18 Ways to Induce and Deepen Hypnotic Trance

By Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D., L.P.C.

"You are going deeper-deeper." How many times a day does a hypnotherapist say these words? Would you like to add some variety to your deepening methods? Here are 18 things to say to induce and deepen hypnotic trance. Each item on the list has a short script as an example. You will recognize several hypnotic language patterns. Keep in mind that some methods overlap. Read all the scripts in the entire list sequentially and you will have an effective trance induction for relaxation.

Begin by telling the client to close his or her eyes. Make yourself comfortable and close your eyes.

1. Ask the client to take a deep breath and relax. Ease back and take a deep breath, all the way in. As you slowly let it out, perhaps you can feel your muscles beginning to relax, at the same time that your mind is just beginning to pay attention in a different way.

2. Pace the client's current experience with truisms and lead into trance. You are listening to my voice, and the sounds in the room. You are aware of your surroundings. You are aware of the position of your arms and legs. You can feel the texture of your clothing. You can feel the support of the chair on which you are sitting. You notice your breathing, and you notice how much more relaxed and calm you feel, than just moments ago.

3. Reassure the client that trance is easy to attain and he or she is a good hypnotic subject. Going into trance is different for each person, and whatever way you experience it is just find. I am sure you can do this.

4. Compounding: The more you listen, the more you relax. The more you relax, the easier it is to go within and achieve that level of inner awareness where special learning takes place.

5. Fractionation: As you learn to go into trance, you can practice it for improvement. Open your eyes for a moment. Look around. Now close your eyes and go right back to an even more satisfying level of relaxation and concentration.

6. Establish Cause-Effect: As you wonder what hypnosis is all about, you understand more. Each breath you exhale can make it more satisfying. I hope each moment that passes brings you a greater sense of comfort. With each word I say, you can advance more completely into relaxation and concentration, as you please.

7. Progressive Relaxation: (Suggest that each part of the body is relaxing. Be sure to pause between each sentence, giving the client time to respond). Send the thought of relaxation all the way down to your feet and feel your feet relaxing. Allow that same relaxation to move gently upward through your body, into your ankles and calves. Let the relaxing feelings continue, so that now your knees and thighs can feel more relaxed, as the relaxation moves into your hips and abdomen. Now feel the muscles of your back beginning to relax and let go of all that tension. Even your shoulders relax as comforting sensations flow down into your chest and each exhale helps that sense of relaxation and letting go. Let the relaxation flow down your arms, into your elbows, down into your wrists, and all the way down to the tips of your fingers. Your entire body is relaxing more, while that soothing feeling moves into your neck, your scalp, and all the muscles of your face relax. Your entire body feels relaxed from head to toe. All the tension has melted away.

8. Presuppose that deepening is occurring: I wonder how completely you are relaxing. You are discovering for yourself how satisfying trance can be. While you are relaxing, many subtle changes are occurring.

9. Describe some common aspects of trance: Your breathing might be slower now and more regular. Perhaps your muscles are more relaxed and your hands might feel loose and limp, while your heartbeat and pulse are slowing down. You may be finding it easier to concentrate on the things I say, although from time to time, you are thinking your own thoughts too.

10. Suggestions of all possibilities: People go into trance in a wide variety of ways and everyone's experience is unique. Some people relax quickly, and some relax more slowly and some vary the pace. Some people hear every word I say, and others tune my voice in and out. Or you might pay attention to your own thoughts and not really listen at all. For some, trance is a light, floating experience, and for some it is a deep heavy experience, and for some, it is a combination of sensations. How you create this experience for yourself is really up to you, or you can just relax and discover what happens naturally. It may be what you expect or something different, or some of each.

11. Arm Catalepsy: As you focus inward, you can notice how relax your arms are. Let them feel so relaxed that they feel heavy-so heavy that for now, they just don't want to move. They are so heavy and relaxed that it's just too much effort to move them. Try to lift your right arm and find you'd rather not lift it, or it is so heavy, it just doesn't want to lift. Stop trying and relax even more comfortably. This should give you an indication that you are now fully in hypnotic trance, and how pleasant and peaceful it can be for you.

12. Eye Closure: Now relax your eyelids and all the muscles around your eyes even more than before. Let your eyelids feel heavy and drowsy. Let your eyelids relax so much that they just don't feel like opening. They are so heavy, so relaxed that if you tried to open them, it would seem difficult. Now relax your eyelids so much more that they just want to stay shut. Later on, of course, they will open easily, but for now you can enjoy the feeling of allowing your subconscious to take part in this process, relaxing your eyelids so much they just want to stay closed. Now test your eyelids to be sure they want to stay shut. Very Good! Now stop testing and experience the satisfaction of realizing that your mind and body are fully cooperating with the process of hypnosis, as you relax more peacefully.

