Third state of consciousness: hypnotic trance. Three variations on the theme of hypnosis

Hypnotic trance.

Educational program from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

Criticism of Milton Erickson. Position of A. Weisenhoffer.

It so happened that “Ericksonian hypnosis” has become similar to the Reiki method of manual healing or clearing the chakras in meditation, because “Ericksonian teachings” are not subject to experimental verification. There are not even the most important statistics on the successful and not so successful cures of both Milton Erickson himself and his followers. There are no clinical studies that contain an analysis of the use of a “new” method of therapy. It’s worth thinking about why this is so, this is the base of any scientific theory? Or, as often happens, many works have not yet been translated into Russian?!

Criticism of Milton Erickson's approach. The position of A. Weitzenhoffer, who was one of the most prolific researchers in the field of hypnosis in the second half of the twentieth century. Weisenhoffer authored more than 100 publications between 1949 and 2004.

It is useful to become familiar with Weisenhoffer's position, especially since, I quote "...In addition, in several cases when M. Erickson performed informal trance induction in the presence of A. Weisenhoffer and other observers, doubts arose about the real presence of trance. Erickson in a number of cases was inclined to act with minimal or no trance..."

"... In 1992, at a conference dedicated to Ericksonian hypnosis and psychotherapy, one of the most authoritative elders of American hypnology, A. Weisenhoffer, spoke. The topic of his report was “Erickson and the unity of hypnotism.” A. Weisenhoffer poses and positively resolves the question of the integrity of hypnotism as scientific discipline and practice. Here are his starting positions.

After Milton Erickson's death in 1980, his students and followers began to draw sharp distinctions between "traditional hypnosis" and "Ericksonian hypnosis." However, these differences are justified by extremely vague arguments. Thus, according to Yapko:

1. traditional hypnologists believe they have power over their patients; So what
2. Traditional manuals indicate the impossibility of hypnotizing psychotics. A. Weisenhoffer, who is the author of manuals and is well aware of North American hypnology of the 20th century, categorically denies the first statement, and the second is confirmed by only two authors out of many specialists.

Ericksonians describe traditional hypnologists as authoritarian, controlling, dominant, operating according to set rules, formulas and scripts, like cookbook in the form of time-limited recitations, poorly coordinated with the patient’s personality. Clinical hypnologists engage in the forcible removal of symptoms according to the “medical model.” Traditional hypnology uses suggestion only on the basis of formal hypnotization, followed by a formal deepening of the state of hypnosis and a formal assessment of the depth of the state. From the perspective of traditional hypnology, there are absolutely non-hypnotizable subjects. A. Weisenhoffer denies all of the above statements by Ericksonians regarding authoritative theorists and practitioners of American hypnology and notes that such conclusions cannot be substantiated by discriminatory examples from the practice of insolvent amateurs. In addition, the Ericksonians practically did not take into account the achievements of European hypnologists.

Until 1961, when M. Erickson began to have a real influence on the clinical community, hypnotism in its development went through delineated evolutionary phases, initiated in Europe by the works of I. Bernheim, who substantiated the generally accepted “doctrine of suggestion.” In America, Bernheim's doctrine was accepted after the translation of his works into English after 1895. A. Weisenhoffer considers Bernheim's doctrine to be the foundation of hypnotism of the 20th century. It includes the following provisions.

1. Suggestion is the leading agent that determines all hypnotic phenomena, including hypnosis, i.e., suggested sleep.
2. Hypnosis, like a suggested dream, is a type of sleep.
3. Hypnosis does not create suggestion, but enhances it.
4. In general, any states that enhance suggestibility are components of the state of hypnosis.
5. Hypnosis, as a state of sleep, is characterized by depth, and suggestibility is the latter.
6. Suggestibility is manifested through a holistic behavioral class of signs that can be classified as “automatisms” and are reflexes in nature.
7. “Ideomatic action,” which is a reflexive transformation of thought into action, is the leading automatism that underlies all suggested phenomena.
8. All automatisms express “internal psychism,” opposed to “external psychism,” which is the focus of all consciousness and voluntary acts.
9. All hypnotic behavior belongs to the realm of normal behavior, normal psychology.

Later, Hippolyte Bernheim abandoned the routine reduction of hypnosis to suggested sleep and defined hypnosis as the induction of a specific physical condition, increasing suggestibility to suggestions. Bernheim made several attempts to define suggestion. Thus, in 1886, he argued that suggestion is the intense influence of an idea that has been instilled and perceived by the mind. In 1903, he argued that all ideas are perceived by the brain through suggestions. All suggestions tend to become actions, to manifest themselves.

Bernheim was not the first to connect the phenomenon of hypnosis with suggestion. Among his predecessors, A. Weisenhoffer names Faria, Braid, and Philips. In the concept of ideomatic action in response to suggestion, Bernheim is also not original. His predecessors are Carpenter, Braid, Chevril.

I. Bernheim understood hypnotherapy as part of psychotherapy and, in the process of his evolution, resorted less and less to the use of hypnosis, preferring to use suggestion while awake. Comparing the concept of I. Bernheim with the views of M. Erikson, A. Weisenhoffer defines the latter as a Bernheimian.

Since 1970, M. Erickson began to gain a reputation as a highly effective hypnotherapist, and since 1975, a small group of individuals, including Haley, Bandler, Grinder and Rossi, who became his followers, have devoted some effort to identifying what made Erickson so effective . A. Weisenhoffer notes that similar attempts had been made earlier; in 1950, the author himself, Haley and B. Gorton met occasionally with Erickson. Based on personal observations, A. Weisenhoffer states that he does not believe in the highest effectiveness of Erickson as a hypnotherapist in comparison with his other, more famous colleagues at that time.

According to A. Weisenhoffer, already in the understanding of hypnotherapy by Bernheim and Braid there is nothing that would fall under the definition of a “traditional approach”. General definition hypnosis, given by Bernheim, allows us to move on to its naturalistic use. The question arises: why did leading hypnotherapists and researchers use so-called “traditional hypnosis”, while Erickson alone chose the opposite direction?

According to A. Weisenhoffer, those who came to such conclusions did not make any real effort to practically study the issue under consideration. Moreover, there is no evidence that they studied the works of other hypnologists. In general, the data on which the Eriksonian waters are based are inconclusive. Anyone who even with an open mind read the works of Wolberg and Linder would be convinced that they are far from the “traditional approach.” The hypnotherapeutic practices of LeCron, Secter, Hershman, Aston and Cheek are far from the criteria of “traditional” hypnology. Indications that before 1961 there were “traditional” elements in the hypnotherapy of M. Erickson’s colleagues are not confirmed. A. Weisenhoffer gives a different explanation for the emergence of the fundamental idea of ​​​​traditional hypnosis. The founders of Eriksonianism were mostly formed as psychotherapists (psychologists) and assessed clinical hypnology from the position of psychologically oriented psychotherapy. However, the basis for the clinical application of hypnosis is much broader than that of psychologically oriented psychotherapy. In addition to psychotherapists, other clinical specialists and dentists also make extensive use of hypnotism. From the Ericksonian perspective, the use of hypnosis by specialists appears to be “traditional.” The use of “traditional” features does not imply the presence of a corresponding fundamental approach and philosophy. The approach is always determined by the purpose and type of psychotherapy.

These remarks fully apply to the so-called standardized approach, distinguished by Yapko and Gilligan, who distinguish it from the traditional and Ericksonian approaches. A. Weisenhoffer sees no reason to identify a new category.

In general, A. Weisenhoffer deeply doubts the legitimacy of using the “traditional hypnosis” stereotype. On the contrary, like his other academically educated contemporaries, adapting the basic principles of I. Bernheim, M. Erickson followed his own, perhaps original, path of applying the phenomenon of hypnosis. In this, like his colleagues, he was driven by his perception of the nature of psychotherapy based on his roles and idiosyncrasies. Various explanations given by Erickson support the idea that he believed hypnotherapy methodological application to use one’s own knowledge of the hypnotic phenomenon for therapeutic purposes. As for some of the statements attributed to Erickson by his interpreters, A. Weisenhoffer believes that they are not genuine, but represent hypotheses of his author. Fink suggested that Erickson acted on intuition, which is typical of all successful psychotherapists.

