learn through the constant repetition and effectiveness of the frameworks. Many times I have been with a client and, for no definable reason, I have said something or asked a question that has proven to be a significant element in my intervention. Often I have been amazed at what has come out of my mouth, but let’s all accept that this is the subconscious at work, doing what is best for both therapist and client. When it does happen, write it down. It may be that it will one day find its way into the pages of a book like this one and will be of benefit to others who are in the business of helping.
Anxiety States
Phobias and fears are what bring so many clients to see a therapist. These clients require from therapists a special kind of understanding, because the fears that are blighting their lives so often appear inexplicable to the rational mind.
What is a phobia if it is not an irrational fear? The fear, the sheer panic, that is the experience of the sufferer is so real and the emotional pain so intense that it would be a complete affront to their dignity or self-esteem to tell them to get a grip on themselves.
We need to gain an insight into the manner in which the subconscious interacts with sensory input which provides us with our perception of the world. We also need to understand how our belief system provides restraints upon our perception.
Throughout life we are constantly updating the store of knowledge that helps us to identify objects, sounds and sensations. We begin with a pre-programmed set of instincts that can be best illustrated by considering the feeding impulse and the fright response in a baby. As time and experience provide more and more information to be assimilated, we become better equipped and better able to search for and find stored data that is pertinent to the stimuli that is delivered through one or more of our senses.
As we grow older the mass of information stored in our memory continues to increase, so each search for pertinent information has more and more to draw upon. There comes a point when the smallest of clues can be enough to enable the subconscious to provide enormous quantities of information that relate to the experience.
Consider, for example, a situation where you are sitting in your lounge and you hear the sound of water filling the bath upstairs. Immediately you have a picture of the bathroom and all of its furnishings, the colour of the tiles around the bath, the picture on the wall, the sound of water gushing in the bath, all created within your imagination from information that has been stored. The picture that is painted is the product of your imagination, your perception of that room and its function. If the wallpaper or floor covering or any other aspect of that room had been changed since you last formed your perception, then it would no longer be accurate.
To take the scenario one step further, we can consider the person who has in early life had a bad experience with a dog. The perception that has been formed regarding the dog is of something extremely unpleasant, with large teeth and a propensity to bite. Each time a clue is interpreted as ‘dog’, then the information that is available within subconscious memory is delivered up to complete the picture of ‘dog’. That is then that person’s perception of ‘dog’. The whole picture is one that promotes anxiety and the invocation of the flight or fight response – rapid breathing, heart beating faster, adrenaline production as the body prepares itself to either run from danger or fight.
The reason for the fear in this case is not so far removed from what we can consider a logical reaction to meeting with a dog, as it can be explained in terms of actual experience. The reaction to the dog, however, becomes just a bit other than logical when it invokes a panic response at even the thought of a dog and when there has been plenty of opportunity through experience to gain a more realistic perception of dogs in general. At a conscious level the subject knows that the dog is not vicious and that other people around can have a fun relationship with the animal in perfect safety, but nevertheless their reaction is that of panic beyond all reason.
We have to look further for our explanation of what is happening at a subconscious level and divorce ourselves from the application of pure logic to the situation. So, what could be happening here? The subconscious has an ability to repress memories that are unpleasant and so spare us from the constant reliving of a particular event. A memory can be buried deep within the subconscious where it is beyond the reach of conscious recall, but buried with it are the anxieties and emotions attached to that event and these can hubble and bubble within, seeking some form of manifestation. These are the feelings that Freud describes as ‘free floating anxieties’ … anxieties that cannot be attributed to any event or object and which can be described so often as ‘panic attacks’.
The subconscious finds a way to help us deal with the anxieties, but first the anxiety must be turned into fear, and to fear it is necessary to have a focus. The actual memory of the event is repressed and buried beyond recall, so now the subconscious will play a trick and provide a substitute, something to which the anxiety can be attributed. Through avoidance of that chosen focus the fear situation is addressed. Why else would anyone have reason to fear a mouse or a spider which have so much more to fear from us than we have from them?
