Graham Old - Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotize

Why are people hard to hypnotize?

The author suggests that the following contribute to strong hypnotic response:

Capacity for non-volitional response
Imagination ability
Absorption ability
Dissociation ability

None of these components depend on how ‘analytical’ a client is. The propensity to label people ‘analytical resisters’ or resistant clients in general probably stems from a lack of understanding of the client/subject.

Book Club Notes

While the book mentions a 10/80/10 split of low/mid/high response, this is probably an artifact of how data is analyzed in an experimental academic setting. The top 10 and bottom 10 outliers are generally cut out of the study to make data more useful to read. It doesn’t mean someone is in a unique group of response just because someone is in the top or bottom 10 percent.

Moreover, with ‘analyticals,’ it may be useful to reframe this perceived difficulty as an advantage. These people, generally researchers/academics/scientists spend a lot of times in their heads anyway, and that’d already hint at a strong ability to be absorbed in mental processes.

Recreational Notes

This isn’t part of the book - but people in a recreational hypnosis space are usually highly motivated. We generally don’t run into resistance trying to show someone the good time they asked for. However, I have on multiple occasions run into folks that are anxious about handing over the keys, so to speak. There are also individuals that need a hand learning how to respond automatically.

In these cases, while unpopular, I like the Hypnosis Without Trance approach to start out with, after a solid pre-talk. Presenting this as an experiment can go a long way, and instead of applying random inductions and asking questions afterwards, you can talk to your subject and get immediate feedback.

Outline of a Pre-Talk

Most of this chapter is reasonably obvious - ask them about what their experiences and expectations are surrounding hypnosis. Check for any concerns, and reinforce their own agency in the process.

A quickie checklist should include:

What are your previous experiences with or surrounding hypnosis, if any?
How ya feeling about all this?
Is there anything you’re unsure of?
An experiential explanation. (Or, when appropriate, jump right into a quick hypnotic example like magnetic hands.)
An explicit ask to try this hypnosis thing out.

Graham suggests comparing hypnosis to a daydream or a movie - but if you’re in the recreational space, I’d prefer to say it’s similar to guided meditation combined with Simon Says - as recommended by Binaural Histolog. I feel like the ‘movie’ metaphor really misses the mark, despite it being useful for helping relax your subject.

Book Club Notes

Depending on context, you can pre-frame this as an experiment, or as a skill-building exercise.

Responding to Resistance

The author presents the idea of “rolling with resistance.” Initially I thought of this as an an extension of Ericksonian utilization, but this is not the case. Rolling with Resistance is a component of Motivational Interviewing. Rolling with Resistance looks like it’s whole thing, but OARS feels like it wraps up the gist of it.

Open Ended Questions (and express empathy.) Fully understand their position, and avoid arguing.
Affirmations. Build rapport, empower the client, and reinforce that they can be responsible for their own decisions.
Reflective Listening. Restate their feelings to ensure you fully understand them. Avoid being ham-fisted with this. You should get a sense of rapport at this point. As part of this, this is where you can work with what they’re saying. “It must be super frustrating to have your pet goldfish refuse to eat the gourmet feed you bought them. However, I’m sure they care about you very much, they may just not be able to reflect this in their dietary decisions.”
Summarize. Make sure you’ve got you’re game plan together.

(In a rush, I scraped this out of this document on the OARS model. For an actual understanding of Rolling with Resistance, I think that the book Brief Therapy has some information on it. Don’t quote me on that one.)

Try to see ‘resistance’ as something to use, rather than something to fight back against. Or, in lieu of that, some coaching can go a long way. You can also look at it as an opportunity to work with the resistance and team up with your client/subject.

Look at the resistance as if it was trying to tell you something. It can be an indicator of an underlying problem or misunderstanding. (For example, if your subject is cranky or is pushing through a headache, it might be better to address that first outside of hypnosis.)
Slow down and let your subject set the pace. Giving a suggestion doesn’t mean they had time to respond to it.
Utilize whatever they’re doing. As an aside, see why they’re interested in hypnosis in the first place. Graham mentions some clients are pressured into making changes by their partner - that’s just not cool.
Use indirect language, nonverbal suggestion, or make your suggestions more flexible. Graham also suggests using hypnotic stories. (Or, if you check in with your subject, you’ll likely know if shifting to indirect suggestions would benefit them.)
Use permissive suggestions. You can take this all the way to the point of ‘wondering’ with a triple bind. (Will it rise, fall, or do nothing at all?) Or - a personal suggestion, just ask them about their experience and utilize that.
Help the client become an active participant. You can give them something to do, notice, or help out on. This is perfect for situations where the client is afraid of losing control. PHRIT is a solid way to approach this.

