CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
HYPNOTHERAPY AND NON-VERBAL
11
COMMUNICATION
Proposal for a course for students in the
Counseling and Guidance Program at
California State University, Northridge
A graduate project submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in
Educational Psychology,
Counseling and Guidance
by
lr1ichael Aharoni
August, 1979
The Thesis of Michael Aharoni is approved:
oe McNair, Ph.D.
Art Charlap-Hyman, Ph.D.
Marvin Chernoff, Ph.D.
Chairperson
California State University, Northridge
.-
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people for the
help they have given me.
Dr. Marvin Chernoff, for encouraging me to go
through the program and giving me great experiences in the
program.
Dr. Dave Dobson, my friend, who believed in me and
taught me so much about hypnosis.
Richard Bandler and John Grinder, for teaching me
the art and magic of non-verbal communication.
The students who took the course, trusted in me,
and made the course such a pleasant experience.
Last, but foremost, Bonnie--for being so supportive and patient with me, especially during the time I
researched and wrote this project.
iii
PREFACE
The Prince and the Magician
Once upon a time there was a young prince who
believed in all things but three.
He did not believe in
princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not
believe in God.
His father, the king, told him that such
things did not exist.
As there were no princesses or
islands in his father's domains, and no sign 6£ God, the
prince believed his father.
But then, one day, the prince ran away from his
palace and came to the next land.
There, to his astonish-
ment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these
islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not
name.
As he was searching for a boat, a man in full
evening dress approached him along the shore.
"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.
"Of course they are real islands," said the man in
evening dress.
"And those strange and troubling creatures?"
"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."
"Then God must als.o exist!" cried the prince.
"I am God," replied the man in evening dress, with
a bow.
The young man returned home as quickly as he could.
iv
"So, you are back," said his father, the king.
"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I
have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
"Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a
real God exist."
"I saw them!"
"Tell me how God was dressed."
'"God was in full evening dress."
"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"
The prince remembered that they had been.
The
king smiled.
"That is the uniform of a magician.
You have been
deceived."
At this, the prince returned to the next land and
went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the
man in full evening dress.
"My father, the king, has told me who you are,"
said the prince indignantly.
but not again.
"You deceived me last time,
Now I know that those are not real islands
and real princesses, because
yo~
are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled.
"It is you who are deceived, my boy.
In your
father's kingdom, there are many islands and many
princesses.
But you are under your father's spell, so you·
cannot see them."
v
The prince pensively returned home.
When he saw
his father, he looked him in the eye.
"Father, is it true that you are not a real king,
but only a magician?"
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
"Yes, my son, I'm only a magician."
"Then the man on the other shore was God."
"The man on the other shore was another magician."
"I must know the truth, the truth, beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was full of sadness.
He said, "I will
kill myself."
The king by magic caused death to appear. Death
stood in the door and beckoned to the prince.
shuddered.
The prince
He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands
and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
"Very well," he said, "I can bear it."
"You see, my son," said the king, "you, too, now
begin to be a magician."
Reprinted from The Magus, by John Fowles,
Dell Publishing Co., Inc.;pp. 499-500.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
••. ••. •••. . . •. . . ••. •••. ••••. ••. . ••
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . • . .
iii
PREFACE. . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . • • . . . . . . . . .
iv
ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •
viii
~1?1?~()\7~
1?1\(;~
. ..•
~
Chapter
1.
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . .. . .
1
2.
HYPNOTHERAPY AND NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION...
6
Introduction. . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • .
Background:
Hypnosis as a Therapeutic
Mod a 1 it y . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Definition................................
Misconceptions............................
Conscious vs. Subconscious................
Depth of Hypnotic Trance..................
Suggestibility Tests......................
Hypnotic Techniques.......................
Post-Hypnotic Suggestions.................
Non-Verbal Communication..................
6
24
RECO&~NTDATIONS..
31
BIBLIOGRAPHY.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
35
3.
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND
6
9
11
11
15
16
18
22
APPENDIXES
A.
COURSE OUTLINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . • . • . . . . . . .
39
B..
BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . • •
41
C.
HYPNOTHERAPY HANDOUTS.......................
49·
D.
SELECTED CLASS COMMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . •
61
vii
ABSTRACT
HYPNOTHERAPY AND NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
Proposal for a course for students in the
Counseling and Guidance Program at
California State University, Northridge
by
Michael Aharoni
Master of Arts in Educational Psychology,
Counseling and Guidance
The purpose of this project was to develop a course
in the areas of hypnotherapy and non-verbal communication
for the graduate students in the Counseling and Guidance
Program at California State University, Northridge.
It
was developed to acquaint students with these areas that
are useful as tools in individual and family counseling.
The reasons for developing such a course were:
1)
The areas of hypnotherapy and non-verbal·communication
are not given sufficient attention in the Counseling and
Guidance Program, and 2)
students expressed an interest
viii
in gaining skills in these fields.
The course was taught in a seminar fashion by the
author over a six-week period.
attended.
Seventeen students
Specific theories and topics were presented
and discussed, along with practical experience in eac~~
area.
An extensive course outline was developed for
teaching this information in a three-unit course.
The response of the students to the class was
determined through the use of an evaluation form and
student's personal comments regarding the class.
It was concluded that there is a definite
n~ed
for
such a course in this program and that students would like
to see such a course offered by the Educational Psychology
Department as a three-unit course ..
ix
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The two year master's degree Counseling and
Guidance Program at California ·state University, Northridge
is designed to prepare students to become counselors.
This program focuses on a variety of theories and techniques.
Most of the techniques are traditional and
include such theories as Freudian, Adlerian, Gestalt,
Jungian, and Behaviorism.
In the past ten years there have· been many new
discoveries and advances in the fields of hypnotherapy and
non-verbal communication.
More and more, psychologists
and counselors are searching for information in order to
use these tools in their work.
Currently, there are very
few places which offer the students or professionals
quality training in these areas.
Most of the available
courses and seminars are expensive and are often taught by
inexperienced people and organizations.
In reviewing the Counseling and Guidance Program
at California State University,.Northridge, I discovered
·that these two very impor£ant_areas are not given
sufficient attention in this program. ·The problem,
therefore, becomes:
Where and how does the student, who
1
2
is going to become a counselor, get the training in these
areas that are becoming increasingly important in therapy.
There were several reasons why I chose to do this
project.
First, in giving lectures and demonstrations to
Education Psychology classes, I found the response to be
largely favorable by both students and faculty.
Secondly,
training in these two important areas are currently not
available in this program.
Thirdly, as a practicing
hypnotherapist, I .found these tools to be extremely
helpful in doing counseling with individuals as well as
with groups.
I have been interested in the area of hypnosis for
many years.
My curiosity led me to numerous books and
articles written
~n
the subject.
The successful use of
self-hypnosis for personal growth, led me to devote a
great deal of time and energy in developing my-knowledge
in this area.
This included studying privately for one
and one-half years with Dr. David Dobson, Hypnotherapist;
attending numerous workshops and lectures, including those
given by the Southern California Society of Clinical
Hypnotists; the Professional Hypnotist's Association; as
.
.
well as individual training sessions with Erika Fromm,
Ph.D., William Kroger, M.D., and many others.
I was also accepted by the Southern California
Society of Clinical Hypnotists, in 1975, as a student
member, and was certified by the Professional Hypnotist's
3
in 1975, as a student member, and was certified by the
Professional Hypnotist's Association as a professional
hypnotist in 1976.
In 1976, I was introduced to non-verbal communication and system theories that were developed and taught
by Milton Erickson, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, and
Virginia Satir.
Further advanced training was received
from Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the use of nonverbal communication and hypnotherapy techniques to be used
with clients in clinical and medical situations.
In the past five and a half years, I have worked
with hundreds of. people using the above techniques with a
high degree of success.
This has included treating people
for such conditions as:
anxiety, nervousness, depression,
we.ight problems; habit control, sexual dysfunctions,
migraine headaches, ulce.rs, insomnia, and communication
problems.
In recent years, I have offered seminars and
lectures in the areas of hypnosis and non-verbal communication to students in the field of Psychology, as well as
to the lay person.
Students of Psychology were often very eager to
learn more and were interested in where they could receive
more extensive training and practice in these fields.
For the past three years, I have given lectures
and demonstrations to many classes in this program.
Several things became apparent to me in giving these
4
lectures;
1)
Students knew nothing or very little qbout
these subjects; 2) they wanted to know more; and 3) they
wished that courses on these subjects were readily
available to them.
In the Fall of 1978, I decided to develop and offer
a course on these subjects to the Educational Psychology
students as part of my graduate project.
I
received a great deal of encouragement from the
committee's chair person, Dr. Harvin Chernoff, the
department's chair
students.
p~rson,
Dr. Rie Mitchell, and fellow
I felt that this was one approach for intro-
ducing this type of course into the program and for
determining the student's reaction to such a course.
This project was designed with three considerations
in mind;
1) To acquaint graduate students in the Coun-
seling and Gpidance Program with some basic skills in the
areas of Hypnosis and Non-verbal Communication, 2) to
evaluate the response from the students in order to
determine whether or not such a course should be offered
as part of the program, and 3) to develop a course outline
that would be appropriate for graduate students in the
Counseling and Guidance
Progr~.
The course included a variety of topiCs in the
areas o.f hypnosis and non-verbal communication.
Some of
the topics discussed were·hypnotic techniques, resistance,
medical uses of hypnosis, clinical uses of hypnosis, time
.I
5
distortion, suggestibility tests, representational systems,
incongruity,.and more.
They were discussed in detail, and
in· some cases demonstrated to the c.lass as well as
practiced by the students.
Due to the limitation of this
paper, only a sample of some topics. and the way in which I
taught the class is included in the following chapter of
this paper.
Also included in the next chapter are refer-
ences from which material was gathered and presented.
A complete course outline is presented in Appendix
A.
The outline is divided into the two areas and is
including techniques, phenomenon, cases, handouts, and
practical experience in class.
