Anxiety and Hypnosis
Written by Bertil on November 28, 2007 – 10:10 am -Since hypnosis is a method of achieving total relaxation and allowing others access to your subconscious thoughts, it would seem that anxiety and hypnosis would go well together with hypnosis being a natural help for anxiety. And while hypnosis can be used as therapy for anxiety, it can also be hindered by it as well.
Studies have shown that about 30 percent of the population can easily be placed into what is usually termed a hypnotic trance and another 20 percent will be extremely difficult to persuade. The remainder of the population can go either way, mostly depending on their mood at the moment and their level of anxiety and hypnosis may be easy.
Anxiety, however at the thought of giving up control of their mind to another person, may prevent hypnosis from being successful and the thought of someone else having control over the mind and what they may do while under hypnosis, brings on additional anxiety and hypnosis may not be possible.
Stress Depends On Your Definition
You control the definition of stress as it pertains to your life and situational anxiety and hypnosis can go together like the proverbial hand and glove. In any given situation such as asking for a raise, going to traffic court or prepping for surgery a certain degree of stress is involved, which will invoke anxiety to a level equal to the level of stress. You can move past this anxiety and hypnosis can help, by allowing your subconscious mind to accept a new definition of stress for that given circumstance.
Hypnotism is not about altering circumstances, but about altering how your mind perceives and understands the circumstances. How well you can accept what is going on around you and how well your mind adapts to this new knowledge will determine how your anxiety is transformed into calm feelings.
There was a phrase that said stress was mind over matter, and when looking at anxiety and hypnosis aids for stress, it really is mind over matter. If you can get the negative thoughts out of your mind, the positive message will help make it so the outcome does not matter.
Experts agree that stress is a state of mind, depending on how your mind deals with the current circumstance and its possible outcomes. By combining your anxiety and hypnosis techniques you can alter how your mind perceives the potential outcomes and can more positively deal with the situation.
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Conversational Hypnosis
Written by Bertil on November 19, 2007 – 12:58 pm -Most people vividly remember the scene in Star Wars when Obi Wan Kenobi looks into the eyes of a guard and convinces him that the three wanted fugitives right in front of him are not the people he is looking for. Wouldn’t it be great to have similar influence over people? The term conversational hypnosis suggests that we can.
Of course, conversational hypnosis is not as simple as it sounds. Rather, it is a series of well-choreographed strategies and manipulations that may bring others around to your point of view.
The principles of conversational hypnosis were first conceived by the great hypnotist and psychotherapist Milton Erickson. Erickson believed that trance states were not rare occurrences that had to be elaborately induced. He believed people slip into trance states several times a day, for instance, when they are waiting for a bus or concentrating very hard on something they are reading.
Erickson also theorized that directly trying to induce a trance state in someone or trying to give them direct suggestions might lead to resistance. He preferred to use rapport, indirect suggestions, and confusion to induce trance states and influence compliance.
Rapport
The first step in conversational hypnosis is creating a rapport with the subject. This means agreeing with what they have to say. For instance, if the subject says, "There’s no way out of this," the proper response is, "You’re right. There’s no way out."
Confusion
The next step in conversational hypnosis is to confuse the issue. Sometimes a simple question works. "But even if there is no way out, can you be absolutely sure that a solution won’t pop into your mind in the next minute or so?"
Another technique used to create confusion in conversational hypnosis is to encourage resistance, perhaps by saying, "No one could solve that problem. It’s simply too complex. There’s absolutely no way out. You don’t have a chance…" At some point, the subject will probably start arguing with you that the problem is not so unsolvable after all!
Still another confusion technique is to suggest that the subject do more of something that isn’t working. For instance, an obese subject might be encouraged to gain weight.
Suggestion
The final step in conversational hypnosis is to make an indirect suggestion such as, "You’re feeling a bit less hopeless now, aren’t you?" or "I don’t know why, but it seems to me you look more optimistic than you did a few minutes ago."
Needless to say, conversational hypnosis is no easy feat, and it is best left to professionals.
If you would like to know more about conversational hypnosis, several websites offer online courses on the topic. You might also try reading a clinical biography of Milton Erickson.
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