13. Revivify a memory of previous trance (if it was pleasant) or a similar experience of comfort and relaxation: (Note: Ask the client to describe the previous trance before you begin hypnosis. Then use the client's own words here, as you help the client access the memory). I trust you can remember that previous time when you were hypnotized. You might recall some of your thoughts and observations and the sensations you felt as your body relaxed and your mind seemed to "focus inward," as though you were "drifting effortlessly" while feeling comfortable and secure. You remember that it was "a soothing feeling to let go of all that stress." You can have those same satisfying feelings now.

14. Metaphor or Analogy: Some people say going into trance is as comfortable as going to bed at night, at the end of a long, productive day, with nothing else to do but close the eyes and let go and relax. There are no distractions and nothing to think about. You can just let the mind drift, feeling warm and comfortable, while enjoying the peaceful quiet.

15. Counting: I am going to count now from one to five. With each number, just let your mind and body relax more and more, so that by the time I reach the number five, you will be much more deeply relaxed, with a fuller sense of inner awareness. One, relaxing deeper and deeper. Two, relaxing more and completely. Three, a deeply comfortable feeling. Four, going within to find what is there to discover. Five, much more relaxed now.

Note: If you use counting to deepen the trance, reverse the count with you reorient the client. Example: Now I am going to count from five to one and with each number you'll become increasingly alert. Five, coming up now. Four, feeling more alert. Three, ready to return to conscious, wakeful awareness. Two, ready to move about again and open your eyes, and one, eyes open, fully alert now.

16. Splitting: (Pose to the client that he or she is aware of two opposite things at once. Use a different tone of voice for each one). You have a conscious mind...and you have an subconscious mind. Your conscious mind is aware of the external world...and your subconscious mind manages your inner awareness. The conscious mind deals with facts and logic...while the subconscious mind works with intuition and creativity. The conscious mind thinks about the problems...while the subconscious mind holds the solutions. Mere conversation speaks to the conscious mind...and hypnosis speaks to the subconscious mind.

17. Guided imagery: Imagine you are drifting down a quiet stream in a canoe, under a lovely blue sky. The current carries you along, so you can just sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. Overhead, an occasional cloud floats slowly by, moving effortlessly with its own sense of direction, even though you don't know where it is going. It changes shape as it moves, sometimes resembling something recognizable, sometimes not. On either side of you there is a riverbank, with trees, grasses, shrubs and flowers. Butterflies flit among the colorful flowers, seeming to know just what to do to get at that sweet nectar deep inside each one. All is peaceful and tranquil, as you let the current carry you, and the gentle rocking of the canoe, under the warmth of the sun seems to lull you into a deeply restful state.

18. Word play: As you trance-sition into hypnotic trance in your own way, getting out of your own way, you might trance-fer some previous learning to have it your own way, or it could be that you wait for the experience to trance-form your awareness of how you own the way you do it and trance-late what I say, into something you can use now or have discovered earlier on.

This piece appears in my book, The Weight, Hypnotherapy and You Weight Reduction Program: An NLP and Hypnotherapy Practitioners Manual (Crown House 2006). To find out more about this book go to www.engagethepower.com.

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By: Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

The human brain is the most complex organization of matter in the known universe. Containing over 100 billion neurons richly interconnecting with between 1,000 and 100,000 others, the brain forms an infinitely complex non-linear, dynamic system. The potential number of emergent states and behaviors is virtually limitless and brain's vast neuronal system with its electro-physiological activity never resides in exactly the same state twice. (Furman, 1996)

Although the American Medical Association approved hypnosis as a clinical tool in 1958, the way in which hypnosis affects the brain and the neurological system remains somewhat of a mystery. The exact neurological phenomena of hypnosis are seldom taught in hypnotherapy practitioner training. Some practitioners don't concern themselves with the question of neurological factors, and others simply assume that hypnosis is a state of relaxation in which brain activity slows down. To expand their knowledge, practitioners would do well to ask questions such as: "What happens to the brain, under hypnosis?" or "How does trance differ, neurologically, from normal waking consciousness?" or "What neurological factors are involved in hypnotizability?"