A sample of various hand-
outs distributed in class is given in Appendix C.
I would
like to emphasize that many papers on each area of the
outline, including clinical and experimental case studies,
are available for handing ou:t in class, .but it is beyond
the scope of this paper to include all of them.
CHAPTER II
HYPNOTHERAPY AND NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The following is a basic sample of the way in which
the course was conducted.
This section will focus on the
material presented in the class, which is based on research
and clinical work done by such people as Milton Erickson,
Bandler and Grinder, J. Haley, Kroger, and LeCron, as well
as my own clinical and medical experience in the use of
hypnosis.
Due to the limitation of this paper and for clarity,
it is impossible to include some of the process of the
class interaction and the exact sequence in which some of
the material was presented.
Also for clarity, the outline
was divided into separate areas, beginning with basic
understanding and leading to more advanced techniques and
phenomenon.
Background:
Hypnosis as a Therapeutic Modality
The evolution of hypnosis as a therapeutic
. modaii ty has been going on for thousands of years with a ·
great deal of controversy.
1967)
(Kroger~
1964, and Wolberg,
To this day, experts on the subject· disagree on
theoretical and experimental grounds as to what hypnosis
6
7 .
is or is not.
In the past, hypnosis has been used as
magic by "magicians" and "witches" as a means to influence
people, as well as by philosophers, religious leaders,
politicians, and faith healers to cure illness.
Although the word "hypnosis" was coined by Dr.
Braid in the.l700's, the technique for hypnotizing a
subject is basically the same now as it was thousands of
years ago.
Hypnosis has been hailed as the only effective
method for treating emotional problems by some; for others,
it has been held as a fraud.
Freud himself, began as a
clinical hypnotist, then renounced the techniques.
led other clinicians in Europe to do the same.
This
Freud,
however, re-discovered the uses of hypnosis just before his
death.
Hypnosis has been the property of medicine,
psychiatry, charlatans, and show business.
It is not
necessary for this course to trace in depth the history of
this subject.
Many books have been devoted to this task
and a list of such books appear on the Recommended Reading
List that was distributed to the class (Appendix B).
Hypnosis, whatever its course has been, is now
recognized as a valuable therapeutic adjunct.
By the
1970's hypnosis had been officially endorsed as a therapeutic modality by medical, dental, psychiatric, a.nd
psychological associations throughout the world (Encyclopedia Britanica:
The New Macropedia, 1974).
While experimentalists still argue as to a precise
8
definition of hypnosis, clinicians are recognizing its
value as an additional and powerful therapeutic
resolutions on the desirability of teaching hypnosis in
recently as 1977, the only
I
tool.~oth
the British and American Medical Associations have passed
medical schools (Marcuse, 1974).
I
In California, until as
professional mental health
I
l
helpers who could not use hypnosis legally were licensed
Marriage, Family and Child Counselors.
The Board of
Behavioral Sciences which regulates licensing for Marriage,
Family and Child Counselors changed that ruling in January,
1977 to allow the use of hypnosis.
Many police departments, including the Los Angeles
Police Department, now use hypnosis to aid witnesses and
officers in recalling important
details~
In California, as well as many other states, there
are a number of professional societies dedicated to
promoting hypnosis as a therapeutic modality.
\
t
\
\.i
One such
\
\\
group is the Los Angeles County Association of Clinical
\
Hypnosis, a division of the American Society of Clinical
I
I
Hypnosis, which is a component of The American Medical
Association.
Another is the Southern California·· Society
of Clinical Hypnosis, open only to physicians, dentists,
j
f
I
l
i
N
and psychologists.
(I was privileged to be accepted by.
this society in 1975 as a student member.)
A third group
is the California Professional Hypnotist Association, a
state chartered organization which is devoted to the task
I
I
9
of upgrading hypnosis as a modality and hypnotists
professionals.
as
(In 1976 I was certified by this associ-
atlon as a "Professional Hypnotist.")
Such organizations
clearly establish the acceptance of hypnosis as a therapeutic modality within the helping profession.
It is
important to keep in mind that ..• "Hypnosis is of itself a
tool and not a therapy"
(Cooke & Von Vogt, 1965, p. 53).
Definition
The purpose here is to consolidate and report to
you upon the most widely accepted and used definitions of
hypnosis and the hypnotic states.
Let me caution you not
to accept these definitions as complete, all encompassing,
or exact. The argument as to what hypnosis is or is not
still goes on, and will probably continue for years to
come.
However, through years of case reports , theoretica·l
debate and discussion, and experimentations, certain
common aspects have been agreed upon and are now·held
universal.
Hypnosis is considered to be a state of heightened
suggestibility and concentration, "a condition of emotional
readiness, during which, perceptual alterations can be
induced~
•• an altered state of organism in which suggestion
is more effective than usual" (Marcuse, 19 59, p. 7} .
. Characteristics cons.idered typical of the hypnotic
state include alterations in thinking, disturbed time
sense, perceptual changes, and changes in emotional
10
reactions.
Kroger has stated that hypnosis is "a
restructuring in perceptual and object relationships.
This
involves a reorganizationof what constitutes reality for
the subject 11
(Kroger, 1963, p. 7).
Milton Erickson, M.D.,
who is considered to be the most notable hypnotherapist.
today, and one whom I refer to in class most often, defines
hypnosis as
11
nothing more than a special state of conscious
awareness in which certain chosen behaviors of everyday
life are manifested in a direct manner usually with the
aid of another person; however, i t is possible to be selfhypnotized.
Hypnosis is a special, but normal type of
behavior, encountered when attention and thinking processes.
are directed to the body of experiencial learning and
acquired from or achieved in the experience of living."
(EriGkson, 1970).
Barber reports that the hypnotic state results in,
or results from, deep muscle and emotional relaxation with
the subjects often reporting that they experienced feelings
of well being and peace.
While in the hypnot'ic state, the
subject becomes relatively inattentive to the general
environment
(Barber, 1957).
Let me suggest to you that since people are hardly
ever in a constant state of consciousness, then thehypnotic state is a very natural phenomenon.
11
(/Misconceptions:
\
There are many misconceptions held by the public
today.
These misconceptions are not only shared by the
lay person, but also by professional people such as
physicians, psychologists, lawyers, etc.
It is extremely
important th<;tf/~ hypnotist not only explain what hypnosis
/
i
is, but also what it isn't.
The s'irnplest wayto find out the misconceptions
held by a client is by asking him what he thinks hypnosis
is.
In most cases the client will have some ideas about
hypnosis.
Although some will be accurate, others will be
based on misconceptions.
In some cases the client will
claim that he does not know anything about what hypnosis
is.
In either case, I believe it is the hypnotist's
responsibility to clear as
think of.
m~ny
misconceptions as he can
Some of the misconceptions typically brought up
by most people are:
"Hypnotized people lose consciousness";
"Hypnosis weakens the will"; "Losing control";"Hypnosis
is like magic"; and "A hypnotist can make a subject do and
say things which are against his basic belief and morals".
These misconceptions need to be clarified and explained ..
Conscious vs. Subconscious
Over the years, in working with people, I find it
important for the client to understand some basic
di;fferences between the conscious and the subconscious
12
mind.
In order to establish____a_common understanding of how
the mind operates, consider the following explanation:
The conscious mind is the part of us that is responsible
for analyzing information.
It is where we do our critical
thinking and logical reasoning.
Some researchers now
believe that these tasks are produced by the left hemisphere. of the brain.
· The subconscious, on the other hand, does not
analyze.
It takes information literally.
For example,
if I were to ask a person in hypnosis, "Can you tell me
what time it is?", he will probably answer, "yes" or "no."
A person out of hypnosis will answer by giving the actual
time.
The subconscious also controls all of our automatic
physical functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood
flow, chemical changes, and energy flow.
It is also
responsible for changes ·in feelings and emotions.
Since the subconscious mind does not use logic, it
operates largely on images.
Dr. Maxwell Maltz,· in his
book Psycho-Cybernetics, compares the inner mind to a
computer.
Every experience we have from the moment of
birth is recorded in that computer and is affecting our
behavior in one way or another.
..
t.~at
Some .experiments show
it might be that even pre-natal experiences are
recorded and.are responsible for some of our behavior.
The following is one case that may help to demonstrate hmv powerful the subconscious is.
In a seminar I
13
attended that was given by the Southern California Society
of Clinical Hypnotist-s, Dr. Ray LaScola, M.D.
1
a well-
known hypnotherapist 1 reported a case where a 28 year old
male patient had become blind at the age of six for no ·
apparent reason.
After becoming blind, the.child was taken
to eye·specialists,·psychologists, and other clinics
wi thou·t success. · None of the. doctors who were consul ted
were able to find any physical reason for his blindness.
After a number of sessions, training. the patient t.o go into
hypnosis, Dr. LaScola regressed the patient to the time
just previous to the blindness and asked him to describe
what he saw happening.
The patient described ·that he was
outside at the time and a house in the neighborhood was
on·fire.
The people living in the house were able to get
out safely 1 but through the second-floo.r window he could
see.the family's dog.
Unable to get out, the dog caught
on fire and at that moment the boy said to himself,
can't look at that," "I can't see that."
he became blind.
11
I
At that moment,
According to LaScola, the boy accepted
the suggestion literally, by passing the critical portion
of his mind and therefore, literally, became blind.
In
the following sessions, Dr. LaScola was·able to help the
. patient. regain his vision by re-programming his
11
computer 11
to take the suggestions analytically rather than literally.
According to Pavlov's conditioning response theory,
we are conditioned to react through repetition and associ-
14
ation.
Hypnosis is only one way by which one can learn
to enter the subconscious mind and begin to understand and
control some of his conditioned behaviors.
Most people can understand the concept of
electricity more easily than the concept of how_mind energy
works.
