by Calvin D. Banyan
Let’s face it some clients are particularly talented hypnotically. With these wonderful clients you can use just about any hypnotic induction given in just about any circumstance and they will instantly go into a deep state of hypnosis (somnambulism). If every one of your clients had this ability your work would be so much easier.
But unfortunately not all of our clients are that responsive. However, as professional hypnotists we need to be just as successful with nearly everyone that walks through our office door. Starting off your hypnosis sessions with a really great hypnosis pre-talk can make your clients much more hypnotizable and make your sessions much more successful. It can even change the average or difficult client into a gifted client like the one I just mentioned above.
I believe in this so strongly, I have worked diligently to develop what is a really great pre-talk. Then, I videotaped it and all of our new clients see this before their first session. Each client sees this “Pre-talk” video no matter which one of our hypnotist he or she may actually see for session. Their personal hypnotist will conclude the pre-talk by simply asking if they have any questions about the videotape or about hypnosis in general. Giving our pre-talk in this manner has saved us thousands of hours at our center and makes sure that each client receives a really great pre-talk, which will maximize their ability to utilize the hypnosis services that we offer.
A quick note and clarification; I have had a few hypnotists question me about using videotapes for the pre-talk. They are concerned that when this part of the session is “automated” so to speak, that it does not provide the opportunity that is needed to build rapport with the client. I suggest that this concern is unnecessary, when you understand the difference between a hypnosis pre-talk and a pre-hypnosis interview. The hypnosis pre-talk is designed to make your clients more suggestible, as I have explained above. On the other hand, a pre-hypnosis interview is equivalent to an intake interview. During this time your client is invited to tell you about his presenting complaint (the issue that brought him or her in to see you). During this time there is plenty of opportunity to build rapport with your client as he or she gives you the history of the problem.
The Goal of a Really Great Pre-Talk
So then, the goal of any really great hypnosis pre-talk is to make your clients more hypnotizable, or to state it in a more professional way, to help them to become more suggestible. (As hypnotists, we know that suggestibility is different from gullibility. The gullible person is a person who is easily fooled or tricked. The person who is suggestible is a person who can accept suggestions made by a hypnotist at a subconscious and/or unconscious level, with or without conscious acceptance.) This suggestible person is going to do very well in your hypnosis sessions.
The hypnosis pre-talk increases suggestibility by removing inhibitors that get in the way of your client accepting suggestions during a hypnotic induction. A really great pre-talk will address and remove any fears that your client may have about hypnosis and remove any misconceptions that your client may have that are generating these fears.
Having said, that let me suggest some things that you may want to keep in mind as you develop your really great hypnosis pre-talk (or improve one that you are already using).
How the Mind Works with Hypnosis
I use the following chart or graphic in my pre-talks, which is based on my psychological training, experience and the Model of the Mind taught by Gerald F. Kein.
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Conscious Mind:
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Point of focus
Analytical/Logical
Limited to 7 to 9 bits of info.
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Protects against perceived Danger.
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Critical Factor:
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A comparing mechanism that acts like a filter placed between the conscious and unconscious mind.
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Protects against perceived Danger.
Protects against unnecessary changes in beliefs and habits held in the subconscious mind.
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Subconscious Mind:
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Starts empty and is filled by experience
Database of Information
Beliefs (Information accepted as true)
Habits (Automatic Behaviors)
Resists change ( results in personality)
Generates Emotions
Unlimited in capacity (Permanent Memory)
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Protects against “known” dangers and motivates you to fulfill your needs.
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Unconscious Mind:
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Body Consciousness
Instinctual Knowledge
Change is Limited
Generates Feelings
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Protects you from pain, illness and injury by using the immune system and reflexes.
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As you go through the following information with your clients, it is useful to offer them some kind of diagram to refer to. When I made the pre-talk video that we use, I simply put this diagram up on the white board behind me and used it to refer to as I went through the talk. This way I make sure everything is covered that I want to cover. This also is an excellent way to manage a presentation on hypnosis if you are given the opportunity to speak before a group.
Define Terms Associated with Hypnosis
Defining the terms that you will use during your sessions will help to remove fears and misconceptions about hypnosis. When people use terms that you don’t understand it does not make you feel comfortable and at ease. This goes for your clients as well. Here are some terms that I suggest that you define, and some examples of how I would define them during the hypnosis pre-talk.