Continue reading "Hypnosis and the Brain: Findings in Neurological Research" »

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The October/November 2007 issue of the Scientific American Mind has an important article entitled "Brain Stains - Traumatic therapies can have long-lasting effects on mental health." By Kelly Lambert and Scott O. Lilienfeld.

Hypnotherapists should find it of interest, most particularly those who engage in regressive trauma recovery approaches.

To read the article, click the following link or copy it into your browser:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=brain-stains

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I thought NBCCH INTERLINK newsletter readers might be interested in
this induction that I wrote during this incessant political debate, as follows:

Do you remember hearing as a child "always do what's right?" And
throughout the years, I have tried as hard as I could to think right and
to do right, because after all, what's left? It gets confusing
sometimes, though, because you have so many Republicans who are "right,"
and Democrats who are not..., but feel "left." And that's part of the
problem, you see, because Republicans always think they're right, and
that Democrats are "not right" (if you know what I mean), and it's just
not right to accuse them of being "not right" just because they tend to
be left. But Democrats also consider themselves "right", so who's left?
Certainly, not the "middle of the roaders", who are neither right nor
left, but who still consider themselves just as "right" as those on the
right, even though they aren't considered right either by those on the
right or left, isn't that right? But what then do you call those who are
left after those who consider themselves "right" and those who consider
themselves just as right even though they're "left?" So it's getting
harder and harder to determine right from left or even consider what's
left after you've chosen to think right and to do right. But isn't it
better to take what's left..., and to make it right,... right now?
Everyone knows that's the right thing to do, is this not right?

So, you can either think about what's right or about what's left..., or
just let your eyes close easily..., relax fully..., and trust your
unconscious mind to sort it out for you....Yes.......that's right!

Fred Waddell, Ph.D.

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By Ron Klein

A recent study from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has associated smoking with fine wrinkles all over the body — including the face.

“We examined non-facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin
damage and wrinkles a person experienced,” said Yolanda R. Helfrich, MD, lead author and assistant professor of dermatology at the U-M Medical School. The Study appears in the March issue of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

If skin that is protected from the sun by clothing experiences significant harm leading to wrinkles, just think what the skin on your face must be suffering as a result of continuing to smoke. And if that isn’t enough to get you concerned about your appearance, smoking also turns your teeth yellow and can cause damage to your gums.

Recent studies have shown that tobacco use may be one of the most significant risk factors in the development and progression of periodontal disease. How does smoking increase your risk for periodontal disease? As a smoker, you are more likely than nonsmokers to have the following problems: Calculus – plaque that hardens on your teeth and can create deep pockets between your teeth and gums, leading to loss of the bone and loss of your teeth.

In addition to the obvious benefits to your appearance, quitting smoking reduces your risk for many other serious medical problems such as lung disease, cancer, heart disease and low-birth-weight infants. Another health problem associated with tobacco is emphysema, which, when combined with chronic bronchitis, produces chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking also increases the risk of oral, uterine, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, and cervical cancers.

Dr. Andrew Weil author of “Natural Health, Natural Medicine” as well as dozens of other books on wellness, has recommended hypnotherapy to stop smoking, alleviate pain, lessen the side effects of chemotherapy, alleviate symptoms of autoimmune disease, counteract fears and sleep problems, and even to get rid of warts. Dr. Weil says, "In general, I believe that no condition is out of bounds for trying hypnotherapy on." Finally, CNN NEWS REPORTS: “New study reports over 200 effective uses for hypnosis.

You are free to copy this article to use in your practice marketing, client newsletter or in any way you choose.

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A Woman Who Always Holds Her Left Hand Over Her Mouth

Dr. Erickson tells the following story to his hypnosis students:

"A woman came to college always holding her left hand over her mouth. She recited in class holding her left hand under her nose, concealing her mouth. She walked out on the street with her left hand covering her mouth. She ate in restaurants concealing her mouth behind her left hand. When she was reciting in class, walking down the street, eating in restaurants, always the left hand was over her mouth. Now that interested me.

Continue reading "A Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Teaching Tale " »

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For those of you trained in Traditional Hypnosis, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and/or Neuro-Linguistic Programming a recent article in the Washington Post will be of interest. Dr. Erickson points out the importance of recognizing the importance of Subtle Non-verbal Behavioral Cues or what NLP refers to as Behavioral Manifestations of Internal Response.