A feature of M. Erickson's practice was the creation and use of confusion techniques to develop and use a hypnotic state. He avoided the use of formal trance induction. Just as for Bernheim, for Erickson, over time, the presence of a hypnotic state for the implementation of suggestion became less and less important. It is possible that observers saw nondirective induction where there was none. In addition, on several occasions when M. Erickson performed informal trance inductions in the presence of A. Weisenhoffer and other observers, doubts arose about the actual presence of trance. Erickson in some cases tended to act with little or no trance. Erickson in to a greater extent was an expert in the use of suggestion and its effects than in producing a hypnotic state. Many of his techniques, such as double bind, reframing, paradoxical intervention, recycling, have universal applicability, but are not strictly hypnotic. The lack of distinction between suggestion and hypnosis leads Ericksonians to paradoxical conclusions. Thus, Yapko baselessly claims that all effective communications are hypnosis.

A. Weisenhoffer notes that the directive removal of a symptom by suggestion is nothing more than one of the varieties of hypnotherapy among psychoanalytic, behavioral, Bernheimian, Ericksonian and others. This technique is no more “traditional” than others. Wouldn't it be more accurate to evaluate the actual effectiveness of a particular approach?

A. Weisenhoffer considers the assertion that Erickson introduced anything fundamental, methodologically new in relation to hypnotism as such unconvincing. Differences in the “modus operandi” level determine superficial, but not essential, fundamental differences. Erickson, in his opinion, made a contribution as a practitioner of psychotherapy, but not of hypnotherapy. All of the above, A. Weizenhoffer believes, does not diminish the importance of M. Erickson’s activities. His effectiveness as a psychotherapist may have been very real, but for reasons other than those accepted in Eriksonianism.

References

1. Weitzenhoffer A. M. Erickson and the unity of hypnosis // Jerusalem Lectures on Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy. Hypnosis International Monographs Number 1. Munich, 1995. P. 1-16
2. Yapko M. Trancework. Brunner & Mazel, 1990.
3. Bernheim H. Hypnotisme, suggestion, psychotherapy avec considerations nouvelles sur I "hysterie. Paris: Doin, 1903.
4. Bernheim H. De la suggestion. Paris: Albin Michel, 1916.
5. Gilligan S. A River runs through it: The Relational Self in Psychotherapy // Munich Lectures on hypnosis and Hypnotherapy Hypnosis International Monographs Number 2, Munich. 1996. P. 195-210....".

© Material taken from a separate book of Tukaev’s book “Mechanisms and methods of clinical hypnotherapy” (pp. 48-52). For this rare work, the author of the site would like to express his deep gratitude to Rashit Dzhaudatovich.

You just realized by observation that there were sausages. You don't even care where they come from. It's about the same with the unconscious. There are specially trained people. They call themselves differently - psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists, philosophers.

They are very interested in how we think, think, feel, and act. So they found out that our brain consists of two hemispheres, left and right.
- Me?
- The left one is where your ear is torn. By the way, it is in the left hemisphere that consciousness is located, and the right hemisphere is responsible for unconscious processes. Of course, this is conditional, especially since these hemispheres are very closely connected with each other. I'll explain it to you more easily.

With normal vision you see huge amount details of the picture, at the same time you hear, smell, and sometimes feel. All this is recorded by the left hemisphere of the brain, and at the same time goes to the right hemisphere, which gives you information - what to do - run away or catch up, or do nothing, then receive information.

Sometimes you only smell a smell, or a rustle in the grass, and the unconscious already gives you the answer that there might be a mouse nearby, and even corrects your actions accordingly. You freeze abruptly so as not to scare him away. And all this happens automatically, apart from your consciousness. Consciousness is still trying to analyze, but you are already frozen, waiting for further commands. Suddenly a tail flashed in the grass, you didn’t even have time to think of anything, but the paws themselves tore you off the ground and threw you in the right direction.
- Me!
- That's it. You correctly noticed that during a hunt there are practically no thoughts. Everything is somehow done quickly, mechanically and accurately. This is the work of the unconscious part of the brain. This is not a very common condition. There are no thoughts, they just don’t have time, and you act. And these actions are always accurate and correct.

This is the state of trance. When the activity of the left, thinking, hemisphere of the brain is slightly inhibited, and the right hemisphere, what is in charge of the unconscious, is activated at this moment, and almost directly commands you. Here, ideomotor skills are included, along with all life experience and reflexes. In general, everything necessary resources unconscious. And there are tons of them there!
- Me!
- I don’t really know how it works. But it works! And it works flawlessly. And if it works during a hunt, then it can be used in other situations. One has only to find oneself in this trance state, and everything will begin to operate accurately and accurately. At a minimum, the flow of thoughts in the mind will turn in the right direction.

Now I understand what power, strength and wisdom this unconscious conceals within itself! This is not for you to open the refrigerator. It’s like entering a central food warehouse here, strategic purpose. Moreover, I have the feeling that all the age-old wisdom, the experience of all generations, is stored there. When did cats appear on earth?
- Me!
- Come on! What, before man? Are you as homey as you describe? Who built your houses?
-Me!
- Okay, okay, I believe it. Then you can tell me how it turned out for you and the cats. We have confusion here too. According to the Old Testament, you and I appeared at the same time, according to Darwin, monkeys had to build your house. It's kind of muddy there.
Shall we continue? Is it roughly clear with the unconscious? Any other questions?
- Me?
- So you practically came up with the definition of trance yourself! This is a condition when the activity of the left hemisphere is slightly dulled, and the activity of the right hemisphere of the brain is activated. Professor M.R. Ginzburg, from whom I myself studied, calls trance - the internal focus of attention. This is when all your attention is focused on your inner world.

In fact, deep thoughtfulness clearly demonstrates a trance state. Psychologists have other definitions. They even distinguish between types and degrees of trance, using different formulations and terms. It doesn't matter to you and me. We don't do science. For us, at the everyday level, it is quite enough for us to learn to enter a state of trance, you can call it - hypnotize yourself. Next, it would be good to maintain this trance state for the necessary time.

Well, the most important thing is how to use this state. This is perhaps the most important and interesting. So for us, Ericksonian hypnosis, a hypnotic or trance state, just trance are synonyms, one and the same. Agreed?
- Me?
- If you want to study deeply, from a scientific point of view, for professional activities, then you need to contact Professor Mikhail Romanovich Ginzburg. Here he is a real scientist, psychologist, doctor of science. The most important specialist in Ericksonian hypnosis in our country. Only, as far as I know, he doesn’t train cats. Even after I finished studying with him, I sought a personal consultation for two months. And who will drive you? You don’t have a car, but you get seasick on the subway, I said it myself.
- Me.
- Okay, let's continue. Where are we?
- Me.
- Yes. Ideomotor is an interesting thing. But we will be brief, just to understand the process itself.
Your thoughts, the most ordinary thoughts, cause feelings. So you thought about your neighbor’s dog, you just remembered it, and the hair on the back of your neck rose a little. Completely involuntary. Because one day she, this dog, scared you greatly. You immediately remember how she drove you onto the rafter beam when we were building the veranda. You couldn’t come down from that height on your own, it was scary. But somehow he jumped in.

And if you remember your cat, or Red, your friend, on the contrary, it becomes pleasant and your tail rises like a trumpet with pleasure. But there is no one nearby. You just imagined it. We can imagine anything. I don’t know about cats, but humans’ imagination is simply limitless.
- Me.
- You see, you can imagine everything too. And depending on what you imagine, involuntarily, against your will, the body reacts in a certain way. Imagine the winter cold, and they forgot to let you into the house, and you will probably shiver, your fur will fluff up on its own. Just imagine the food and your mouth will water. And if you imagine me scratching you behind the ear, your head will tilt slightly, as if I were really scratching you.

And all this happens against your will, involuntarily, automatically. According to the scientist, this is called the dynamic manifestation of the presented image. Or simply ideodynamics, or ideomotor. You and I don't need learned words. Just remember - your body responds accordingly to any image presented.

So, such a response from your body to the created mental image is the prerequisite and basis of hypnosis. It is important for you to simply remember that any image that you imagine in your head automatically, against your will, evokes certain emotions, sensations, mental flow, and most interestingly, involuntary actions, muscle reactions. But even the smallest actions can be used very effectively.

And most importantly these automatic actions amazingly accurate. There are no mistakes here. It’s your unconscious that acts, and it never makes mistakes. And the brighter and more emotional the image presented, the more powerful the response of the unconscious is manifested. All hypnosis is based on this. We will talk about this with you more than once. You also need to be able to imagine, you will have to learn.
- Me!
- Of course we’ll learn. Catalepsy and levitation are based precisely on this principle. These are such hypnotic phenomena. Absolutely no mysticism. Catalepsy, Greek word. It's like freezing, remaining motionless for a long time. Now, if you are greatly frightened or surprised, you instantly fall into a trance state and freeze.