As you go through the pre-talk with your client it is often useful to have a diagram to refer to. The diagram in this article is the one I now use in its current form.
Define What You Mean When You Use the Term, “Hypnosis”
Hypnosis has been given a very clear and easy to understand definition by The United States Government, Dept. of Education, Human Services Division. The definition is as follows, hypnosis is the bypass of the critical factor and the establishment of acceptable selective thinking. I like to tell my clients this and explain further that I would like to make only one very small change. I would say that it is “Through the establishment of acceptable selective thinking that we are able to bypass the Critical Factor.” The first part, “The establishment of acceptable selective thinking” refers to following instructions during the hypnotic induction, and the “bypass of the critical factor” refers to the effect that hypnosis has, the ability for your client to accept and use the hypnotic suggestions that were given during the session.
Define What You Mean When You Use the Term “Subconscious Mind”
Explain to your clients that the Subconscious Mind is really the part of our consciousness that defines who we are and what we do on a consistent basis. All together it makes up our personality. The subconscious mind starts off empty when it is first developed before you are born, and then starts gathering information from our experiences and perceptions about what is going on around you. This gathered information is held in our permanent memory, containing all the information that we gather throughout our lives. It is like a computer database. Unlike a computer database, this permanent memory seems to be unlimited in how much information that it can hold, and it can retain that information throughout our lives (unless the brain is damaged by physical trauma or disease).
Some of this information in the subconscious mind is turned into habits and cause us to react automatically to people and circumstances in our lives. This information is also developed into beliefs. Beliefs are things that we think to be true, even though we may not have definite proof. Having definite proof would allow us to be in a state of knowing rather than a believing.
The subconscious mind resists change, which is mostly beneficial to us. It conserves a great deal of mental energy. This enables us to maintain a consistent personality throughout our lives, but can cause problems when we decide that a change in how we think, feel or behave is in order. This is where hypnosis comes in. Hypnosis allows us to rapidly make changes in how we think, feel and behave.
The Subconscious Mind is always working to protect us from what we “know” (meaning believe) to be dangerous. As our perceptions about what is going on around us interacts with our beliefs about how things “should be,” it generates emotions. When the Subconscious Mind perceives what it believes to be a dangerous situation it generates fear. When it perceives that you have been treated unfairly, it will generate anger, as an example. Hypnosis can directly affect these beliefs and habits in a way that using the conscious mind alone can rarely accomplish.
Define What You Mean When You Use the Term, “Unconscious Mind”
Teach your clients that the Unconscious Mind is their body’s consciousness. It is developed before you are born and is fully programmed knowing how to take care of all the things it needs to in order to keep a body running smoothly. It knows how to breathe, defend itself from infections, digest food and so on.
During the pre-talk explain to your client that their Unconscious Mind is intelligent and can learn. This was proven by the work of Dr. Ivan Pavlov when he showed that these autonomic responses, such as salivation, can be trained by pairing automatic responses with other stimuli. Such as training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell, after the bell had been paired with a little bit of food.
Sometimes the unconscious mind, meaning well, will program us to do things that are not in our best interest, such as the child who learns to feel sick to avoid going to school. The unconscious mind can then learn to actually generate symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches in order to protect us from stressful situations. The unconscious mind is always working to protect us, and not just against infections and injury.
In its mission to protect us, it can also cause us to desire unhealthy substances if it believes that they can help us to relax or cope with stress. Fortunately, hypnosis can be used to overcome this unfortunate accidental programming.
Define What You Mean When You Use the Term, “Conscious Mind”
The Conscious Mind is really a focus of consciousness. It is filled with what we are attending to at any particular moment. It is logical in its approach to dealing with what you are attending to consciously. It is a great protector and problem solver. It does this by thinking through new situations that confront us.
But the conscious mind is very limited. A great deal of psychological research has been conducted regarding the capacity of the Conscious Mind. As a result, it has been determined that the Conscious Mind is only able to hold about seven to nine bits of information at any particular time.
Because the Conscious Mind is so limited when compared to the subconscious mind it is easy to see why most people fail when they try to make significant changes in their lives through conscious effort alone. We must make these changes at the subconscious level to make long lasting change in our lives. Here again is where hypnosis comes in and can help you to make the changes you really want.
