When Does Hypnotic State Occurs?

When does hypnotic state occurs? We enter into a hypnotic state when we are either tired or our mind and body are relaxed or resting comfortably. It is difficult to hypnotize someone when he has just had a workout or experiencing emotional upheaval or especially alert like just taken coffee or tea.

Is Hypnotic State Permanent?

Though we are constantly drifting in and out of hypnosis in our everday life, we are however not permanently in a hypnotic state. Some people might have a wrong impression that when a person is being hypnotised and is not guided to emerge out of hypnosis, he will be permanently in a trance. This is not so because there are a couple of things that can break a person from hypnosis (or emerge him from hypnosis), things like loud noise; snap of our fingers; shaking the person; instructing him to follow from 1 to 5 etc.

Responsibility

For many a times, when people turn up to consult a hypnotist, psychologist, counsellor and others, they have the wrong mindset. They think that these professional should be held responsible for any changes on him or her. This is not right. The onus must never be solely on these professionals though I must agree they do have to carry the responsibility for the process and outcome.

If the subject does not want to have any responsibility, the effect of the outcome may not be what he or she would like to see. The moment one accepts the responsibility, he or she will be more positive towards the treatment/healing. The key here is ACCEPT. Acceptance is the first step towards opening up a person's mind so that the mind does not resist but instead make peace with whatever he is experiencing. Only then the person can make the second and third step of taking responsibility or be more receptive to the professional's advice. Because of his expectancy, what he expects is what he gets.

Daydream and Hypnosis

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.

We drift in and out of beta consciousness (conscious state) and alpha consciousness (surface of unconsciousness), especially so when we are tired. When we are highly energized, chances of remaining at beta consciousness for a long time is very high.

Daydreaming occurs when we are engaging too much in our left brain activities, such as calculation, language etc. The right brain is being ignored and no activities or not much activities are being engaged eg music, arts etc. Under such circumstances, our brain (more specifically the right brain) becomes tired and drift into the apha state so much so causing us to become relaxed and idle. This is when we start to daydream - it could be a dream of reality (like going for a tour) or something of fantasy (like flying on the moon).

Daydreaming is thus a form of hypnosis.

Hypnosis focus on problem or solution?

Hypnosis is not about anaylzing the subject. It is not about breaking down the problems in search of the right solutions. It is not about asking a series of questions.

Hypnosis has by itself a very simple concept - to know what is the main problem or issue or challenge the subject faced. At the initial stage, the hypnotist will talk briefly with the subject what is his or her issue, from there he puts the subject to a relaxed mode so that hypnosis can be carried out to specifically deal with the problem.

Notice that there is not much of focusing on the problem. About 10% of the time is spent only on the problem (just the surface and never deep down) while 90% of the time is spent on hypnosis with the solution to that problem. This is critical, the reason being that the more we focus on a problem the more it gets larger. Like what Mother Theresa once said - I won't attend anti-XX rally but if you do have a peace rally, I will join in. Mother Theresa clearly understood the power of focus.

Tools Of Hypnosis

Hypnotist uses 2 main tools to re-program the subject's mind, namely suggestions and imagination. Both tools are used in a guided manner.

Like in counselling, the tool used by the counsellor is Questioning. So when someone asks what tools are used in hypnosis, you can say that in layman term it is a combination of suggestions and the use of imagination (or visualisation) to help the subject to achieve the desired outcome.

Metaphor For Hypnosis

I think a good metaphor for hypnosis would be:

Our mind is like a big patch of grasses.

Everytime when a thought flashes in our mind and/or we experience something (like watching a movie, reading a book etc) we cut away some grasses. The deeper the thoughts and/or experience, the more the grasses can be easily uprooted. Through our day-in and day-out thoughts and experience, we eventually create a trail of path that makes our "travelling in our mind" to the desired destination much more easily. For example, you have a deep desire to smoke, for each cigarette you put into your mouth, you cut away the grasses or even uproot them. Through your repetition, you will in no time create a path that makes you want to smoke effortless.