A personal recommendation that’s likely more useful in a recreational setting is demonstrating that they can exercise MORE control over a situation, then pull back. (EG - work with something they’re comfortable with, like an arm lift, then tell them to ignore your suggestion. After that, instruct them, when they’re comfortable, to resist a bit less, and that they’re in control of how much they ignore or resist you, and they can experiment with it. This may not be ideal in all D/s situations, but safety third.)

Revisit your subject’s goals, making sure your approach is aligned with their needs. As a personal tip - give your subject some options on how they’d like to approach the session - like picking the induction.
Ask your subject what they expect - either in hypnosis or phenomena wise. Check in and see how they’re doing with the induction process. There’s nothing wrong with tailoring an induction to work with your subject - in fact I’d encourage it. You can also give your subject more time to respond to suggestions, or wait for the phenomena to manifest.

There’s a note at the end of the chapter about stage hypnosis putting too much weight on the hypnotist’s shoulders to be ‘the hypnotist.’ Team up with your subject.

Book Club Notes

If we’re looking for hypnotic response, have them look for a JND - just noticeable difference. There will almost always be some sort of minute difference someone can notice, and we can utilize that to highlight how things can feel automatic.

It’s also worth considering keeping goals small (and attainable.) It’s hard to feel satisfied if your goal is “drop like a brick.” But it’s much easier to have your goal set as “let’s enjoy some time together and see what sort of cool phenomena we can experience.” Or even more simply, “let’s have fun with this!” You can also include this approach in the framing - instead of ‘working towards a goal,’ you can just have fun with hypnosis in a recreational setting.

Also, if we’re in a recreational setting, we can pre-frame with the suggestion to savor the experience. This can make small wins feel more substantial.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (Polarity Responders)

In short, polarity responders are contrarians. While some are just brats, or others feel like they are being insightful, their behavior can also be influenced by fear, learned patterns, genuine above-average intelligence, or the situation. Some of these responses can even be automatic, without forethought. It’s worth considering how you’re presenting yourself to your client - you could be triggering this response by coming off as overbearing or an authority, or just having done a poor job of interviewing them earlier.

When working with them - try the following…

Invite Open-Ended Responses. Make sure you’re at least not presenting yourself as an authority. Your subject, consciously or unconsciously, may have their need to ‘resist’ higher on their list than whatever you’re both trying to accomplish. Try something more along the lines of…

“Shortly your right hand, or it may be your left hand, will begin to lift up, or it may press down, or it may not move at all, but we will just wait to see just what happens. Maybe the thumb will be first, or you may feel something happening in your little finger, but the really important thing is not whether your hand lifts up or presses down, or just remains still; rather, it is your ability to sense fully whatever feelings may develop in your hand.”

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 51). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.
Use Permissive Language. Here’s their grab bag:
- I don’t know if…
- Maybe…
- Perhaps…
- I wonder…
- You could…
- You might…
- …or not.
- I don’t know…
- Some people may…
- I’m curious to know if…
Give them something to disagree with!
- You do need to pay any attention to the tiredness in your eyelids…
- You will probably disagree, but…
- I suspect this is not something you’d like to take part in…
- I have an idea that I think you’re not going to like, but I wanted to see what you think anyway.
- You probably don’t want to close your eyes.
- As you relax even further, you may go deeper into a trance in a few seconds, or perhaps in a minute or two, or even as soon as you close your eyes… (Adjust the feeling of ‘likelihood’ on one of the suggestions.)
- Shortly your right hand, or it may be your left hand, will begin to lift up, or it may press down, or it may not move at all, but we will just wait to see just what happens.

Consider encouraging your client to fully inspect their responses. If they disagree, you can always ask for more information. The idea is to foster introspection (and to avoid telling them they’re broken or wrong.) In a therapeutic setting, encouraging them to re-inspect as they have been can help them learn to be more flexible, turning a hypnotic stumbling block into an advantage for themselves. (As a personal thought - I’m not a therapist, but it’s worth weighing this against the chance for unproductive or self-destructive rumination.)