Dr. D. Dobson, a former associate of mine, used the·
concept of electricity as an analogy to mind energy as
follows:
generator
wires
S'i¥i tches/plugs
=
=
=
mind
nerve fibers
muscles/fantacies
One must have a source of energy, a generator, to
create electricity.
The electricity is then moved through
insulated wires tc such locations as a house.
The wires
are connected to switches and plug outlets so that the
energy can be used by people.
neither good or bad.
Electricity by itself is
It could be used to light a bulb,
which is a positive outcome, or it could be used to hurt
or even kill a person by touching the wires.
is very similar.
·Mind energy
The energy flows to the muscles via the
nervous system and the results can either be positive or
negative.
Muscles can be used for such activities as
walking, writing, ·and playing tennis, or for headaches,
ulcers, and tension.
According to Erickson, LeCron, and otherresearchers
whenever the will (conscious) and the imagination
(subconscious) are at odds with each other, the imagination,
15 .
or subconscious, always wins.
I found this to be true in
my practice.
Depth of Hypnotic Trance:
Kroger (1963), LeCron (1964 & 1968) and Van Pelt
(1950) divide the state of hypnosis into three categories.
These categories are based on the depth of the trance and
are classified as light, medium, and deep trances.
There
is no "fine line" between each state.
They claim that there are some common phenomena
that are generally attributed to each state.
A light
trance is usually associated with; relaxation, eye closure,
slowing of muscle activity and the ability to perform
simple post-hypnotic suggestions.
A medium trance is
associated with glove anesthesia, partial amnesia, and
catalepsy.
A deep trance is associated with ability to
open eyes without affecting the trance, post-hypnotic
anesthesia, positive and negative hallucinations; time
distortion and age regression.
These phenomena, we will learn to recognize and
achieve in class through observations and practical
experience.
Although certain phenomena are generally
characteristic of each of the three states of depth,
individual responses of course, may vary.
You will now learn a method of recognizing the
depth of your own hypnotic state.
This will be done by
providing the whole class an opportunity to enter into a
16 '
hypnotic state.
(After approximately fifteen minutes of
hypnotic induction, they were told the following) :
" .•• Now that you are relaxed and more comfortable,
I would like you to imagine a scale of 6 to 30.
0 repre-
sents being out of hypnosis and 30 represents·the deepest
hypnotic state possible.
In a minute I will count from 1
to 3 and snap my fingers.
The second I snap my fingers,
a number on that scale will appear in your mind automatically.
This number will represent how deep you were oh
this scale.
You will remember this number after you come
outofhypnosis ...
(pause) ... l, 2, 3, snap ... (pause)."
This method of recognizing the depth of a hypnotic
state was developed by Davis and Husband, as reported in
the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 26:175,1931.
Suggestibility Tests:
Suggestibility tests were developed over the years
by state and experimental hypnotists.
It is a quick and
simple way to recognize how easily one will go into
hypnosis.
The tests are also used at times to "convince"
or "prove" to the subject that he is.in a hypnotic state.
Some of the common tests that are in usetoday
are; arm levitation, swaying, hand clasp, and eye closure.
It must be remembered, according to Erickson and
LeCrOn, that these tests are only generalizations, therefore there are some people who will not respond to a
1.7
suggestibility test, but who will still prove to be a
good hypno·tic subject.
It is also possible for a person
to respond to one suggestibility test and not to another.
We will practice all of these tests and you are
encouraged to practice with other people outside of the
class.
All of the above four suggestibility tests will
be detailed and experienced in class·.
The most commonly
used test of suggestibility is the arm levitation test.
The following are typical suggestions given for achieving
arm levitation:
" ... Sit comfortably in your chair. Let your
eyes close. Now concentrate on both of your hands
and arms ... notice the sensations in your hands .. .
You might find your hands feeling tingly or numb .. .
warm or cool ... or maybe other sensations ...
(pause). As you concentrate, you'll soon begin
to feel one of your hands getting lighter and
lighter {pause) ... lighter and lighter. It's
becoming so light that is feels as light as
a feather ... (pause) ... Soon your hand will begin
to lift up ••. higher and higher ... higher and
higher (pause) ... If you'd like, you might
imagine a very large balloon, filled with
helium, above you ... A string is attached to
the balloon and the other end of the string
is tied to your wrist ... (pause~ .. Now see
the balloon going up higher and higher ... "
The above suggestions are repeated, with some
variety in the wording, for about seven minutes.
(By the
end of this time, most of the students had one of their
arms up in the air.
The speed in which the arm lifted
and the height are fairly good indicators of how easily
the subject will go into hypnosis.)
18
~pnotic
Techniques:
There are probably as many hypnotic techniques as
there are hypnotists.
In this course you will learn
approximately ten of the most common techniques used today
by myself as well as by Erickson, Bandler and Grinder,
and others.
I would like you to keep in mind at this point
that in reality, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.
You are
not hypnotizing a subject, rather you are helping and
teaching your subject how to reach the state of hypnosis.
The technique that is used most often (and is
probably the simplest) is based on suggestions of relaxation.
I would like to demonstrate to you how this is
done by putting the entire group into hypnosis using this
technique.
We will discuss your experiences and reactions
after you come out of the state.
Right now, I would like each of you to get into a
comfortable position.
(At this point everyone iri the room
made some change in his body position.
I pointed out to
the class how most of us are conditioned to sit in a
position which is not the most comfortable and relaxing to
us.)
Now that you are more comfortable, I would like you
to do nothing but simply to listen to my voice and follow
some of the simple suggestions that I will give.
Most
people, in their first experience with hypnosis, are
concerned about several things.
These generally are; "Am
19
I doing it right?," "How deep am I into hypnosis?," and
"Did I understand the suggestions?"
I would like you,
for this experience, to simply have an attitude that
whatever happens happens.
You will only go as deep into
hypnosis as you will allow yourself to go.
{This statement
gives the subject permission to go into hypnosis rather
than forcing it on him.)
Now that I have your attention,
I will begin to take you into as deep a state as you
would like to go:
" •.. Now take a couple of deep breaths and exhale
slowly, (pause) ....... If your eye lids are still
open, let them close so that you may feel more
relaxed.
(pause) .... Let other sounds in the room
go into the background as if they were "background
music." Begin to notice how your body feels, the
kind of sensations you have, ..... You will probably
begin to feel some heaviness and some tingly
sensations .... (pause) ... You are now becoming
more and more relaxed, perhaps you are feeling
the pleasant sensations of your body as you
begin feeling more and more tired and relaxed ...
You continue to go deeper and deeper.and become
more and more relaxed ... with every breath that
you take, you are becoming more and more relaxed ..•
every word I say takes you down deeper and deeper ...
Don't try too hard, just let yourself go. You'll
be able to hear my voice at all times ... You
will continue to go deeper until I bring you
back up again ... ! will now take you into a
deeper state of hypnosis.
I would like you
to imagine an elevator (before the induction;
I asked if anyone had a fear of elevators. No
one did.)
You are on the lOth floor, waiting
for the elevator door to open and take you
down to the first floor (pause) ... Now the door
opens and you walk into the elevator ... Facing
the door, you push the number 1 to your right ...
As the elevator begins to go down, I will call
out the floor number ... with each floar, you
will go deeper .... 9 ... going deeper .... B••..
7 ..•• more and more relaxed .... 6 .... 5 ... .
4 ..•. going deeper .... 3 .... 2 •.. almost there ...
20
••• l .... just letting go and becoming more relaxed ...
Just let the elevator disappear now and notice
how pleasant you feel .... (pause) .... I will now
count from 1 to 10. With every number I count,
You will bring yourself up .... By the time I
get to 10 you will open your eyes and be wide
awake, alert, and refreshed .... l,2,3,4,5,6,7,
8, 9, arid 10 ... Wide awake. "
(The suggestions in the above technique were
repeated several times with different wording.
It took
approximately twenty minutes to complete the induction.)
This demonstration is only one version of the
relaxation technique.
I urge students to be creative
when employing suggestions.
For example, one can substi-
tute an escalator for the elevator, or a black-board with
the number 10 to 1.
in books such as:
One can find o·ther complete versions
Self-Hypnotism, LeCron, 1964, Hypnotism
Today, LeCron and Bordeaux, 1947, and Techniques of Psychotherapy, Wolberg, 1967.
Milton Erickson has developed a technique which is
called the "confusion technique."
This technique has a
high degree of success when done correctly, although it
is very difficult to master.
It requires a great deal of
practice, a good understanding of human behavior, and a
great deal of concentration on
t~e
part of the hypnotist.
It is a play on words or communication of some sort that
introduces progressively an element of confusion into the
question of what is meant, thereby leading to -an inhibition
ofresponses called for.
As an example:
"If it isn't
21
not raining then it is raining," or "I am here and you are
not here and New York is not here, so you must be in New
York because you are there, not here and New York is there,
not here"
(Haley, 1967).
(For a more detailed explanation
and other examples of this technique, I would refer the
reader to J. Haley's book, Advanced Techniques ofHypnosis
and Therapy, pages 130-157).
There is one more induction technique that I would
like to describe in this paper.
This technique was
presented to the class in the same manner as all the others,
through demonstration and discussion.
The technique is
called the "Non-Verbal Technique" and is used by Bahdler
and Grinder, Erickson, and Virginia Satir, with individuals
as well as. with families in therapy.
The principle behind
this technique is that we give many non-verbal messages,
while communicating, without being aware of them (tone of
voice, body posture, social expression, etc.).
Erickson discovered, in 1959, that he could
hypnotize people through pantomime.
By using body
language, gestures, social expressions, etc., he hypnotized
a woman who did not speak a word of English at a meeting
of an American Society of Clinical Hypnosis in Mexico
. (Erickson 1 1964).
Virginia Satir, a well-known family therapist,
describes in her book Peoplemaking, 1972, how she does
family therapy by making the family aware of the non-verbal
22
messages given and received by family members.
She
separates people's responses.into four patterns:
Placate,
blame, distract and compute.
