PERSONALIZED HYPNOTIC TECHNIQUES

In addition to tailoring hypnotic suggestions to the needs of the subject, the therapist should develop induction techniques that are compatible with his or her own personality. A therapist who is emo-tionally uncomfortable with authoritarian techniques should not at-tempt to use them routinely, since they will most often prove uncon-vincing because the subject may be aware of the therapist's strained voice. After ail, as Spiegel and Spiegel (1980) state, an induction procedure is in essence merely a ceremony through which the therapist and patient agree that the subject will have full permission to expe-rience hypnotic phenomena to the greatest extent he or she can. The development of technique may be a gradual process, altering over time as the therapist gains experience with various hypnotic techniques. A general principle of technique is to give suggestions that follow the natural physiological changes that can be observed in the subject. As the hand is seen to levitate, for example, this is acknowledged as " N o w your hand is moving." Any objective or even subjective experience of the patient may be utilized, although subjective experiences that cannot be verified by observation should be stated more tentatively, as "You may experience the weight of your legs against the couch as you relax more and more, deeper and deeper." Hunchak (1980) has even sug-gested using as a focus of attention such phenomena as the vague fields

of gray light that can be seen in the visual field when the eyes are closed.

Another principle that may be utilized in the development of personalized hypnotic techniques is the pairing of hypnotically induced sensory or motor alterations with the target symptom to be treated. For example, two of the most useful induced hypnotic experiences are glove anesthesia and catalepsy (stiffening) of an arm. After glove anesthesia has been successfully induced (perhaps limited to one finger-tip), the patient may be asked to open his or her eyes and observe while the therapist vigorously stimulates the anesthetized area with a blunt nail file or similar instrument. Even if the anesthesia is incomplete, the subject may be able to experience a marked decrease in painful sen-sations compared with the waking state. This analgesia may then be directly transferred to a painful area, as "The analgesia that you have experienced in your fingertip will now also occur in the painful area of your back, the discomfort becoming less and less, pain decreasing more and m o r e . " An alternate use of the glove analgesia is to facilitate the general ability of the patient to alter pathological symptoms, as "Your unconscious mind is able to decrease the pain sensitivity of your

fingertip, as you have just experienced, and it can and will use this same ability to alter, diminish, and decrease your unwanted unhealthy.

outgrown habit of cigarette smoking."

Some sensory and motor alterations are more analogous to the treatment of certain symptoms. Arm catalepsy, for example, may be made to symbolically suggest a cure of impotence, the stiff arm being like the stiffening of the penis. Since the unconscious seems to be associated in symbolic ways, such analogies can be quite effective most of the time.

SUMMARY

In this chapter we have presented those techniques of induction that we have found to be best suited to our personalities and to be most successful with our patients. We, in addition, have included some techniques that have proved successful for other therapists. As we have already stated, these are not a definitive list of available proce-dures. Each therapist must find what is most satisfactory for him or her

and for his or her patients. In the ensuing chapters further suggestions are incorporated for specific types of induction and the wording to be used with the special type of problems seen in the clinical practice of hypnotherapy.

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