In the Washington Post article, How Brain's 'Mirrors' Aid Our Social Understanding, the reporter writes that one of the most intriguing theories to emerge in recent years about how our brains perform is that we have neurons that essentially act as mirrors to other people. We are attuned to social cues and the behavior of others. Such signals tell us what is ahead and give us time to prepare. They tell us about many things that are never explicitly articulated in everyday life. Much of the time, in fact, we do not appreciate how skilled we are at reading social situations.

To Read the Article Click Here

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An article in the Washington Post newspaper describes the way we experience one very interesting psychological bias. Seems it may explain why it was so hard for our field to accept the notion of brief solution-focused psychotherapy (2-8 sessions). Think about your present bias when considering the possibility of single session therapy as preposed by Moshe Talmon in his book, by the same name.

To read the Washington Post article, click here .

To puchase the book Single Session Therapy, click here .

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Individuals who experience chest pain that is not caused by a heart condition or heartburn may benefit from hypnotherapy, research suggests.

So-called non-cardiac chest pain "is an extremely debilitating condition of uncertain origin which is difficult to treat and consequently has a high psychological morbidity," Dr. Peter J. Whorwell and colleagues from Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK, note in a report published this month. To read the full report, click the following link:

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_39149.html

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by NBCCH staff

People who were hypnotized while undergoing surgery without a general anesthetic needed less pain medication, left the operating room sooner and had more stable vital signs than those who were not hypnotized, according to a new study. The study, led by Elvira Lang of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, involved 241 people of similar health and age who had surgery to open clogged arteries and veins, to relieve blockages in their kidneys, or to block blood vessels feeding tumors.

The patients were divided into three groups. One, the control group, experienced normal interactions with hospital staff. Another group, the placebo group, received extra attention from an additional person in the operating room who made sure nobody said anything negative. Patients in the third group were taught to hypnotize themselves, using imagery of pleasant scenes.

The hypnosis group fared best, although the group receiving the extra attention also benefited. Half the patients in these two groups needed no medication at all, while the rest needed only half as much medication as the control group. The hypnotized patients said the pain did not get worse as surgery progresses. They also had fewer problems with heart rate and blood pressure during surgery.

The original study was reported in the April 2000 issue of the medical journal, The Lancet.

Editor's note to hypnotherapists: Do not attempt to hypnotize your clients to undergo drug-free surgery unless you have obtained specific training in hypnotherapy for sustained pain management. If you conduct hypnotherapy with a client for pain management during surgery you will be working under the supervision of a M.D. Be sure to give the client ample practice sessions prior to surgery, insuring that the client can achieve and maintain hypnotically induced anesthesia.

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By Susan P. Chizeck

My daughter has always been a sound sleeper and had wet every night since she was born. As she got older, this became a problem for her. We solved it temporarily by having her wear Pull-ups and then Good-nights, a larger child pull-up diaper, but disposing of them on sleepovers was problematical. As a child I had wet until my parents used a moisture alarm, and that worked within a week. We tried one for my daughter, but she became hysterical when the alarm went off and it had no real effect, as her sleep was too deep.

In a discussion of the problem, my daughter Helen asked a very good question. "How do other people not wet?" Since it happens when she was asleep, she couldn't imagine how one could control this unconscious process. I began to think about exactly how the process worked.

As she was preparing for bed, she was in a relaxed state, just right for hypnotic suggestions. I began talking about the different parts of her that took care of her body and helped everything work just right. We talked about hearts and lungs that work whether you are sleeping or awake and know exactly what to do. Then I mentioned that when people are babies the parts that control urine and bowels are still very young and just let everything go right into the diaper whenever it's ready. As they get older they learn to be "feelers" that tell the child when the urine or b.m.s are ready to come out, so the child can go on the toilet. As the child gets even older, some feelers are grown up enough to stay up at night and tell the child to hold in or to get up and go to the bathroom.

Now she knew she had bowel control at night, and occasionally woke up very early in the morning to go, and she knew that feeling of having it wake her up, so she knew one part of her already had that skill. So we thought of a way that that part could teach the urine feeler to do its job. She began talking of how the bowel feeler must be so lonely up all night by himself, so he would really like to have a friend to stay up and be with all night. We asked the urine feeler if he would like to be a friend of the bowel feeler and learn from him how to stay up all night and tell Helen when she needed to go to the bathroom. After all that was his real job. She worried that if they stayed up all night they would be too tired to work during the day, but I told her there were 4 of them all together, a day time pair and a nighttime pair, so no one would be lonely. (Probably girls worry more about this than a boy would.). That made sense to her, as she was aware of the daytime feelings and also thought of them as separate, since she had achieved bowel and bladder control at different times.