Discuss the Term “Critical Factor” and How it Is Related To Hypnosis
There is a bit of controversy about this critical factor. Some say that it is an aspect of the conscious mind. I think that it is set between the conscious and subconscious mind as shown in the chart above. It doesn’t really matter where it is placed in the stages of consciousness so much as what it does. I inform my clients that the critical factor is the function of the mind that decides that new information is either “true” or “not true,” or at least worthy of significant doubt. That which is deemed to be “untrue” information still enters your Subconscious Mind, but it goes into that Database of Information. This new information is then known to the Subconscious Mind, but given little or no credibility. There it is unlikely to ever change the existing beliefs or habits. That which is deemed to be “true” reinforces the long-standing habits and beliefs inside of us.
It is the responsibility to the critical factor to keep what is in the subconscious mind consistent. This saves a great deal of mental energy, if the Subconscious Mind had to regularly rearrange its contents, especially habits and beliefs. Constantly reorganizing it would be mentally exhausting.
So unless the Critical Factor is provided convincing information, so strong that it is able to overcome existing beliefs and habits, new information is simply recorded, but not integrated into our personality and consistent behaviors. It just resides in the subconscious database, not to be acted upon.
Tell your client that this is where hypnosis comes in. If you remember the definition of hypnosis, it causes a bypass of the critical factor. This allows your client to accept your suggestions at both the subconscious and unconscious levels of the mind.
The essence of the critical fact is that of being protective, and as long as the suggestions that are given to your hypnotized client is not going to endanger him or her the Critical Factor will remain in a state of bypass so that the individual can easily accept suggestions. There is no state of hypnosis that can overcome this protective function.
Define What You Mean When You Use the Word, “Sleep”
Most hypnotists now agree that hypnosis is not sleep. So it is worth mentioning to your clients that if you use the word “sleep” you don’t mean normal natural sleep, like when they go to bed at night. I explain that when I use the word “sleep” (as I still do in the case of some instant inductions, see my article about the Eight Word Induction in a previous edition of this journal.) I tell them that when I use the word “sleep” I am simply suggesting that they go so relaxed that it was as if they were asleep. But that they should not actually go to sleep. Hypnosis is not sleep, and if they went to sleep they would miss the whole thing.
Give Examples of Normally Occurring States of Trance or Hypnosis
Keeping the goal of removing any fears that the client may have about hypnosis in mind, it is useful to explain to your clients that they have already been in hypnosis many times. When they work with their hypnotist they will enter into the state of hypnosis by following the instructions of the hypnotist. Then they will go into that naturally occurring state of hypnosis purposefully (so that they can receive the hypnotic suggestions that they came in to receive so that they can make the changes that they want to make).
It makes your clients more comfortable if they know that they have already been successful in obtaining the hypnotic state before and that it is a safe and natural state of mind.
Next I will cover a few great examples of naturally occurring hypnotic states to offer your clients during your pre-talk.
Highway Hypnosis
“Highway Hypnosis” is probably the most commonly cited state of naturally occurring hypnosis. This is a good example because most people can relate to it. For example, tell your clients about how being in a car and losing track of time or wondering if they passed their exit was a naturally occurring state of hypnosis.
Naturally Occurring Anesthesia
Here is another example, this one exemplifies how even hypnotically suggested analgesia or anesthesia is perfectly natural. I talk about the times when I have noticed a bruise or cut on my arm, but was unable to recollect when the injury may have happened. What had happened in this case was that I was focused on some task, which induced a naturally occurring state of trance, and I injured myself, but because I was in hypnosis, I was able to experience analgesia (the blockage of the sensation of pain). If I were to experience that same kind of injury without this state, it would indeed be very painful.
Naturally Occurring Negative Hallucinations
Here is one of my favorite examples of naturally occurring hypnosis. I tell my clients (on the videotape) that in very deep levels of hypnosis we can experience negative hallucinations. There are two kinds of hallucinations, positive and negative. Positive hallucinations occur when we perceive something like a sound or object, without there being an actual sound or object to hear or see. A negative hallucination occurs when we do not perceive such a stimuli such as a sound or object when a cause for the perception (e.g., a real object or something making the sound) does exist.
As an example, I tell my new clients about the time when I was making breakfast for my family. I thought that some ketchup would be nice along with the meal. I looked at the table and noticed that there was not any ketchup on the table. I then said to my self, “There is no ketchup.” I then went to the refrigerator and looked at the top shelf, and again said to my self, “There is no ketchup.” I looked at the next shelf, and again said, “There is no ketchup.” Then I looked at the next shelf down and saw that “There is no ketchup.” Focused on my search for the ketchup, I turned to the door of the refrigerator and as I looked at each shelf, not finding any ketchup I said, “There is no ketchup.”