There are even ways to induce a trance. Very effective, but not very comfortable. And they are not suitable for self-hypnosis. Well, how will you surprise or scare yourself? But the phenomenon itself in self-hypnosis is very convenient to use. Now I'll show you.
- Me!
- You don’t really need to do anything special. In humans, catalepsy usually occurs in the hands. This is when the arm is raised, supported on the elbow joint, and the hand hangs out, as it were. A position is selected in which it can freeze freely, without tension, and naturally remain in this position for some time. With this catalepsy you can go into a trance and do some other useful exercises. Only you don't have any hands. Okay, let's adapt. As a last resort, we will do tail catalepsy.

By the way, about the tail. But levitation of the tail is very convenient to do. Levitation is, on the contrary, movement. I levitate my hand myself, but it will be more convenient for you to use your tail. Shall we study?
- Me.
- Come on, I'm tired! Don't be funny. You're just afraid that your tail will come off! You have no reason to worry. Ericksonian hypnosis is a very pleasant, comfortable and completely safe activity. Apart from benefits and pleasure, absolutely nothing. Milton Erickson argued that trance itself was therapeutic. Just plunging into a trance is already pleasant and useful. You'll see for yourself. In essence, this is the same relaxation. Do you want to try it?
- Me.
- Then make yourself comfortable so that you feel comfortable and as relaxed as possible. Like this. Now you will do what you love most, that is, doing nothing. I promised you that it will be comfortable and pleasant. So enjoy it.
Let's begin.

...Relax your muzzle, there are muscles there too, feel how they relax. You can also relax your neck. Peace of mind, comfort, safety.
Gradually relax your chest. Don't rush, we have all the time we need. Feel the muscles of your front paws relax. Very good, nice.

Check the tummy, how relaxed it is, the hind legs, and so on until the tip of the tail. Great, warm. Mentally check if everything is completely relaxed. We have nowhere to rush. Fine. When your eyes want to close, you can allow them to do so. Let them close, relax, rest. Wonderful.

Some pleasant thoughts probably come into your head. You remember something, or imagine something pleasant. You can continue doing this. Something pleasant to remember or just fantasize about. Your thoughts can remember one thing, or go through something pleasant, like in a kaleidoscope.

You can feel the lightness or the thickness of the darkness. Sometimes sensations, such as warmth or coolness, may emerge. Odors can often be smelled. And if you feel them, you can enjoy them again. Sometimes even the taste is remembered, but this is not always the case. But the sounds are remembered quite often. Very good. It's nice to be in a comfortable, cozy, safe place, just enjoy your pleasant thoughts. There is no need to think about anything. Just enjoy the state of peace, tranquility. Very good.

In moments like these, when you are calmly and joyfully interested in observing your body. Feel the ears, mustache, paws, tail. It's nice to feel their relaxed calm. Sometimes it may seem that some part is becoming warmer or heavier. Or vice versa, something will seem lighter, perhaps even weightless. There is often a feeling of lightness, as if light weightlessness. You may feel that one paw has become a little warmer or lighter, while the other, on the contrary, can fill with a pleasant heaviness.

It is very interesting to observe when such processes occur. Sometimes they are subtle, sometimes very distinct and noticeable. You can even feel small muscle contractions. Light, pleasant, barely perceptible feeling of movement. It can be very interesting to watch your own tail. It may seem that it has become completely weightless, and even a light breeze can lift it like a feather. He is free to move.

There is no need to control his movements. You can completely relax, let him behave the way he wants. And if you feel that it is starting to rise on its own, you should not interfere with this. You can calmly give him the opportunity to rise. At the same time, it is interesting to feel how this happens. How the tail rises on its own and is in a free position. He is as free and calm as you are. Very good.

Now that your tail is so calm that it can lift itself off the chair, it is very interesting to watch its movements. He can already move independently. I wonder where the imaginary light breeze will direct its movement. Perhaps it will simply hover in the air, perhaps continue to rise or make other movements.

And you have all the time you need to calmly enjoy these new sensations for you. And if you feel that the tail has begun to slowly descend, you should not interfere with this. Just watch him slowly, calmly, comfortably sink lower and lower. Very good, just wonderful.

And when your tail completely lowers onto the chair, you can feel a surge of energy, strength, and do deep breath, stretch, open your eyes and return to your normal state. Wonderful.

Congratulations on a great start. You did the best. Simply wonderful.
- Moore!
- Yes. This was hypnosis, or trance.
-Me?
- Of course, you heard and felt everything. There is no loss of control. You can always, at any moment, come out of your trance. You just need to take a deep breath and open your eyes if they are closed.
-Me?
- Almost everyone says this when they dive into the race for the first time. Indeed, it is so pleasant and comfortable that you don’t want to leave. How long do you think passed while you were in a trance?
- Me!
- Here's another hypnotic phenomenon for you. Only four minutes passed. I specifically timed it. You were wrong five times. This is completely normal. Time passes very differently in hypnosis. Changes its speed significantly. It can stretch, or it can shrink.
- Me?
- Yes, Baksi. What was happening with your tail is levitation. You see, you did it great the first time, and quite quickly. Not everyone can do this, you're just smart.
- Me!?
- I understand that you are bursting with curiosity. You felt new sensations. But let’s stop here today, tomorrow I’ll answer your questions. And today, if you have the desire, you can try to hypnotize yourself. Just do the same as we did.
- Me?
“You don’t have to remember what I told you.” This won't work. You understood the main thing, right? I hope I even felt it. Essentially, the trance state is achieved by changing the focus of attention. Usually your attention is focused outward. This is understandable, it is very important. After all, danger lurks outside, and food is running around in the outside world. This is a common condition.

In a trance state, you direct your attention as if inside yourself. It’s as if you listen to yourself, sniff. Professor M.R. Ginzburg also calls hypnosis a game of attention. This is where the trick lies, literally and figuratively. You need to turn this attention inward and focus it on something.

If I help you enter the trance, I will be your personal hypnotist, then I can offer you to look carefully at any object, or just into my eyes. It makes no difference what exactly to focus your attention on. In self-hypnosis, it is most effective to concentrate on your sensations.

That's why you and I relaxed our muscles. I helped you concentrate your attention on your own sensations of muscle relaxation. Then I helped you switch to pleasant memories and focus your attention on that. After that, attention concentrated on the tail.
- Me!
- Absolutely right. You constantly concentrated your attention on your feelings, memories, fantasies. This internal focus, concentration of attention is the basis of the trance state. The main thing is that you understand.

You need to focus your attention on something within yourself. It doesn't matter what. These are memories, fantasies, sensations, feelings.

So, sit back, relax and reminisce. Concentrate your attention. To begin with, the easiest way is to deal with pleasant memories. It doesn't matter what you remember. The main thing is to create pleasant, bright images in your head.

Just remember, or fantasize. Don't forget to complement your images with light, sound, warmth or coolness. Be sure to include emotions and sensations. The brighter the image, the more versatile and emotional it is, the more effectively you can use your trance state. This is quite enough. Try it, it will definitely work. You are talented. That's it, go to the attic to train.
- Moore!

Over the past two centuries, various theorists have been fully convinced of the existence of seven (or nine, or four, or more) phases of trance. In reality, everything is not so simple, and drawing the line between one phase and another can be very difficult, but tests for measuring the depth of trance exist.

The depth of the trance depends partly on the receptivity of the subject, partly on the skill of the hypnotist, but most of all on the method of treatment. To get rid of nicotine addiction, a light or moderate trance is quite enough; To carry out a surgical operation, something deeper would have to be achieved!

Based on practical needs, we can distinguish five stages of trance in order of increasing level of immersion: hypnosis-like state, light trance, moderate trance, deep trance, somnambulistic state. The term "somnambulism" - a legacy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - literally means "sleepwalking" and is therefore imprecise, but it is widespread in the literature on hypnosis. "Waking in a dream" - a phrase with an equally long history - is a much more appropriate expression. Since individuals who regularly resort to hypnosis soon develop quick way total immersion into a hypnotic state, it is easier for beginners to observe the stages of hypnosis of varying depths. If you have practiced self-hypnosis, you may have felt the transition from stage to stage on yourself. A light trance resembles a state of relaxation; when moving to a deeper trance, impressions become sharper, images become brighter, and so on.

