Hypnotic Techniques for Suggestions

11 Hypnosis Techniques for effective commands 

Your unconscious mind is influenced by only a few different types of hypnosis experience  These are called Hypnosis Techniques, or Trance Effects. When you make sure that every suggestion uses one of the basic hypnosis experiences, then your client is more likely to act on that suggestion.

There are unlimited ways to write hypnotic words and phrases but only a few basic Hypnosis Techniques. The hypnotist needs to decide what belief needs to be altered, what behavior needs to be changed, and finally, which hypnosis technique to use to get the result.

Hypnosis Technique 1 - Visualization

Visualization is probably the most common hypnosis phenomena used in hypnotherapy. Visualization is also a form of self-hypnosis. Visualization is mostly used as a form of rehearsal, getting the client to imagine themselves in the future as having whatever it is they want to have now. It is also used to manipulate symbolic objects in metaphor therapy and to access memories in Regression. Visualization is not just 'seeing'.  Any way to experiencing can be called 'visualizing'. For example saying 'Imagine you are in a city far from here...' does not mean the listener has to visualize the city. They might experience it in other ways. It is still part of visualization.

Visualization is used in one or more of the basic hypnosis techniques of:

Hypnosis Technique 2 -  Association

Association is a way of getting the client to access their own resources. The client is invited to imagine they are now in the future, when whatever it is that they want has happened to them. The client is led through a process of imagining how they would look, how they would stand, dress, behave and so on. This is similar to the technique of Retrospective Preview but in the technique of Association, the client is invited to 'associate into' that future self.

In other words, they are to enter the body and mind of that future person. The client is instructed to enter their future body, to see the world through the future body's eyes, to hear what it hears and to experience the mental state that goes with successfully having whatever it is they want to have in the future.

There are many variants of this technique. It can be suggested that the client identifies other people, either real or fictional, who have the strengths or abilities that the client wants. The client is then invited to associate into their bodies to experience what it is like to have those strengths or abilities, and to bring back those abilities when they leave the other person's body and return to their own. A similar technique consists of identifying people with the right abilities and then imagining putting on their head, so as to be able to understand the world the way they do.

Hypnosis Technique 3 - Dissociation

If Association is about going into someone else's body, Dissociation is about going out of yourself and then experiencing your own body as if it was someone else's. The ability to look at yourself as if you were a different person is the basis of many therapies. It is fundamental to the fast phobia process and is the basis of most visualisation therapies.

Dissociation can also happen spontaneously in hypnosis. In the most dramatic version this is experienced as an out of body experience. The client will report having left their body and seeing themselves lying in the chair as if from a great height, often as if they were floating up at the ceiling.

Most people have no trouble experiencing some level of dissociation. It appears to be a normal human response to stress that can be called up when requested. During dissociation the mind is more easily able to examine its own beliefs and expectations objectively and 'getting distance' on your troubles appears to leave the mind open to change processes.

Hypnosis Technique 4 - Rehearsal

Rehearsal, also known as Future Pacing, involves the client testing their reaction to a particular situation that is causing them a problem by imagining themselves in that situation, and demonstrating the behavior needed to put them in charge of the situation. The therapist talks the client through the problem situation suggesting the outline of the behavior, letting the client fill in the details from their own resources.

The client can be asked to visualize it directly, or can be lead into a cave where they see their future self reflected in a pool of water, or they can be taken into a room where they see themselves in a giant video projected onto a wall, or they might meet a ghost or guru who leads them to some place where their future is shown on a cloud or actually witness themselves from a distance.

Hypnosis Technique 5 - Retrospective Preview

This is sometimes called 'pseudo orientation in time'. In this technique the client is asked to visualize themselves at some time in the future. The client is asked imagine how they would look, how they would sound, dress, act, etc., at a time when they have successfully solved their problem. The client is then asked to associate into that future person, to fully become that person, and to see through their eyes, hear through their ears and think the way they think. The client is then asked to observe their current self from that future vantage point and to 'remember' all the steps they took to get to to that future success.

Step outside yourself

This process has the advantage of changing the perceptual position, allowing the client to 'step out of' their current way of doing things, and to distance themselves from their present problems. By 'remembering' the steps needed the client is actually identifying the resources needed to complete the change successfully, in their own way and in their own words.

Hypnosis Technique 6 - Amnesia

Amnesia has two distinct meanings in hypnotherapy. One refers to the common experience of clients coming out of trance and saying that they remember little or nothing about the session.

The other meaning refers to the deliberate suggestion that the client can choose to forget something or alternatively to be selective in remembering. Amnesia is really about applied discrimination, choosing which things to pay attention to. If you don't notice something then you never memorize it, which is the same as forgetting it. The same logic applies to triggers. If the client can be persuaded not to notice a trigger then the associated memories are never brought out, which is equivalent to forgetting.

Hypnosis Technique 7 - Reframing

Reframing acknowledges the client's actions and feelings, but changes the meaning ascribed to them. The meaning you give to a situation depends on your world view, the assumptions you have about it. Few things are absolutely good or bad in life, and most things are subject to interpretation. Seeing failure to get the job you want as necessary feedback allows you to think about how to present your case better the next time, rather than wasting time in bitterness and blame. Taking a rainy day as an opportunity to spend more quality time indoors with the kids allows you to turn a disappointment into a benefit. Ideally, reframing takes a problem behavior and utilizes it as a positive behavior.

Hypnosis Technique 8 - Post Hypnotic Suggestion

To a certain extent, all effects of hypnosis are due to post hypnotic suggestion, but the term is reserved for suggested actions that will take place at a specific trigger some time after the hypnotic session is over. Post hypnotic suggestion can be used for fun, such as by suggesting that the number four will disappear for ten minutes after the session, but are usually used to trigger a different behavior in normally stressful situations.

Hypnosis Technique 9 - Regression

Regression is a normal process that everyone does. Whenever a stimulus causes you to call up a memory or to re-experience an old feeling you have experienced regression. Everyone is familiar with hearing an old song and being transported back in memory to when the song was first heard and recalling all the feelings, sights and sounds of that time.

Regression is experienced at different levels. Sometimes only an image of the memory is recalled, sometimes you can hear the actual words, sometimes the recall is so vivid that you feel yourself being there in the past, and totally forget about the present. Spontaneous regression can be unwanted and distressing, or may be nothing more than a daydream.

Hypnosis Technique 10 - Time distortion

The perception of time is largely subjective. A happy day can fly by, in the dentist's waiting room time can stop. Panic happens because we feel we do not have enough time, anxiety happens when we feel there is too much time for things to go wrong. During therapy, suggestions can stretch time or condense it.

Hypnosis Technique 11 - Sensory distortion

Sensory distortion occurs when a suggestion is made that the client will see, hear or feel something different from their normal experience.

Hypnotic Techniques are used in every hypnosis therapy session. Knowing these techniques is a necessary core skill set. Every suggestion needs to be aimed at creating one or more of these hypnosis experiences.