Immediately after this chapter is the “Auto Dual Induction.” You really just give them instructions for themselves to remove resistance. A sticking point is you’ll need to watch them carefully and utilize what’s happening, and uh, getting started on this one is a bit awkward.

The Auto Dual Induction Transcript

Have the subject take themselves into trance. Have them repeat your suggestions out loud to themselves. Utilization is key.

The Myth of the Analytical Subject

Graham presents the idea that it’s silly to presume analytical people, when they are clearly willing subjects or clients, are unable to be hypnotized or to accept help. As it’s very normal to think during a session, thinking in and of itself is not the problem. If your client isn’t thinking, they’re probably dead.

I know Graham is trying to insist that analysis isn’t a problem, and I’ll agree that it isn’t inherently a problem. I do think someone thinking repeatedly “I’m going to analyze and intensely focus on the feelings in my arm” while doing an arm levitation is going to be more likely to ‘correct’ for the ‘error’ we’re trying to introduce in their cognition to create a feeling of automaticity.

The book provides this solid excerpt - one of my favorites from any book, so as to why someone may be having trouble getting the results they want out of hypnosis.

They may have had a difficult day, which has put them in a particularly pessimistic mood. They may be suffering from clinical depression. They may be too desperate, anxious, or invested in what is taking place and interfere with the process by attempting to assist the hypnotist. They may struggle to get absorbed in cognitive experiences. They may be intoxicated. They may be out of practice with using their imagination. They may not believe that anything good could happen to them. They may be suffering with auditory hallucinations, or intrusive thoughts. They may be over-medicated. They may not like you.

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (pp. 68-69). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

Ensure your partner knows what’s required of them, or give them a clear and active role. They may even be unaware that an automatic response is ideal. (There’s some degree in nuance to this. I think Graham is arguing that the subject can take an active role in an indirect suggestion such as ‘feeling your arm become lighter and lighter,’ since the reaction we want, arm levitation, should feel automatic.)

Some of the best hypnotic responders are intelligent or high-performing individuals. They likely already have a knack for absorption. Since this is a therapeutic textbook, they state at this point you can just teach your client they can think in a different way, as they’re already warmed up for accepting therapeutic suggestions. In these cases, the book poses that you should aim to manage their trance (interoception and thought) rather than try to create something that’s already there.

As it’s normal to think during trance, and your thoughts do not shut off, it’s perfectly reasonable to suggest and encourage the behavior. Graham advises that you can encourage your clients to think all the way through the process, but they wouldn’t enjoy the movie if they only thought about the VFX or sound design. They should just experience the ‘movie.’ (I’m personally not entirely sold on this, this doesn’t really highlight that your subject can take an active role during this process. ) They do include this note on what they’d like the subject to do - but it needs to be highlighted.

I reiterate that they will be thinking all of the way through. And I explicitly encourage them to do that. I add that I want them to think about every single thing that I say and that they experience.

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 74). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

If you’re working with someone that’s ‘analytical,’ it’s silly to think that you can confuse them into trance. It’s far easier to be direct with them, and tell them explicitly what you want. For example…

“And as you picture that scene, you can begin to imagine what it would feel like to be there… And allow yourself to begin to experience that now…”

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 77). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

During your pre-talk, talk about phenomena (like watching a movie in a cool-movie theater, and shivering during a winter scene.) For bonus points, walk them through some phenomena too. (They suggest talking about the taste how sour it’d be to taste a lemon, and how you’re salivating just thinking about it.)

You can do a magnetic hands ‘test’ without a pass fail condition. Instead of suggesting they come together, only focus in on and describe the experience. No matter what happens, ask them how it went, and you can tell them that’s just what hypnosis may feel like to them the first time. Validate their experience, and highlight what they felt.

You can place less emphasis on the ‘feeling’ of trance - if you’re already stuck in your head all of the time, it’s unlikely you’ll feel much of a difference. They suggest working with ‘waking hypnosis,’ which I think is well covered in Hypnosis Without Trance.