Even as the trance deepens, our overall orientation in reality (OOP) fades away. Every situation we encounter during the day is truly unique. Another incident like this has never happened before and will never happen again, even the light on your front door falls differently every day. Childhood is a time of miracles, including

also because children are constantly faced with events that have not happened before, everything is fresh for them, everything is new. As we grow older, our Ego becomes more and more at the center of life; new situations and impressions, in comparison with those that have already occurred, acquire a shade of secondary importance. Each of us forms our own point of view on what is happening, develops our own worldview, on the basis of which we evaluate events and acquired experience. That which does not fit into our system is most often rejected, while the rest is sorted according to a pre-arranged classification. This is what psychologists call “general orientation to reality” or OOP. There is nothing wrong with it: it allows us, for example, to recognize the differences between cinema and real life. And the fading of our OOP in favor of a special, temporary orientation is one of the most significant changes that occurs during hypnosis. The more we refuse vaccinations; The deeper the trance, the deeper the OOP. OOPs decrease as they fade critical abilities, and those things that normally do not have access to our brain, for example, various fragmentary memories, penetrate our consciousness. By the way, this is how hypnosis activates memory. In general, this is the reason for our openness to suggestions from the hypnotist. Since OOP is a mechanism for editing and filtering information, when it fades during trance, we get closer to the unconscious areas of our mind. The subconscious is the foundation of the mind. Of course, not everything stored there is bad, but there are also dirty corners where strange and sometimes even dangerous things lurk - all sorts of primitive impulses and desires. Everything that we don’t want to show to ourselves and the rest of the world is hidden in one of these corners. Every memory is stored somewhere and can be retrieved. What we don't think about directly at the moment, by definition, refers to the unconscious. The conscious mind or reason is characterized by everything that is available to us right now, its relationship to the subconscious can be compared to a torch that a person takes with him into the basement: we use our consciousness to illuminate, to access unconscious areas. The problem is that our subconscious not only perceives and stores “formations”, but also somehow processes it, completely independently of consciousness. One scientist put it this way: “The subconscious is not at all unconscious, it is the Consciousness that is unconscious in relation to what the Subconscious is aware of.” Hypnosis - good way to retrieve material hidden there from the depths of the subconscious in order to realize it, accept it and systematize it.

I myself am not a very good subject for hypnosis, but I go into a light trance without problems, and my most important subjective impression of this state is the complete ambiguity of the experience. On the one hand, there is confidence that you will want everything, and you will not be able to succumb to any suggestions of the hypnotist, because you clearly understand how and in what manner he forces you to do something, on the other hand, the thought is spinning in your head: “Perhaps, there is nothing wrong with following his instructions, if only for the sake of the success of the experiment.” Consequently, you constantly doubt: “Should I try or not?” And this happens throughout the entire session. Smart therapists use this state of mild confusion, which we might call “parallel consciousness,” to plant powerful therapeutic ideas in the subconscious, but doubts absorb all the attention of our consciousness. In another context (in connection with a seance), the Irish poet W. B. Yeats perfectly described this feeling. He found that his arms and shoulders began to twitch: “I could have easily stopped it,” he later wrote, “but I had never encountered such a phenomenon, and I became curious.”

Outwardly, a person’s behavior under hypnosis may not differ from that in his normal state. However, interesting things happen inside. The most typical experiences are the following: relaxation sets in; attention is distracted from what is happening outside in favor of the inner world, the feeling prevails that mental processes have somehow expanded, despite the narrowing of consciousness; a certain indifference appears (a decrease in associative activity), leading to a keen interest in ideas, especially those that the hypogologist throws up; comparative immobility and fixation on individual emotional experiences is revealed (for example, on the rhythm of the hypnotist’s voice, which can be perceived independently of the latter’s personality);

there is a distortion of the perception of time and partial loss of memory when half an hour passes as if it were five seconds; the passive flow of experiences is like a dream; an “alien” personality of perception appears (“trance logic”; in which anomalous situations are taken for granted. If you ask a subject in a deep trance what he is thinking about, the answer will most likely be: “Nothing.” But in fact he is all attention: listens and waits for further suggestions from the hypnotist;

Who can you hypnotize?

American hypnotherapist Milton Erickson believed that if someone fails to hypnotize, it is only the fault of the hypnotist. Anyone can be hypnotized. Who can resist the infectious enthusiasm of the crowd? Who doesn't get excited by military marches? Try not to tense up while watching an exciting thriller on TV and not slip onto the edge of your chair. We like to be conformists, we like it when others accept us. We do not like internal and external conflicts. The pressure of conformity makes us susceptible. Some researchers define hypnosis as a state of increased suggestibility. Even if this is not an entirely adequate and complete definition, there is a grain of truth in it: increased suggestibility is a necessary component of susceptibility to hypnosis (hypnotizability). And since we all have some kind of suggestibility, therefore, any of us can be hypnotized.

Of course, we are all susceptible not in to the same degree. The introduction stated that there are three key components to hypnosis: perception (or focused mindfulness), dissociation, and suggestibility. In highly hypnotizable people, all three parameters are at a high level. The most interesting is the first of them - perception or the ability to immerse (figuratively - enter) into the task at hand. It means - and this is very important - that people with high hypnotizability are able to control their attention. It is possible to put everyone into a light trance, but in ten percent of cases it will take so many attempts that achieving the effect is not worth the effort, and therefore, from a practical point of view, we can say that ten percent of the population is not subject to hypnosis. About thirty percent of the population can easily achieve a light trance, about thirty-five percent can achieve a moderate trance, and the remaining twenty-five percent can enter a deep trance state (although some experts lower this figure to as little as five percent).

Scientists use "suggestibility scales" to psychological tests, consisting of many questions designed to assess a person’s hypnotizability both objectively and subjective criteria. I know of eighteen such scales (the Stamford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, the Harvard Group Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale and others) and I am not going to consider all the pros and cons of each of them, I will only note that the main benefit from them is some stability psychological experiments on hypnosis. That is, you can create groups of subjects with equal suggestibility on one scale, call control groups with higher and lower scores, and so on.

If the hypnotist uses only one single technique of introduction, then in some cases he may fail, because the same technique may not suit all people without exception. Therefore, the hypnotist must be flexible. Even resistant patients, on whom all other techniques have failed, usually succumb to a confusing technique in which suggestions are given at a rapid pace regarding different parts body feeling heavy or light. I'll touch briefly on other ways to overcome resistance in another chapter when I talk about Milton Erickson, because that was his special gift.

It is often said that compared to adults, children between seven and fourteen years of age are more susceptible to hypnosis, with the peak being between the ages of nine and ten. Perhaps there is some truth in modern idea that people with a highly developed imagination, who are able to completely immerse themselves in a book, a movie or their own illusion, who played games in childhood that require imagination, are more susceptible to hypnosis than everyone else. Hypnosis requires detachment from reality, and it is easier for people prone to fantasy to do this: °they easily isolate part of themselves into an imaginary zone, while the outside world becomes less real for them.

It is quite remarkable that it turns out that it is difficult to hypnotize insane people. The better a person can concentrate on a particular sensory stimulus (for example, the hypnotist's voice) and not be distracted, the easier it is to lead him into hypnosis. Perhaps this is precisely why the mentally ill are difficult to hypnotize. Don't worry, though: just because you're a difficult subject to hypnosis doesn't mean you're crazy!

Hypnosis, apparently, cannot be called a homogeneous phenomenon; it may be a combination of a number of characteristics, including the ability to fantasize and role-play, each of which makes the person more perceptive. And if it is so complex in nature, then looking for a simple relationship between susceptibility and personality type is stupid. In Victorian times, women were believed to be easier to hypnotize than men. But modern tests have not confirmed this discovery; it arose from the nineteenth-century superstition that women were the weaker sex and that hypnosis required suppression of the will.

The popular belief that you must be stupid to succumb to hypnosis is also counterintuitive. On the contrary, hypnotizability directly depends on intelligence or, at least, on the ability to concentrate. The comic effect of the film Abbott and Costello Meet the Murderer, Boris Karloff (1949) is based on this idea. Costello is suspected of killing people at the hotel where he works as a bellhop. The mystic Karlov tries to hypnotize him, but Costello, alas, is too stupid to succumb to hypnosis. In fact, one parameter more important than intelligence is a person's self-esteem: people with low self-esteem are more difficult to hypnotize, presumably because they are either more fearful for themselves, less interested in self-exploration, or do not want to be studied.

