How to help first timers relax about hypnosis

Home > Psychology Articles > Therapy techniques > How to help first timers relax about hypnosis

3 ways to reassure first time hypnosis clients they are 'doing it right'

Someone going to a hypnotherapist for the first time knows they are a newbie and can feel under pressure to 'do it right'. They may worry that they are not responding to the hypnosis as they 'should'. This may be, at least in part, because they have swallowed lots of cultural notions about what hypnosis is supposed to be like.

As we know, hypnosis isn't always a state of complete unawareness. Sometimes people do reach such states, of course, and we all do so when we dream. But clinical therapeutic work often benefits from the contribution of the conscious part of the mind. So hypnosis is more like a parallel or 'split' awareness than a state of coma.

You can't always be sure that your new client has a good understanding of what hypnosis is, so you can smooth their path by reassuring them about what is going to happen.

1 Describe what hypnosis will be like

The first thing you can do is explain all this to your client. Tell them hypnosis is not the same as slow-wave sleep. Explain that it can happen at times when they are to all intents and purposes fully alert. In fact, this is exactly what happens in sports, for instance, when a player or athlete gets into what they call a 'flow state' or 'in the zone'. Paradoxically, thinking about this can help your client relax about what they think they are supposed to experience.

Next...

2 Give them permission to do hypnosis their 'own way'

I like to pre-empt any niggling doubts about whether what is happening is what is supposed to be happening by suggesting that the client may experience all kinds of things and that can still be part of the hypnotic experience. It's okay. This is partly why so-called permissive hypnotic language tends to be more effective than the overly prescriptive 'hounding people into trance' type of approach.

For example:

And I really don't know whether... as you drift into hypnosis... you'll become less aware of the room... or more aware... or whether you'll feel very relaxed... in your body... or mostly in your mind....that's right...sometimes you can be totally aware of my words... and sometimes you may forget to... pay conscious attention... and it really doesn't matter...

And it really doesn't matter... if your conscious mind remains very active... perhaps thinking about what I'm saying... or even questioning it in your mind... really doesn't matter... because... there is another part of you that can engage in this...

When you say "it really doesn't matter", you are in effect giving permission for criticism or analysis. So if the client then finds themselves questioning what is going on, that will be less distracting for them, and not bound up in their mind with "how am I doing?"

This is the kind of thing I might say to someone who seems particularly analytical and logical - perhaps at the expense of being readily able to enter into a spontaneous experience.

But we can go further than merely giving permission.

3 Encourage the hypnotic response

Giving people permission ahead of time takes out the tension. If you tell a child (or even some adults!) that it's absolutely fine to giggle in church, say, then the whole raison d'être behind the giggle (the tension you feel because you're not supposed to do it) gets switched off.

If people get giggly or over-analytical during a hypnosis session, I might even actively encourage this as a way for them to enter hypnosis. Instead of trying to 'fight them', I suggest they giggle more. I'm now working with them and they can either use the analytical conscious mind or giggling as a vehicle to enter trance, or they can temporarily discard these states of mind because they are no longer 'forbidden'.

So in short:

Explain that they are not going to be completely 'out of it'. Sometimes they may be more consciously focussed than at other times - an ebb and flow.
Give permission. People given permission to giggle don't need to giggle. The tension is removed.
Encourage the response. Ask them if they can analyse (or giggle) even more than they are now. They may decide they'd rather not bother.

You can learn How to Stop Anyone Smoking with Mark Tyrrell on our Smoking Cessation Training Course (online).

Back to Therapy Techniques articles