The job of a hypnotist is to help you plant back the grasses so that once the blazed trail is covered up again, you no longer can have the desire to get back to smoking because your brain can't find the path to help you reach the destination. This is done with every input of positive suggestions into your subconscious that readily create another pathway. This time, it will be no longer the old negative pathway but a new empowered pathway.

Is Hypnosis Mind-Controlling?

As I have shared before earlier, one of the myths about hypnosis is that the hypnotist is in control of the situation and that he controls the mind of the subject or the person being hypnotized. This is not true. You can choose not to believe, but for now, just go ahead to study about the following situation:-

The commercial advertisement flashes on the TV screen. It is using ways and means to captivate your attention. It has sound. It is moving. It is in many colours. It gives great discount. It has a limited period for your purchase. It has many benefits. After a couple of flashing, you get 'hooked' to the advertisement. You then decide to give it a try by purchasing it.

In the whole process, did anyone force you to buy? NO. Did anyone control your mind and says you have to follow what he or she says? NO. How come you end up purchasing the product? The advertisement is actually using waking hypnosis to hypnotize consumers like you and me. They use ways to appeal to our senses (in the above case it is visual and hearing). They list out benefits and offer discount to let you believe that it is in your interest to have the product and it has good values.

In short, there is no mind control or whatsoever. It is simply attention grabbing and persuasion at work. So, hypnosis is never about mind control.

De-hypnotize & Hypnotize

The process of hypnosis is to give positive suggestions pertaining to the issues to be resolved in the subject's mind. It is about de-programming the old program held in the mind. Hypnosis is a double process of de-hypnotizing and hypnotizing, so to speak.

Example a person comes to resolve lack of confidence issue. The hypnotist will input relevant suggestions to dissolve the old program [de-hypnotize] in that person's mind (such as shy, timid) and the positive suggestions [hypnotize] like "you are in control", "you feel at ease in any situation" will then replace the old ones.

So next time when you hear hypnotist talks about hypnotizing a person, he is in actual fact saying to de-hypnotize and hypnotize the person.

A Simple Exercise On Hypnosis

Here is an exercise to let you understand a similar hypnosis experience that you might have when you are in hypnosis:

Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath and exhale from your mouth (repeat 5 times).
Relax every part of your body, starting from the sole of your leg upwards...to the abdomen..to the hand..neck...face...crown.

Now I want you to visualise yourself at home. Walk to your refrigerator. Touch the outer surface of the fridge (feel the warmth and smooth texture). Open the fridge door (feel the cool air coming towards you and feel it literally). Extend your hand to reach out for a cold green lemon (feel the skin - its coldness and smooth surface). Close back the fridge and hear the 'tuck' sound. Bring the lemon to your face (again feel the short spark of coldness on your face). Take a knife and cut the lemon into halves (feel some of the juice that flows on your hand). Bring a half of the lemon to your mouth, gently squeeze it (feel the sour sensation so much so that you squeeze your eyes).
Now count 1 to 3. On the third count, open your eyes and return to full sensory. Be fully engaged in your present surrounding.

Suggestibility Tests

Before a hypnotist decides to hypnotise a client, he should be diligent enough to use suggestibility tests on the client first. The objective of using suggestibility test is to provide the hypnotist with more understanding of his client as well as to allay any fears that the client might have about hypnosis.

In hypnosis, we have induction. Induction is basically a process for the hypnotist to relax the client so that he can enter into the state somewhere in-between the conscious and unconscious. Prior to using induction (and there are many forms of inductions available), hypnotist can use suggestibility test to help determine whether the client is a good or poor client (not in terms of financial ability but in terms of hypnotizability). Fundamentally, there are two types of suggestibility tests - authoritative (forceful, dominating) and permissive (non-directive, soft).
Once the hypnotist applied them on his clients, he will more or less able to tell what personality his client belongs to, and from there he chooses the induction method most appropriate.