We did some future pacing and she could clearly see the two working happily together. Within a few weeks she was dry all night, every night, and woke up and went to the toilet without even remembering. I could tell because she would leave the lights on in the bathroom when she went at night. She was thrilled by this new ability and felt she really had learned how everyone else mysteriously stayed dry. She decided her parts had just been too shy before to ask how to do things. Now that we talked to them they understood everything.

I was very pleased to be able to use a reframing technique on a problem I had not realized was amenable to suggestion quite so clearly.

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by: Steve Andreas, M.A.
Copyright 2006

Implication is one of the most common ways that we unconsciously make meaning out of events in everyday life. A speaker's statement implies something that the listener infers. Implication was used extensively and deliberately by Erickson, as shown in the following examples (some paraphrased) with the implication in parentheses:

"You don't want to discuss your problems in that chair. You certainly don't want to discuss them standing up. But if you move your chair to the other side of the room, that would give you a different view of the situation, wouldn't it? (From this different position you will want to discuss your problems.)

"I certainly don't expect that you'll stop wetting the bed this week, or next week, or this month." (I certainly expect that you will stop sometime.)

"Your conscious mind will probably be very confused about what I'm saying." (Your unconscious mind will understand completely.)

Examining these examples, we can begin to generalize about the structure of implication.

Continue reading "Verbal Implication" »

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Goldye P. Donner, LCSW and Richard U. Rosenfield, Ph.D.

Since 1991, we have successfully developed and employed a dynamic, time-limited, structured developmental group therapy model with clients in our private practices who are struggling to recover from the cognitive, emotional, behavioral and interpersonal consequences of dysfunctional childhood experiences. These clients have chronic problems and are caught in the revolving door of living from crisis to crisis and experience frequent periods of stagnation and relapse.

Our program design integrates our combined training and experience in psychotherapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). To address unresolved issues from childhood wounds and limitations, we adapted John Bradshaw's developmental approach outlined in his book, Homecoming, into a powerful group therapy process where participants attend to the developmental tasks of each stage from infancy through adolescence to create a stronger foundation for coping successfully with adult life.

Continue reading "A Time-Limited Structured, Developmental Group Model" »

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by Steve Andreas, M.A. ©2004

A woman told Erickson about her eight-year old daughter, Ruth, who hated EVERYBODY:

A very MISERABLE kind of girl. I (Erickson) asked the mother what she thought made the girl hate herself and everybody else.

The mother said, "Her face is a solid freckle. And the kids call her Freckles."

And I said, "All right, bring the girl in, even if you have to do so forcibly." So little Ruth came in just so defiant, ready for a fight, . . . stalking in defiantly and scowled.

I said, "You're a thief!" She knew she wasn't.

I said, "Oh, yes, I know you steal. . . I have PROOF of it." And she denied that emphatically.

"I have PROOF. I even know where you WERE when you stole. You listen, I'll tell you, and you'll know you are guilty." You can't imagine her contempt for my statements.

I said, "You are in the kitchen, standing on a kitchen table, reaching up to the cookie jar for cinnamon cookies, and some cinnamon fell on your face, Cinnamon Face."

First time Ruth knew freckles were cinnamon face. It completely reoriented her. . . . All I did was reORIENT the situation, I didn't change it, I just reoriented it. And very few people know the importance of reorientation.*

Erickson often went to great lengths to create a dramatic, and therefore impactful and memorable context for delivering an intervention. A good drama requires a script, preparation, and practice in advance, so that its delivery is powerful,creating an impactful experience that will actually make a difference in someone's life. Let's take another look.

Erickson got Ruth's complete attention by eliciting a full response of her hating (not by matching "rapport" moves, but by offering himself as a target for her hate, utilizing and amplifying her response of hatred).

He did this by attacking not just her behavior, but her identity. "You're a thief." (in contrast to "You stole something once.")

Then he says, "I have PROOF," making the accusation even stronger.

Then Erickson moves from past tense, "I even know where you WERE when you stole," into the future "You listen, I'll tell you, and you'll know you are guilty," orienting her to anticipating his future statements.

"You are in the kitchen, standing on a kitchen table, reaching up to the cookie jar for cinnamon cookies. . ." This present verb tense puts her mentally into the situation he is describing, as a fully associated present experience.

All this preparation insures that when he delivers the "punch line" that resolves the drama and changes the meaning of everything that he has said, she will respond fully, as if cinnamon really had fallen on her face.