The solution in this case is to use hypnosis and regression techniques to go right back to the causative event, the memory of which exists deep within the subconscious. If we can bring to conscious attention the actual event then this presents us with a wonderful opportunity to form a new perception of that event which is positive and thus overcome the phobia. The phobia just goes away, and the inappropriate and maladaptive mechanism for coping, which is the phobic irrational fear, is redundant. It sounds like magic, and, when it happens, the release of emotion can appear so powerful and so life changing that ‘magical’ is okay!
We may conclude that the world as we know it is predominantly a product of our own imagination. What we actually see or hear, touch or smell, plays just a minor role, as the slightest sensual stimulus provokes our subconscious to fill in much of the detail. Thus each of us, in our unique and individual way, arrives at what we believe is real.
Part One
Inducing the Trance State
Putting Your Client at Ease
It is my belief that anyone can be hypnotised or, to be more accurate, is capable of attaining a state that we recognise as hypnosis. Much has been written by many learned theorists on the hypnotic state, and I do not intend to become embroiled in that particular debate. As a therapist, I content myself with the fact that my clients are able to achieve a state that I am happy to describe as hypnosis, which is of immense benefit as an adjunct to therapy. The state is a natural ability we all have and use every day of our lives in order to focus our attention.
When a client is sitting in your consulting room for the first time, they will have brought to the session some preconceived ideas about hypnosis and those who use it in their practice. In the main, their perceptions will have been shaped by the experience of attending a stage show or watching a movie. I find that it is always good practice to explore my clients’ perceptions to allay the fears that are usually present. It is sheer folly not to give over just a few minutes of the initial session to deal with these anxieties; it can save a lot of time later on.
A common question is, ‘Will I be asleep?’ I explain that they will be fully awake and fully conscious of everything that happens: ‘You will be very relaxed and comfortable to the extent where the exact meaning of everything I say to you will not concern you.’ I may then provide some examples of how they may have experienced hypnosis before, such as an absorbing television programme which makes everything else fade into unimportance, or the motorway journey when, having travelled for some distance at speed, there is a sudden realisation that the conscious mind was not fully involved in the driving. I’m sure you will think of many examples to use.
Another question is, ‘Will I do everything you tell me to do?’ This should be recognised as an expression of the client’s concern that they will not be in control and that, in some way, you will have power over them. This is easily dealt with: I explain to my client that they will be in complete control and that if I were to suggest to them that they do something that was not within the realms of their moral code – either dangerous, illegal or harmful – then, quite simply, they would not do it.
Metaphors are always useful, so I often tell the story of how I went to see my bank manager in order to obtain funds for a particular project and how, having succumbed to my hypnotic powers, he led me to the vaults and told me to just help myself. The point is usually effectively made.
My usual preamble is contrived because I want the person sitting in my therapy chair to accept my suggestions from the start and to avoid the problem of what some people term ‘resistance’.
‘Okay Mary, what I would like you to do is make yourself very comfortable in that chair. Now, would you prefer to go into hypnosis with your hands resting on a cushion in your lap or just resting on the arms of the chair?’ (double bind)
‘Now, I realise that you will be wondering whether or not you will be able to go into hypnosis. If you just follow the simple instructions that I am going to be giving to you, there is no way you can fail … Of course, you can resist me, but then that’s not what you came for, is it?’
In this way, you will have established a rapport with your client that assures you of their compliance. Try it!
The next thing to do is to achieve eye closure. There are a few ways to do this. You can quite simply ask the client to close their eyes, but I prefer them to do it in their own time, with the thought that they are doing it because they want to go along with my suggestions. I ask the client to look at a spot on my hand as I hold it just above their normal line of sight, so they have to strain their eyes upwards. The eyes tend to close quite naturally.
