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Explaining Hypnosis

The Division 30 Definition and Description of Hypnosis

A Service of the Society of Psychological Hypnosis -Division 30 of the American Psychological Association (APA)

Hypnosis typically involves an introduction to the procedure during which the subject is told that suggestions for imaginative experiences will be presented. The hypnotic induction is an extended initial suggestion for using one's imagination, and may contain further elaborations of the introduction. A hypnotic procedure is used to encourage and evaluate responses to suggestions. When using hypnosis, one person (the subject) is guided by another (the hypnotist) to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior. Persons can also learn self-hypnosis, which is the act of administering hypnotic procedures on one's own. If the subject responds to hypnotic suggestions, it is generally inferred that hypnosis has been induced. Many believe that hypnotic responses and experiences are characteristic of a hypnotic state. While some think that it is not necessary to use the word "hypnosis" as part of the hypnotic induction, others view it as essential.

Details of hypnotic procedures and suggestions will differ depending on the goals of the practitioner and the purposes of the clinical or research endeavor. Procedures traditionally involve suggestions to relax, though relaxation is not necessary for hypnosis and a wide variety of suggestions can be used including those to become more alert. Suggestions that permit the extent of hypnosis to be assessed by comparing responses to standardized scales can be used in both clinical and research settings. While the majority of individuals are responsive to at least some suggestions, scores on standardized scales range from high to negligible. Traditionally, scores are grouped into low, medium and high categories. As is the case with other positively-scaled measures of psychological constructs such as attention and awareness, the salience of evidence for having achieved hypnosis increases with the individual's score.

(This definition and description of hypnosis was prepared by the Executive Committee of the American Psychological Association, Division of Psychological Hypnosis. Permission to reproduce this document is freely granted.)

Playing With Fire: Crisis Intervention With A Suicidal Adolescent

by John M. Dyckman, Ph.D. 1

Perhaps the most useful of Erickson's remarkable techniques is the concept of utilization. Utilization relies on the language and experience of the client. . It allows them to use their own knowledge, strengths and skills to explore useful solutions to their own problems. As such it is well suited to working with clients like the adolescent described below, who may not be particularly interested in "therapy" or in "self-examination".

J. is a 17-year-old male high school senior. He is on track to graduate in June and has enlisted in the service, promised that he will be trained as a damage control officer. He already has a year of experience as a volunteer fire fighter. His mother brings him to the clinic after they have spent an unpleasant night in the emergency room having his stomach pumped after an impulsive suicide attempt. His girlfriend of about a year dumped him for one of his friends. J. got furious, got drunk and overdosed on pills. He is a handsome and athletic young man, but not particularly verbal nor very happy to be in my office. He still had not ruled out suicide as a response to the rejection.

After eliciting his history, and a few false starts into "curiosity" about his life, we struck up a conversation about fire fighting. This is something that he knows and cares about, so we conducted the entire rest of the session discussing some principles of "Fire Science": First I asked him what he knew about "accelerants". He named a few of the common ones. I nodded and then offered, "How about alcohol?" He grinned, and we were off to the fire.

I acknowledged his expertise, then said that I had some friends who were firefighters and they had shown me that explosions were just very fast fires, were more damaging when they were contained in a small space and lost much of their power when they happened in a larger space. I told him that to qualify for the California Dept of Forestry's fire-fighting program, one has to do 50 sit-ups in 60 seconds while holding a 30# weight on the chest. I wondered if doing sit-ups, or even taking a run, would be a good way to dissipate potentially explosive energies?

I also asked him to tell me something about the different types of fires he had seen, and the different techniques used to fight them. What would happen if you mis-diagnosed and used water on an oil fire? What could he remember about how he felt at the moment he discovered his girlfriend's cruel betrayal? He remembered a flash of sadness before he became furious. I asked what was the best way to extinguish the sadness? I invited him to ask his mom how she dealt with that. They had a nice conversation about expressing sadness in the form of tears, and the likelihood that the sadness once expressed would soon "burn out".