Imagine how different (and ineffectual) it would have been if Erickson had flatly said, "Look, you think of your freckle face as ugly, but actually it looks like cinnamon." Her hatred of everyone--including Erickson--would have prevented her from even considering the reframe.

A 14-year-old girl was becoming withdrawn and unsocial because she thought her feet were too large. Erickson arranged to do a physical examination of her mother at home, asking the girl to be present and assist him. ". . . I sent the girl for a teaspoon so I could look at mother's throat, and then I had the girl hold a flashlight as I was looking at mother's eyes and mother's throat. In getting the girl to do things, I asked her to wait so that she could stand right there in case I needed her again." After completing a very thorough examination, and while Erickson was talking to the mother, he "accidentally" stepped back hard on the girl's bare toes and she cried out in pain. "I turned on her and in a tone of absolute fury, I said to her, 'If you would grow those things large enough for a man to see, I wouldn't be in this sort of situation!' " (Implication/presupposition: her feet are small.) There is so much packed into that moment--the daughter's anxiety about her mother's health, her role in assisting the doctor, the pain in her toes, a respected older man shouting angrily at her, and the puzzling comment that presupposed that she could grow her feet larger! Before Erickson left the house the daughter asked the mother if she could go out to a show, and there was no further reclusive behavior.

Erickson commented on this example as follows:

"You see, the girl thought her feet were too large, and in the most beautifully convincing way, I had forced upon her a compliment. If she would grow her feet large enough for a man to see. There was no way of rejecting that compliment. There was no way of disputing. I certainly hadn't been trying to make her feel better. There was nothing for the girl to do but accept the absolute proof that her feet were small. There's no other way.

". . . when you consider a lot of neurotic manifestations, some little traumatic thing will precipitate progressively larger and larger neurosis. Why can't you take the same attitude toward the correction of neurosis? Take something that is in essence a traumatic thing, correctly orient it, and just thrust it upon the person in such a fashion that they have to accept it, and deal with it and incorporate it. . . . The therapeutic trauma." **

We know a lot now about how the brain learns very quickly in states of intense traumatic arousal that create a limited focus of attention in the same way that hypnosis does. Drama can create this intense arousal for positive learning as well.

* Phoenix, by David Gordon and Meyers-Anderson, p. 80.

** Conversations with Milton H. Erickson, Vol. III by Jay Haley, pp. 12-18)

Steve Andreas' email: andreas@qwest.net

WebPages: http://www.steveandreas.com

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By: Dr. Prentice Kinser III, B.A., M.B.A., M.Div., D.Min., CPC, NBCCH

drkinser@verizon.net

"Hypnosis and Pastoral Hypnotherapy" is a portion of Dr. Prentice Kinser, III's doctoral thesis: "Prophecy, Trance and Transference; Hypnosis as a Pastoral Counseling Modality," presented in June, 1997 at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. After much research into what constitutes the hypnotic state, and why it happens, no single factor can explain all of the phenomenon one may encounter. Actually, "many psychological and physical factors, acting reciprocally through the image-producing faculties of the mind induce the perceptual response called hypnosis. Hypnosis is not a sharply delineated state, but rather a mental process along the broad, fluctuating continuum of what is loosely referred to as awareness, depending upon three degree of perceptivity." (1)

The capacity to enter into hypnosis is as natural a phenomenon as sleep, but It is distinctly different from sleep. Hypnosis has been described as "a state of consciousness involving an extension of concentration combined with a susceptibility to suggestion occurring during physiological relaxation. "(2) Another definition I find useful is: "Hypnosis is a process which produces relaxation, distraction of the conscious mind, heightened suggestibility and increased awareness, allowing access to the subconscious mind, through the imagination. It also produces the ability to experience thoughts and images as real."(3) My own approach to hypnosis, pastoral hypnotherapy, and treatment comes out of my training and experience in using the therapeutic insights and writings of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. (19011980). From that perspective, hypnosis can be seen as an altered psychological state "generally characterized by certain physiological attributes ( e.g., relaxed muscle tone, reduced blood pressure, slowed breath rate), by an enhanced receptivity to suggestion, and by an increased access to unconscious feelings, ideas, and memories (Erickson, 1989)."(4) Michael D. Yapko, Director of the Milton H. Erickson Institute of San Diego, defines clinical hypnosis as "a process of influential communication, "( 5) and as "a skill of using words and gestures in particular ways to achieve specific outcomes. "(6)

Continue reading "Hypnosis and Pastoral Hypnotherapy" »

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By The INTERLINK Staff

The March 1999 issue of Alternative Therapies journal reported on a study that investigated the efficacy of hypnotherapy in healing bone fractures. The randomized, controlled pilot study examined the rate of healing for 12 subjects with fracture of the ankle. The study was conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. The study was funded by the National Institute of Health; National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.