In general, no matter how hard psychologists try, they have not yet established the relationship between susceptibility and personality type. It was previously believed that hypnotizable people differed from others in having more stable connections with the right hemisphere of the brain. The right hemisphere, in short, controls the left side of the body, its integrity (left-handed people are an exception), as well as spatial orientation, while the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body plus verbal, logical and linear thinking. One might therefore expect that an artist would rely more on his right hemisphere, and a university professor on his left. Most of us are left-brain dominant. Some recent experiments with highly hypnotizable subjects have shown that they perform significantly better on right-hemisphere tasks than poorly hypnotizable people.

However, the events that occur in the brain during hypnosis involve much more than just switching to the non-dominant hemisphere. The change in the leading role between the hemispheres itself does not seem to always occur, but mainly in easily hypnotized people. Moreover, the normally dominant hemisphere is also active during hypnosis, and the activity of one or another hemisphere at any given moment apparently depends on the type of task assigned to the subject. It follows that switching between hemispheres may not be the cause of hypnotizability, but is only part of it. general ability People who are well susceptible to hypnosis move from one state to another - move away. Research into the connections between hypnosis and brain activity is a work in progress. So, for example, early studies seemed to indicate that highly hypnotizable people are those who easily enter the alpha state. Alpha range waves (8-13 Hz) are “that noise produced by the brain when the brain is awake but not working much,” for example, a person is already awake, but keeps his eyes closed. However, modern data suggest that hypnotizable subjects, and perhaps hypnosis in general, are characterized by a slower theta rhythm (4-7 Hz), corresponding to a state of drowsiness.

Experimental evidence indicates that everyone's sensitivity to hypnosis specific person can be improved, as if it were a skill that could be mastered. Although the experience of practicing hypnologists shows that increasing the level of perception is most likely associated with overcoming initial resistance. It's not that patients learn anything, they just become less fearful and begin to trust the doctor more. There is another point of view - a rather strong and interesting theory - according to which it is easier to hypnotize a person when the natural processes of his body proceed in a relaxed state.

Is it possible to resist hypnosis, as, for example, Kim did in Rudyard Kipling's novella (1901), repeating the multiplication tables to himself in order to prevent the hallucinations that he was ordered to see? Of course you can. You have to want to be hypnotized, otherwise it's no use. There are ways to combat your reluctance, and as I said, Milton Erickson was a master at this. But even for him to successfully overcome the patient’s resistance it is necessary that he subconsciously wants to be hypnotized, despite the protests of his mind.

Phenomena of hypnosis

Hypnotic phenomena can be divided into different categories." Firstly, changes occur in the functioning of the smooth muscles responsible for involuntary contractions: breathing becomes deeper, the stomach rumbles, the eyes become moist, some muscles twitch convulsively, the heart rate and pulse speed up or slow down. You 4) experience lethargy and heaviness in your arms and legs. These phenomena are easy to explain; they are signs of mild trance or ordinary relaxation. But as the trance deepens, more unusual phenomena begin to appear: changes occur in the work of the striated muscles responsible for volitional contractions, changes in sensory perception, hallucinations and some other mental phenomena may occur. One cannot think that these phenomena are characteristic solely and only of hypnosis; they can arise spontaneously or, for example, during drug intoxication. But it is important for us that all of them are also induced during hypnosis, which played an important role in EHS history.

Changes in the work of voluntary muscles

Catalepsy is a condition where one muscle or group of muscles becomes immobile. Many hypnotists say at the beginning of the introduction: “You cannot open your eyes. How would. No matter how hard you try, your eyelids are closed tightly, as if they were sealed.” Testing for the inability to open the eyes is one of the ways for the hypzotizer to check the success of the dive. The muscles of the eyelids become cataleptic. Complete catalepsy, when the whole body becomes hard, is what hypnotists use on stage in the already described trick called “board man.” However, the hypnotist can also suggest catalepsy of an arm, leg, or anything else. Sometimes the opposite effect, anomalous plasticity, is observed.

Other changes are relaxation, which occurs as natural result the client’s comfortable state of health in the hypnotist’s office, and the growth of muscle strength. Famous English psychologist J. A. Hadfield measured the strength of three men in a normal, awake state. They bench pressed an average of one hundred and one pounds15. Then he hypnotized the w and suggested that they weakened; and each bench pressed only about twenty-nine pounds. Then, without bringing him out of hypnosis, he reversed the suggestion that they had become very strong - and the average bench press rose to one hundred and forty-two pounds. Thus, the subjects were able to increase THEIR STRENGTH by forty percent. The benefits of using this phenomenon in sports hypnosis is obvious. Although this phenomenon has been confirmed by a lot of other researchers, it is still not an invariable characteristic of the hypnotic state, and now many psychologists believe that muscle performance increases “more likely as a result of increased motivation, rather than something something inherent in hypnosis itself. However, the hypnotic nature of the growth of such abilities is supported by reports of shamans developing amazing powers in a trance state).

Changes in sensory perception

Two types of changes can occur in the functioning of our sense organs. Firstly, an aggravation of sensations is possible. It is designated by a special term - hyperesthesia. Sometimes the result of hyperesthesia is completely surprising, which perhaps explains many of the allegedly paranormal phenomena so beloved by nineteenth-century researchers. A person under hypnosis, for example, can distinguish words written on a piece of paper that he himself has never seen if someone else looks at this piece of paper; in fact, he is guided by the reflection of words in the reader’s eyes. During the show, hypnotists often collected handkerchiefs from the audience, shuffled them and gave them to subjects to return the handkerchiefs to their owners; Perhaps a heightened sense of smell played a role here. Subjects notice the slightest changes. temperature, the difference in weight is up to five grams. In all this, what is striking is not the human ability in itself for a heightened perception of something. If you suddenly go blind and find yourself in an unfamiliar room, then in a few days you will learn to avoid obstacles, relying solely on your hearing. So hyperesthesia:ia- lies in every person. What is remarkable here is the speed of “awakening” of a new ability in the subject. Perhaps this is the result of a narrowing of the focus of attention.

To others important changes include analgesia and anesthesia. The first term usually denotes a local loss of sensation, and the second an unconscious state, the by-product of which is a complete loss of sensation.

These phenomena are well known to us from television and other performances by hypnotists. We all know that a hypnotized person can prick himself with a pin or burn himself with a cigarette and not feel anything. Application value here it is obvious, especially in medicine, at a time when there were still no common anesthetics. And now anesthesia using hypnosis has not lost its relevance, since many patients are allergic to painkillers or simply want to avoid getting unnecessary “chemicals” into their body. Before inducing full anesthesia, the hypnotist usually tests the client's susceptibility using “glove” (loss of sensitivity is limited to the palm) or “sleeve” (the same, but on the entire hand) anesthesia. The ability to not feel pain is probably the most striking, and in a medical context, the most important phenomenon associated with hypnosis. I will return to him from time to time throughout the book.

The hypnotist can also “trick” our senses and cause hallucinations. They can be positive and negative. A positive hallucination is when the subject perceives something that is not there, and a negative hallucination is when it cannot perceive what is. Both types of hallucinations are very easily induced during hypnosis and, of course, belong to the favorite numbers of all pop hypnotists: “You are holding a bouquet of flowers in your hands. Why not give it to that girl over there?” Sometimes the appearance of hallucinations is associated with post-psychotic suggestions. The therapeutic goal of such hallucinations is to induce THAT same abreaction, that shocking emotional discharge that I mentioned earlier. Suppose a patient is afraid of spiders; hallucinations involving them can force him to face his fear and overcome it. In Ambrose Bierce's The Realm of the Unreal (1890), hypnotized people see objects and even events that never took place. Although the fact of hypnotic hallucinations is well established, their induction requires commands from the operator; they cannot arise spontaneously from nowhere, as described in Bierce's story.

Various mental phenomena

The most important psychological change - so important that it is often considered the definition of hypnosis - is hypersuggestivity. Since there are very few spontaneous hypnotic phenomena, mostly they arise only at the command of the hypnotist, we can say that most of them are explained by increased suggestibility and suggestibility.

