There are a lot of superstitions, misconceptions, and misunderstandings when it comes to hypnotherapy. I have been dealing with them all my life in the clinic. The idea of control and who’s in it, whether it makes you bark like a dog or croak like a rooster, and the idea of crazy staring eyes and shaking pocket watches are of eternal interest.
However, in a recently published paper, BJPsych progress It aims to dispel persistent misconceptions about both hypnosis and hypnotherapy. 1
Stephen Jay Lin, a professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York, along with colleagues Madeline Stein and Devin Terhune of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College, say patients cannot be treated. This succinctly dispels this myth. Resist the suggestion that a hypnotized person is hypnotized or that a person can either be hypnotized or not (yes, they can be hypnotized). (No, it’s not. The answer here varies greatly from person to person.)
Sadly, they don’t deal with pocket watches or staring eyes.
I have been practicing hypnotherapy since 2004. Before that, I was a journalist and copywriter. During that time, almost every article I read about hypnotherapy said something along the lines of, “No wonder you think hypnotherapy is all about going crazy, staring, and waving your pocket watch.” It has started and is reinforcing stereotypes. That’s exactly what hypnotherapy is about. There were countless articles like this. In fact, several articles about Lin’s research begin exactly this way.
When I was training to be a journalist, I was taught to avoid clichés like the plague (see what I did there?). So, budding copywriters and seasoned copywriters, please, I’m not talking about crazy staring eyes or swinging pocket watches. It’s time to stop tolerating people who think hypnotherapy is just journalists, copywriters, and bloggers writing articles about hypnotherapy for the first time. Please don’t do that because it really isn’t. However, it is, or at least could be. sometimes.
Please let me explain. But before that, I would like to talk about the hypnotherapy session itself. Because a hypnotherapy session includes different stages, the first of which is very related to the above.
First, there is an induction (asking the client to close their eyes and relax). Next is Deeper (deepening the trance to the appropriate level). Then comes the actual therapy part, and finally the part where you bring the client out of the trance.
Well, story out of the way, we can blame this crazy glare on a man named Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). The founder of a type of hypnosis known as “mesmerism,” he believed he could heal people by influencing their bodies (or what he thought were the fluids flowing through them) with magnets and force of will. I thought about it. His sessions (rather than performances) were often very theatrical, staring intently at his subjects.
Fast forward to today, and under very specific circumstances, crazy staring eyes can be used to induce a trance state. Some people find it very difficult to close their eyes and let go, even if they really want to. Therefore, you have to make them feel uncomfortable. You need to surprise them a little. And a really good way to do that is to bend down in front of them, get very close, and have them look directly into your wide open eyes. This is an unpleasant experience, and to escape the discomfort, a person usually closes his eyes immediately. Then you can deepen your trance.
To this day, “charming” means capturing someone’s attention completely. And since Messmer is also responsible for the term “animal magnetism,” he clearly has a lot to answer for. But it’s thanks to honest medical professionals that we’ve come to understand what a rocking pocket watch is.
Dr. James Braid (1795-1860) was a noted surgeon as well as a pioneer in hypnosis for surgery (anesthesia was not yet widespread). He discovered that gazing at objects (such as pendulums or pocket watches) could induce a hypnotic state in patients. This practice was soon adopted by other hypnotherapists of the time (which was hundreds of years ago).
Introducing hypnotherapy, the best way to get someone to close their eyes is to tire them out. There are many ways to do this, such as waving things around in front of your eyes. The object can be anything: a pen, a finger, a hand, a necklace, even a pocket watch. I have one myself. A friend bought it for me when I graduated (thank you Michael!), but I’ve only used it once or twice since becoming a hypnotherapist, and only because I was asked to. only.
In conclusion, other than what I outlined above, don’t ask any more about eye-gazing or waving things around.He once hypnotized someone with a sonic screwdriver; Doctor Who I’m a fan and happened to have it on hand.