I then asked him about "search and rescue". We determined that when in a burning or damaged building it was advisable to keep one hand on the wall, and one on the person ahead of or behind you. I said it sounded to me like his plans for his future were a kind of solid "wall" that he could lean on, but that when "visibility is low" it was crucial for him to keep to his plan, to "keep your hand on the wall". I suggested he ask himself whether a particular action would help or hinder his plan.

His other hand needed to be on the person in front or behind him. I asked him who would be his "buddy". He chose his mother, a few named friends, and me. I agreed that it was important to have several different people to trust, so that it was likely that someone would be available in time of need. His mother expressed her relief and gratitude to her son, who received it with more graciousness than I usually expect from 17-year-old males. They left saying that they felt a lot better, and that they didn't think that they needed to come back. I followed-up a week later by phone, and J. was back at school and apparently back on course.

Impulsive suicide is a real risk in adolescents. J. had the advantage of some previous experience of the importance of calm but decisive action in the face of real danger, and so was able to mobilize resources that he had not realized he had. Most everyone has resources of which they are not aware. Our job as therapists is to help them access these in the most natural way possible.

1. This article appeared in the Case Studies column of the Newsletter of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, vol. 28, #3, Winter 2008.

Dancing With Jennifer, Dancing With Beth

by Lori Greenleaf, PhD, MFT

Dr. Jim, a sweet-faced, middle-aged man, comes in, referred for treatment of anxiety by a previous hypnosis patient of mine. When I ask him what form the anxiety takes, he says he is a good doctor with a healthy practice, confident in his skills and in his marriage relationship. He describes his wife, Beth, in loving terms. He wants to please her.

His wife had convinced him to take dancing lessons with her so they could enjoy learning together. He signed on. She is a very adept and fluid and comfortable dancer. He had to work hard at the lessons to be a good partner for her, and his lessons went well. But, like all beginners, he sometimes stumbled.

She is very patient with him, never criticizes him, but she looks at him with an expression: a mother’s glance at her beloved but clumsy child. This freezes him and irritates him and makes him very, very nervous

I did trance work with him, beginning with a permissive trance of the form, “Some people really enjoy becoming hypnotized by following the pleasing sensations in their bodies…” He easily went into trance and enjoyed it. Then I invited him into a trance tailored to include images and experiences of confidence and comfort in the areas of his life in which he felt quite at ease. These trances helped him get through times where he stumbled or lost the beat or lost his balance. He found that he would laugh about it and continue to dance, unaffected by his wife’s loving look.

As his dance life improved in classes, Beth encouraged him to take her to the group dance parties run by the dancing school teachers. There, his anxiety returned full force, because a particularly attractive female teacher, Jennifer, a superb dancer, attended. He thought she noticed him and could easily see all his flaws.

In trance, I had Dr. Jim imagine going to the dance party: I had him imagine what shoes he’d wear, what jacket; imagine arriving in the car, going up the long flight of stairs to the studio. He could see the other couples arriving with their dance clothes on. After the trance he said, with evident pleasure, “I was dancing with Jennifer! I knew what to do. It was comfortable and fun.”

In the Erickson manner I refrained from prospecting for couples” “issues” to “explain” the problem. Instead, I concentrated on helping Dr Jim to use his resources and feelings, conscious and unconscious, to reach his goal of dancing happily with his wife.

I constructed a trance in which he imagined dancing with Jennifer at the party, with style and ease. When he reached the party he was to imagine walking directly over to Jennifer and asking her to dance. Beth wasn’t in the trance.

”What kind of dances will you be doing with Jennifer? Hear the music, take the steps that you need to take for that dance. Your partner, Jennifer, moves easily with you. I wonder, is it a waltz, a fox trot, will you be twirling your partner, will you separate and come back together? What about dancing a jitterbug, all energy and motion and fun?” The trances were minimal, with long pauses. When Dr Jim was dancing with Jennifer he had a big smile on his face. There wasn’t much I had to say. I just listened to the music in my own mind and watched the smiles of confidence and pleasure bloom on his face.

