What Makes a Good Hypnotic Suggestion - Essay Example

Student’s name Teacher’s name Name of class Date Hypnosis is a process by which a clinician or a hypnotist leads an individual into a suggestive state often called an altered state of consciousness. The person being hypnotized will experiences changes in feelings, sensations, behaviors perceptions and thoughts. Frequently, posthypnotic suggestions are given to the person usually for therapeutic purposes. The effectiveness of these suggestions depends on the belief system of the individual, the environment, and the skill of the clinician (Plotnik,171-173). The clinician is a large part of the process of hypnosis. It is suggested that the clinician provide a consultation interview to the client before hypnosis is attempted. The client then can become familiar with the environment for hypnosis. The environment should be quiet, comfortable and safe; frequently a reclining chair or a couch is used. The clinician needs to understand the client’s belief system and how that would effects their view on hypnosis. If the client believes that hypnosis is a process in which they lose control they may be fearful and that could get in the way of their susceptibility to hypnosis and to their ability to drop into a deep hypnotic state which increases the effectiveness of therapy and of a post hypnotic suggestion. It is important for the client to know that they will not do anything under hypnosis that they would not do normally. Hypnosis is actually giving the client greater control of their brain processes. According to the altered state theory of hypnosis, the client is disconnected from reality. He/she can then find material in the brain that was being blocked by reality and also follow a wind range of suggestions that the conscious brain may not allow due to the pressures of reality (Plotnik, 171). The clinician must understand the individual’s beliefs to educate the individual so they feel comfortable and also so the therapist does not request anything of the client that the client does not want. The client’s internal beliefs must be probed so they can be addressed. It is likely the client will first tell cultural beliefs about their views of hypnosis and morality but internally they may have different or additional feelings that must be understood and respected as well. Being assured of the clinician’s credentials, ethical constraints and respect for the clients beliefs are part of building a rapport with the client that helps that individual feel safe so they can relax for the hypnotic session (Yapok 416). It is important the client understands that they clinician must follow strong ethical guidelines to help not hurt the client. It the clinician feels he/she can not succeed in the endeavor the client wants to achieve him/she must refer the client to someone else. The clinician can not go beyond his/her expertise. Appropriate health professionals must be contacted if the client is working on a health care issue such as pain reduction. The expectations of the client and the process by which those expectations will be achieved must be clearly discussed so both parties agree (Yapko, 424). The clinician must clarify and summarize the understood needs of the client to be sure that both are working toward the same goal. The clinician must also outline the pros and cons of hypnosis for the client. All of this, of course, also helps the client feel safe and leads to a deeper hypnotic experience (Yapko, 424). The therapist’s demeanor needs to be one of empathy not sympathy. Empathy is a state of understanding what the client is experiencing. Sympathy is feeling sorry for the client. Sympathy is not productive in the therapeutic setting. A client comes to the therapy session for encouragement and guidance as to how to make it better not for someone to feel sorry for them (Plotnik 564). The clinician also needs to be able to read the observable signs of hypnosis because compliance with hypnotic suggestion and post hypnotic suggestions depends upon the depth of the hypnotic state. Part of the hypnotic induction is to tell what the client will experience and suggest that they are experiencing that. The hypnotic induction consists of three basic steps. First, the clinician makes sure the client is comfortable and the rapport has been built so the client feels safe. Second, the clinician suggests that the subject concentrate on something. This can be a sound, an image or the sound of the hypnotist’s voice. The clinician then suggest things to the client they are likely to be feeling such a feeling relaxed and feeling sleepy, feeling like they are floating. The clinician my tell them time has no meaning and if something is bothering them physically the clinician may suggests that body part is no longer injured or in pain so it becomes less of a distraction. The clinician will also notice that the client’s respirations are slowing down showing that their heart rate is slowing. The client may appear flushed. They will show an increase in their susceptibility; as they go deeper into trance the eyelids may flutter and they may show or express an emotional reaction such as laughing or crying. If at any point the clinician does not see these signs they must slow the process and repeat suggestions. It is important that the therapist use the language of the client that they learned from the consultation earlier. A client responds to their own language and their own images more readily than to anyone else’s language and images.. Finally, the clinician may have the client count backward as they relax. With the onset