Distortion of time perception. Along with catalepsy, it is a spontaneous phenomenon of hypnosis. Half an hour passes like five minutes. Sometimes the distortion of time leads to the emergence of the ability to perform super-tasks. In one experiment, a woman successfully counted eight hundred and thirty-two balls on a cotton bush in three seconds. She even had time to check under the leaves to make sure she didn't miss any.

Super-speed learning and creativity. Experiments carried out during iron curtain in Soviet Russia, showed that a hypnotized person can learn from one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty foreign words per hour The teacher should pronounce them in a special way, changing the gentle tone to a commanding voice, and soothing music helps create a background conducive to speedy learning. However, a more reliable way to improve learning through hypnosis is to allow the client to relax and put aside any anxieties and other things that interfere with learning. This is how dormant talents can be revealed. At present, the reason for the enhancement of creative abilities due to hypnosis is not entirely clear. According to one of the most interesting theories, proposed by psychologist Pat Bowers, suggests that hypnosis engages neural networks in the brain that are not subject to conscious control (hence the ease and naturalness that those who have experienced hypnosis often talk about). New associations are established in these networks, and the creation of new associations is a creative process.

Spontaneous age regression. I have already mentioned age regression as one of the treatment methods, but it is worth noting that it sometimes occurs spontaneously during a hypnotic trance. For Marcel Proust, the taste of madeleine liver immediately evoked memories of the past. In the same way, during a trance, some sensation can suddenly awaken childhood memories, and the subject will relive them. The hypnotist can easily determine when this happens because the subject’s voice and phrases begin to sound childish.

Paranormal phenomena. Occult researchers, especially in the nineteenth century, associated the emergence of paranormal phenomena with the fact that the individual involved some other level of the mind during hypnosis. It was from this that telepathy, prediction of the future and clairvoyance were believed to occur. These days, no one is satisfied with this explanation. If something like this happens, it is usually not in connection with hypnosis. Although if it could be shown—and the idea itself is not absurd—that hypnosis increases the likelihood of entering a diffuse state, like daydreaming, in which psychic abilities are improved according to parapsychological research, then the connection between hypnosis and paranormal phenomena should be reconsidered and appreciate it in a new way.

I should briefly mention triggers here psychosomatic treatment and even about the control of organic functions such as bleeding, body temperature and salivation. These are truly hypnotic phenomena, and they are so important that I am going to postpone talking about them until the eleventh chapter, which talks in detail about modern theory and the practice of hypnotherapy.

Hypermnesia and amnesia

Hypermnesia is a condition when a subject recalls events that he could not remember in a conscious state. I will talk about memory in more detail in the eighth chapter, but here I will only repeat my opinion about the mechanism of the phenomenon. As I said before, hypnosis lowers the threshold for critical thinking. Fragments of memories that were usually considered too imprecise to be taken seriously can now pass through a critical filter and be taken on faith. Hypermnesia is extremely unstable: you either manage to remember what really happened or fail, there is also the possibility of mistaking a false memory for a true one.

Amnesia is another well-known hypnosis phenomenon that is often used in literature and film. Unfortunately for writers, however, spontaneous amnesia is extremely rare and is generally limited to those people who can go into deep trances. Much more often, amnesia occurs due to the deliberate suggestions of a hypnologist pursuing certain medical goals. There is no more mystery in spontaneous amnesia than in the forgetting of night dreams: you remember that you saw some kind of dream, but you cannot imagine it in words and pictures. One girl I interviewed was hypnotized during the performance and did very unusual but not humiliating actions like curling up into the fetal position and the like. So, then she remembered almost nothing about what happened, until her friends asked: “Don’t you remember how you did such and such?” Her story, in terms of the return of memory, was similar to waking up in the morning after a heavy drinking session. Spontaneous amnesia can sometimes be explained by the fact that the deeper you go, the more likely you are to encounter material that has been repressed into the subconscious, material that your conscious ego refuses to perceive. Another reason may be self-hypnosis, that is, some people believe in the normality of amnesia and, thus, induce it in themselves under hypnosis.

Post-hypnotic suggestions

The fact that a person can act according to the instructions suggested under hypnosis after the session has already ended is amazing. All the phenomena that we have discussed can be caused post-hypnotically, especially negative and positive hallucinations. Of course, post-hypnotic suggestions are popular with stage hypnotists, who tell subjects that even after waking up, at the word “four” they will jump into the air and wave their arms. The trigger word is then deliberately spoken. A good hypnotist usually inspires several subjects at once different actions in response to various trigger words. In hypnotherapy, a client who wants to quit smoking is told, for example, that cigarettes will taste disgusting to him. It is often noted that people who carry out a post-hypnotic command find, if, of course, they succeed, a justification for their actions. Here's a simple example: you were told to scratch your left knee, and you are sure that you really feel itching. In more difficult cases, if, say, you were asked to open a book to a given page and read a paragraph, you would say that you tried to find a passage that you especially loved.

The reliability of post-hypnotic suggestions is not one hundred percent. If a person is told to perform an action in certain time, he may not perform it at all, or perform it at another time, or he may only have an urge to perform this action. A person always has a choice whether to obey or not. However, more often than not, suggestions still work. It is controversial whether a person goes into some kind of trance when performing a post-hypnotic suggestion (some psychologists, such as Eva Bagni, use the term “excited trance state”)? Hypnotic shows sometimes raise legitimate concerns: “What if the hypnotist, who has just called the victim back to his place with a posthypotic suggestion implanted, accidentally allows him to leave the theater without removing the suggestion?” How long can this last? After all, work colleagues will be quite surprised if at the words “How about lunch on Thursday?” someone will start jumping and waving their arms! 1 ostypnotic suggestions can work for a long time. I heard of a hypnotist who said to a patient friend: “As soon as I touch your finger, you will be instantly hypnotized.” Fourteen years later, he accidentally touched that guy's finger at a party, and - bang! - The man's head leaned back in the chair.

Some psychologists, such as J. Milne Bramwell, have successfully conducted experiments in which subjects guessed with very little error required interval time: “In twenty-one minutes you will do such and such.” As William James notes in The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), these experiments are important because they indicate that people have extraordinary abilities. There is, for example, a subconscious part of our mind that can accurately count the time that has passed. Many people are familiar with the experience when they say to themselves before going to bed: “I must wake up at six o’clock sharp,” and, without resorting to an alarm clock, they actually get up on time

Hidden Observer

I have already mentioned that psychologists who study hypnosis use automatic writing on occasion. Let me give you one very famous experiment. Professor Ernest Hilgard of Stanford University was puzzled by the fact that when hypnosis is used for pain relief, the patient reports no pain, although the usual involuntary indicators of pain (such as GSR - galvanic skin response16) indicate otherwise. It induced sleeve anesthesia, which allowed the patient to keep her arm in a reservoir of ice water. He asked her how she felt, and she replied: “Nothing, no pain.” However, he also asked her to use her other hand to report the onset of pain, ranking the degree of pain on a scale from one hour to ten. Skinny? She, still loudly denying the pain, began to write a series of increasing numbers showing the increase in pain that is natural when immersing a hand in ice water. From this and from some other experiments, Hilgard deduced the existence of a so-called “hidden observer” in us. > - a certain part of ourselves that is awake even during the transition of consciousness to another state. The hidden observer does not feel pain, but is aware of it, even if the pain is blocked or hidden behind the threshold of amnesia.

Hilgard himself has always been very reserved about the appointment of a hidden observer. He never allowed himself to say out loud (he verbally denied everything) that his experiments demonstrated the existence of a deeper part of ourselves that is always awake and of which we can sometimes be aware. In fact, only half of the subjects in his experiments identified the hidden observer, and only if they belonged to the “superior” ones, that is, they had high hypnotizability. He concludes that, compared to other people, “superior” people are more adept at detaching and therefore are more likely to sense the presence of a hidden observer.

But experimental data and real-life experiences indicate that there is a hidden observer in everyone, and I myself am of the same opinion. For people who practice meditation The Hidden Observer is apolitical, emotionless, naked, businesslike... The Hidden Observer is a part of me. There are “I am first”, “I am second” and “I am third”. “I am the first” is hypnotized, “I am the second” is hypnotized and watches, “I am the third” acts, because I am awakened... The hidden observer is aware of everything that is happening; His field of vision is slightly narrower than that of the “Third Self”, he seems to be sleeping and at the same time awake, at the same time fully aware of your actions... The hidden observer sees more, asks more questions, he is always aware of what is happening, but it is completely unnecessary to seek contact (with him... He is like a guardian angel, protecting you from actions that would stain you... And until someone dares me to make contact with a hidden observer, I will not do this . He's just there.