Continue reading "Hypnosis Found to Facilitate Healing of Bone Fractures" »

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How well does hypnotherapy work?

Psychoanalysis: 38% recovery after 600 sessions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: 72% recovery after 22 sessions.

Hypnotherapy: 93% recovery after 6 sessions.

Source: American Health Magazine

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A Review of Visual/Kinesthetic Disassociation in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Disorders:

Theory, Efficacy and Practice Recommendations

Anne M. Dietrich, M.A.
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada

ABSTRACT

In this article, the literature on the Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) technique of Visual/Kinesthetic Disassociation (V/KD) is reviewed in relation to the treatment of Posttraumatic sequelae. An overview of the V/KD technique is provided, along with postulated mechanisms of change, based on current theory and research in the field of PTSD. Three published reports -- two case studies and one, uncontrolled, small-n study -- are reviewed in terms of treatment effectiveness for Posttraumatic sequelae. Currently, the V/KD technique is rated as an experimental approach, according to the American Psychological Association's Division 12 Task Force (1995) report and recommendations on empirically validated psychological treatments. Recommendations for use of exposure-based treatments with traumatized populations are provided.

This paper is published with permission provided to Ron Klein, NBCCH Executive Director by the the author.

Training in the Visual Kinesthetic procedure:

American Hypnosis Training Academy

NLP Center of New York

Southern Institute of NLP

Continue reading "Visual/Kinesthetic Disassociation in the treatment of Posttraumatic Disorders" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 11:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By: Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

Potential clients ask, "What is your success rate?" To me, knowing my success rate means tracking clients and maintaining statistics on them over time. In a solo practice, that is just not feasible, even though I do encourage client feedback when our sessions together have come to an end. I know that my programs for smoking cessation and weight control have high success rates, because the results are immediately available, and I see many clients in those two programs. In fact, a minimum weight reduction of 12 pounds is built right into the structure of my Motivational Strategies weight reduction program!

Usually, when new clients ask about my success rate, they are usually asking about my success rate for their particular problem. I see such a wide variety of people in my practice that trying to keep statistics for every type of problem would be a momentous task indeed, and would not yield data that could be considered "scientifically significant."

I tell clients It makes more sense to me to spend my time seeing clients, marketing my services, and improving my skills, than keeping statistics. I can tell you that most of my clients report good results, refer their friends and family to me, return for additional services, and send me letters and cards year after year thanking me for my help.

Continue reading "Maximize Your Results!" »

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By: Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

To me, counseling and coaching is about helping people not only solve some problems of daily living, but about helping people get more out of living. Do you want a life that is rich, meaningful, and fulfilling? Do you want to take charge of your choices and live life "on purpose" with a sense of direction? If so, then it might help you to take some quiet time to answer some really big questions.

Continue reading "The Ten Most Important Qestions You'll Ever Answer " »

Posted by Ron Klein at 2:28 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The perception of the client the therapist holds in mind is the prophecy the client will fulfill.

When the client and the therapist hold the same perception of the client in mind, the fulfilling of the shared prophecy is inevitable.

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The Time Magazine March 27, 2006 issue has a feature article about the use of hypnosis as anesthesia during surgery. To read the Time article click HERE.

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By: Bill O'Hanlon

There's something extraordinary about Dr. Erickson...

There is continued interest in the work of Milton Erickson, M.D., as evidenced by the proliferation of books, tapes, workshops and conferences on his approaches. Who was this man and why are people so interested in his work?

Milton Erickson was a psychiatrist (he also held an M.A. in Psychology) who developed many innovative ways of dealing with resistance in therapy, of doing hypnosis and psychotherapy, and (most importantly perhaps) of utilizing the skills and abilities that people already possess to accomplish therapeutic results. Dr. Milton had polio twice and spent his final years in a wheelchair, finally succumbing to complications from the resulting muscular deterioration in March 1980. Since the time of his death, there has been even greater interest in trying to replicate and understand his techniques and approaches. Many consider him the originator of the paradigm shift which has let to the advent of brief solution-focused psychotherapy.