In my experiences I found that I was able to
hypnotize a subject by first pacing his behavior (body
language) and then by leading him into hypnosis by giving
non-verbal messages of being tired and relaxed (behaviors
such as yawning, lowering and softening the tone of voice,
closing the eye lids, etc.}.
Post-hypnotic Suggestions
One of the most important and interesting hypnotic
phenomena is post-hypnotic suggestion, whereby we are able
to transfer all the conditions of a trance to the waking
state.·
We can take advantage of this phenomena by
implanting suggestions in the mind during hypnosis to take
effect later in time (LeCrone and Bordeaux, 1947).
It is possible, for example, to give a subject
such suggestions as:
"In 10 minutes you will feel very
thirsty and will get up to get a glass of water."
In 10
minutes he will perform the task, very often without.
remembering that he was told to do so.
Instructions to
carry out a suggestion could be designated for weeks,
months or even years in the future.
Many investigators, such a LiebeaUlt and Estabrooks
report that in some cases post-hypnotic suggestions lasted
for as long as twenty years later.
Patten conducted tests
23
on the duration of post-hypnotic suggestions.
From his
investigations, he concluded that several repetitions of
the suggestion tend to lead to its indefinite persistence,
a conditioned reflex having been established (Hull, 1933).
This type of report helps to refute one of the greatest
criticisms of hypnotherapy -. that the effects of the
suggestion wear off rapidly and therefore are
t_~mporary.
Perhaps the most common use of post-hypnotic
suggestion is in quickening later trance induction sessions
by telling the subject to enter a hypnotic state on a
giv~n
signal.
Although we attribute the phenomenon of posthypnotic suggestion to hypnosis, one must _keep in mind that
most
p~ople
function daily on different post-hypnotic
suggestions without ever being "hypnotized."
An example
of this couldbe found in a client who complains of
"over-eating" or "feeling a need to finish everything on
the plate."
Very often we find that such a client is
reacting to a suggestion given to him early in life by his
parents.
Another example is one of a 26 year old client
that came to see me complaining of insomnia.
hypnosis we
~iscovered
Through
that as a child he recited the
prayer, nNow.I lay me down to sleep ••... If I should die
before I wake ..... " every night.
As an adult, he was
24
reacting to the part of the prayer of possible death
while asleep.
It is important to understand that post-hypnotic
suggestions work best when attached to a specific cue,
such as time (i.e., 8 a.m., 6
p.m~,
etc.) or thing
(i.e., person 1 color, etc.).
I believe that most "neurotic" behaviors were
learned through post-hypnotic experiences or suggestions.
Giving a client positive post-hypnotic suggestions allows
him to have a better choice as to how he will react or
behave in specific situations.
Non-Verbal Communication
Like hypnosis, non-verbal communication has been
around since the beginning of mankind.
Many theories and
research have been developed to understand non-verbal
communica·tion.
Whenever two or more people communicate
with each other, they do so on two levels; 1) Verbal or
conscious, and 2} Non-verbal or subconscious.
In this course we will mostly focus on the new
developments in the area of non-verbal communication which
has been done by Milton Erickson, M.D., Virginia Satir,
and Richard Bandler and John Grinder.
Virginia Satir, writes in her book, Peoplemaking:
"What goes on in· a moment in time between two people has
many more levels than are visible on the surface.
The
25
surface represents only a small portion of what is going
on, much in the same way that only a very small part of an
ic~berg
is visible"
(Satir, 1972).
Satir separates people's responses to avoid the
threat of rejection into four universal patterns:
1)
Placate - To appear helpless so that the
other person will not get angry.
2)
Blame -
3)
Distract- To ignore the threat, as if it
were not there.
4}
Compute - Using big words to establish
self-worth.
To appear strong.
With the above reactions, the body learned to
accomodate these feelings of self-worth and most often
without the individual's conscious knowledge
(Satir, 1972).
Another method of communication, which I find to
be extremely useful in my clinical work,. is Neuro-Linguistic
Programming.
Neuro-Li~guistic
Programming was coined by two
young men in Palo Alto, Richard Bandler and John Grinder.
They developed this method after studying the work of
Milton Erickson in great detail.
Handler and Grinder, in
their 1975 book, The Structure of Magic I, make the point
that there is an irreducible difference between the world
and our experience of it.
directly on the world.
Human beings do not operate
Each individual creates a repre-
sentation of the world in which he lives, that is, he
26
creates a map or model which he uses to generate his
behavior.
His representations of the world determine to
a iarge degree what his experience of the world will be,
how he will perceive the world, and what choices he will
see available to him as he lives in the world.
According to Bandler and Grinder there are physical
phenomena which lie outside the limits of the five sensory
channels.
For example:
sound waves below 20 cycles per
second or above 20,000 cycles per second and wave forms
below 380 and above 680 milli-microns etc.
Therefore, one
way in which one's model of the world is different from
the world itself is that the nervous system systematically
distorts and deletes whole portions· of the real world.
This constitutes the first set of filters which
distinguish the world from one's representation of the
world.
There are two other sets of filters, one is Social
and the other Individual.
In order to understand why some people continue
to cause themselves pain and anguish, i t is important to
realize that they act upon the world with their perception
of the world and, perhaps they do not have enough choices
available to them. · In order for a "people-helper 11 to be
effective, he must not only hear the words, but also must
understand the process of the message on the "Meta-model."
Very often, when a client communicates to the
therapist through the use of language, he only uses the
27
words which describe what is going on in his world.
There
seem to be three general mechanisms by which he does this;
Generalization, Deletion, _and Distortion.
It is therefore
the therapist's task to help the client, through 1-1etamodeling, to become aware of his own model of the world by
manipulating the language processes.
That is to say that
y:ou need to explore with the client the specifics
which
lead to the generalizations, what is deleted, and what and
where the distortion is in the client's story.
In a later book,
~he
Structure of Magic II, Grinder
and Bandler point out that there are three major input
channels by which human beings receive. information about
the world - vision, audition, and kinesthetics.
The information received through one channel may
be stored in the brain in one of the other channels.
For
example; a car crash could create an image of that crash,
or looking at a nude picture could create a kinesthetic
sensation.
In order to describe an experience, people use
the language which corresponds to the experience.
When
one describes a visual experience, he may use words such
as black, clear, spiral, image, etc.
To re-create an
auditory experience, he may use words such as tinkling,
silent, squeal, blast, etc. and the words bitter, heavy,
touch, light 1 etc. for kinesthetic experiences.
28
Each individual has one of these representation
systems as a primary system which he uses most often.
In
order for you to identify your client's most highly valued
representational system, you have to listen to the predictates which the client uses to describe his experience.
The following sentences are examples of this:
1)
"He felt badly about the way she held the
crawling child."
2)
"The dazzling woman -v;atched the silver car
streak past the qlittering disPlay."
3)
"He called out loudly as he heard the squeal
of the tires of the car on the quiet street."
-
In recognizing the predictates used by the client,
you can match your own world to that of your clients, and,
therefore, have a better understanding of your client's
world.
Bandler and Grinder noticed in their training
seminars, therapists who asked questions of their clients
with no knowledge of representational systems used.
Typically, the therapist used predictates of his own
representation system.
client (visual):
For example:
"My husband just doesn't see
me as a valuable person."
therapist (kinesthetic):
client (visual):
"How do you feel about
it?"
"What?"
therapist (kinesthetic) :
"How do you feel about
your husband's not feeling that you are
a person?"
29
client (visual):
"That's a hard question, I
don ' t know. "
The above therapist continued with not much
success and reported at the end of the session how frustrated he felt.
Then Bandler and Grinder went back to the
session with the therapist and continued:
therapist:
"How do you know he doesn't see you
as valuable?"
client:
I dress up for him and he doesn't
(The client is assuming
notice."
that her husband also has a visual
model of the world,- as she does.)·
therapist:
"How do you know he doesn't notice?"
client:
"He just paws me and doesn't even
look."
(He responds kinesthetically
and doesn't stand back far enough to
see.)
11
(Grinder/Bandler, 1976)
The therapist who has the knowledge of the representational systems can do two
thin~s
in the above example
to help the client; 1) Teach her that she and her husband
experience the world differently and her reality is
different than his, and 2) He can begin to develop this
woman's kinesthetic system which will expand her experiences.
Bandler, Grinder, ahd Satir, in working with
families, found that there are often double messages
(incongruities) given by members of the same family.
30
Usually, the incongruities consist of the words as one
message and the non-verbal expression as the other
(Bandler, Grinder, and Satir, 1976).
CHAPTER III
SU~~RY,
CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This project was designed with two assumptions
in mind; 1) Many students in the Educational Psychology
program at California State University, Northridge lack
knowledge and information in the areas of Hypnotherapy,
and
~on-verbal
Communications; and 2) they have a desire
to learn about these subjects.
An appropriate course
outline was then developed to be proposed to theEducational
Psychology Department as a new course in the program.
The course was given on an experimen·tal basis, in
the Fall of 1978 and had seventeen students.
(Of the
twenty who registered by phone, two cancelled prior to the
start of class and one student dropped out in the second
session.)
The course was offered for six weeks and was
given one night a week for three hours per night.
Because of the limited time available for the
course, it was necessary to choose material that I felt
was most useful and appropriate for students who wanted to
be introduced to these areas as well as obtain some
practical experience in self hypnosis and recognizing nonverbal messages.
I also asked the students in the first
31
32
meeting to write down specific areas, within these fields,
that they wished to discuss or to get more information on.
The course was taught in seminar fashion.
introduced theories and cases by such people as;
I
Milton
Erickson, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, Virginia
Satir, Barbara Brown, as well as including my own personal.
experiences.
Although it was impossible to cover all the material
I prepared for the course, the students reported that they
had learned a great deal and some had already started to
use the information in their work.
At the last meeting, I asked the students to fill
out an evaluation sheet with the following four questions
about the course:
1)
I would like to see this class offered every
semester.
2)
Material presented is helpful to me as a
counselor.