I will broadly list out the few types of suggestibility tests here:
a) Chevreul Pendulum - this is a good test and it works quite well with most clients. It is non-threatening. Furthermore, in most people's mind, pendulum is part of the hypnosis process. That is why they can accept it rather than find it repulsive.
Method - let client holds on to the pendulum and see in his mind what direction he wants the pendulum to take. If he focuses well, what he thinks will be translated into physical movement and he will send the pendulum swinging in the direction he wants without moving his hand)

b) Arms Rising and Falling - This is a very common test and is important because it engages the client's imagination. Imagination is an important aspect in hypnosis.
Method - asks client to extend his arms on both sides of the body so that they are parallel to the ground. Get him to imagine one of his hand is tied to a balloon and it feels so light while the other hand is holding a phone directory. This makes one hand light and the other heavy. If client follows the hypnotist's suggestion, when the process completes and he opens his eyes he should see a "lop-sided" body)

c) Hand Clasp - this is rather simple.
Method - hypnotist asks client to extend hands sidewards, again parallel to the ground. Asks him to use force to bring the two hands together and firmly clasp the hands. Suggests to him that he feels the tightness, the hands are now stuck like glue and that he has no strength to pull them apart. Then count one to three and asks him to pull them apart. Suggest to him that he cannot do it because it is stuck like glue. If client follows the hypnotist's suggestion, he won't be able to pull his hands apart)

d) Progressive Relaxation - this test may take longer because the hypnotist will have to relax the client until he feels totally relaxed and at state. When test is over, hypnotist will check with client to see any sensational experience - numbness, tingling, lightness, heaviness, eye-fluttering, time distortion, salivation etc. If client follows hypnotist's suggestion, he will experience one or more sensational experience)

Who Are Good Candidates For Hypnosis?

Hypnosis may not be suitable for everyone, even for a normal person with basic intelligence. Apart from the above 2 criterias, the following are some considerations that help a hypnotist to assess the suitability of a person to be hypnotized:-

- Can follow instructions

- Can imagine

- Not too young (above 6 yrs old) or else they can't concentrate well

- Not too old (below 75 yrs old) or else they can't concentrate well

- Hypnotise for everday issues eg. stress, concentration, anxiety and not for some medical reason like cancer etc, though hypnosis can be used to heal illness but it is still not the mainstream. We used it as a complementary to doctor's treatment.

Is Hypnosis Session For Everyone?

Though we experience hypnosis on a daily basis (like daydreaming), however hypnosis session conducted by hypnotist is not applicable to every person.

Hypnosis is meant for normal people. In other words, the mentally challenged group are not suitable. The main reason is because they may not be able to relax well and concentrate on what the hypnotist says or instructs them to do (for instance, to imagine a big white crystal ball). To the normal person who have certain level of intelligence, they can easily grasp this upon instructed and go on with their imagining of the crystall ball but not so for the mentally challenged.

The duty of hypnotist is to guide the subject (in a gentle-directive manner)so that the subject is doing the step right and getting the maximum effectiveness from the hypnosis session. By gentle-directive manner, I mean to gently guide them to relax in every part of their body; to guide them to imagine certain things; to prompt questions to let them recall certain past happenings and so on.

Hypnosis In Everyday Life

Hypnosis is not something that we experience only in a hypnosis session (ie. on stage and when put to a trance by hypnotist). This is a very limited perception of hypnosis. In fact, all of us experience hypnosis on a daily basis. It is so common that we do not think what we experienced is actually hypnosis.

We are experiencing hypnosis at the time of:

* The last few mins before we drift into sleep.
* The first few mins when we are back to sensory awareness upon waking up.
* Accidentally press 10th floor in the lift when we want to go to 8th floor.
* Engross in a project, work, hobby or reading that half a day had gone by while we thought it is just an hr.
* Mesmerized by idol performing on stage.
* Daydreaming.
* Looking for an object and can't find it when in actual fact it is just right in front.

Myths About Hypnosis

What are some of the myths about hypnosis that we commonly hear of:-

a. Hypnotist controls the subject
b. There is loss of willpower for the subject
c. Can't think clearly when in a trance
d. It is sleep
e. Hypnosis experience is the same for everyone
f. It is like stage hypnosis

Of course, these are the misleading facts about hypnosis.

The right definition of hypnosis is that it is somewhere in-between conscious and unconscious state (Alpha) where our mind is very alert and receptive to the environment. Our sensory are sharper than when in wakeful state. Our mind is clear about what we are doing. Suggestion input at this alpha level receives little resistance.