HYPNOTISING THE HARD TO HYPNOTISE When people talk about the hard to hypnotise they usually mean analyticals, or the resistant client. But the two are not the same. And that's the first point that I want to make: Analytical does not mean resistant Just because someone is being analytical, does not mean that they are resisting. Additionally, someone who is resisting can be doing so for other reasons besides being analytical. Resistance In his important article, Resistance Revisited, the Brief Therapist Steve de Shazer wrote: 'No matter how useful any concept might be at the start, eventually they all seem to become reified. Instead of remaining explanatory metaphors, they become facts. That is, rather than saying "it is as if the client is resisting change," once reified, people begin to say things like "the client is resisting" and eventually they begin to say that "resistance exists and must be sought out." At this point, the concept has outlived its usefulness and needs to be gotten rid of because, once reified, it can never again be a metaphor.' 1 So, resistance is a nominalisation: taking a process, or a verb, and making it into a noun. And de Shazer is saying that in this instance, it is not a helpful nominalisation. If we say that someone is hard to hypnotise, we are speaking of a scenario where one person is attempting to do something (hypnosis) to someone else. This is an interaction with a clear power imbalance and it would not be surprising to learn that the root of the problem is that the client is opposing the imposition of someone else's will. If someone is TRULY resistant, why on earth would you want to hypnotise them? Let them resist! Of course, the minute that you accept their resistance and include it in your cooperative interaction that creates a lovely double bind for them to have to deal with! If you welcome or invite their resistance, what do they do? Do they accept that welcome (thereby not resisting the invite), or do they refuse and 1 de Shazer, S. Resistance Revisited in Contemporary Family Therapy (1989) 11: 227. See also, de Shazer, S. (1984), The Death of Resistance. Family Process, 23: 11 17.
thereby stop resisting?! Induction as a training process Give the resistant client something to do. Give the analytical client something to learn. Utilise their mind as your assistant Think of My Friend John, or the Elman induction a process for them to partake in, not simply a passive experience you unleash on them. If you say to your clients that you need them to help you do something, you make it difficult for them to find something to resist. The Myth of the Analytical Subject I am not denying that there are some people who are routinely more analytical than the average person. To label someone an analytical is a limiting and static thing to do. People are more complex and generally more flexible than that. Confusion This might be a good point to question the frequent advice given to those who ask how to hypnotise so-called analytical clients, which is to use a Confusion induction. That can work. I just think it's a lousy way to work with people. I tend to only use confusion for people whose conscious mind gets in their own way. I don't subscribe to the outdated idea of using confusion to practically force someone into submission. I find the battle of wits idea to be unnecessary and unhelpful. In fact, it is a sure way to increase resistance and merely demonstrates that the hypnotist and the client are not on the same page. The other reason why the battle of wits is unhelpful is that there is no guarantee that the hypnotist is going to win! They may keep up with everything you're saying and just end up annoyed at the nonsense you are wasting their time spouting. 'Confusion techniques utilise whatever the client is doing to inhibit trance or other therapeutic developments as the basis for inducing those developments.' 2 2 Gillian, Therapeutic Trances. p. 236. Emphasis mine.
Using confusion to befuddle someone into trance is an outdated and nontherapeutic approach to inductions. I have no desire to cause someone to doubt themselves; quite the opposite. And I have no need to outsmart or out-analyse anyone. So, if someone has a strong and active mind, I want to help them use that to their advantage. If I use confusion, it is merely as a slight redirect, if someone's mind was getting in their way. Analysis can be a form of trance Such people are used to going round and round, inside their heads, filtering all external stimuli according to their internal frame. In other words, they are almost always in trance! One of the primary reasons that hypnotists struggle to hypnotise analytical clients is because they work against their true nature. Encourage your clients to think and think and think, to take in every possible distraction, to consider every possible meaning of every single word you say, whilst simultaneously noticing and pondering all of the sensations that they were experiencing You've got trance! Phenomena is essential Give the resistant client something to do. Give the analytical client something to learn. One of the main ways I do use confusion is kinaesthetic confusion, rather than linguistic. Concrete memorable experiences versus confusing language I know which I'd rather give my clients! Take-aways: Analytical does not mean resistant Resistance is a nominalisation Induction as a training process Analysis can be a form of trance Phenomena is essential www.howtodoinductions.com
The PHRIT Induction To begin, induce Hypnosis, or even just enable the client to relax. Then: Tell the client that when they take 4 deep breaths, as they breathe out the 4th time, they can bring themselves back into the experience they are currently having. Get their agreement. Have them open their eyes, remind them of what to do and then invite them to do it. They bring themselves back. Tell the client that when they next take 4 deep breaths, as they breathe out the 4th time they can allow themselves to come back into the experience they are currently having. Have them open their eyes, remind them of what to do and then have them do it. They allow themselves to come back. Tell them that when they next breathe out the 4th time they can find themselves coming back into the experience they are currently having. Have them open their eyes, and tell them to take 4 deep breaths. They find themselves going back. Finally, tell them that when they next breathe out the 4th time they will go straight back... Have them open their eyes. Tell them to take 4 deep breaths. They go straight back.
The Modified Wicks Induction Ask client if they are right or left-handed Get permission to touch their arm and wrist Enquire as to any physical difficulties Ask if they have any objections to going into hypnosis quickly Take their arm by the wrist and extend it all the way above the head Say, "Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Hold it " As you say, "hold it," let go of the arm almost completely, with it just resting on your thumb. At this stage, if their arm is cataleptic, after a couple of seconds continue: "Let the breath out. And let the rest of your body relax completely... In a moment, your arm will slowly begin to float down to your lap. As it comes down, you will feel yourself going more and more deeply into hypnosis. But I don't want you to go all the way in, until that hand has come to rest." As the arm begins to float down: "That's right, coming down only as quickly as you go deeper into hypnosis. The deeper you go, the better you feel. And the better you feel, the deeper you go. All the way..." Once the hand has come to rest in their lap or by their side, say: "And you can go all of the way inside now. Every beat of your heart, every word that I say and every sound that you hear, causing you to go deeper and deeper." If their arm is heavy, instead of being cataleptic, after a couple of seconds continue: "Let the breath out. And let your body relax completely... Your arm is now deeply relaxed and heavy and it will get heavier and heavier as I allow it to descend. And as your arm moves down, you can go deeper and deeper into that relaxation. But I don't want you to go all the way into hypnosis, until that hand has come to rest." As you move the arm down, taking between 10 and 20 seconds, you may include words like: "That's right, getting heavier and heavier,
going deeper and deeper. And the deeper you go, the better you feel. And the better you feel, the deeper you go." Once you have brought their hand all of the way down, say: "And you can go all of the way inside now. Deeply relaxed. Loose and limp. [Said as you drop the hand for the final half inch.] And every beat of your heart, every word that I say and every sound that you hear, causing you to go deeper and deeper."