In addition, give your client something to do. This includes something like PHRIT, which gives your subject something to actively work on. You can also use something like an Elman Induction, which gives them a process to actively work with you on.

Graham ends on the note to highlight that you should use phenomena for your analytical clients, not confusion.

Personal Thoughts

This stuff is just tangentially related to the book - but I feel like these notes may be useful.

Have a fish gif.

Coaching Automaticity

Graham mentioned working with non-trance phenomena to convince your subject, but I really wanted to highlight how strong this approach can be. Whenever I work with someone that has trouble responding, I start coaching the subject through experiencing phenomena without trance. This can include…

Mentioning agency.
Talking about the feeling of automatically reaching for a cup of coffee/tea.
Presenting automatic response as a gradient.
Some butchered form of the Carleton Skill Training Program. First imagine the thing happening, then imagine that you’re not actively doing it.
Focus on their internal experience, and show them that they can control their internal experience.
Directly suggest feelings of automaticity in their internal focus.
Ask permission to watch and observe what level of automatic response will happen.
Hell - just ask them what’s in their head at the moment.

Analysis Paralysis

While the material suggests encouraging your subject to run buck wild with analysis, I have had issues with subjects preventing phenomena just by directly observing what’s happening closely. “Watch what happens” can mean very different things to people - it can either mean chill and just see what changes you notice, or STARE SO HARD YOU TRY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Obviously, the latter isn’t going to work.

Overload for the Fuck of It

In ~~erotic~~ recreational hypnosis, overload and confusion can be a fun thing. I also don’t think that some degree of overload or confusion is bad. Some ~~idiots~~ state theorists feel that suggestions fall right into the “subconscious” and are followed automatically and obediently after some degree of overload. This is horse shit. Overload and confusion are great for utilization and reducing critical analysis. If the overload state theory was correct I’d be a fucking math genius from being so damn confused.

Now that my rant is over, if your subject believes the state theory, and you’re playing a recreational space, there’s no reason to ruin the magic for them. O:)

Also - this book contains the Sensory Overlap induction - it’s absolutely an effective overload induction, and worth the price of admission for this book. It mostly utilizes attention bouncing in rounds and leads into some mild metaphors.

Transcript of Sensory Overlap

You’ll have to grab the book for the induction - it’s a banger. With that said, here are some of my favorite tips out of it.

Instead of a normal confusion induction, it gradually builds back and forth the tension and analysis with attention bouncing, and invites the subject to relax.
This induction is permissive and gentle, while still being in the family of ‘overload’ inductions.
The “meat” of this induction is just attention bouncing. To stack on overload, the induction leads in with a pile of components of imagined speech and a clipboard. (…notice the words the hypnotist is saying, the length of the words, the sound of the words, the individual letters, the shapes of the individual letters, how they’d look on a clipboard, or how each individual letter would have different strokes and different sounds as it was written down… With the cherry on top of “as I write that down with a pen or pencil on that clipboard.”) Also used are the sounds in the room, or the feelings of their body.
Gradually Graham shifts from generated or external experiences towards interoception. Such as - noticing breathing and heaviness in their body, slipping in direct suggestions that their body will start to relax.
Later - Graham goes into a more abstract, dream-like suggestion, indirectly giving them the opportunity to relax mentally. (Drifting off into a cloud… drifting away.) If I know the subject, I’ll work in something more appropriate.
Initially - I misread a suggestion in here and started using my own based on it. 😅 “Becoming aware of the feeling of letting go and the feeling of relaxing… when you want to let go and you want to relax.”

And some nice suggestions to keep handy:

“Take as much time as you need to get comfortable…”
I’ll be talking about plenty of things, you might want to keep track of them, or you might not, it’s up to you. (Giving them permission to eventually relax and zone out.)
I don’t know if you’ll be able to concentrate better with your eyes open or closed, so you can go ahead and do what’s most comfortable to you. (This does a few things - suggesting they should concentrate to some degree, they can concentrate with their eyes open or closed, invites them to close their eyes and relax at their own pace, and infers they should be comfortable during the process.)
”… those every-day normal sounds that tell us that life goes on as usual…” (You can create suggestions similar to this - saying it’s normal for their attention to bounce around… and they could allow them to relax further, or not, but it’s a perfectly normal part of the process… and the only important thing to do is to notice what they notice.)
There’s a neat little flex on language here. :)

“nothing to do now… except drifting down and enjoying the feeling… how easily you let go when you want to go…

“more and more relaxed… feeling your whole body… as you focus on your breathing… sinking deeper and deeper into that relaxation…

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (pp. 95-96). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

Confusion

According to Erickson, inductions should always include an element of confusion, but it is not an induction in and of itself. The Ericksonian confusion technique is a series of ideas (presented verbally or non-verbally) that do not lend themselves to an easy conclusion. They leave this in suspense, hoping the subject will accept the first clear-cut option they hear for resolution.

