Hypnotherapy Information Exchange

Here are brief explan­ations of the two types of the application of hypnosis I am writing about:

Stage Hypnosis:
Is a demon­stration of the will­ingness of certain indi­viduals to use hypnosis as an excuse to be the centre of attraction to a non-​​criticising audience.   It is also a vehicle for a pro­claimed hyp­notist to stroke his own ego and to give the false impression that he is all powerful and in total control of those indi­viduals I have just described.

Hyp­no­therapy:
On the other hand, a Hyp­no­therapist is an indi­vidual who for whatever reason, usually because of a need within his per­sonality, to help other indi­viduals in need of psy­cho­logical help.   A Hyp­no­therapist should be well versed in both the ethical use of hypnosis and a working knowledge of psy­chology, both of which are used to help his client towards a better life.

The Mechanics

How does a stage hyp­notist appear to control his subjects?  To answer that we have to become aware of what is actually hap­pening some hours before and during his performance.

Here are the pro­cedures that are typ­ically applied before a hyp­notist carries out his act:

1.    Before the hyp­notist appears on stage, he would have received a great deal of ‘positive and com­pli­mentary’ pub­licity.   There should also be an entrance charge to his act, the higher the better.  Reasons being that the pub­licity builds up an expectation of a powerful figure and when a fee is paid, it is an uncon­scious way of saying, ‘I believe the pub­licity’.  In fact, those people who know them­selves to be hyp­not­isable, are uncon­sciously expecting to be, and invariably will, be hyp­notised.
2.    On the actual night, the audience will be kept waiting to build up the ‘expectancy’ even more.   Usually the pro­prietors of the estab­lishment will con­tinually mention that the hyp­notist will appear later in the evening.   This is in a way similar to the build up to a T.V. show when the floor manager and some well known comedians ‘prepare’ the audience minutes before the show.   Also, it is common practice for the use of alcohol to be used to ‘free up the inhib­itions’ by being available for at least a couple of hours before the show.
3.    The appearance of the hyp­notist will be to the sound of great applause – again building up the expectation and causing excitement.    The personal attire of the hyp­notist is usually black to give that ‘mystical’ appearance and to create the impression of power.    This is not abso­lutely necessary if the per­former is well known.
4.    The hyp­notist will then talk to the audience and further convince them that he is the powerful figure they were expecting who has the magical hypnotic powers expected of him.    Usually the talk includes personal testi­monials to his abilities.
5.    Now to the per­formance.   The hyp­notist will always carry out a number of ‘sug­gest­ibility tests’ to establish who is highly sug­gestible within the audience.   The tests are intended to produce a small number of people who respond readily to sug­gestions and who are either able to convince them­selves they can be hyp­notised or, are willing to do foolish things with the excuse of having no control over their actions due to being hypnotised.

6.    The sug­gest­ibility tests are varied and numerous, an example being the ‘hand clasp’ test.
a.    The audience is ‘asked’ to stand up (those that do are responding to an order (a sug­gestion) to do so) and then to hold their arms out in front of them.  They are then instructed to clasp the hands together, inter­twining their fingers (the hyp­notist will demon­strate to ensure the instructions are followed exactly as that is very important).
b.    The audience is then told that when the hyp­notist counts up to a certain number, the hands will become stuck together (this is repeated at least three times in accordance with the ’laws of sug­gestion’) and on the final number the hyp­notist will ask the audience to ‘try’ (this word ‘suggests’ that they cannot) to unclasp their hands.  The harder they try (this is another law of sug­gestion – ‘the harder you try, the more dif­ficult it becomes’) the more dif­ficult it will become and they will find they cannot unclasp the hands, no matter ‘how hard’ they try. (Think of the ‘tight ropewalker’. The novice will try too hard and fall, whereas the exper­ienced walker just takes it easy and succeeds)
7.    As it is known that approx­imately 25% of the pop­u­lation is highly sug­gestible, in any audience there will be a number of people who will not be able to unclasp their hands.  Sometimes a lot and sometimes very few.
8.    Those people who cannot unclasp their hands are asked to remain standing (this is to ensure the hyp­notist does not lose track of them and enables him to observe the ‘exhib­i­tionists’ amongst them).    Another sug­gestion is given to allow them to unclasp their hands, usually by simply telling them to relax their hands and on a given word such as ‘now’ they will be able to unclasp their hands.   The reason their hands are clasped together is because they are tensing them and the simple act of relaxing enables them to unclasp, but the audience believes it is the power of the hyp­notist at work.
9.    Sometimes, the hyp­notist will then carry out another ‘sug­gest­ibility test’ to lower the numbers of possible subjects.   This is done mainly with large audiences.
10.    The hyp­notist will then ‘invite’ those people standing to go on to the stage and sit on chairs already placed in a line behind the hyp­notist.  The chairs will have already acted as a powerful sug­gestion as the audience will have seen them and ‘expected’ members of the audience to sit in them and be hyp­notised.
11.    Those of the audience who accept the invitation are in effect giving the hyp­notist per­mission to do whatever he wants with them as they know what is to be expected.

However, there will always be those who pretend to by hyp­notised or who simply want to make a fool of the hyp­notist in front of their friends.   But a good hyp­notist will be well aware of this and look for signs that will weed out those problem makers.

