A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis

by Melvin Powers

If you have been successful in accomplishing the first five tests, you can consider yourself a good hypnotic subject. Becoming an excellent subject entails following the same procedure used in accomplishing the first five tests. Some may proceed very easily into the somnambulistic state, and others may have a difficult time reaching this deepest stage. Understanding some of the psychology involved and assuming the right psychological frame of mind for the attainment of the somnambulistic state is more important than just working blindly in an attempt to get the somnambulistic tests to work. Being irritable, disgusted and despondent because of your inability to go further into hypnosis is not the answer and will only lead to frustration and failure. The reader is not to assume he will be a difficult subject. If you have come this far, you'll be able to continue in the same manner. The topic under discussion now is brought up to prepare readers for any contingency that may arise. It's like having a life preserver on a boat. You hope you never need it, but you should be prepared to use it in case of an emergency.

It is natural to assume that if you are willing and trying to go into the lethargic, cataleptic or somnambulistic state, you will be able to do so in a relatively short period of time. Unfortunately, this is by no means the case. Many of the principles of learning and conditioning can be applied to hypnosis, but with many subjects these laws do not seem applicable. Let us assume you wanted to learn to become an excellent typist. This is a reasonable goal and all that is necessary is to continue practicing until you have reached the proficiency you set out to achieve. This proficiency would, as a rule, follow application of the laws of learning and conditioning.

This isn't always so in a subject's attempt to become somnambulistic. When the subject progresses from one stage to another in a classical manner, the theory works admirably, but what happens when a subject cannot seem to progress any further? He has reached a plateau and is unable to climb higher. He seems to have reached a psychological impasse or stalemate. It is easy to say that the subject is thwarted by a subconscious block and let it go at that. This, however, doesn't help him in his dilemma. It's like telling the stranded motorist that the reason his car has stalled is because the motor isn't running. The following information will be helpful to those who haven't been able to reach the first stages of hypnosis, as well as those who apparently can go only so far. Actually, the same principles are involved.

If the subject doesn't respond or responds to a limited degree, there evidently is a cause or reason for this poor response. In order to continue this discussion, it will be necessary for us to agree that the resistance can be either conscious or unconscious. If the subject insists that he is trying to "let go," has nothing to hide, is not afraid of hypnosis, understands what is involved and has strong motivation, we can only assume that the resistance must be unconscious. Usually, it will be necessary to work through this unconscious resistance before the subject responds. If the subject is conditioning himself, this will involve a great deal of introspection, and even then it is an extremely difficult job. One doesn't usually have proper insight into one's own emotional make-up. The end result is that one can only rationalize about his behavior.

Let us explore some interesting aspects of hypnosis with a view toward helping you if you are having difficulty responding the way you desire. I have had the following paradoxical situation happen many times. A subject calls my office, requesting to be conditioned for self-hypnosis. He further requests that he be allowed to bring along a member of his family or a friend for the hypnotic session. These individuals usually ask if I object to this procedure. I interpreted this request as a sign of distrust during my early career as a professional hypnotist. I was affronted by the idea of the unspoken insinuation verbalized by this request. Didn't they trust me? Between trying to defend myself and assuring them that there was no need for another person being present, since my secretary could observe the procedure, I usually "won" the argument but lost the client. As I developed understanding into the needs of these persons, I began to realize that the request was not directed at my integrity, but was a safeguard for their ego.

Here is an interesting sidelight that has happened frequently in regard to the foregoing situation. I would request the subject to sit near my desk and tell the onlooker to sit in back and to the side of the subject, away from the subject's view so as not to distract him. In this situation, I invariably place the hypnodisc on a spinning, portable phonograph turntable and turn it upright for the subject to look at. The hypnodisc, which is made of stiff cardboard, looks like a 12-inch phonograph record and has concentric heavy lines drawn on it. As it spins, the subject feels he is being pulled toward the center. At the same time, it causes his eyes to become very tired. I have included a drawing of it on this page for those who are not familiar with this hypnotic device. The revolving hypnodisc causes a physiological reaction and must work with everyone. You feed back certain known physiological responses for the successful attainment of hypnosis.

The onlooker has no choice but to look at the hypnodisc as well. As I suggest to the subject that his eyes are becoming heavy and tired and that soon he'll have an irresistible impulse to close them, the onlooker is naturally hearing the same suggestion. Because this person feels apart from the hypnotic situation, there can be no conscious resistance. Since these defenses are not hampering the attainment of hypnosis, the onlooker may readily fall under hypnosis. More than once, the onlooker has confided to me that he was getting a better night's sleep, was feeling wonderfully well or had derived other benefits since coming to my office as an "observer." The exact situation happens when the stage hypnotist is hypnotizing subjects on the stage. Many times a person in the audience who had no intention of becoming hypnotized becomes influenced in the same manner. Incidentally, these individuals make the best subjects.

There are interesting theories as to why a subject responds or does not respond to hypnosis. I think the reader would find some of these theories interesting and perhaps gain some insight into his own hypnotic behavior. These theories are based primarily on a psychoanalytical approach to hypnosis.

The most prevalent theory is that the hypnotist represents either the father image (paternal or fear hypnosis) or the mother image (maternal or love hypnosis). The father usually represents an authoritarian figure. The subject's identification can be on a conscious or subconscious level. Let us suppose the subject has ambivalent feelings toward his father. Because of this, he may not respond. Here is an opportunity to frustrate the authoritative (father) figure. The only trouble with this theory is that if there is an excellent relationship between the father and subject, it doesn't necessarily mean that the subject will respond easily. The stage hypnotist invariably uses a strong, authoritative approach with a great deal of success, but this approach generally does not work best in private practice.