Sometimes, especially at critical moments in life, events leave their mark on us. “If I had not gone to this particular kindergarten, I would never have met Sister Bobby, who then introduced me to Martha, which led to going to Exeter that day and meeting the woman who was to become my wife,” something like that. It seems that there is a hidden part of each of us that organizes our actions on the scale of our entire lives, without being distracted by every second details. And although Hilgard was only able to identify the hidden observer in half of his patients, I think that all of them have one. Perhaps they were too accustomed to it and did not suspect that they were looking for something very familiar; or it is too deeply hidden and of extremely fine organization to be so easily seen.

Assumption and warning

While reviewing the phenomena of hypnosis, something strange caught my eye, and I ventured to make the following assumption. Hilgard's experiments to identify the hidden observer led him to the conclusion that the method of hypnotic analgesia does not actually eliminate pain, but hides it behind an “amnesia-like barrier,” as he called it. This ties together the three main phenomena of hypnosis: the hidden observer, anesthesia with analgesia, and amnesia. Let's go further and connect analgesia not only with amnesia, but also with catalepsy. You wouldn't be able to keep your arms extended at shoulder level for fifteen minutes if you weren't holding back the pain. Thus, four hypnotic phenomena are tied into one knot at once.

Moreover, there is reason to believe that time distortions are also associated with amnesia. They don’t say “time moves slowly,” only “time has passed slowly.” This means that only by looking back can you evaluate whether time was passing quickly or slowly. Time compresses, and half an hour passes like five minutes only when, looking back at this half hour, you remember events only for five minutes, forgetting everything else. During hypnosis, this is further enhanced by a narrowing of the focus of your attention, which limits the number of events experienced.

I believe that in the phenomena of hypnosis one can find an analogy with the “unified field theory” in physics. It is necessary to identify the only phenomenon of hypnosis that can immediately explain all the existing ones. Currently, the stakes are mainly on the ability to dissociate or change states of consciousness. Most of the other phenomena of hypnosis can be adjusted to one level using the assumption that you switch from one way of thinking to another, which operates more freely with categories of images and combines previously arisen thoughts and ideas in a fundamentally new way.

However, if we talk in this way about the phenomena of hypnosis, both subjective and objective, then we recognize that hypnotic trance is a very specific, special, different, altered state of consciousness (ASC)17 with its own signs and symptoms. This idea is highly controversial. And although in the past century few people doubted the connection between hypnosis and ASC (and there are still people who thoughtlessly adhere to this opinion), over the past 50-60 years, scientists have been engaged in fierce debate on this and some other related issues. It is safe to say that among professional psychologists there is probably nothing that would lead to the emergence of such contrasting and incompatible points of view. They argue not only about what hypnosis is and what it is used for, but even about whether it exists at all (some prefer to put the word in mouth).

plowing quotes); they cannot come to a consensus on the argument for the best method for measuring hypnotizability and the need to find such a method; they argue about insertion techniques and what and how much can be achieved through hypnosis; They differ on whether other techniques, such as acupuncture, qualify as hypnosis or not. Proving the existence of a hypnotic trance is so difficult that the magician Kreskin (Georges Kresge) has offered a reward of one hundred thousand dollars to anyone who does it; and has already beaten off steam at the trial; very encouraging claims. I'm afraid reading this book will not help you achieve the reward, but I hope it will convince you that the hypnotic state does exist.

At the beginning (or almost at the beginning, it doesn’t really matter) there was, perhaps... hypnosis. “And the Lord God plunged man into a deep sleep; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs...,” we read in the book of Genesis (Genesis 2:21). Of course, there is no reference to hypnosis, and it is not said at all how the Lord God induced sleep on a person, however, one or two enthusiastic writers quoted this place precisely in line with hypnotism Or maybe; Did God use drugs growing up in Eden? But if the quote referred to hypnosis, it would simultaneously mark the first mention of surgery. performed under hypnosis, since the sleeping Adam was subjected to an extremely painful operation - the creation of a woman from a spare rib!

However, jokes aside! One has only to pick up a book on hypnosis, and right there, in the first chapter or even in the first paragraph, we read: “Hypnotism is an ancient art, its secrets were known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks and have survived to this day.” Of course, enthusiasts can be forgiven for wanting to give their favorite subject an aura of revered antiquity, but, I hope, the truth has no less a right to exist than this kind of fanatical devotion. Unfortunately, claims about the antiquity of hypnotism are never supported by footnotes to relevant authoritative sources. We will have to look at everything with fresh eyes, that is, re-check the texts. There are not many of them at all

besides, most of them are very doubtful. In general, the prehistory of hypnotism in the West before the advent of Mesmer is very poorly documented and difficult to reproduce.

Hypnosis and trance

Fraudulent manipulators or sectarians can hypnotize an object, just like hypnotists and psychotherapists do.

The following hypnophenomena are known:

– suggested hallucinations– if a hypnotized person is told that he sees something, for example, a cat or a lion, he will behave accordingly;

– time distortion– under hypnosis a person does not notice how much time has passed;

– catalepsy– long-term preservation of a given pose;

– age regression– if a person is told that he has become small again, he will behave like a child;

– amnesia– a person forgets what he heard and did under hypnosis;

– analgesia, or pain relief.

The so-called “evil eye” or “spoilage” can also turn out to be, in fact, suggested behavior strategies.

If we talk about scammers, as a rule, they use hypnosis to order a person to give them all the money, take off their jewelry and give it to them too, and then command them to come out of a trance, forgetting everything that happened.

Here's a real-life incident. Elena went to the market, she had a large sum in her wallet. She walked up to the counter and asked the price of the product. The next moment (it seemed to her) she realized that she was standing at the same counter and holding a completely empty wallet in her hand. What happened between these two moments, she did not know and did not remember. Of course, there were no witnesses either.

Suggestion becomes possible when a person is in a trance and cannot perceive what is said to him critically. So the first task of the hypnotist is to put the subject into a trance. Various methods are used for this. Here are some of the approaches described in Sergei Gorin’s book “Have you tried hypnosis?”

1. " Break pattern" A disruption in the habitual pattern of behavior deprives a person of a sense of balance and leads to a state close to a light trance. Examples include a sudden stop in a couple's dance or a handshake that does not stop after the usual period of time, or any illogical behavior. The failure of a regular “program” makes it possible to insert a new one.

The goal here is to take a person by surprise, maybe even in physical sense(during a conversation they come up from behind and forcefully pull down, for example, or while standing up they put pressure on the shoulder and sit back down). The object “falls out” of reality for literally a couple of seconds, but this may be enough for an experienced fraudulent hypnotist to make a brief suggestion.

The action (of the object or the manipulator itself), speech may be interrupted (the manipulator jumps from one topic to another or interrupts the interlocutor), the situation may change. Sometimes the manipulator expresses a controversial or unexpected thought. Main goal– so that the interlocutor is confused, surprised or left in bewilderment, even for a moment.

2. " Immersion in childhood" A person is asked to immerse himself in some moment in the past, in childhood or adolescence, remember it in detail, or imagine something non-existent (for example, the color of a chakra or himself in 20 years). The work of imagination or access to memories tends to “turn off” part of consciousness, the person withdraws into himself. The manipulator will tell you that it will be easier to remember if you imagine your children’s room in detail, so you open the door, go in... this is how the trance begins.

3. " Overload" There is a certain speed at which a person is able to learn new information. If information arrives faster, the conscious mind does not have time to process it, so the hypnotist can gain access to the subconscious. It is believed that the volume short term memory a person is limited to 7 (plus or minus 2) pieces of information.

A long monotonous monologue can put a person into a state of trance: remember how you involuntarily nod off during an endless lecture? First, the person is told what the conversation will be about, then they tediously talk about it for a long time. Gradually, the person switches off, and in this state, suggestion can also be made to him, with key phrases highlighted by voice. The commands pass into the subconscious, and then the object will not remember anything except the main subject of speech. Boredom or the “satiation” technique help manipulators.

A long monotonous monologue can put a person into a state of trance: remember how you involuntarily nod off during an endless lecture?