3)
I would like to see this class extended to
a three unit class.
4)
I would recommend that students take this
class in the future.
The evaluation was on a scale of 5 to 1, with 5
being "very descriptive" of the course and 1 being "not
at all descriptive" of the course.
A summary of the seventeen completed evaluation
forms showed the follmving:
33
1)
All seventeen students marked the number 5
for Questions 1, 3, and 4.
2)
Fifteen students marked the number 5 for
Question 2.
3)
Two students marked the number 4 for
Question 2.
Along with the Evaluation form the class was
asked to write personal· comments regarding ·their experience
in the course.
Samples of their comments are found in
Appendix D.
Students concluded that such a course is extremely
valuable to them as counselors and that they would like
to see a course on these subjects offered in this program
regularly.
Conclusions and Reconunend:ations
I would like to make some conclusions based on
my experience in teaching this course and the comments
made by students who took the course.
The most important
conclusion I can draw is that there is a very definite
need by students to learn and explore the areas of
Hypnotherapy, and Non-verbal Communication.
Since giving this course, many students have
contacted me, asking if this course will be offered again.
More and more students are being exposed to these areas,
but for the most part, the student's knowledge in these
areas is very sketchy, and certainly not enough for them
34
to use adequately in their work as counselors.
In
addition, for those interested in becoming Marriage and
Family Counselors, as of January, 1978, the Board of
Behavioral Sciences requires a licensed Marriage, Family,
and Child Counselor (MFCC) to have a minimum of forty
hours in hypnosis to be able to practice hypnosis.
The course, at California State University,
Northridge could be taught in a variety of ways.
In my
opinion, it would be valuable offered as a regular three
unit course.
It would be taught by an instructor who
specializes in both areas of hypnosis and non-verbal
communication; preferably, by someone who is not oply a
teacher, but also is a practitioner.
most effective in seminar format:
This course would be
Teaching theories,
class discussions, class practical experience in
self~
hypnosis, exercises to recogn_ize non-verbal messages, and
discussion of cases should all be included.
I believe that it would also be appropriate and
valuable to teach each area separately as a one-unit
seminar or workshop.
However the course is taught, I believe that
because of changes in the field and responses from our
students, there is strong support for the claim that our
graduate students in counseling would benefit tremendously
from gaining more knowledge and experience about the areas
covered in this project.
35
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bandler, R. , and Grinder, J.,
The Structure of Magic I,
Science and Behavior Books, Inc., Palo Alto, 1976.
Bandler, R., and Grinder, J., Patterns of the Hypnotic
Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., Volume I,
Meta Publications, Cupertino, 1975.
Bandler, R., Grinder, J., and Satir, V.,
Changing With
Families, Scienc~ and Behavior Books, Inc. Palo
Alto, 1976.
Barber, T. X.,. Hypnosis as Perceptual Cognitive
Restructuring: I. Analysis of Concepts. Journal
of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1957, ~,
147-166.
Cooke, c. E. , & · VanVogt, A. E. ,• Hypnotism Handbook.
Alhambra, ·calif.: Bardon Publishing, 1965.
Eisenberg, M. A., and Smith, R. R.,
Non-verbal Communication, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1971.
Erickson, M. H., and Kubie, L. S.,
"The successful
treatment of a case of acute hysterical depression
by return under hypnosis to a critical phase of
childhood," Psychoanalysis Quarterly, 10: 592,
1941.
Erickson, M. H., "Pantomime Techniques in Hypnosis and
the Implications," American Journal of Clinical
Hypnosis, 7, 64-70, 1964.
Erickson, M. H., "Hypnosis- a treatment modality,"
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 1970,
Vol. 13 (2): 71-89.
Grinder, J., and Bandler, R.,
The Structure of Magic II,
Science and Behavior Books, Inc., Palo Alto, 1976.
Green, A.M., Green, E. E. and Walters,
r~gulation of Internal States."
Cybernetics: Proceedings of the
Congress of Cybernetics, London,
E. D., "SelfIn Progress of
International
1969.
36
Green, A.M., Green, E. E. and Walters, E. D., "Psychbphysiological Training for Creativity," Presented
at the Meeting of the American Psychological
Association, Washington, D. c., 197l.
Haley, J., Uncommon Therapy, Grune and Stratton, New York,
1968.
Haley, J., Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy,
Selected papers of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.,
Grune & Stratton, Inc., New York, 1967.
Harrison, P. R., Beyond Words, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1974.
"Hypnosis," The New Encyclopaedia Britanica, Macropaedia,
Vol. XVIII, l974.
Jacobson, E., Progressive Relaxation, Chicago, University
of Chicago Press, l958.
Knapp, M., Non-Verbal Communication in Human Interaction,
Hold, Reinhart and Winston, New York, 1972.
Kroger, W., M.D. Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis,
Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1964.
LeCron, L., "A Study of Age Regression Under Hypnosis,"
Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosisf
1950.
LeCron, K., Experimental Hypnosis, Citadel Press, 1968.
Lipowski, J., Psyr.hosomatic Medicine Today, Psychiatrica
Polska, 9(4): 377-388, l975.
Luthe, W., "Autogenic Training: Method, Research and
Application in Medicine," American Journal of
Psychotherapy, 17-174-195, 1963.
Marcuse, F. L.
Hypnosis:
Penquin, 1959.
Fact and Fiction.
Baltimore:
Marcuse, F. L. (Ed.), gypnosis Throughout the World.
Springfield, Ill., Thomas Publishing, 1964.
Muhl, A. M., Automatic Writing, T. Steinkopff, Dresden,
1930.
Satir, V., Peoplemaking, Science and Behavior Books, Inc.
Palo Alto, 1972.
37
Satir, V., Conjoint Family Therapy, Science and Behavior
Books, Inc., Palo Alto, 1964.
Vaihinger, H., The Philosophy of "As-If," Routledge,
Kegan and Paul, Ltd., London, 1924.
Van Pelt, S. J., Hypnotism and the Power Within,
Skeffington and Son, Ltd., London, 1950.
Whitlow, J. E., M.D., "A Rapid Method for the Induction
of Hypnosis," Experimental Hypnosis, 58-63, 1968.
Wolberg, L. R. Hypnosis in Reconditioning.
In R. Rhodes
(Ed.) Therapy Through Hypnosis. No. Hollywood,
Calif., Wilshire Book Company, 1967.
Wolberg, L. R. The Techniques of Psychotherapy, (2nd ed. ,
2 Vols.) New York: Grune & Stratton, 1967.
APPENDIX A
COURSE OUTLINE
38
39
APPENDIX A
COURSE OUTLINE
Description of Course
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Hypnotherapy
A.
Auto-hypnosis/Self-hypnosis
B.
Hetro-hypnosis
c.
Induction techniques
D.
Phenomena
E.
Uses in clinical and medical situations
F.
Theories
G.
Practical experience in class
Non-Verbal Communication
A.
Theories
B.
Practical experience in class
C.
Advantages for using in clinical situation
D.
Latest works by Erickson, Satir, and Bandler
and Grinder.
Interaction of Above Fields
Clinical Cases in Above Fields
Recommended Reading List
(See Appendix B)
40
Hypnotherapy
I.
II.
III.
Description and Definitions by:
A.
Milton Erickson, M.D.
B.
R. Bandler and J. Grinder
c.
Leslie LeCron
D.
William Kroger, M.D.
E.
Sigmund Freud
Conscious versus Subconscious
Depth of Hypnotis Trance
A.
Light Trance
1.
2.
3.
4.
B.
Medium Trance
1.
2.
3.
C.
Glove anesthesia
Partial amnesia
Catalepsy of entire skeletal musculature
Deep Trance
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
IV.
Relaxation
Eye closure
Slowing of muscular activity.
Ability to perform simple post-hypnosis
suggestions.
Ability to open eyes without affecting
trance
Post-hypnotic anesthesia
Positive hallucinations
Negative hallucinations
Subjective feelings of detachment
Self-Hypnotic Techniques
A.
Self-relaxation
B.
Arm levitation
-I
41
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
C.
Guided imagery
D.
Progressive relaxation
Written Material on Hypnotherapy Distributed to
Class (See Appendix C)
Misconceptions
A.
Loss of consciousness
B.
Weakening of the will
C.
Loss of control
D.
Magic
E.
Do and say things against will
Hetro-Hypnotic Techniques
A.
Coin techniques
B.
Guided imagery
C.
Eye fixation
D.
Arm levitation
E.
Confusion technique
F.
Non-verbal technique
G.
Progressive relaxation
H.
Practical experience in above techniques
Principles Used in Induction Techniques
A.
Capture attention
B.
Motivation
C.
Prestige
D.
Indirect suggestions
E.
Double-bind
F.
Repetition·
42
IX.
X.
XI.
G.
Imagination
H.
Attaching emotions to suggestion
I.
Positive versus negative suggestions
J.
Visual versus kinesthetic versus auditory
K.
Metaphors/Story telling (Milton Erickson, M.D.)
Post-Hypnotic Suggestions
A.
Usefulness
B.
Types of
C.
Cues
Methods of Tapping the Unconscious Mind
A.
Age Regression
B.
Automatic writing
C.
Disassociation
D.
Projective techniques
E.
Finger levitation
F.
Pendulum
G.
Practical experience by class in the above
Medical Uses of Hypnosis
A.
Obstetrics and Gynecology
1.
2.
3.
4.
B.
Alleviation of fears and anxieties
over pregnancy.
Relaxation for childbirth
Alleviation of menopausal symptoms
Cases
Surgery
1.
2.
3.
4.
Pre-operative relief of apprehension
Reduction of amount of chemical anesthesia
Length of hospitalization reduced
Cases
43
c.
Pediatrics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
D.
General Medicine
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
XII.
Nail biting
Enuresis
Behavioral problems
Lack of confidence
Cases
Relaxation for stress reduction
Tension headaches
Migraine headaches
Obesity
Excessive smoking
Insomnia
Clinical Psychology - Hypnotic Suggestion in
A.
