The Experience of Hypnosis

Following a preliminary discussion and alleviation of any misconceptions, three things are needed for hypnosis in a therapeutic setting: concentration, imagination, and a motivation to be hypnotized. Hetero-hypnosis, in which a therapist works with an individual or a group, is in a sense self-hypnosis because each individual goes into hypnosis by choice. If a person doesn't feel rapport with the operator or doesn't desire to, that person will resist entering hypnosis.

The more you practice hypnosis the deeper you tend to go, but it isn't necessary to reach deep levels to be therapeutic. Excellent results in therapy can be achieved in light and medium states. Practicing hypnotherapists can train many of their clients in self-hypnosis for added benefits. With experience and confidence that a relaxed and open state of hypnosis can be reached, tools are soon developed that an individual can use for a lifetime to access the power of his or her own subconscious mind.

There are many levels of hypnosis and various subjective states can be experienced at any particular depth. During lighter levels of hypnosis feelings of relaxation and passivity are commonly experienced. Additionally, there may be slightly altered perceptions or physical changes such as eye fluttering or a tingling sensation in the extremities or a light or heavy sensation in some part of the body. Persons who don't get much of a response at first will continue to learn and develop significant skills within a few weeks of practice.

In the beginning it is common to underestimate the length of time in hypnosis. When asked after an initial hypnosis, many will guess the time as shorter than it actually was. A person who has had a few more hypnotic experiences will usually have a better estimate of time.

The flip side to the occurrence of an initial subjective distortion of time is that the subconscious mind has a kind of built-in clock. When you enter self-hypnosis or when you go to bed at night, your subconscious mind can be trained to bring you back or wake you up at a particular time. One student related giving herself a suggestion when going to sleep at night to wake up at a particularly early hour. She was awakened at exactly the right time by her husband's voice saying, "It's five o'clock." She turned over to thank him but he was sound asleep. The call had come from her own creative subconscious.

In medium depths of hypnosis, the altered state becomes more enhanced. There may be more pronounced physical sensations of heaviness or lightness, or a floating or sinking feeling in part or all of the body. A loss of conscious awareness may occur, or a major change of pain threshold, such as with the experience of "glove anesthesia" in the area of the hands. Various illusions may be perceived through any of the senses. Ability to visualize or imagine suggestions tends to increase with depth.

Somnambulistic levels of hypnosis create more extreme physical and mental responses, such as loss of awareness of most or all of the body. Physiologic responses may include the same kind of rapid eye movements that are associated with dream stages of sleep. Exceptional suggestibility often includes a profound literalness in response to suggestions. Some will have the ability to produce hallucinations, even with the eyes open or post-hypnotically. Complete conscious amnesia may occur.

Hypnosis is a far different state than sleep, but it has been called a sleep of the nervous system. Respiration and circulation slow down, but not as much as during normal sleep states. The brain waves also slow down, though not as slow as the brain waves of delta that are reached during the deepest levels of sleep. The levels of brain waves begin with beta, the fastest, then slow to alpha, theta and delta. Under most conditions of normal waking consciousness, brain waves are primarily beta. In light to medium states of hypnosis, a significant decrease to predominately alpha level brain waves will occur. In deeper levels of hypnosis a person's brain waves may actually go down into theta.

Remember, however, that hypnotic skills develop with practice, so the rules of the above paragraph can be broken under truly extraordinary conditions. An Indian Swami who had been meditating several hours a day for many years was documented on film as having gone into delta brain waves while sitting, his eyes half open. (As a general rule, unless you're focusing on a major trauma issue, the deeper you go into hypnosis the more pleasant the state is, until at deeper levels it can be quite euphoric. This Swami was certainly in a state of bliss.)

There is a rare state of hypnosis far deeper than somnambulism called the plenary trance, that could be likened to almost being a state of suspended animation. The British physician, James Esdaile, produced this state in some surgical patients in India in the 1840's, using a few hours of mesmeric passes as the induction. The patient was kept in the plenary trance sometimes for 24 hours, since this was before chemo-anesthesia had been accepted and hypnosis was the only anesthetic agent. But more importantly, he soon discovered his mortality rate after surgery dropped from 50% to 5%. This was before Lister's campaign against infection, when surgeons washed their hands after surgery, not before. During hypnotic anesthesia the subconscious mind aids the body in developing greater resistance to infection.

In the 1890's a Swedish physician named Wetterstrand reported keeping some patients in the plenary trance for over a week for healing purposes. Leslie LeCron produced this state in more recent times, recording a pulse of 50 beats per minute and a barely discernible breathing rate of only three breaths per minute.

This chapter is a brief introduction to the value of hypnosis and hypnotherapy for the purposes of this book, and cannot be a comprehensive description of the many phenomena and uses of hypnosis. This overview explains some of the special qualities of hypnosis, which prepares us to better understand the tremendous potential of the hypnotic state.

Many causes that bring people to seek hypnotherapy. But even hypnosis for common issues can lead to major benefits, such as sessions for smoking cessation, which may help significantly lengthen a person's life span. I view the hypnotic state with reverence and consider the role of a hypnotherapist as an honor. I am aware of no greater satisfaction than the service of helping to satisfy a client in making major, lasting changes.