Eye Closure
Now, Mary, I want you to pick a spot on the palm of my hand and just focus your eyes on that spot. You may notice that it is rather uncomfortable focusing your eyes on that spot and that it would be so nice to just close them, but I really don’t want you to not close your eyes too quickly. You may notice how quickly your eyes begin to tire and become heavy, but that is fine. Just focus on that spot as you listen to the sounds of my voice. Nothing bothers you or disturbs you now as you listen to the sounds of my voice … and the words that I say relax you … and as I bring my hand down past your eyes you can follow that hand down past your nose … down past your mouth … down under your chin, allowing them to close down quite naturally … closing now … closing … closing … and that’s fine … I wouldn’t want you to know now how much more comfortable you can feel as your eyes relax and you relax, completely in control now as you allow my words to just wash over you, each word relaxing you more.
To continue the process, use the induction of your choice.
From this point on, it doesn’t matter if you are reading from a script – after all, your client’s eyes are closed and they cannot see what you are doing. Very soon now, as the trance state continues, they will not be concerned one jot, just comfortably relaxed.
Voice modulation is important, but it is very difficult to explain how to deliver a hypnotic induction. I have used ellipses […] to indicate pauses in the text. I would suggest that if you speak in a manner which is flowing and soft, and that you reduce the speed of your delivery to about 70% of your normal speech rate, then you will not go too far amiss. Experience and practice will, of course, make perfect.
Eyes Sealed Shut – Rapid Induction
The first thing to do is achieve eye closure, and there are a few ways that you can do this. You can quite simply ask the client to close their eyes, but I prefer them to do it in their own time, with the thought that they are doing it because they want to go along with my suggestions. I ask the client to look at a spot on my hand as I hold it just above their normal line of sight so that they have to strain their eyes upwards.
It is best if the client is seated in a comfortable chair; I ask them to remove their glasses and loosen any tight clothing so they can relax in complete comfort.
Okay, now we will do some hypnosis, and I know that you will be wondering whether you will easily go into a trance … I can tell you now that what will happen is natural and normal as I ask you to utilise your own ability to relax and drift into a very deep state of relaxation … the state known as hypnosis. It is so very true that provided you just follow the simple instructions that I give to you … you will drift into hypnosis. Of course … you can resist me … but that is not what you came here for … is it?
Await response.
So make yourself very comfortable now … and just look at a spot on my hand right here as you listen to my voice … concentrating fully on that spot on my hand … without allowing your eyes to move away from that spot on my hand … Very soon, perhaps now … you will become aware of how heavy your eyes become so quickly … they will want to blink and that’s fine … perhaps they become a little watery … or a little dry … and that’s fine too … they can feel so heavy and so tired … droopy and drowsy … and it would be so nice to just allow them to close … as I bring my hand down slowly … past your eyes … past your nose … past your mouth … closing … closing … and closed now. That’s good … already you are beginning to relax and feel so very comfortable.
Now I am going to touch your forehead with my finger … here. I am locking your eyes from the outside as you lock them from the inside … and as I count from one to five you will find them locking tighter and tighter:
At this point, do not allow more than a second or two before continuing.
One. Eyes tightly closed.
Two. Locking tight and sealing shut.
Three. Sealing shut as though they were glued.
Four. The more that you try to open them the tighter they become.
Five. Now satisfy yourself … make a try and find them locking tighter and tighter. Now allow that feeling … a wave of relaxation … to flow down through your body … arms … legs … your whole body becoming loose and free as all tension flows from you and you relax deeper … ever deeper … with every word that I speak.
Continue with deepener and session.
Two Finger Eye Closure – Relax Induction
This is an induction for adults. I have found this technique to be very effective when dealing with a sceptical client. It provides the client with proof that they have entered a trance state by not being able to open their eyes. The arm-drop test also provides an excellent deepening technique.
Now (client’s name) … Take a long deep breath … now just open your eyes wide, looking upwards towards your eyebrows, without straining your neck … Now I am going to pull down your eyelids … shut … like this (use thumb and forefinger to gently close the eyelids). Now I want you to relax those muscles right there under my fingers … just allow them to relax … Relax them to the point where they just do not want to work … and when you are sure that you have done that for yourself … relaxed those muscles completely to the point where they just will not work … then satisfy yourself … have a try and find your eyes locking tighter and tighter …
Wait about three to four seconds.
