A Quick Word About Old School Hypnosis

Brunt toast, lost packages, the sand in the hour glass running out...

So - good morning. And onto our discussion of forms of hypnosis.

Are you hip? Or are you old school, old school as in a hypnotist who only practices authoritarian hypnosis or are you a hypnotist who keeps the style in their back pocket when needed? Are you a client who wants to learn and really work on issues or do you just want to be told what to do and do it?

What is old school hypnosis? That is the same as asking what is the authoritarian style? Well, in talking about traditional hypnosis, one may think of the hypnotist stereotype, but as we discussed earlier, traditional hypnosis is just a form of hypnosis that is all about preconceived suggestions that are thought up before the session and used during the hypnotic period. But now, we must relook at the stereotype hypnotist to talk about authoritarian style.

The Authoritarian Hypnotist

Imagine the hypnotist there before you, commanding you to watch the swinging pocket watch go back and forth and forth and back. Your eyes move back and forth and forth and back and finally the monotony of the monotone voice begins to lulls you into another state of consciousness. Then forcefully you are directed to "sleep." It is at this point you are commanded directly to make changes.

Authoritarian Hypnosis - The Premise
Authoritarian hypnosis is done in a very domineering way, where it seems as though the hypnotist is in control of the experience. But this is not true. The client is always in charge of the their own experience, yes, even in authoritarian hypnosis. The thing is that the client chooses to allow themselves to be told what to do. And here is the crux - this form of hypnosis has a much lower rate of success in general because how many of you out there really want to be told what to do? I take that back, there may be a few of you who would prefer to go that route. In those cases, having a hypnotist who takes an authoritarian road may be the way to go. And I have definetly worked with a few of these types.

The Patter
Literally, the patter would go something like, "Now I want you to take a deep breath in and let it out," and to continue using terminology in a forceful way. But as Henry Bolduc believes, the idea of using the words "I want you to" create a hesitancy in a lot of people. Why would you want to do what the hypnotist wants you to do? You want to do what you want to do. Does this make sense?

For The Hypnotist
To test a person to see if they will respond to this type of style, it is doing just that, seeing how they respond. When doing pre-testing, try out different methods and get a feel for how they react. You can try to be authoritative and if this is received positively, then you know this might be the way to go for a particular client. When testing, tell them what to do giving little opportunity for them to think for themselves. Do they resist this? Do they respond by giving you good results? If they do the latter, test again to be sure. Three positive test are a really good indicator.

If they do not respond to this or maybe this is just not your forte, that leads us to other concepts like resistant (sorry, but it is still in the vocabulary and should be understood as to why it is not a good term) or permissive. But they are for another day.