For example, he may have a stooge in the audience who will secretly point out to him anyone who is mis­be­having behind his back.  Or, another possible sign is the audience laughing at something that is hap­pening that the hyp­notist does not see.  So fol­lowing the dir­ection of the audience’s eyes, will tell him who is going to cause him problems and steel the limelight.   Those people are quickly asked to return to their seats in the audience.

So on with the show.   The hyp­notist will then carry out his act appearing to hyp­notise at will and getting his subjects to perform funny, but harmless acts in front of the audience.

It should be noted that NOBODY will respond to any form of SUGGESTION that is OBNOXIOUS or against his or her MORAL CONVICTIONS!

No stage hyp­notist would risk his repu­tation by giving a sug­gestion to anyone knowing that that person would object to carrying it out.  For example, it would be very risky to suggest to an attractive woman that she should phys­ically take her clothes off.  Ok, there are women who would gladly do that in front of an audience, but the hyp­notist would not know that and would, therefore, avoid such a suggestion.

You will also note that religion is NEVER included in a stage hypnotist’s performance.

It should also be noted that in any audience, there are a small number of people who would be happy to go on stage and do silly things to get a laugh.   Go to any holiday camp and you will see per­formers calling up on stage members of an audience and having them do silly things.    There are clowns in every audience and the stage is a perfect vehicle for them, with or WITHOUT hypnosis as an excuse.

Genuine Hypnosis or Not!

So are those volunteers on the stage genuinely hyp­notised.  The answer is a ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’.   Some are in such a deep trance that they are genuinely hyp­notised.  Those people usually cannot remember what they have done imme­diately after a show, but do remember as time passes by.    (Of course, some people who do remember, say they do not because they want to ‘cover up their tracks’ with their friends and family).

Others will NOT be hyp­notised, but pretend they are.

I watched a show once and one woman was cer­tainly under hypnosis whereas there was a man who was obviously not.  The hyp­notist got only a few laughs from the woman and made full use of the man as he was willing to do vir­tually anything to raise a laugh.

It should be noted that an ethical hyp­notist will always establish nor­mality, at the end of his act, in his subjects, regardless of whether he believes it necessary or not.

Ok, enough about stage hypnosis and now to Hypnotherapy.

Now for the boring part of this article.

What does a Hyp­no­therapist do?   He or she helps people to live a normal and happy life.    The definition of ‘normal’ has to be left up to you for it is how you want to live your life that is normal.

A Hyp­no­therapist will be educated in both the application and use of hypnosis and also in the application of psy­chology in the form of psychotherapy.

Good Hyp­no­ther­apists have an arsenal of tech­niques and therapies at his or her disposal.   The importance of recog­nising every client as an indi­vidual with his or her own personal char­ac­ter­istics, life exper­iences and most importantly ‘a way of dealing with problems’, cannot be emphasised enough.

Hyp­no­ther­apists are there to help and not to make a client feel foolish.   An important requirement for any Hyp­no­therapist is a caring, kind and under­standing nature.  The need to help others is a bonus.

Also important is the training a Hyp­no­therapist receives.   Any course taken MUST include the psy­chology aspect of treating clients.    The reason simply being that a Hyp­no­therapist treats psy­cho­logical problems and he or she must understand human behaviour.   It is not necessary to hold a degree in psy­chology, but knowledge of most forms of psy­chology is important.

A typical treatment given by a Hyp­no­therapist would be:

1.    A con­sultation when an overall assessment of a client’s problem is taken.  The con­sultation must include questions on family back­ground, med­ication, past ill­nesses and a host of other things.  Near the end of the con­sultation, the Hyp­no­therapist may or may not include a short session of hypnosis to boost the client’s con­fidence in the therapy to be given.
2.    On the next session the Hyp­no­therapist will then use an appro­priate therapy.  Sometimes it includes hypnosis and sometimes a non-​​hypnosis technique such as Guided Imagery.   If the Hyp­no­therapist  con­siders it appro­priate, he or she may just use this session to talk through the problem.
3.    Sub­sequent sessions are then con­ducted to bring about a solution to the client’s problem.

At no time would an ethical Hyp­no­therapist produce a situation where the client becomes reliant on the therapy of therapist.  The goal of a Hyp­no­therapist is to guide the client towards self-​​reliance when he or she is in full control of the life he or she wants to lead.

Hyp­no­therapy can be used to treat almost, but not all, psy­cho­logical ailments.

I hope the above helps you recognise the dif­ference between what is per­ceived as stage hypnosis and Hyp­no­therapy.   One entertains and is not what it appears to be and the other is used for healing.

Please note that in the above article I have used the male gender throughout, but this is for easy reading and does not exclude female hyp­notists, or Hypnotherapists.

This article was ori­ginally pub­lished on www.HypnotherapyClinic.info by Con­sultant Clinical Hyp­no­therapist & Pys­cho­therapist Noel Bradford –

As a pro­fes­sional therapist Noel help people with everything that you would expect including giving up smoking, con­trolling their weight, dealing with fears and phobias. However his services go far beyond this and encompass things that affect everyone at some time in their life, such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, and low self esteem.

He  also has detailed spe­cialist training in several areas including but not limitted to Irrittable Bowel Syndrome and Pyscho­sexual matters that affect men such as Errectile Dys­function and Pre­mature Ejac­u­lation as well as those affecting women such as Hyper Desire Disorder, Vaginisums, and Dys­pareunia.

Ori­ginally posted 2009-​​03-​​23 22:24:25.