Maybe You Would Rather Try This - Permissive Hypnosis

Life is settling back down after the holidays and here we are, back to our long, and oh, so drawn out discussion on forms of hypnosis. To briefly recap (it has been a while), we discussed our working definition of hypnosis, the intake process, pre-talk, the analytic client, progressive relaxation, traditional hypnosis, analytic inductions, and left off with authoritative hypnosis. So that brings us to permissive hypnosis.

DO THIS! DO THAT! NOW!

A little off putting, perhaps? Do you find yourself reacting better to statements such as, "would you like to do this? Maybe you would rather do that? When your subconscious mind absorbs these suggestions..." These are the difference between authoritative and permissive hypnosis techniques. One tells you what to do, the other plays to the idea of allowing you to feel in control at all times, along with the idea of still making decisions for yourself.

Perhaps you have found yourself thinking, "I'd like to try hypnosis, but the idea of not being in control during the hypnotic process is really scary (or insert adjective here)." Well, relax my friend, you are so in luck. Permissive hypnosis is a form of hypnosis that optimizes the client control experience. It is a kinder, gentler hypnotic structure. It engages the thinking mind and ask questions of it, allowing you to control where you go, what you do, and what you experience in the session.

If you are the type who rebels against authority and fears the loss of control, permissive hypnosis is very much akin to total self, hypnosis. You are left feeling like you came up with your solution (which ultimately you do in any form of hypnosis).

For the hypnotist who finds that they are not so pleased with being authoritarian, permissive techniques may be a strength. It allows you to gently guide the client where they need to go.

Doing that group thing

As you may have figured out, the subject of group hypnosis has been on my mind lately. There is a part of me that feels like it is a good thing because a lot of hypnotist do well with groups. I am just not sure I am one of them. Do you ever feel like there is something out there that you should be doing because it seems to be the thing to do? Or is this peer pressure (probably imagined peer pressure).

During an evaluation several years ago, while working in a group situation, I received some interesting feedback from the team leader. She said that I had hurt the group by not giving more of myself to the group overall. It was obvious I had much to offer, but chose instead to do so on an individual basis rather than the playing the group dynamic.

I have thought about this over the years, trying to see the wisdom of it, but what I always, ALWAYS come back to is that some people are group oriented and some are not. I fall into the latter category apparently, but I do not think this is a bad thing. My strength seems to be in connecting individually. After meetings, I am always pulled aside by various people who want the personal attention.

Hypnosis wise I think this idea of individual attention plays large with me. I did a group session once where we worked on creating a "safe space within our mind," and rather than leading the group to a beach or a stream in the forest, we worked on finding that wonderful place individually. Halfway through, I noticed one of the participants sobbing. It was not tears streaming down, but loud, heart-wrenching sobs. Not knowing what she was experiencing, I gave suggestions for the group to either stay in their constructed space or go to a place within their memory that was happy or peaceful. The sobbing grew worse. Restlessness set in for the other participants. I then gave suggestions to either allow the sounds in the background to take them deeper into relaxation or if they chose they could bring themselves back to normal consciousness by counting from one to five in their minds and opening their eyes when they were ready. Sadly, my crier did not open her eyes, but sobbed even more. So, I had the group count down in their minds from 25 down to one, allowing each number to help them stabilize any emotions, letting go of any anxiety, releasing all sadness. This worked and we continued. Upon finishing, many pulled me aside afterward and asked if everything was alright and I explained how the release process can cause great emotion and that seemed to ebb the curiosity. I ended up spending more time with the crier afterwards. As it turned out, she had a large break through and had understood something within, mourning childhood and such. Sadly though, she has not returned to hypnosis because she had come for stress relief and found herself more stressed in the process. Even though she said a great weight had been lifted, hypnosis was not for her.

For me, I was exhausted. It felt like doing mental gymnastics (and I am no gymnast) to keep the session balanced. I know this is all part of hypnosis and that I probably grew a lot from it, but it strengthened my concept that I much prefer the one on one.

Gosh, sounds as if I am justifying something here. Hmmm.