Overload can occur through one or more channels:

– you are offered too much information, the sentences are long and florid, most often include verbs that appeal to different channels of perception;

– information is provided too quickly (“talking out”);

– too much auditory load (for example, a rock concert with the usual volume of music for such events);

– kinesthetic + auditory overload: the object is often, quickly, touched a lot, while continuing to speak;

– visual + auditory overload: you see a distracting picture or the hypnotist uses gestures while continuing to talk, or you are at a concert with loud music and at the same time the lights are on, the spotlights are flickering;

– auditory overload as double induction: at least two people are talking to you at the same time, shouting over each other, demanding your attention.

Keep in mind that manipulators do not necessarily create the overload situation themselves; they can take advantage of an existing situation and try to get their way, for example, during a rock concert. And psychotherapists use a metronome to work with a treatment group; some models are produced with a flashing light.

4. " Traps for consciousness" The object's conscious attention is drawn to some activity, and what happens outside of it slips into the subconscious.

A striking example of this technique is the famous “25 frame” phenomenon. Viewers absorb what they see during 24 frames per second, but the content of frame 25 is absorbed subconsciously. In 1958, the American Psychological Association refuted the 25th frame effect, and the author of the technique admitted that the results of his experiment were fabricated. However, the mechanism itself, when a person’s consciousness is distracted by something, trying to covertly influence the subconscious, continues to be studied. It is no coincidence that Russian legislation directly prohibits the use of hidden advertising, including “exposure through the use of special video inserts (double audio recording) and other means” (see Federal Law on Advertising No. 38).

5. " Anchor technology" In NLP, an “anchor” is usually called a certain stimulus that is associated for a person with a positive or negative emotion and can trigger a corresponding reaction; "a stimulus that causes a specific behavior, physiological or emotional state" Example: a couple in love chooses a melody, calls it “our song”, associates it with important points in life (first date, dance at a wedding). In the future, if one of the partners hears this melody, it will surely start emotional reaction. Hypnotists and psychotherapists consciously set such “anchors” for their patients. Manipulators and scammers can also take advantage of this.

The anchor can be a sight, sound, taste, sensation or aroma. The most effective are kinesthetic anchors associated with sensations.

The “anchor” must be placed at the peak of the experience. To do this, psychotherapists immerse the patient in memories, ask them to imagine the emotion as vividly as possible, etc. When this happens, the psychotherapist can “anchor” this emotion and associate it, say, with touching some part of the patient’s body.

In addition, in order for the reaction to be triggered, the “anchor” must be reproduced as accurately as possible: that is, the same touch must be repeated with the same force, exactly to the same area of ​​the body.

Kinesthetic “anchors” associated with touch are considered the most reliable: a person carried away by memories or conversation may not even notice that he was touched, but this will not escape the subconscious.

Manipulators also use more accessible anchoring methods that do not require entering into a trance. So, psychologists conducted an experiment in which they asked subjects: how do they estimate the population of Turkey. For the first group, the question was formulated as follows: “Do you think the population of Turkey exceeds 38 million? How many people do you think live in Turkey?” The second group was asked the same question, but instead of the number 38 there was the number 100 million people. It turned out that people from the first group in self-assessment they named numbers of about 38 million, and from the second group - about 100 million. The number created a kind of “anchor” in thinking, and it turned out to be not so easy to abandon it, despite the fact that it was not associated with any emotional experience.

This technique is used, for example, in expensive restaurants: when you look through a list of dishes, each of which is not cheap, you choose something from what is available to you and tend to consider it a good purchase. Although in fact, for example, paying half a thousand rubles for boiled macaroni (pasta) was not at all the limit of your dreams. High prices set a certain standard, or “anchor,” and you are guided by it. (See section Advertising Chapter 2 is also about the principle of contrast.)

Amulets and talismans that inspired people buy for big money from charlatans are also “anchors”, and therefore sometimes they really “work”

The principle of anchoring is also used in advertising, forming in the viewer clear associations of the advertised product with something beautiful and pleasant. Advertising creators try to appeal to different channels of perception: visual, auditory, kinesthetic.

Amulets and talismans that inspired people buy for a lot of money from charlatans are also “anchors” for them, and one should not be surprised that sometimes they really “work.”

The strategies described above, for example, Erikson's triple helix, metaphorical stories, can also put a person into a light trance.

Psychologists say that often a person is already in some semblance of a trance, moving around a modern city with its sensory overload: neon advertisements, constant noise, etc. Surely, you yourself have noticed that in such a situation you are “a little out of control.” to yourself." If you are in a traffic jam for many hours, when every minute the car jerks and moves forward one centimeter, it is no wonder to switch off: the consciousness must somehow protect itself, it cannot constantly and fully absorb this muddy stream. T.V. Gagin provides data according to which an adult is in a trance during the day for approximately 15 minutes out of every hour.

In such a situation, manipulators can only take advantage of the object’s state for their own purposes - or “pull” the person out of self-absorption, switching him into a trance that will be beneficial to them. Here's what Joe Vitale recommends, for example, to put a person into a "buying trance":

– ask the buyer questions that require a detailed answer, or interesting questions the type of riddles to which the buyer does not yet know the answer;

– invite the buyer to imagine or imagine some picture;

– formulate questions with a false illusion of choice (“Do you pay in cash or by credit card?”);

- make a ridiculous statement to "break the pattern" (Joe Vitale titled one of his blog posts: "Last Night the Internet Was Destroyed." Readers were drawn to this unusual title and wanted to know what it meant, although they, of course, read a blog on the Internet).

The extreme degree of influence on a person’s consciousness and subconscious is zombification (what happens to people, for example, in some sects). To achieve this terrible effect it is necessary for the object to completely stop its ordinary life, was removed from his usual environment, did not communicate with loved ones, etc. He is “brainwashed,” ridiculing and belittling his previous values.

Conditions under which a person’s entry into trance is facilitated:

– cloudy weather, twilight, monotonous noise, for example, rain;

– severe fatigue;

– emotional excitement(including sexual arousal), intense fear or rage;

– a comfortable position (as for sleeping) or a deliberately unusual, uncomfortable position;

– rhythmic rocking or rotation;

– “sensory hunger” (lack of stimuli, silence) or monotonous influences on all channels (rhythmic flashes, sounds, monotonous music such as shamanic);

– condition after drinking alcohol;

– pinching of the carotid arteries, pressure on the eyeballs or other parts of the body;

– a sharp irritant (for example, very loud sound, flash of bright light, shout, slap).

The state of trance (not thinking) provides an opportunity to take a break from conscious thoughts, so people often try to enter this state themselves using, for example, computer games or watching TV, smoking, relaxing in a sauna, or physical activity.

How to reduce your vulnerability?

1. A stage hypnotist or psychotherapist will not do anything without voluntary consent, but in the case of criminal hypnosis, none of the victims, of course, agreed to be hypnotized. A person demonstrates greater suggestibility when he is overly excited or tired, as in the example with traffic jams. If you know that you tend to literally “switch off” in a given situation, take action in advance: do not take important decisions, do not carry large sums of money with you, cooperate with friends or colleagues, etc. Walk along the streets quickly, purposefully, as if you are in a hurry and cannot be distracted.

2. The key to counteracting hypnosis (inducing a trance) is to understand that they are trying to influence you. If you notice that you have begun to “fall” into a trance, you need to shake yourself up, just get up and leave, if possible. If this is not possible, try to mentally build a wall between yourself and the manipulator, or imagine yourself inside a glass jar, from the walls of which words bounce off without harming you. Disconnect from the manipulator’s voice, start repeating a prayer to yourself or reading poetry by heart.

3. Do not allow strangers and unfamiliar people to touch you, avoid looking into the eyes. Don't be shy about saying "no" and even extreme cases use abuse, because sometimes scammers start with insignificant questions or requests (remember that the rule of “three Yes contract"). Be wary if you suddenly find yourself in a crowd, in a small group where people behave in a similar way: They can be accomplices, so here you should not rely on the instinctive “behave safely like everyone else.”

4. Books about hypnosis indicate that people of the “thinking type”, agnostics, and those who question everything are difficult to hypnotize. Artistic personalities are the easiest to hypnotize. emotional people With developed imagination. Draw conclusions.

7. ENTERING A TRANCE Probably every person remembers how he learned to ride a bicycle. It was breathtaking from the fear of falling and from the delight that by some miracle this did not happen. Man discovered another ability in himself - to maintain balance and coordinate his

2.1.6. Trance What exactly is trance? There is no exact definition. At the very least, it is a state of consciousness in which we are no longer focused on the physical world. To enter a trance, you need to keep your mind awake while your body falls asleep.