Continue reading "Milton Erickson, M.D. - An Uncommon Therapist" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 12:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Your clients may be Eligible to get a tax credit or deduction for their Weight Loss and/or Smoking Cessation Hypnotherapy Programs with an I.R.S. ! Tax laws passed for 2003 onwards mean clients could possibly get a tax credit for money paid for smoking programs. If they do not qualify for the credit, they may be able to claim Stop Smoking programs as a medical deduction.

Clients may also be able to claim weight loss programs as a medical deduction if advised by a physician to lose weight. Tax credits are credits on taxes! Medical deductions are medical expenses claimed that exceed 7.5% of gross annual income.

Continue reading "Tax Deduction or Credit for Stop Smoking and Weight Control" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 5:49 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By: Phyllis Watts, Ph.D.

Psychology and managed care are engaged in a conversation. It is a national conversation and an incredible one. The discussion, conversation, argument is not only about economics or the industrialization of health care. It is, at its deepest level, a conversation about soul--a fight for the soul of our profession. And, I believe that unless we can come to see that, we will miss the essence of what is happening and our deeper role in this unfolding drama.

Continue reading "Are We Becoming a Soulless Profession " »

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By: Charles M. Citrenbaum, Ph.D.

Inside this article:

* What is Hypnosis?
* What is a trance?
* How does hypnosis work?
* What is self-hypnosis?
* What is Clinical Hypnosis helpful or useful for?
* Can anyone be hypnotized?
* What about the level or depth of trance?
* Will I cluck like a chicken?
* Is hypnosis like being asleep?
* Is hypnosis like transcendental meditation?
* Is trance and relaxation the same thing?
* Can someone not wake up from hypnosis or trance?
* Are hypnosis and biofeedback the same?
* What about all these hypnosis clinics?
* Hypnosis for cigarette smoking cessation and diet control
*
Just what is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a word that means one person helping another to experience a trance. This trance experience "belongs" to the person or patient, so really all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.

Continue reading "Modern Clinical Hypnosis" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 8:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.

"You are going deeper-deeper." How many times a day does a hypnotherapist say these words? Would you like to add some variety to your deepening methods? Here are 18 things to say to induce and deepen hypnotic trance. Each item on the list has a short script (in italics) as an example. You will recognize several hypnotic language patterns. Keep in mind that some methods overlap. Read all the scripts in the entire list sequentially and you will have an effective trance induction for relaxation.

Continue reading "18 Ways to Induce and Deepen Hypnotic Trance" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 12:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

by: Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

There are many conceptual models within traditional psychotherapeutic
models which seek to understand the nature of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD). These models are helpful in describing and categorizing
the way in which the disorder presents itself in panic, dissociation,
hallucinations and other phenomena, but they are not so helpful in
providing resolution to deeply-held shock and terror which is usually at
the root of the presenting symptoms.

Continue reading "Hypnotherapy and PTSD" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 3:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

By: Ron Klein

Over the years I have come to believe that one of the most important values Dr. Milton H. Erickson held was, "keep it simple." He regularly suggested that his students interrupt or break the habitual sets of their patients. Moreover, many of his interventions seem designed to simply change the order or syntax of their patterns of thinking and/or behavior.

Continue reading "Strategic Pattern Interruption" »

Posted by Ron Klein at 3:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Or, One Way that Hypnosis Contributes to a Training for Happiness

By: Nancy Montagna, Ph.D.

John loses in a game of tennis and finds himself depressed afterwards. "I am no good at sports," he is thinking, "Why do I even bother? I am a loser." These thoughts and others like them pass through his mind, barely noticed. Later that day, still feeling bad, he begs out of a plan to watch the Academy awards at a friend's house. The friend had wanted to introduce him to someone he might like to date. He reasons, "I am not in the best frame of mind to meet someone. No one would like a loser." As weeks go by he finds he is no longer interested in playing tennis.

I am a Clinical Psychologist with a private practice. Long before 1997 when the research field of "Positive Psychology" was launched by eminent researcher and then president of the American Psychological Assiocation, Martin Seligman, Ph.D., my approach was solution-focused and positive. I took all of the levels of training in NLP and Hypnosis offered by Ron Klein at the American Hypnosis Training Academy (AHTA), and was delighted with the many effective, positive tools I learned. I am also a National Board Diplomate Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. Of the many effective approaches I learned at AHTA, the "well-formed outcome" and the search through the client's experience to access resources that are needed to solve the person's problem have been most powerful. Also importantly, both turn the clients' mind-set from the problem toward the solution and how to use their own strengths to achieve desired outcomes.

Continue reading "The Happy Hypnotist" »

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