Hypnosis was accepted by the American Medical Association in 1958 as an effective mode of procedure for treating anguish, and stress related symptoms. But does it really work, and what should a person look for when seeking a hypnotist, or buying hypnosis tapes & CDs?
There are many assorted hypnotic methods that are used to reach the unconscious mind to invoke change. Each method has its pros and its cons. We are all different, so it only stands to reason that the best results will be reached by utilizing the methods that each individual will have the most success with.
Most therapists who sell hypnosis cd’s and tapes offer cd’s that consist of standard traditional hypnosis techniques. A few sellers offer much more modern and effective Ericksonian Hypnosis techniques. And fewer still offer NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming techniques.
The newest and most powerful tecnology is video hypnosis. Video hypnosis utilizes the latest Nlp thought patterns to create instant change in an individual. Video hypnosis modalities are not subliminal in nature.
With “Traditional Hypnosis,” we simply make commands to the unconscious mind. In case you are wondering, as far as I’m concerned, the term unconscious, and subconscious are equivalent — they refer to the same part of the mind. This type of suggestion therapy works well for someone who generally accepts what they are told without having a lot of questions.
Most hypnosis programs sold today are based on “Traditional Hypnosis” techniques. This reason is it really doesn’t take much training to write a script and just command an individual to do something. Unfortunately Traditional Self-hypnosis is not very practical for people who are analytical in their thinking processes.
By contrast, Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP methods work far more efficiently for most individuals in today’s generation! This is because today people are taught to analyze everything, rather than just do what they are told to do. So these modalities do work very well on people who are analytical in their thinking processes.
While it’s true that these modalities are much more successful at reaching and influencing the subconscious, it’s also true that it can take a lot of training to learn how to apply these techniques with success. So this is a challenge taken on by only truly dedicated hypnotists.
With “Ericksonian Hypnosis,” we use little stories; we call metaphors, to introduce new ideas to the subconscious mind. This is a a powerful avenue, because it usually eliminates the blockage of suggestions that is often caused by the conscious mind. There are two types of metaphors, “Isomorphic,” and those of the imbedded command or “interspersal” nature.
Isomorphic metaphors guide the subconscious by telling a story that has a moral. The unconscious draws a one-on-one relationship between parts of the story and ingredients of a problem situation or behavior.
For example, if a child is telling a lot of lies, the hypnotherapist might tell the child the story about the “Boy who cried wolf.” The unconscious would draw a parallel between the boy in the story and the child, and realize that telling lies could lead to disaster, so the child would probably stop lying.
With the Embedded Command technique, the hypnotherapist tells an interesting story that engages and distracts the conscious mind. The story includes covert direct suggestions that are usually accepted by the unconscious. For example: While the client is under hypnosis, he will hear the hypnotist say something like: I’m going to tell you a story about a [beach that has feelings. Isn’t that] strange to [you]? It’s a warm summer’s day, and the beach [feels great].
The hypnotist pauses, shifts his voice tonality, and emphasizes the bracketed text. The unconscious recognizes a “Selectional restriction violation.” Beaches can’t have feelings. So it’s like the subconscious says to itself: “Wait a minute, a beach can’t feel anything, so that must mean that I’m supposed to feel something, and I’m supposed to [feel great].” Since the suggestions are hidden in a story that is misdirecting the conscious mind, its unlikely that the conscious will realize that it has just received a suggestion, so it won’t block it or resist it.
“Process Instructions” direct the unconscious to remember a past event of an experience from the past where something appropriate was learned, and then apply that experience to correct negative behaviors in the present.
With “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” (NLP), rather than using hypnotic commands, we use the same thought methodologies that are creating a problem, like an excessive appetite or stress, to get rid of the problem. NLP in the hands of a trained practitioner can be very effective.
NLP Anchoring: Have you ever heard some old music and had it remind you of feelings from the past? When you originally heard the music, you were feeling those feelings, and they subconsciously became attached to the melody of the song. So the song became an Anchor for the feelings. Now when you hear the song, it triggers the same feelings again.
Anchoring can be a very powerful method. Suppose that you have a memory of being commended for having done a good job in the past. If you get inside of that memory, you’ll be able to recall the feeling of self-esteem that you had at that time. If you touch two fingers together while you re-experience those feelings of self-esteem, that touch will become an anchor for the feelings of self-esteem.
Now suppose that you want to create motivation to stick to a diet and lose weight. If you make a mental image of yourself with a thin, sexy body, and simultaneously trigger the anchor – (press the two fingers together again), your subconscious will connect together the feelings of self-esteem to the mental image of you with the thin body and your level of motivation to lose weight will grow exponentially.
NLP Flash: This is a very effective and powerful Nlp methodology that can be used to turn things around in the unconscious, so that thoughts and experiences that used to trigger feelings of stress actually trigger relaxation instead.
The NLP Flash technique is also a fast way to erase conditioned respsonses. For example: If a smoker has a cigarette while drinking coffee, his/her subconscious will pair the two behaviors together so that he/she automatically gets an urge for a cigarette anytime he/she has a cup of coffee. The Flash will cause the smoker’s mind to disassociate the image of a cigarette from the cup of coffee so that he/she does NOT feel a craving to smoke just because he/she is drinking coffee.
With “subliminal” methods, the recording has two different tracks. One track contains a cover sound that is heard by the conscious mind. The cover sound could be anything from music to the sound of a snowstorm. The second track contains ideas that are listened to by the subconscious mind. These post-hypnotic suggestions are repeated hundreds of times during a session.
Subliminal programs can be played in the background while you are working. You don’t have to stop what you are doing and relax like you do with suggestion therapy or NLP. Subliminals can be an adjunct therapy to hypnotic programs. But Subliminals will never replace Hypnotherapy or Nlp because they are not as effective! They don’t even come close!! Some experts claim that it can take up to 80 hours of listening to a subliminal recording before it will have any effect on many people.
The last method of hypnosis that we’re going to talk about is “Video Hypnosis.” Video Hypnosis is the most effective form of hypnosis! The techniques used in video hypnosis are based on the Neuro-linguistic programming technology, which works based on the utilization of a person’s existing thought processes instead of hypnotic suggestions.
Over 70% of the population learns much more quickly and automatically by seeing, rather then by hearing. Think about it. If you feel an urge to eat or smoke when watching television, it’s because your mind recorded the video image of either food in your hand, or a cigarette in your hand, and then tied that image with the depiction of the TV. You never spoke to yourself and told yourself in words to associate them together, am i correct?
And that’s why the Video Hypnosis methodology is so compelling. Video Hypnosis is not hypnotic in the traditional sense, relying on the spoken word. But if you’ve ever cried when watching a sad movie, then you know how practical Video Hypnosis can be at reaching the subconscious mind. With this methodology, results usually start with the very first viewing!