In short, all of this is intended to create anticipatory focus that is straightforward to utilize.

Using good confusion technique should require the subject to think or experience, and should make some degree of sense. Nobody wants to hear someone babble bullshit, or they’ll get off the train. Using suggestions that ask the subject to search ‘inside’ for resolution can be more effective than passive suggestions that are merely explanations. For example…

“Hypnosis is like a pleasant day-dream…”

Could be changed to using a confusion technique here…

”You may find that hypnosis is like one of your daydreams, perhaps like a dream you had at school one day, when your mind drifts from time to time during a lesson…”

What the F is confusion?

For the purposes of this section, confusion is a statement or action that creates attention or receptivity, creating an anticipatory focus.

These confusing suggestions lead to the resolutions (hopefully) working as embedded commands. A few categories follow…

Sensory Confusion. Any lack of clarity with sensory input - such as a double induction where two hypnotists speak two inductions simultaneously. This can also be created by creating ambiguity as to what someone should be focusing on.
Sensory Overload. An extension of the above, but overloading someone’s sensory inputs to the point where it pushes everything else out of the way.
Non sequiturs. Where one effect leads to another unrelated effect. EG: “And finding that just listening to my voice makes your feet stick more and more firmly to the ground.” (This just makes me think of NLP pacing and leading.)
Homonyms

“And I don’t know if your right arm will begin to raise, meaning that the other arm is left. Or if your other arm will be right for you and your right arm will be left…”

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 104). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.
Double entendres. “If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?” (Maybe uh - don’t use this in a therapeutic context. Unless you’re Erickson. /s)
Oppositional Pairs.

“So you can sit there… in that chair here… while you try, to be aware of the exact meaning… of the words you hear… and of all the changes… that occur there… in your thoughts, sensations or awareness… as I speak here.”
Associational Confusion. Using an unclear target, such as with My Friend John, or in nested loops.

“And as you begin to think about the changes you are making at a subconscious level… now… you can take a deep breath…”
Shifting States. Shifting someone into a state, dissociating them, then associating again, without clear boundaries. The emotional equivalent of sensory overload. (EG - fractionating someone like a shaken baby.)
Kinaesthetic Confusion. Almost any unexpected sensation or movement, from magnetic hands all the way to an arm drop or catalepsy. Ideally creating a “WTF is this automatic response,” allowing the client to become more receptive.
Pattern-interrupt. Did you know sharks can go into a trance?

Interrupting a pattern and leaving it unresolved, like breaking a handshake. And as you realize the shark factoid was irrelevant, you can keep reading.

An overarching idea of using confusion is to help the subject become more receptive to new ideas or states. The idea is to ‘dim the outer reality,’ allowing clients to more easily accept ideas or find clarity and direction. Confusion can also create space for a more comfortable inner space by suggesting something nice is the resolution to the ambiguous content. (Much in the same way convenience stores play lousy music outside to drive people either in or away.)

Or put in NLP terms, you’re ‘breaking connections’ in their ‘map’ and allowing them to form new ones. Confusion can be a useful tool for helping a client break deep-rooted thought patterns and associations.

Book Club - Encouraging Divergent Thinking

James Tripp gave a talk about Why Certainty KILLS Hypnosis and Real Change , or rather, why and how to encourage divergent thinking.

Typical Confusion Induction Transcript

Despite Graham talking smack about confusion inductions - he can write a pretty solid one. This one’s a good example of many of the techniques mentioned in the previous chapter.

How to Use Confusion

The author presents a quote from Gilligan, that suggests an ideal use case for confusion in hypnosis…

‘Confusion techniques utilise whatever the client is doing to inhibit trance or other therapeutic developments as the basis for inducing those developments.’

