Different Inductions 

and Techniques

Sleep is a kind of disconnection. It brings about physical rest, leaving just enough consciousness to awaken through outside stimulation ( an emergency).

Hypnosis, on the contrary, is a concentration of attention. The subject loses contact with a part of reality but is still awake, capable of defense reactions, flight,  and even getting out of a trance.

The authoritarian technique consists in impressing the subject to the point where he feels submitted to the hypnotist from the first contact. This is the method used by stage hypnotists or therapists whose technique is issued from the stage. The practitioner gives a strong order to sleep and the subject obeys. This technique is only used on easily influenced people. This allows to establish total control on the subject and to alter his behavior through repetition. It was also used by the first hypnotists because they thought that their authority on the subject raised their chances of success. It is still used when it is known that the behavior to be treated originates from authority during infancy.

The permissive technique takes a subject into a state of relaxation which will allow him to flow into a hypnotic trance in a gradual way, without any resistance. This is the modern method brought forward by Milton Erickson.

The ideal is to be opportunistic and use all means and compromises between both methods (authoritarian and permissive) in order to bring the subject to the desired level.

1- Object fixation:   An object is held very closely in front of the patient so as to make his eyes strain. The subject is asked to not let his eyes wander. (The patient may be asked instead to look at a point on the ceiling.)  The subject is led into the next suggestion which is that nothing else exists and that after a moment 'the subject will become tired, his eyes tend to close naturally and that in a moment he will be able to relax his eyes and go in a trance'.

2- Eye fixation:   The hypnotist asks his subject to look directly into his eyes and not blink. He then suggests to the subject that in a moment his eyes will be so tired that they will close and that he will relax.

3-  Relaxation:  From the start the patient closes his eyes and on the hypnotist’s prompts he relaxes his body, limb after limb, muscle after muscle in order to progressively enter into a state where there is no resistance to hypnosis. This is the most used method.

Every therapist eventually  creates his own technique with his own induction.

4-  Hypnosis through magnetic passes:   At the beginning of the century, hypnotists used magnetic passes on their subjects. Passes are done alone or in association with relaxation suggestions.

5-  The Autogenic technique:   This technique allows us to hypnotize a subject and then to teach him how to do it on his own. This is called self-hypnosis.

It is not advisable to hypnotize a person if you don’t know what to do when the subject is in a trance. Hypnosis is only a first step toward therapy, and therapy is done after the trance is reached.

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