Anxiety states
B.
Sexual disorders
C.
Neuroses
D.
Behavioral modification
E • . Memory and concentration
XIII.
F.
Phobias
G.
Self-esteem
H.
Cases
Hallucination
A.
Positive
B.
Negative
c.
Visual
D.
Auditory
E.
Kinesthetic
F.
Uses of
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
Dissociation
A.
Uses of
B.
Partial
c.
Total
Time Distortion
A.
Condensing time
B.
Stretching time
c.
Uses of
Anesthesis
A.
Uses of
B.
Medical
c.
Dental
Suggestibility Tests
A.
Hand clasp
B.
Eye closure
c.
Swaying
4 .1.::.;
Non-Verbal Communication
I.
Bandler and Grinder Model
A.
Experience and perception as an active process
1.
2.
3.
B.
Model of the world
1.
2.
3.
C.
Visual system
Auditory system
Kinesthetic system
Identifying the most highly valued system
1.
2.
3.
F.
Deep structure
Surface structure
Presupposition
Representational Systems
1.
2.
3.
E.
Generalization
Deletion
Distortion
Linguistic Process
1.
2.
3.
D.
Neurological constraints
Social contraints
Individual constraints
Use of predicates
Eye movements
Gestures
Speaking the client's language
l.
2.
Matching predicates
Matching body language
G.
Switching Representational Systems
H.
Incongruity
1.
2.
Multiple messages
Paramessages
46
I.
Responding to Incongruities
J.
Sorting Client's Incongruities into Polarities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
K.
Fuzzy Functions
1.
II.
Spatial sorting
Fantasy sorting
Psychodramatic sorting
Representational System sorting
Anchoring
Mind reading
Satir Model
A.
Elements of Communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
B.
Body
Values
Expectations
Sense organs
Words
Brain
Patterns of Communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
Placing
Blaming
Computing
Distracting
APPENDIX B
47
48
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LeCron, Leslie.
Self Hypnotism
LeCron, L. and Bordeaus, J.
Hypnotism Today
LeCron, L. ed., Experimental Hypnosis
Estabrooks, G., Hypnotism
Kroger, W., Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
Haley, Jay, Advanced Techniques of Hypnosis and Therapy
Haley, Jay, Strategies of Psychotherapy
Haley, Jay, Uncommon Therapy
Erickson, Milton,
(any of his books)
Bandler, R., and Grinder, J., Patterns of the Hypnotic
Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D.,
Vol. 1 and 2
Bandler, R., and Grinder, J., The Structure of Magic,
Vol. 1 and 2
Bandler, R., and Grinder, J., and Satir, Virginia,
Changing With Families
Satir, Virginia, Peoplemaking
APPENDIX C
HYPNOTHERAPY HANDOUTS
49
50
-
EGO STRENGTHE~l f NG
1 have found this routine to be equally valuable in preceding plain symptom
removal or the more involved hypno-~n~lytical techniques, Constant repetition
not only strengthens the ego-defences and thus lessens the likelihood of
relapse, but s=eti"les en.:Jbles the patient to co-operate in an analytical
investig~tion ~>ohich he r.1ight otherwise have been unfitt·ed to face.
The
system is by no m~ans rigid since it forms a fr~mework into which modified
or additional suggestions can easily be fitted to suit each individual case.
Every day ••• you will become physically stronger and fitter. You will
bec<Y.Je more alert ... more wide aw~ke ... more energetic. You wi II become
much less easily tired ... much less easily fatigued ••• much less easily
discouraged,
Every day,,.your nerves wi II become stronger and steadier.
You wi I I become so deeply interested in whatever you are doing ... so
interested in wh~tcvcr is going on ••• that your mind wi II become
much less pre-occupied with ycurself ... .3nd you wiH become much le~s
conscious of yuurself ••• and your own feelings.
dc~ply
Every day ••• ycur mind will beccme much calmer and clearer ••• more
composed •• ,more placid ••• more tranquil. You wi II become much less
easily ~crried ••• much less easily agitated ••• muc~ less fearful and
apprehensive ••• much less easily upset.
You will be able to think more clearly ••• you will be able to concentrate
more easily ••• your memory wi II improve ••• and you ~i !I be able to see
things in their true perspective ••. without magnifying them ••• without
allowing them to get out of proportion.
Every day ... you wi II become emotionally much calme·r ••• much more settled ••
much less easily disturbed. And, every day ••• you wil I feel a greater
feeling of personal weil-being ••• a greater feeling of personal safety
and security ••• than you nave felt for a long, long time. Every .day ...
you will becO"-e ••• and you will remain ••• more and mo~e completely relaxed •••
both mentally and physical ly ••• even when you are no lonser with me.
And as you become ••• and as you remain ••• more relaxeci ••• and less tense
each day ••• so you wi II develop much more confidence in yourself ••• Much
more confidence in your ability to do ... not only·~,h.Jt you have to do
each d~y ••• but also ••• much more confidence in your ability to do whatever you ought to be able to do, •• v1ithout fear of failure ••. 1·tithout
fear of cons~qucnces ••• without unnecessary anxiety ••• without uneasiness.
Because of this ... every day, •• ycu will feel more and more inacpcndcnt •••
more able to 'stick up for yourself' ••• to 'stand upon your. m·m feet' ...
to 1 hold your own' ... no matter how difficult or trying things may be.
And. because all these things wil I happen ••• exactly as I tel I you they
will happen ••• you are going to feel much happier ••• much more contented •••
much more cheerful ••• much more optimistic ... much less easily discouraged
... much less easily depressed,
JOHN HARTJ.);tJO, ,'1. B. , Ch. 8.
Medical and O..::nt1i Hy:;nfl>is
London, EngLJn<J: Bu i i I i cr<.!,
Tindall & Cassell, 1966, Pp.l91-192.
51
ANALEPTIC~
CYCLE OF PROGRESS
As you continue to relax, just letting yourself ddft down deeper and
deeper relaxed ••• you relax completely throughout ewery fiber of your
being; relaxing physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
And as you relax so completely in this fashion, concentrating your mind,
listening to each word that I say, you let each sUJ9s~stion take c.;;,-,pi~tc
and thorough effect to help you, deeply and autor:~a;~tically, on both t.'1e
conscious and subconscious levels of mind activit~. You ex~end th~
principles of relaxation and concentr<Jtion which you no1v experienc~
into your everyday I ife so that in every situaticrr and in every circur:~­
stance in which you find yourself, whether alone ar with others, you
relax and you concentrate your mind, automatically; no matter l,t.,;;c you
are doing, you find that more and more, day by day. you relax and ycu
concentr<Jte your mind. If you are doing something; for fun or rela-<.:Jtion,
you rc I ax and you enjoy it mere ••. you con cent ril te y.ou r mind cas u.J I I y and
comforta~l y and get more out of what you are doi n<J.
If you are aoi ng
something th<Jt involves work or some serious project or activity, you
relax and a~ply yourself more thoroughly, more effectively; you concentrate and_do a better job. And so, every day in e~ery situation and in
every circumstance in which you find yourself, you relax and you concentrate, more and r:~ore and more. As you relax and concentrate, you
evaluate everything thoroughly and completely; you reach decisions
easily and rcadi ly; you act efficiently and effecdvely; and you build
your self-confidence, your self-reliance, your sel f-~cceptonce, and your
self-esteem. You become a stronger individual; you become self-sufficient. As this occurs, you feel more relaxed and you ore capoble of
greater concentration.
Just drifting down no\v, •• way down ••• deeper relaxed. And you realize
that as you are more relaxed and as you are capable of greater concentration, you evaluate things even more thorou3hly and co~pletely; you
reach decisions even more easily and readily; you act even more
efficiently ond effectively ond you continually build your self~confi­
dencc, self-reliance, self-acceptance, and self-esteem ••• growing
stronger and more copoble every dily in alI situations. As you do
this, vou feel even more relaxed and you are cilpablc of even greater
concentration. As you drift d01-m deeper relaxed, you let all of
these suggestions s~at themselves deeply, permanently in your subconsciQus mind. And as you apply these principles in your I ife
automatically every coy, in every situation and in every circumstance
in which you find yourself, whether alone or with others, you relax
more and more deeply, you concentr<Jte your mind more and more sharply
and intensely, you evalu<Jte thoroughly and completely, you reach
decisions easily and rcadi ly, you ilCt efficiently and effectively,
and you continually build your self-confidence, self-reliance, selfacceptance, and self-esteem and you continually find that you are
capable of more relaxation and grcat~r concentration and so on in
a cy~le of progress that grows, that deep~ns, strengthens and reinforces itself every day as you grm~ and become that person that you
ha·,e alw<1ys admired; the person you have alv1ays w.:lnti!d to be: selfsufficient.
52
INDUCT I ON TECHrH QUE
AN INDUCT I ON TECHNIQUE
We are not including induction techniques in this H~ndbook because these
are readily available in oth~r sources. An exception is made for
Dr. Erickson's contribution. Dr. Erickson is known as a world-wide
authority on clinical hypnosis.
(Editor)
He writes:
Following is the exact wording of a technique that I have applied over and
over again hundreds of tir.1cs to induce a :ranee. I use It because it is
such ~n C~$Y t~~hnique, bec~use it proves very satisfactory, and because it
eliminates any resistance.
Now that you ~av~ described your problem to me, I would li~e to have
you tal..e a comfort~blc position in your chair with your legs uncrossed,
your feet flat on the floor, and your elbows at the sides of ycur chest
and with your hands on your thighs, but without your thumbs touching
e~:h other. Look about the room and pick sorr.e srr.a;51 spot to loc.k at ·
steadily. Don't move a single muscle in your body. just keep looking
at that spot. Don't even speak. Just listen. In that way you will
keep your ears in the same position and you wi II he.1r !Tie more :learly.
As you look at that spot and continue to look at tbat spot,there will
occur within you a number of changes.