That’s fine … there is no need to test them any further. Now you can allow that feeling … that relaxation, to flow down through your body … relaxing every muscle … every fibre … all the way down to the tips of your toes. I am going to lift up your right hand now … and shake, gently shake, relaxation into that hand … that arm … and when I release that arm, it will fall back into your lap just like a wet towel … and you will go ten times deeper into relaxation. (Repeat with left arm.)
Continue with session.
Ticking Clock Induction
If there is a clock in the room, this can be utilised with this induction as you suggest that the client concentrate on the ticking of that clock. This, however, is not a necessity, as it can be suggested to the client that a clock be imagined and that the ticking of that clock can be something that suggests relaxation.
Now that you’re resting comfortably there … with your eyes closed … feeling safe and secure … I want you to take three very deep breaths and then breathe normally … So go ahead now … breathe in … very deeply … and now exhale … Now take a second breath … inhale … and exhale. And now … another … inhale … exhale … Now be aware of your eyes … how comfortable they feel … closed … and just breathe normally. I want you to concentrate on only my voice now … putting aside any other thoughts that come to mind … and I’m going to draw your attention to various parts of your body … and as I draw your attention to that part … then I want you to relax every muscle and nerve … in that part of your body … as I refer to it in turn.
First of all I want to draw your attention to your fingers … and your hands … your wrists … your forearms … and your upper arms … and as you consider this area of your body … I want you to be aware of any tension in those muscles … and concentrate on that tension. Now … relax all those muscles … every nerve … every fibre … in your hands and arms … allow all of that tension to flow away … to drain down … let those muscle come to rest … lengthen and loosen … let them just feel very comfortable … heavy … very relaxed … very … very relaxed.
And when you have relaxed those muscles in this way … then I want you to concentrate on your feet … your ankles … your calves … your knees and your thighs … be aware of any tension in those muscles … and as you concentrate on them … then again … relax every muscle … every fibre in your legs and feet … allowing all of that tension to flow away … to drift down … lengthening … loosening … so that these muscles too feel very loose and comfortable … heavy … very … very relaxed.
Now be aware of your trunk … your stomach muscles … and your chest muscles … and notice too how all the muscles in this part of your body are now becoming more and more relaxed … lengthening … loosening … much more relaxed … coming to rest as all of the tension just drains away … draining away now just like the grains of fine sand in an hour glass drain down into the bottom of the glass. Now be aware of your shoulders … the muscles in your neck and your scalp … be aware of the tension here … and now you can release that tension as every muscle in this part of your body now becomes more and more relaxed … loosening and lengthening … very … very relaxed … so that you can feel all the muscles throughout your entire body now … loose … limp and relaxed … as that comfortable heaviness continues now.
And while you’re resting in this way … I want you to imagine that it’s a beautiful summer’s day … I want you to imagine that you are floating on a cloud … It’s so quiet and peaceful … and there you are … at ease with the world … just drifting and dreaming as you float on and on and … on and on … Now you’re feeling very comfortable … so much at ease and completely relaxed … and it’s such a pleasant feeling … such a soothing feeling … a feeling as though you just want to drift far away … into a deep … sound … heavenly sleep … You’re so much at ease … and every muscle and nerve in your entire body is completely relaxed and at ease … and you feel so pleasantly heavy … so completely relaxed … that you just want to continue in this way … going into a deeper … deeper relaxation.
Every part of your body feels so heavy and comfortable … so easy … I wonder now if you can just let yourself sink and drift … deeper … further into relaxation.
And now I’m going to count from one to three … and on the count of three … I want you to have drifted into a much … much deeper relaxation than the one you are in at the moment:
One. And your entire body is completely relaxed … every muscle and nerve is completely relaxed and at ease … and your body feels so heavy.
Two. Your head feels so heavy and sleepy … It’s a very pleasant feeling … You feel so heavy and tired … and you keep falling further and deeper into relaxation … and your thoughts are vanishing … All you can do is think of relaxation … deep … sound relaxation.