of the use of hypnosis in medical care the clinician is more likely to walk the client through a walk to a beautiful place such as a walk along the beach. They may also walk the client down a grassy hill or down a staircase into a beautiful room. The idea here is to pull then down into a deeper state of hypnosis. The deeper the state of hypnosis, the more likely the post hypnotic suggestions will be helpful and the more the hypnotic protocol will be followed to better understand internal issues (Plotnik, 171) . There are a multitude of therapeutic issues for which a clinician my want to use hypnosis. Most recently hypnosis is being used for anxiety control, pain control, smoking cessation and weight loss. All have differing success results. Anxiety and pain control are using the hypnotic state to escape from an uncomfortable situation and to regain control over the individual’s thought process or physical process. For this, self hypnosis is taught to the client and over time and with practice they become experts in the process. That explains those rare individuals that can undergo major surgery with out anesthetic. The hypnotic suggestion in this case would be a protocol that is taught to the client or taped for the client to use when the clinician is not present. It should be noted in that hypnosis works in these cases because hypnosis is really a process by which the individual takes graded control of the mind. Using a protocol for induction suggestions that includes the senses, how something or someplace smells, the feeling on the skin, the sounds, and the colors use more of the brain therefore now allowing as much to perceive anxiety or pain. These inductions suggestions may be something like this: You are walking along a beach. The sky is so blue and you notice the puffy little white clouds floating about. You can feel the warm sun on your face. It feels warm and comfortable and so relaxing. There are no more worries; it is just you and the sea. You notice the wet sand squishing between your toes. The waves are roaring up onto the sand and the cool water washes over your feet. You can smell the sea air heavy with salt. You find a beach towel and lay down closing your eyes with the warm sun on your body. You listen to the rhythm of the sea as you lazily drift off into sleep. You arms and legs begin to feel weightless and time no longer matters. It is just you and the sea and everything is good (pegservices). This basic scenario would be expanded upon until a hypnotic state is achieved. Eventually the client can walk him/herself through the suggestions when needed. There would likely be no post hypnotic suggestion in this scenario. A client may also present to take away the post hypnotic suggestions such as “you will only eat healthy foods or you will not eat after 8:00 PM”, or it could be something like “cigarettes taste like grass” (the clinician would likely ask what the client really thinks tastes terrible before beginning). Such post hypnotic suggestions need to be repeated multiple times. The deeper the trance the greater the likelihood the suggestion will change the behavior (Plotnik, 172). Clients may also present wanting to work though personal history, a traumatic memory or reframe an experience so it will have less effect on their every day life. We use a great deal of inductive reasoning on a daily basis. These are generalizations that may be true but are not necessarily. Using hypnosis to go back and look at an even allows the client to apply deductive logic to the same situation often changing the client’s perspective. For example, the way an individual understands a situation from a child’s perspective is often different from how they understand the same situation from an adult’s perspective. Hypnosis allows the client the opportunity to look at a situation again and apply deductive reasoning (Yapko,328). There are numerous reasons for the use of hypnosis. There are as many methods of induction as there are reasons for the use of hypnosis. Hypnotic suggestions must include: Keep suggestions simple to follow Use the client’s language Use the present tense and positive structure Encourage and compliment the client Determine ownership of the problem Give the client the time to respond (pegservices) So, while hypnosis is a process by which a clinician or a hypnotist leads an individual into a suggestive state often called an altered state of consciousness. The effectiveness of these hypnotic experiences depends on the belief system of the individual, the environment, and the skill of the clinician (Plotnik,171-173). The therapist must take time to build a rapport with the client and learn what the concern is by listening, paraphrasing showing empathy. A plan must be devised that both client and clinician must agree to and all ethical values of therapy and the client must be respected. Each therapist may have his/her own method of induction but the purpose is to encourage the client to reach a deep hypnotic state where they can remove themselves from reality to achieve a goal established with the clinician earlier. Self hypnosis can be learned and be valuable for some medical reasons. It does appear that the skill of the clinician in getting to know the client, articulating the plan and goal so both agree, and in using appropriate hypnotic suggestions is the key to success. Works Cited Peg Services . Feb. 5, 2007. http: pegservices.cjb.net. Plornik, Rod. Introduction to Psychology. California: Thompson 2005. Yapko, Michael. An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis. New York: Brunner/Mazel 1990. Read More