S. Gilligan, Therapeutic Trances, P.236. Emphasis mine.

In the frame of utilization, whatever the client is doing is right, and we can extend it towards a new direction. With Graham referencing Gilligan again, ‘the most effective confusion techniques… use the pattern keeping the person out of trance as the basis for the induction.’

The rest of the chapter provides specific examples of this.

The Confusion Framework

Graham presents his framework for using confusion in trance as a combination of Erickson’s and Gilligan’s ideas…

Identify the process (Finding what we’d like to change, and it’s process.)
Initiate the process (Starting the same process.)
Confuse the process (Interrupt or overload.)
Extend the confusion (Amplify the process.)
Utilize the confusion (Put it in a new ideal direction.)

For example, the Bandler Handshake, chosen for a client that too willingly accepts social norms, and could use the ability to reframe them.

Handshakes are automatic.
Start the handshake.
Interrupt the handshake. (Slide out of the way, use the other hand to lift their wrist.)
Tell them to look at their hand, locking in the confusion.
Continue the induction, utilizing catalepsy if their hand freezes, or an invitation to enter trance as their hand drops down.

(For more information on hypnotic handshakes, Graham’s book on the subject is a solid resource. )

The material presents two more examples - using a client’s fidgety qualities to bounce between two chairs to find the “most optimal one,” or someone that’s bothered by overthinking about their environment. They wore the fidgety client out by having them bounce between the chairs, then have them the option to finally relax and sit down. Graham invited the easily distracted client to notice all the surrounding sounds, using their overload to guide them towards simple relaxation.

With all this being said - use confusion in your inductions with intent and purpose, not just because it’s in your toolbag. Fucking the process up can deteriorate your rapport, or make your subject uncomfortable. Worse yet - depending on your intentions (EG - trying to stop a useful logical process) you may be wasting something therapeutically useful.

Book Club Notes

Recreationally - if someone’s interested in a blank state, you can try to suggest the following:

See what the internal chatter is (is it visual, auditory? What’s their internal state like, almost like asking about their VAK system?)
Start with some overload.
Invite that overload to go to blankness or silence.

Rethinking Confusion

While confusion is often someone’s go-to tool for ‘analytical’ subjects, there’s reason to believe that this is not a great idea - both from compassionate and purely utilitarian standpoints. In a study on low-responders, confusion inductions were no more effective than normal inductions. If you’re working a therapeutic setting, you can use confusion to bully someone into trance through discomfort, but Graham pleads you reconsider using this approach - as it’s unkind and does not foster cooperation.

While Erickson was known for his confusion techniques, and the popularity of confusion in hypnosis may very well be part of his legacy, a lot of the responsiveness Erickson saw may have come from him just being Milton Fucking Erickson. You’d absolutely know this dude was a renowned (and imposing) hypnotist, and you’d probably already be expecting a deluxe mindfuck going into a session.

In the dual induction - two hypnotists speak two separate inductions simultaneously, one for each ear of the ~~victim~~ client.

While this has some cool recreational applications, research shows that this may be no more effective than normal inductions. In fact, in some settings, it’s less effective than a normal induction. (And really, if you’re working recreationally, our ultimate goal is to create a cool experience.)

It’s worth noting that confusion an acceptable component in an induction, but it’s easily overused, especially unskillfully. If you’re going all-in on confusion, consider using a Kinaesthetic flavor. The argument is that it’s more comfortable to enjoy “my body is doing weird shit” than “you’re being annoying and indirect.”

The material points out that a good place to use confusion is with a client that meditates regularly. Meditators can analyze - and that’s great, but if they begin to self guide (and start to do the hypnotist’s job,) you’d want to interrupt that to direct the experience.

Book Club Notes

You can sidestep a lot of this confusion stuff just by asking someone to be open. Graham Old mentions somewhere the line “I don’t want you to force or fight anything - just feel what you feel, hear what you hear, and experience what you experience.”

Kinaesthetic Confusion Transcript

The overall idea of this induction is to have your subject sitting or resting comfortably, with the hypnotist bringing the client’s arm up above their head, asking them to take a deep breath in and exhale, closing their eyes.