You probably have not realized it but already the rhythm of your
breathing has changed. It is slower, it is comfortable, .:ond it is
good rhythm. I can see your ;JU 1se in the temp I e {or neck) and I can
tell you thilt your heart has slo~1ed do•m a little bit and that means
that your blood pressure has I01-1ered to meet the resting condition of
your body.
N<JW I would like to explain something to you.
Whcr, you first went to
school and learned to recognize numbers and letters. you didn't know
at that time that you were learning those numbers and letters for all
the rest of your life. You learned what a 'three' looked like and what
a 'six' looked like and what a 'nine' looked like •. You for..,ed a n:ental
picture of those nur.1bers and you formed the menta£ visuul pi.:ture to
stay 1-1ith you all the rest of your life. You lean11ed to form a rr:cntal
visual picture of each letter of the alphabet without thinking about
the f.:~ct thut you would keep thilt visuul imuge alt the rest of your
life. In looking at that spot that you have chosen, you have already
formed a visual mental picture of it so you can nCI'W close your eyes
and just look at the mental visual picture that you have formed of it.
As i talk to you, you can keep right on looking mer-tally at that mental
picture. As I talk to you, if you want to, you can hear Jny sounds that
you wish: a sonic boom, the cars on the street, the noise in the next
room, but actuill ly the only important thing for you right now is the
sound of my voice and the meaning of what I say to you, so you don't
rc~lly need to give attention to anythin9 else unrcss you have a
particular interest in the sonic boom, or the cars on the street, or
the birds outside.
Now I am going to discuss your problem and I will do it in this way.
I will sketch it in gcncrill ilnd I want you to realize that 1 am going
to a>k of you only the things that are actually possible for you to do.
There are many things that we can do of which we ~•e unaware. We can
{Conti n~.;t.d)
·fl()ll
.:--
TECH III QUE
. ncinued)
attend a lecture ~nd bec~use the lecturer is interesting and stimulating
we don't even notice the p.:lSS.Jge of time and are just interested in what
he is saying. But if we attended a lecture where the lecturer was dul I,
boring and tiresome, one wou I d feel the h.Jrdness of the seat of the
ch~ir, and yet it is the s.J~e ch.:1ir in which you could sit .Jnd I isten to
an interesting lecturer and never feel all the discomforts and distress
of not moving and the hardness of the seat, but with the good lecturer
you don't even hear anything except his voice. Now you are here to
listen to me. You are here to do certain things. In your lifetime of
experience you have felt things and you have not felt some things that
you could have felt if you had paid attention to them. You have had
much experience in forgetting things that would seem upon ordinary
thinking to be unforgettable.
For ex<Jmple, you are introduced to somebody and you reply," ' I am very
pleased to meet you, Mr. Jones,' <Jnd two seconds later you are thinking
to yourself, 'What on e.Jrth is his name?'
You h.Jve forgotten just ~·
fast as you heard it. In other words, you c<Jn do any of the things that
I will ask of you. You know hew to move. You also knovs ho~1 not to move.
You can lower your blood pressure, but you don't kno•·1 how you do that.
You can s I ow do,•n your heartbeat, but you don't know hm• you do th.J t.
You can alter the rhythm of your breathing, but you don't kno•• how you
do that; but all of the things I ask you to do, every one of them, wi I I
be within the range of your experience, so just I isten carefully,
knowing that I wi II ask of you only those things that I know you c.::>n do.
First of all, I want you to enjoy feeling very comfortable. In fact,
you can enjoy yourself so much that you can let your unconscious mind
listen to me while your conscious mind can sleep or busy itself with
thoughts about things far removed from this office, because many of the
things that I want to assist you in accomplishing are governed by your
unconscious mind, and so now continue as you are, at ease, in comfort,
and at the prcper time I will give you all the directions necessary for
you to take care of your problems, all of those I need to deal with.
::e
"·:ow this technique of instruction is very simpfe.
The patient sits immobile,
swallowing reflex is arrested, and if there is any point in it I can lift
•··C ar::: to demonstrate catalepsy; I can ask the patient to open his mouth; I
:~n ask him to st~nd up; I can tell him that in the future I might ask him to
!evelop this same state now present in him, th.Jt any desirable state he might
·i~h can be achieved on his next visit by looking at the same spot or any
:":t.:r spot. You c.Jn repeat this procedure in the same way or you may ha.ve
• i., count backward from t•·1cnty to one or for\·1ard from one to twenty, just
~.~ing certain that the counting is done silently,
~ •en of greater importance, it is necessary for the operator to know that his
·-~ject really can do everything that is asked.
It is hard to understand why
·~operator will say, 'The subject can go into a trance for you but he can't
'.r t:lc,'
If he can go into a trunce for anybody he can go into a trance for
···:rybody "hom he wishes to. The operator should know th.Jt the patient comes
:. hi~ with ful I respect ~nd wi I I be entirely willing to develop a trance if
:·~operator docs not first suggest by manner, attitude or bearing the idea
~:It maybe he c<lnnot. This realization is the most important part in learning
'·. f technique of hypnos i ~.
MILTO~ H. ERICKSON, M.a., M.A., Phoenix, Arizona
f·.-;·11 \,:: , ....
·1 P.•f.:l
l1··!ir.1l ;,~ .11.
h ..'i~:ric.·ln P~tchi:!tri·· ·· ..
i'.
54
OBESITY
SUGGESTIONS
~~SED
ON UNLIMITED CALORIE, LOW CARBOHYDRATE DIET
Although a light trance state is effective in enhancing therapeutic suggestions, deeper trance levels are desirable in isolating patients fro:n external
distractions and focusing attention on new l~arnings. Experiencing a wealth
of hypnotic phenomena aids immeasurably in building confiaence - a charact·.!ristic lacking in many obese people. With that in mind, suggestions for trance
deepening m<Jy b,! interspersed with ideas specifically oriented to\•<Jrd developing proper eating habits.
The following verbali:z<Jtion is predic<Jted on the unlimited calorie, high fat,
high· protein, lo\• c<Jrbohydrate diet that is becoming more popular as the
essential pathophysiological disorder in obesity is more clearly de~onstrated.
H~•ever, appropriate ch<Jnges may be made to fit the therapeutic style, personality, and needs of different patients and therapists.
After a few minutes spent with one of the formal or natural induction techniques, tr~nce deepening and therapy may proceed as foll~•s:
As you relax comfortably, I am going to offer ideas and suggestions that
will be most helpful in attaining deeper levels of relaxation and in
controlling your desire for fattening food. It isn't really necessary
for you to pay close attention to what I have to say. You may involve
yourself in your own thoughts, your own body feelings, your own sensations. In its unique way, your subconscious mind listens and responds
to new learnings and experiences. Your eyes are growing ~ore heavy,
and a delightful feeling of d~~o relaxation is spre~ding through the
muscles of your f<Jce, your neck, shoulders, and downward through your
chest, back, abdomen, thighs, and legs.
Your attempts in the past to starve yourself into reducing body weight
developed tension, anxiety, and frustration. That is all over. New
you have the ••onderful opportunity to associate relaxation of body and
mind with a relaxed attitude to•,,ard eating. You find yourself c=.r'ortably choosing only those foods that are good for y0u, and passing up the
foods that are fattening. E~ch p<Jssing day you gain more and more
confidence in your ability to control your food intake.
At this time I would like you to focus attention on feelings in your
left hand. Imagine that colored balloons are tied to the fingers of
your left hand and that several bal lo0ns are tied to your left wrist.
Feel the lightness in your fingers and v1rist as th..: b.:tlloons in their
upward flight support the "'eight of your fingers and hand. As your
hand feels lighter and lighter and you go more deeply relaxed, your
subconscious mind wi II readily accept ideas for m<Jking your whole body
I ighter.
Reduction of body weight can be accompl ishcd by learning to thoroughly
enjoy those foods that do not contribute to the fornation of body fat
while el imin;Jting s1·:ects and starches. Your cnjoy~cnt of those foods
that arc good for you can be mar~cdly cnhJnccd. To help you ~ppreci­
ate the plc<Jsure in c~ting properly, I would like you to picture in
your mind'~ ey..: ~wine t~~tcr. You relilx more dcc;oly as your h<Jnd
continues to rist.: tov•<Jrd yuur face ~nd the im;Jyc of <l wine t~stcr
appears. H..: spends~ little time holding~ glass of wine tow~rds the
light and fully appreciates the beautiful color and clarity of the
(Cnnr inw·c!l
55
..£SlTY
-(Continued)
beverage. He permits himself the luxury of enjoying the delicate aroma
bouquet. Only then docs he allow a few drops of the liquid to touch
his lips and tongu~, and to bring into play the sensitive taste buds.
Taking full advantage of the organs of sight, smel I, ~nd taste, he
derives the most exquisite gustatory pleasure.
~nd
Eating is an art. You are learning to apply techniques that give you
r::ore satisfaction and cnjoyr.1cnt in eating than you have ever experienced
in the past. You automatically find yourself e.Jting sl01·•ly, appreciating
tho:: color and fragrance of those foods th.:lt are good for you. You take
small bites of food .:1nd devote time to appreciate their subtle flavors
and textures. As you establish new and delightful patterns of eating,
you enjoy a feeling of release from anxiety and frustr.:~tion, a feeling
of increased confidence in your ability to achieve your goal.
As you continue to relax more deeply and comfortably, I will touch your
left hand and lower it to your lap. The lightness disappears as you go
deeper into trance and feel more confident in your ability to carry out
instructions and recoD~cndations. As time goes on you find yourself
eating only those foods that are good for you and that wi II permit your
body to Jo'se excess ~·eight. You may eat as much meat, poultry, and fish
as you I ike. You need net remove fat from any food. In fact, you may
use fat from other sources. Sweet and sour cream, butter, margarine,
1
oils, and salad dressings areal I allowed. Many vcgct~blcs and .:1 variet/
of fruit low in sug~r content are described in the printed material giv~n
you as a written guide, A number of foods are forbidden because of~th~ir
high carbohydrate content. The~e include sweets and starchy foods such
as brc~d, crackers, cake, rice, potatoes, and spaghetti. These items are
fully described in your food guide.
