By Trevour Strudwick CH, MNLP.
As a Hypnotist, feedback is of the utmost importance. I need to know what works, what doesn’t work and why. I pride myself on being pragmatic and realistic with my clients about what they can expect. What’s more, almost all my programs are woven together with Life Coaching strategies, goal setting milestones and Emotional Freedom Techniques. I like to think that it’s all the extra stuff I include over a course of treatment that really makes the difference between success and failure.
Like everyone else, I’m often asked in social situations ‘What do you do?’
‘I’m a Life Coach and Hypnotist’ is usually the shortest answer I can give and it often invites these 2 responses:
1. I meet people who saw a hypnotist to address a specific problem for smoking, weight loss, child birth or any number of other things and it worked for them. I like meeting these people. They are nice people.
2. I meet people who went to a hypnotist and they tell me “it didn’t work”. Usually my first question is “How many sessions did you have?” and the answer is almost always “Just one”. The next question I ask is “Did they give you a recording?” and the answer is almost always “No.”
Of course, humans are designed to be successful (that’s one of the keys to practicing hypnosis effectively) so understandably if something doesn’t work, we just won’t use it. But I do want to address the phenomena of the person who saw a hypnotist and ‘It didn’t work’ and offer some reasons as to why it wasn’t effective.
Reasons why Hypnosis might not work for some people
1. Unrealistic expectations. A hypnosis session should begin with an extensive pre-talk clearly explaining what hypnosis is and is not and what it can and cannot accomplish. So many people have false expectations based on what they’ve seen on TV or what they’ve come to believe from second hand accounts around a bar or campfire.
I have a PowerPoint presentation that I use on the first session with all my clients. Yet despite the comprehensive audio/visual info session, ‘some people’ (whom I will be referring to in a little bit) choose to hang on to their preconceived notions of what is and is not hypnosis. If they are unable to let go of their preconceived ideas, it can impair how effectively hypnosis will work for them. I’ve been studying hypnosis since I was a child. I work full-time as a Hypnotist and have taken certification program after certification program. I can say with complete confidence that I know much more about hypnosis than anybody who has not used hypnosis. So if I tell you it is one thing and not another thing – you can take that to the bank.
2. Training and experience of the Hypnotist. Over the years I’ve spent somewhere in excess of $20K on various specialty trainings and certifications and in that time, I’ve met a lot of different people in the workshop environment. The large majority of whom either do not practice at all, or who only practice ‘on the side’ and maintain another form of income. I will be the first to say that while good training is indispensable and necessary, so is practice, practice, practice! Most training and certification programs do not include a practicum. People pretty much pay the often hefty tuition fee, attend the classes and walk away with a certificate and a packet of scripts and are told – “Congratulations, you’re a hypnotist!” Now go make skinny, stress-free non-smokers.
However, all training is not equal, and while the key to effective hypnosis is first and foremost knowing how to hypnotize, things like smoking, weight and motivation are not one-size-fits-all issues and often require a specialty focus training on the part of the practitioner. Unfortunately, this aspect of professional ethic and responsibility is not universal. While I have 26 specialty trainings and counting, I choose to limit my focus to areas that truly interest me. I am not a sports enthusiast, and while I am trained in using hypnosis with athletes, I choose not to. Simply because I have no real understanding or desire to do so. I’ve heard similar things about smoking and weight loss from other Hypnotists. They say it bores them so they just do it for the money. No doubt this has to affect the success rate of the individual hypnotist. The clients who see me tend to catch fire from my passion, enthusiasm and broad knowledge base in the areas in which I work.
Hypnosis Training at The INSIGHT Studio also includes a period of supervised practicum before the certificate is issued, so graduates are not sent into the world half-cocked and unsupported. They’ve had a chance to perfect their patter and work out their style on friends and family before hanging out a professional shingle.
3. The client does not cooperate in making the change. This point carries forward from the first point about managing expectations. ‘Some people’ think that hypnosis is a magic pill that will cure all their ills but are not prepared to follow through, either by working to cultivate the new behavioural change or listening to the self-hypnosis recordings between sessions. One uncomfortable truth lurking in the dark corners of the mind is that people just don’t want to take responsibility for their health, healing, actions, behaviour or attitudes. They want a quick fix – and in the case of hypnosis, they want somebody else to do it for them. While there is ample anecdotal evidence and case history to support the fact that thousands of people have made Herculean transformations in a number of seemingly ‘impossible’ areas in as little as one session, the reality is that this is the exception and not the norm. These people had a deep seated desire, even a need to make the change. They were committed consciously and subconsciously. Hypnosis gave them a special boost of confidence or motivation to galvanize their resolution. Hypnosis also works best through repetition and success rates increase with multiple sessions. With very few exceptions, I never see anyone for a single session. This demonstrates a commitment on behalf of clients and allows me to deliver an effective course of treatment.
4. Resistance, self-sabotage, fear of success or failure on the behalf of the client. These things can be hard to detect by the untrained practitioner. Ultimately they resolve to the idea that one part of the client wants to make the change, and another part does not. It is like 2 people arguing loudly with each other, but at a subconscious level, making it difficult for the helpful suggestions to do their job. What I notice is that very often people want to make changes but they want things to stay the same – and it can’t happen both ways. The general principle of inertia applies here where the stability of the old pattern is likely to prevail unless specifically identified and addressed.
Then there is the matter of what we in the industry like to refer to technically as ‘the asshole’; a special type of individual who actually doesn’t want to make any changes but is out to disprove hypnosis altogether. In order for hypnosis to be effective, full permission and cooperation are essential.
5. Secondary gains and learned helplessness. As I mentioned earlier on in this blog, people are designed to be successful. This includes personal issues regarding health and habits. A secondary gain is a hidden benefit of a problem. The pay off could be anything from ‘smoking allows me to get away from my desk and take breaks throughout the day’ to not showing up and taking responsibility for one’s life or receiving sympathy or special treatment; being excused from unpleasant responsibilities, etc. The pay-off needs to be reframed and redirected to the benefits of making the change. With learned helplessness and victim mentality, things tend to continually happen ‘to’ the person and they seem to have no control over the events of their lives, eliciting assistance and sympathy from those closest to them. Taking responsibility for what happens to you can be threatening and clients need to be made aware of this and assured that the benefits of personal growth far outweigh any perceived threats or fears that they may have.
6. No one thing works for all people all the time. Which is why we have so many different types of doctors, therapists, body workers, lawyers, insurance brokers, etc. What I find perplexing is that if people are not getting desired results from their doctor, mechanic, lawyer or what have you – they get a new one! In some cases, making multiple attempts to find the right fit; someone who can really help them. But in the case of hypnosis, for some reason, they are more inclined to say ‘I went to a hypnotist and it didn’t work.’ There are many different ways to facilitate hypnosis and they are not all created equally. Neither are hypnosis practitioners.
However, those people who do find a competent, trained, experienced hypnotist to help them achieve a goal or overcome a personal challenge understand how quickly and easily hypnosis can help them achieve their goals.