From there, still lightly holding their arm, you should be able to sense if the arm is heavy or cataleptic. Utilize whichever response they have. Suggest the arm will float if it’s cataleptic, eventually lowering down as they enter trance. If it’s heavy, suggest the arm will become heavier and heavier, provided they not “go into hypnosis until the arm has come to rest.” In the second case, you’ll slowly lower their arm down over the next 10 or 20 seconds, giving them relaxation suggestions.

Phenomenal Inductions

While, in a clinical sense, convincers and phenomena are not necessary, they do increase the effectiveness of therapeutic suggestions.

Why to use phenomena and convincers:

[regarding understanding convincers as phenomena]… the role of phenomena is to help clients understand what is taking place and adjust their expectations and responses accordingly.

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 145). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

Permissive guidance:

H: “That’s it. And your only role in all of this is to simply experience whatever you experience. So, I don’t want you to fake anything, or fight anything. That’s not why we’re here. I want you to enjoy experiencing using your mind.

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 154). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

The ‘until all you can hear is my voice’ is a nice goalpoint:

“I’m now going to count and each number I mention, and every breath you take, and every beat of your heart, doubles that relaxation you are feeling now. Focusing on my voice; all other sounds only serving to deepen that relaxation that you’re already feeling, until all you can hear is my voice.

Old, Graham. Hypnosis with the Hard to Hypnotise: How to do Inductions with Resistant Clients, Analytical Subjects and Others who may be Difficult to Hypnotise (The Inductions Masterclass Book 6) (p. 163). Plastic Spoon. Kindle Edition.

The Sinking Spot

Use your fingers for eye fixation
Move your hand back and forth, up and down, drawing their eyes
Instruct them they can keep their head still, and just follow with their eyes
Start to suggest relaxation
Instead of doing the usual coaxing their head down with your fingers, have them focus on a point in space, imagining a position.
- Suggest the sphere/thing can slowly move down.
- Utilize tiredness, blinking, etc.
- Highlight relaxation
- Highlight the vision falling down as they relax

Arm Levitation

Make sure their arm isn’t fucked
Highlight ‘subconscious movements’ as fascinating
Prime with words like ‘light’ and ‘up’
Start out with a ‘fascinating’ story about automatic behavior
Optionally, throw in a compliance set
Ask for minimum perceptible differences between their hands
- Ask which hand is heavier
- Suggest the other hand is lighter, and becoming lighter
- Ask them to focus on a spot on the lighter hand
- Take another deep breath, and as they release, suggest more heaviness.
- Tell them to close their eyes as they release, noticing that spot as if they could see through their eyelids.
As their hand falls, bring their attention to the spot that touches their leg
- Suggest air, softness, cushioning, anything that’ll bring more focus to the hand.
- Suggest the feeling will expand
Suggest lightness in the other hand
- Give options for lightness in the hand
- Keep suggesting lightness until it floats, dissociating
- Bind relaxation to the levitation
- (Hand is now floating a bit noticeably above the leg)
Switch back to the heaviness in the other hand, and comparing the heaviness/lightness in both hands
In a moment, I’m going to click my fingers. The rate or rising will increase.
- Highlight how their subconscious is acting powerfully for them today.
- Highlight the insight that their unconscious can do things for them.
- Say that they can close their eyes now, and they can wonder if the hand will keep rising, or fall back down… sinking into that relaxation

Magnetic Hands

Describe magnets
Gently push palms together while saying “and as your hands get closer…”
- Have them close their eyes - and as they do you’ll go deeper
  - Gently touch the hands ‘down’ as you say going deeper
Restart the process after this mini-pretalk
- Do the normal magnetic hands thing
- Repeat the process as described, gently touching their hands if needed
- Highlight they’ll feel a wave of relaxation
- Highlight things to focus on
- Suggest their eyes can close as their hands touch, waiting for blinking
- Utilize response
Count and double relaxation on each step

Becoming More Hypnotic

According to Donald Gorassini, hypnotisability is highly modifiable. (In a roundabout way, it linked to the book ‘The Highly Hypnotizable Person,’ which is in the book stash.) Arguments from Spiegel suggest it is barely modifiable.

From some external reading - it seems a (reasonably obvious) conclusion good enough for recreational use is - if you do nothing to modify your response, it is unlikely to change. For recreational degenerates like us - if they subscribe to it not being modifiable via physiology (they’ve done too much reading isolated in old state theory,) you can let them know you can maximize their potential response available.