At the end of these trances he said that he was relaxed and pleased that he was able to dance with Jennifer. In the trance she complimented him on his dancing. I asked him if he would feel comfortable returning to the dance parties with Beth, with Jennifer there too. He asked for a few more trance lessons dancing with Jennifer, before he felt ready. After these trances, he came in and told me that he’d been to another dance party, dancing with Beth. He wasn’t intimidated by Jennifer’s presence. And, Beth complimented his dancing. Dr. Jim said, “Dancing with Beth is so easy and wonderful now!” Hypnosis dance class took seven lessons.

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Lori Greenleaf studied dance, acting and art before becoming a therapist. She continues to invite her husband to take dance lessons with her.

Lydia’s Dream

by Jack Travis MFT

This is about a dream and an image. The client is dreaming about her youth and when she tries to talk, worms come out of her mouth instead of words. In the dream, Lydia’s father sits and chats with his mother, Lydia’s abuela. Mother and son have sought refuge from the implacable midday Jalisco sun by setting their chairs in the shade, close to the doors that open into the bedroom where Lydia, her brother and her sister are having their siesta.

The girl’s bedroom doors have been left ajar and the snuffling, groaning sounds of incest leak out, staying suspended in the parched, salt-laced ocean of summer air. Lydia’s grandmother and her father shift slightly in their elaborately carved ladder-back chairs. Their conversational hum rises in volume, seeming to absorb sounds produced by Lydia, her younger brother and her older sister, as each is molested in turn by their uncle.

Grandma was charged with the task of raising Lydia and her siblings. Grandma was widowed. Her property was passed to her eldest son and she was dependent on him for food and shelter. Lydia’s mom died in childbirth. Her widowed dad established himself in California and started a new family and a new life. My client Lydia, her brother, her sister and their grandmother were set deep in the Mexican countryside. They were forced to submit to their uncle until Lydia’s older sister was 18. At 18, she walked out of the house, made it to the border and Lydia followed. Lydia established herself as a California resident. She had two children who were 12 and 15 at the time we started therapy.

Lydia was a client who created her own inductions and readily entered into trance. This session Lydia is re-dreaming a recurring nightmare. I ask my client if I can accompany her into the dream locale and she agrees. We are in the remains of a formal garden in front of a great stone house. Lydia dreams about flight. We are fleeing an unknown malignant presence. We find a way to enter the deserted storerooms that make up the basement. We cannot find safety so we move deeper into the passageways under the house. We close and bar a succession of ancient gates. Lydia says, “We’re locked in…safe…no one can get in or out.” At that moment something stirred in the darkest corner. We move closer. As our eyes grow accustomed to the gloom, we are able to see the uncle, manacled and chained to a great iron ring set in the brick wall. Lydia and her uncle look at each other. My client does not flinch and the uncle looks away. I take Lydia’s hand. “No one can get in or out” she whispers. “I know a way,” I reply. In moments we find ourselves standing in the meadow behind the house. “Remember” I instruct the client, “the uncle is trapped. No one can get in or out.”

I was able to utilize Lydia’s narrative to get rid of a powerful remnant of early trauma. The image of the sadistic uncle was linked to many of my client’s symptoms, most particularly her migraine headaches and her panic disorder. He was now locked in an impregnable prison. His ability to move freely in the client’s unconscious mind had come to an end.

Before our encounter with her sadistic uncle, my client was unable to read for more than ten minutes at a time. By the next session, Lydia reported that she was able to read for extended periods without discomfort. Eventually, the image of the evil uncle returned to the client’s dreams, but without the power and dynamism he once had. The uncle was reduced to a baleful presence, like a gargoyle on a medieval church. Lydia is now free of migraines. Her panic disorder is in remission. We have terminated our therapy.

Commentary

By Eric Greenleaf PhD

What lovely and respectful work, and so effective. Many therapists do not know that Dr. Erickson had a special way with dreams, much like Jack’s. Erickson instructed his patient to “Dream the same dream with the same meaning, the same emotional significance, but with a different cast of characters. This time maybe it won’t be so dark. Maybe you can see a bit more clearly. It won’t be pleasant, but maybe it won’t hurt so much. So go ahead as soon as you can and have your dream.” Jack’s presence in the dream, like Erickson’s in February Man, heals through relationship.

Jack Travis, MFT, is still working as a therapist. His wife Carol works as a realtor. They enjoy passing the trance to each other, to friends, to clients, and to family.

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