Jordan C wrote:I have a problem with Hypnosis. Namely that my friends all think they are comedians so the few times I have tried Hypnosis it juus degenerates into a farce. Any tips for keeping said friends under test conditions???
i have some tips based on the following:
1. your friends who think they're comedians also probably think they're very intelligent, reasonable people.
2. given #1, these friends of yours probably think they're above hypnosis because their minds are "too strong" or some nonsense like that.
in order to hypnotize people like this, you need to keep the following in mind:
1. hypnosis relies on a trance -- that focused state of concentration.
2. if you can focus your friends, you can hypnotize them.
your attempts are, as you say, "degenerating into a farce" because you're not truly captivating them or focusing their concentration. I'm guessing you're trying fundamental techniques to help them get relaxed (imagery, double binds, etc.), but it's clear that they're not susceptible to these basic suggestions.
given that your friends apparently enjoy entertaining their own intellect at your expense, you can begin to entrance them (focus their concentration, hypnotize them, etc.) by teaching them about something interesting that will pique their curiosity and stimulate their intellect... so why not teach them about hypnosis?
begin to describe the fundamental theories of hypnosis, interject your own hypotheses, and all the while make use of those very theories and techniques that you're explaining to them WHILE you're doing the explaining.
i've found this to be incredibly effective. let me give you a sample situation that i walked a friend through once (i save transcripts of these interactions, so i can come back and learn from them later):
ZEKE: Frank, what if I told you that each and every person -- no matter his or her ethnicity, sex, beliefs, or background -- was equally vulnerable to being covertly hypnotized at any given time without his or her knowing?
FRANK: Zeke, I'd say that we'd live in a crazy world where people were walking around all the time all hypnotized, not knowing what they were doing. Guys would take advantage of girls...
ZEKE: [Cut off Frank:] How would you describe people who are hypnotized? [Cut off Frank with forced/suggested answer:] You'd say they were in a trance, right?
FRANK: Yeah, that's right.
ZEKE: [More cutting off:] And how would you describe a trance? [More cutting off:] You'd say they were so focused that they'd become vulnerable to influence by others over their thoughts and actions, such that they might do or think things they otherwise would not?
FRANK: Right.
ZEKE: Would you not say that such is the world we do live in? Think about advertising, for example, or girls who end up in situations that logically or reasonably are negative, like with 'bad' guys.
FRANK: Good point...
you can see that I'm sitting here explaining to Frank fundamental truths of hypnosis, but I'm also making use of several hypnotic techniques in the process. most obviously, i set him up with a loaded "yes set" by proposing very thought-provoking questions, but i didn't let him attempt answers to those questions; i quickly cut him off, planted intriguing answers, and let him agree (how could he have not agreed?).
it stands that i didn't take advantage of my position in this situation to accomplish something, but i could have easily used this rapport to push Frank further into trust, relaxation, and ultimately a hypnotic trance.
summary: like Erickson would've done, use your subjects' resistance to your advantage. your friends trust in their own intellect, so entertain it while you entrance them.
hope this helps,
Zeke