Graham suggests the following exercises to the subject:

Directed Imagination. This exercise should start with someone imagining something in their mind. This does not necessarily mean that they need to be able to visually see it, but just imagine, visualize, pretend, get a sense of, or become aware of something. Over time they can gradually add more details.
Mindful Absorption. This is much like a mindful awareness exercise and meditation. The subject is instructed to focus on something and just instead of direct their attention, just become aware of what they are aware of. In addition, learning how to let thoughts leave just as easily as they came if they’re not related to the goal at hand.
Goal-Directed Fantasy (GDF). If a subject was instructed to make their arm numb, they could imagine their arm being stuck in a cold body of water until it becomes numb. The next step would be to see if they can allow the arm to raise without conscious effort.
Intentional Response. This works in tandem with goal directed fancy, but the subject is instructed to gradually move from manually making the phenomena work like moving their arm to seeing if they can allow it to happen automatically.
Rapid Relaxation. This could simply be thought of as doing a PMR on yourself on your own time. The goal isn’t really to do an induction on yourself, but it’s more to improve at relaxing. See if you can produce the results of the PMR without the PMR.
Deep Simulation. Ask the client to pretend that they’re a excellent hypnotic subject. “Deep simulation involves taking on the mindset, the attitude, emotions and expectations of a good hypnotic subject. It means responding… for the reasons they would.”

As a lesson for the hypnotist, you should consider what you can provide to your subject so that they can know what they should be experiencing. For example, if you’re doing arm levitation, you should tell them all about how it feel for their wrist to be pulled up, how their muscles may move their arm up. How it feels as their arm is raised. The tightening of the string around their wrist, anything like that.

Also, another tip - you can use a deep simulation on yourself to be a better hypnotist. This may allow you to appear my confident.

Book Club Notes

#todo flesh this out Goal Directed Fantasies

Magnetic hands
- 10 minutes describing that experiences
- Qualitative Analysis
- Lows and moderates will do GDF, Highs will not use the suggestion and it’ll happen automatically - or they’ll just do what they need to make it work spontaneously
  - CSTP - “You can use any imagination that works for you”
  - Rotate through options
  - If it doesn’t work - stop doing it
  - Kev says - ask what would work best for them
GDF can actually reduce suggestibility if it isn’t working
Cold control
- hot - my hands can come together - it needs to be there
- Switch to imagination
- the HOT must be there
- “Smallest conscious movement, unconscious follows it up”
Spontaneous subject-generated GDFs seem to be the best
Deep Simulation - intentionally hiding agency. Getting better at acting the role. Believing on purpose.

Fractionation Conversation Transcript

Basically - teach your client how to respond hypnotically through conversation.

Describe a hypnotic metaphor, like driving. Explain the day-dream like feeling.
Use another story. Graham tells another one about someone who asked what hypnosis felt like, telling them to close their eyes for four seconds. They said that feels just like hypnosis.
Ask them to close their eyes for four seconds, then ask them how it felt, or if it felt strange. Keep things light.
Walk through a breathing exercise, with their eyes closed. Highlight how the breathing brings automatic relaxation.
Ask them to open their eyes and talk for a moment.
Ask them to close their eyes again, stacking on imagery.
Bring them back to the surface.
Keep their eyes open. Ask questions about the imagery to help them absorb themselves.
1. When you see responses of relaxation or trance indicators, start to suggest those, as well as hypnosis.
2. Utilize other responses.
Manually suggest relaxing each body part.
Suggest the mind can relax as well. Suggest mental relaxation, tied to the out breath.
Suggest a lack of focus on the words your using, but that they will still respond automatically.
Note that distractions are okay, and can be relaxing to us, simply coming back.
Highlight their current state of hypnosis.

FAQ and Troubleshooting

Autism

If you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism.

-Dr. Stephen Store

(Treat each autistic person as an individual - they’ll all think and respond differently.)

Everyone with autism is different and unique. With that being said, there are a few things to be aware of:

Be aware of sensory issues.
Embrace the spirit of an experimentation
Utilize their interests
Explain a variety of valid responses
Employee active inductions
Do not rely on trance
Avoid trying to use confusion - It is annoying!

Binaural Histolog also has some tips.