I then turned to my wife and said, “There is no ketchup.” She then assured me that there was and that it was in the refrigerator. This time I focused and looked at each shelf once again saying to myself, “There is no ketchup.” Then in exasperation, she came over to help me. This is when she pointed her “magic finger.” As she moved it closer to the door of the refrigerator, suddenly the bottle of ketchup seemed to magically materialize.
Most people can relate to this kind of thing happening to them. It might have been their keys or purse. I explain that what happened here is that I looked at the table and saw that there was no ketchup on the table. I said to myself, “There is no ketchup.” I kept repeating this statement over and over as I looked for the ketchup, and as I did, my subconscious mind, because of my focused state of accepted the statement as true. Then when I finally laid my eyes upon the ketchup I hallucinated that there was no ketchup! It is very easy to go into this deep level of hypnosis and not even know it! It feels quite normal because it is.
Hypnosis is Safe
In addition to citing examples of naturally occurring hypnosis; it is also helpful to talk to your clients about the safety of hypnosis. Tell them that in fact no one has ever been hurt by simply going into the state of hypnosis. We go into hypnosis all the time. Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility (ability to accept things at a subconscious or unconscious level). At every level of consciousness (conscious, subconscious or unconscious) there is a protective function of the mind which will automatically reject any suggestion that would normally seem dangerous. In fact any suggestion that sounds dangerous or would hurt us in any way, would typically cause your client to emerge from hypnosis.
It is also very useful to mention that hypnosis has been recognized by the AMA since 1958. It has been used by many professionals in medicine and psychology throughout the 200 year history of hypnosis safely.
Inform your clients that Hollywood has made up all kinds of things about hypnosis which were designed to sell movie tickets and not really tell the truth about hypnosis. Some of the misinformation that has been put into the minds of movie-goers include that the hypnotist has some kind of special power, or that a hypnotist has control over the person who is in hypnosis, or that someone could become “stuck in hypnosis. It is important to tell your clients that all of these things are simply not true.
Inform them that hypnosis is a consensual state; that he or she must want to be hypnotized for you to be able to work with him or her. Furthermore, in order to continue to be in hypnosis, he or she must continue to follow your instructions or she will emerge on her own.
Let your clients know that millions of hypnosis sessions have been conducted and no one has ever become stuck in hypnosis. Any one can emerge any time they want to. All they have to do is want to emerge and discontinue following the instructions of the hypnotist.
It is also helpful to tell your clients, “When someone is in hypnosis they never become unconscious. In fact you will be more conscious then you regularly are. All three levels of your mind, the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind will be working in “sync.”
Finally one of the other most common bits of misinformation about hypnosis is that most people cannot be hypnotized. It is important to let your client know that anyone of normal intelligence, who is willing to follow suggestions, can be hypnotized and benefit from hypnosis and self-hypnosis.
I like to summarize my pre-talk with something like, “When you work with a hypnotist, you will simply be using this natural ability to bypass the limiting beliefs so that you can use more of your mind than you do in the regular state of mind.
Summary
This may seem to be a lot to cover before you begin your first session with your client. But some clients need such an extensive preparation. But we rarely know before the session who will need a really great pre-talk and who doesn’t. This is why I recommend that you take the time to videotape the talk and routinely show it to your clients.
Here is another reason that you may want to consider videotaping your pre-talk, the well trained hypnotist knows about another naturally occurring state of hypnosis, the kind of hypnosis which occurs when we watch television. Chances are when your client watches you on the television he or she will go into hypnosis! Then when he or she sees you for the hypnosis session, you will be hypnotizing him or her for the second time and all good hypnotists know that each time you hypnotize someone they go into hypnosis more quickly and more deeply than the time before.
I hope that you can use something from this article to improve the results of your hypnosis sessions. Integrate what you found useful and continue to strive to improve it. A really great hypnosis pre-talk can turn some of those average clients into one of those wonderful persons who easily go into somnambulism and have the kind of success you and they want.
I want to wrap this up with a note of thanks. I would also like to thank Gerald F. Kein for convincing me of the value of doing a really great hypnosis pre-talk and mention to the readers that many of the concepts that I have mentioned in this article were first planted in my subconscious mind by him.
