RECENT BLOG POSTS
How to know when someone is going into hypnosis
Trainee hypnotherapists need to know when someone is going into trance or is already experiencing hypnotic trance, because when people go into hypnosis many changes occur, and the hypnotherapist needs to utilise these changes. These changes should always be noticed instantly by the observant therapist. These changes are called Minimal Cues. These are the identifiers of hypnotic trance. The changes below do not always happen in every hypnotic subject but most will be seen at some time during the trance experience. Eyefixation. One of the main principles of hypnosis is to capture attention. If you are telling a compelling story or are using direct eye contact the subject will often de-focus their gaze and have their eyes fixed on either a random place in the room (maybe visualising the story you are telling) or on your eye contact. In these cases you will often see a lack of blink reflex and open eye catalepsy (inability to blink or close the eyes). Pupil dilation. When the subject's eyes defocus you will see a relaxing of the muscles around the eyes and, depending on the amount of illumination in the room, pupil dilation. Change in blink reflex. Often the subject's blink reflex will
Stephen Brooks Hypnosis Techniques: Questioning Skills – Taking a Client’s History
Information gathering is an important stage in the therapy session and it is also an ideal time to build rapport and build trust. This Unit will teach you how to approach this. The presenting problem may not be the real problem. Sometimes, when Patients enter therapy, they may be afraid to talk about the problem they are most concerned about. Instead they talk about some other peripheral problem that is affecting their lives because they are too embarrassed to talk about their main problem. Often they dare not risk presenting the problem immediately because they are afraid that if therapy is unsuccessful then all will be lost. Sometimes they may want the therapist to test his skills on a less important problem to check out the therapist's ability to help or to see if they, as a Patient, can respond to treatment. Whilst successful treatment of a peripheral problem is a good way of ratifying the therapist's skills before the serious work begins, the withholding of information by the Patient puts the therapist at a disadvantage. Problems rarely exist in isolation and, where more than one problem exists, they are usually associated with each other in some way. It is important
How post hypnotic suggestions work in therapy
Some people have been asking me about how post-hypnotic suggestions work and how to use them etc. So here is my experience gathered over the years… Post hypnotic suggestions are given to the Patient while they are in trance and suggest that an outcome or new behaviour will occur post- hypnotically after trance is over. This is done so that the Patient receives benefit after the session and/or between each therapy session. While some changes occur during therapy sessions most therapeutic changes, or at least the benefits of changes, occur after or between sessions. As most therapeutic suggestions are geared towards positive changes in the future, most of our suggestions can be classed as post-hypnotic. Post-hypnotic Triggers Post hypnotic suggestions usually require a trigger to set off the outcome or new behaviour. The trigger is usually something that happens anyway as part of the Patient’s everyday life and the Therapist should aim to have post-hypnotic suggestions triggered by expected occurrences such as a time, an event, or expected daily/weekly routines etc. as this way the Patient will be less aware of the trigger.The trigger can even be one of the steps that currently trigger the patient’s problem, like the act