The change in your eating habits results in loss of excess weight, a
more attractive figure, and increased pep and energy. You develop
confidence in your ability to be a dynamic and effective person. Your
subconscious mind has a tremendous capacity for learning, and as you
continue to relax more deeply your new learnings automatically become an
integral part of your total personality. You respond to ideas and
suggestions that arc most helpful in establishing a new point of view,
a new orientation, a new way of life.
In a few moments, I will count slowly from I to 20. As I do, you will
go deeper and deeper relaxed. After a short time, I will count backward
from 20 to I as a 5ignal for you to comfortably become more and more
alert as the count proceeds toward I. When you are fully alert, I will
again count from I to 20 as you automatically respond by going in a deep
tran.ce. The count backward wi II ag<Jin bring you out of the trance
feeling fine and confident in your ability to easily go into and come out
of the trance and to comfortably and effectively carry out a weight
reduction program.
(Continued)
56
PSYCHOAit"<L YT I C SUGGEST I O~IS
litlOERSTAriO PROBLEM:
CRI Gi u· OF FEELINGS REGARDING PROBLEM
This is a suggestion designed to help the process of psychoanalysis. (Editor)
As you let yourself drift along deeper relaxed, becoming more and more
comfortable, letting yourself sink down ••• 1~ay dO\-m ••• deeper and deeper
relaxed, you become more and more aware that the key to tne solution of
your problem is to co~pletcly and totally understand and accept it.
It docs absolutely no good to blame yourself or others; it does absol~
utcly no gouJ to try to e~cu>e yourself or other~ or to ju~tify or
rationalize your condition and behavior. The only thing that do-::.~ any
goo;:t·at all is undcrst;:~n:.!ing .•• under~tanding coupled '"'ith .Jn attitud<.:
/of acceptance. This al l~im;:>ortant ·understanding must occur at n,o
:levels of awareness. You must achieve intellectual understanding anj_
most important of all you must achieve emotional understanding. You
must cor:1e to the point 1,here you totally understand and accq:t the
facts with regard to your probler.1 and you must come to the point 1·mere
you totally accept and understand the feelings of your problem. 3oth
of these can be obtained casily ••• with patience, persistence, and
unqualified determination.
As you drift down deeper and deeper relaxed, you realize more and more
that the mind is a biological comouter that completely records every~
thing you_ever experience in your life. You put data or information
into the mind by gathering information with the five senses. AI I of
this is recorded perfectly and permanently in the ~emory bank of ycur
subconscious mind, together with any and all feelings and reactions
that you have at the time of any particular experience. So you see,
it is not enough to recall the facts ••• you must bring up the emotions •••
you must experience, or be ~ware of, the feelings that you had when
your problem started and at any time that it was aggravated, fortified
or reinforced in any way.
Now, right now, as you drift down more deeply relaxed than you have ever
been before, you permit yourself to drift all the way back •.• you drift
back to the time when your problem first started and you alia~' yourself
to expcricnce ••• to co~plctcly re~expcrience all of the emotions,
feelings and reactions that are necessary for you to gain the insight
and understanding that you need to solve your problem completely,
totally ••• permanently. You drift back ••• all the ·da'r back and you focus
your mind and emotions on the origins of your problem so that you can
bring all of the necessary facts and feelings, most important of all,
you bring alI of the necessary feelings and reactions into your a1·1are~
ness, so that you can gain the necessary insight and understanding to
completely resolve this and any other problem th~t interferes with
your life; th;Jt interfere •·lith you achieving your most usclul, positive,
beneficial, constructive goals.
As you drift back to· the time and circumstances ~~hen your problem
originated or was aggravoted ~nd fortified, you prepare to bring alI
the n.::ccss~ry facts Jnu ic:cling5 into your ~warcness, i•:o~cdi>Jtely if
possible, so that you can 1-1rite them down and discuss them; so that
(Continued)
f"•'""1
-::JJ
PS VCHOANAL YT I C SUGGESTIONS
(Continued}
you can study them and gain the insight and understanding ••• the insight
and understanding that you need in order to c~pletcly resolve your·
problem. (Pause)
You may prefer to allow any essential important
facts, feelings and reactions to drift up into your awareness gradually
and completely, by steps and in stages, in the form of thoughts,
feelings, ideas, emotions, or dreams ••• safely, co~fortably, completely •••
thus allowing yourself to obtain and be aware of all of the necessary
infor.nation and deep-seated c~otional responses that must be brought
to I ight in order for you to solve your problem completely and
pennanently.
DOUGLAS M. GREGG, M.D.
San Diego, California
58
.t:!M!I PATTERNS
BECOME AWARE OF HABIT PATTERNS
On each word that I say you let alI other thoughts, all other feelings,
all other sounds fade, fade away into the distance so that each suggestion th.:Jt I give you may take complete and permanent effect upon you
to help you with any problem. As I giv~ you e.:Jch suggestion, you let
yourself relax more and more co~plctely, and without even thinking
about it your mind automatic<:~lly m<:~kes c.:Jch sugg\!~tion a part of your
cveryd<~y life, helping you to solve <:~ny problem.
A~ you drift .:Jlong,
you feel yourself rel.:Jx, deeper and deeper relaxed ••• way down .•• so that
more a~d more you can come to re<:~lize that there are ~<:~bits, there are
patterns in your life. There are patterns in your way of thinking .:Jna
feeling, patterns in your way of re<:~ctinq to yourself, to others and to
the things around you. NO\• ••• right now,- you begin to permit these
habits, these patterns and their functions, their purposes, their
causes to drift up into your conscious a\·,arenass ••• you per~it these
behavior patterns and the needs that they attempt to fulfill to drift
up into your conscious .:Jwun.:ness gr.:Jdu<:~lly, safely .:Jnd c~oletely.
This happens autom.:Jtical ly •.• without your even thinking .:Jbout it. You
do this so that any neg<Jtive, unpleasant or hamful p.:Jttcrns of thinking,
feeling and behaving can be understood and changed or improved upcn, or,
if necessary, el iminated •.• erased ••• wiped out com~letely. At the same
time, you can augment-and· reinforce all positive patterns of thinking,
feeling and behaving.
One of the ways th.:Jt you can permit these habit patterns, these behavior
patterns to come into your conscious awaren~ss is to pay very close
attention to your thoughts and feelings, your speech and your reactions.
Pay very close attention to your favorite words, phra,ses or expressions;
pay very close attention to your favorite stories or jokes, to any
favorite or recurrent song. Pay very close attention to anything that
makes you really laugh hard ••• or cry. Become a\·,are of any peculiar
or unusual uses of 1·1ords, any inappropriate uses of words. Become
aware of your habitual or recurrent thoughts and daydrea~s. Secane
aware of your vilrious gestures and postures. AI I of these things can
provide you with very ir.~portant and significant clues as to the ·content
and activity of your subconscious mind. Gradually, as you are more and
more a\~are of all these things and as you let yc·urself become more and
more aware of your word choice in conversation, you learn to sit back,
as it were, and watch your mind think. That is what alI of these techniques te.:Jch you to do: they teach you to w.:Jtch your mind think. More
and more you become aw<Jre of just exactly ~'hat you say, when you say it
and how you say it ••• and you realize that this is the beginning of your
ability to know and understand your su~conscious mind so th.:Jt evcntu.:JI ly
you can control it instead of going through I ife having it control you.
Your subconscious mind is a masterful, obedient and wi I Hng servant;
to use it to maximum efficiency, you need only learn to understand and
control it by communicating with it properly and in its I.:Jnguagc of
symbols and visual images.
Now, as you drift along deeper relaxed, deeper and deeper relaxed ••• way
down ••• you let all of these suggestions sink down, do~m into the
deepest reaches of your subconscious mind where they automatically
(Continued}
59
r .PATTERNS
1
.:.--
cccnt inued}
bec~e completely, totally and permanently effective ••• to help you to
develop more and more penetrating in$ight and an ever deepening understanding of yourself ••• of the patterns of thought and feeling in your
subconscious mind as-you permit yourself to become that person you
alw.Jys admired, always wanted to be ••• that person you are truly c<Jpable
of being.
DOUGLAS M. GREGG, M.D.
San Diego, California
APPENDIX D
SELECTED CLASS COMMENTS
60
61
"! can guarantee that this class in hypnotism
will be a deinite popular· course that will be greatly
appreciated.
From my personal experiences in attending
I have benefited both in my personal life and in giving
me another tool to use with clients."
"I really enjoyed this course and found i t very
interesting.
I would like to pursue this area in the
future."
"I hope that this course will be offered so that
others may benefit."
"This class was valuable to me personally and as
a counselor.
I would like to see it become a full
semester course."
"The material covered in this class has given a
whole new perspective on dealing with clients.
The
information discussed in the class helps in self-awareness
and understanding as well."
"I highly recommend this class to anyone who
desires to better themselves of help others in a therapeutic manner."
62
"It is time the academic conununity realized the
extent to which the mind can be developed and stop
equating hypnosis with black magic.
This course should
be taught on a regular semester basis.
I can think of
no field of education which would not be enhanced by
one's understanding of his mind and its abilities."
"I would like to see the course offered for
credit, and extended to include greater breadth of
material.
Could be developed into a larger curricular
addition."
"This was a valuable, exciting experience for
me.
I have been exposed to hypnosis and bio-feedback and
many of the things that Michael (the instructor) covered
somehow brought it all together."
"Would be nice to have it longer than six weeks."
"Hypnotherapy has added a new dimension to my
training in the Counseling Center at California State
University, Northridge.
The class has been very
informative and interesting."
"I will be promoting these kinds of classes with
the professional and non-professional staff in the
Counseling Center."