Three. You are now in a deep … sound relaxation … and you’ll continue to drift deeper and further … so that every word I utter will put you into a deeper and sounder sleep … and all you can hear is my voice … You can hear no other sounds … All the other sounds that surround us … background noises … traffic noises … all of these are insignificant … you become oblivious to all of these … because all that is important is the sound of my voice.
Now, (client’s name) … I want you to become aware of the sound of the clock here in the room … You can be aware of the steady and relaxing consistency of the ticking of the clock as it marks time. This ticking of the clock that you are so aware of now … is going to relax the rhythm of your brain … and as the rhythm of your brain slows down comfortably … so then you will drift into a deeper … and deeper relaxation.
Now I’m going to count from one to seven … and I shall use the words … ‘drift deeper’ … in between each count … and you’ll find that by the time I reach the count of seven … you will be very deeply relaxed … very … very deeply relaxed:
One … drift deeper …
Two … drift deeper …
Three … deeper and deeper … drift deeper …
Four … drift deeper …
Five … much, much deeper into hypnosis … drift deeper …
Six … drift deeper …
Seven … and now into a deep … satisfying and comfortable trance state. And now I want you to notice that in a few moments … that you will no longer be aware of that ticking sound … and when this noise stops … that the rhythm of your brain will have slowed down to the extent that you will be aware of nothing … nothing but a beautiful silence … a complete silence … a peaceful silence … in which nothing but the sound of my voice breaks through.
When this noise stops … you’ll be aware of only the sound of my voice … no other sound will be of any consequence to you … I want you now to enjoy that silence … because with this silence … you have achieved a peace that is yours … relaxation is yours … and you can feel yourself in harmony with nature. You can now enjoy peace … tranquillity and a oneness with your own wise inner mind where all can be resolved and made good.
Continue with session.
Children Up to Age Ten
Begin in a conversational manner. It can be helpful to find out what the child’s favourite toy is.
Now … (client’s name) … I expect that you play a lot with your toys at home … I bet that you have a lot of toys and that when you play with them you pretend that they are real … don’t you? … I know that I did … when I was a little boy like you. Well … you know, we have a game of pretend here too … and if you learn this game with me … nothing that will happen here today will bother you at all. Would you like to learn this game? … I know you will.
Okay now, (client’s name) … let’s start by taking a big deep breath in … and then let it all out … Now you can open your eyes just as wide as you can and I am going to show you this game of pretend. Now I am going to pull your eyelids closed … like this … (Two Finger Eye Closure – Relax Induction) and you can pretend that you just can’t open your eyes … That’s all you have to do … Just pretend as hard as you can that you just can’t open your eyes no matter what … pretend so hard that when you try to open your eyes … they just won’t work at all … Now try to make them work when you are pretending like that … the more you try the more they will not work because you are pretending so hard … and because you are so good at pretending. Nothing that happens now will bother you or disturb you at all … In your mind … you can be at home playing with your favourite toys … and you need not concern yourself with anything else at all …
Continue with session.
Concept: David Elman.
Inside/Outside Induction
Ensure that the subject is seated comfortably with eyes closed.
Okay, (client’s name) … I want you now to begin to breathe in and out in time with me … Now take a deep breath in … Hold it … Now exhale slowly. (Repeat six times.)
Now relax every muscle and every fibre of your body as completely as you can … and say inwardly to yourself … ‘I am becoming very relaxed … My eyelids are so relaxed now … that I cannot open them. I try but cannot open my eyes … so I am drifting into hypnosis.’
Watch for reaction as client tries to open eyes but finds no response.
‘I am drifting down into deep hypnosis. I am becoming so sleepy … so sleepy … I am drifting down into deep hypnosis where my subconscious mind will accept every suggestion and put it into action with perfection. I am so relaxed that my head is dropping forward onto my chest and I sink into deep hypnosis.’
Watch for response. Now move emphasis from the first to second person.
Good … you are going deeper and deeper into profound hypnosis now. All you have to do is relax and drift down deeper into hypnosis.
