Characteristics of the hypnotic state

Here we shall discuss in more detail what happens during the induction and deepening procedures. In particular, we shall concentrate on the frame of mind being created and the bodily sensations likely to be experienced. We shall also consider the likelihood of falling into a natural sleep, the difficulty of holding thoughts, the sudden mental change that may be experienced and the cyclic nature of hypnosis. When discussing the characteristics of the hypnotic state it is useful to consider them under two headings: the objective and the subjective characteristics. For clinicians, it is the objective signs that are important since it is these that they can see and observe. The objective signs are important for heterohypnosis.  For anyone engaged in self-hypnosis, however, it is the subjective characteristics that are important. Since we are mostly concerned with self-hypnosis we shall not only consider the subjective characteristics first, but we shall also give these more attention than the objective ones. Even for the self-hypnotist, a discussion of the objective characteristics is still useful.

When discussing the subjective experiences of hypnosis, then by their very nature, they are particular to the person experiencing them. Two choices are open when faced with this difficulty. One possibility is that nothing is said and the self-hypnotist finds out for himself or herself what feelings and changes they experience. Alternatively, some common experiences can at least be highlighted and discussed. The second approach seems preferable because there are common experiences that the majority of people being hypnotized will encounter, whether by someone else or by oneself. The precise form and intensity will allay any additional worries the self-hypnotist may have. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

In the case of the objective characteristics it is what the clinician observes in the subject they are hypnotizing. Why these characteristics are important is because the clinician wants to know whether his client is in a state of hypnosis. But as Weitzenhoffer points out, the important question is not whether a hypnotist’s client is hypnotized but rather whether they are in a state that produces the effect they want. This is equally true of self-hypnosis. What matters most is whether you are in a state in which you can produce in yourself the changes you want to bring about.

Subjective characteristics of hypnosis

Feelings during induction and deepening

Hypnosis as a procedure reduces sensory information to the brain to an absolute minimum. In so doing, the brain, which never stops working, turns inwards to body sensations. These are normally present, but do not consciously enter awareness because they are ‘drowned’ by all the other sensory input – from sight, sounds, touch and smell. We have all had experience of this with respect to a pain. A pain seems to come and go in our conscious awareness. If something happens, or a film captures our interest that requires our attention, then the pain is temporarily not ‘felt’, but then, a short while later, our attention returns to the pain and the awareness of the pain returns. The point is that we are only consciously aware of the pain when we direct our attention towards it. How often does a mother exclaim, ‘Don’t think about it and the pain will go away’? There is an anecdotal story about a client of Erickson’s who suffered pain. He asked her to imagine a tiger under her bed and asked her what she felt at that moment. It certainly was not the pain! What these remarks illustrate is that our body sensations are generally not considered at the conscious level, because the brain is processing other information that occupies all of a person’s conscious awareness. Only when we relax and shut off outside stimuli is our attention turned inwards to such bodily sensations.

The first sensation to be experienced, therefore, is a slowing down. This arises from the fact that there is very little for the mind to concentrate on, except the suggestions – which are slow, repetitive and melodious. During the early stages of the induction, other thoughts begin to cross the mind, such as whether you have fed the cat, almost as if the mind just abhors having nothing to think about. Soon these ‘pressing’ thoughts become less and less as the mind quietens down. In fact, one objective of the induction is to reduce such extraneous thoughts as much as possible. One way to do this is to let them simply pass through the mind and, above all, pay them no attention. To consider that they are hindering your induction process is, in fact, to pay attention to them, and you can only do this by holding them in your consciousness. Pay them no attention and simply let them pass through your mind. The aim is to be purely passive. Soon your attention will rest wholly on your own suggestions.

The second sensation is that of relaxation and heaviness. This is the object of the induction and if it is working, then you should be feeling relaxed and, as you relax, a feeling of heaviness should develop. The induction routine (Inductions, script #1) is especially designed to enhance these feelings. As you move up your body, the part prior to the one you are presently concentrating on will relax even more. For instance, as you direct your attention away from your left leg to your right leg, the left leg well almost certainly relax even more than it already is. The principle of redirected attention is being utilized here. When you cannot get to sleep, the more you think about it, the more difficult it becomes. The point is that when your conscious thoughts are dealing with one thing, your unconscious can be dealing with the thing your really want. So when the conscious thoughts are attending to relaxing the right leg, the unconscious is relaxing even more the left leg. And so on up your body.

As your body relaxes and becomes limp, so you will not wish to move any of the muscles of your body. It is this that you should aim at achieving. You will find that it is very pleasant. To move your body will feel as if it is too much trouble, and totally unnecessary at that. Movement requires effort, and when in such a relaxed state the last thing you want to do is expend effort. If achieved properly, then doing some of the deepening exercises that involve moving specific parts of the body will not disturb the overall relaxation that has been achieved. Furthermore, if, after each exercise, you suggest to yourself that you are once again relaxed, then this is what you will be – almost immediately.

Once relaxation is achieved, if not before, you may experience a tingling sensation, especially in the legs and feet. The feet may even feel as if they are slight expanding. These reactions are quite normal and can give the feeling of vitality. This is almost certainly the case. At particular times, a person can either take in energy from the environment or can give up energy to the environment. When you relax you give your body an opportunity to draw this much-needed energy. When a person is ill or run-down they are asked to rest. Through rest and relaxation the body can restore its energy reserves. This tingling sensation is most conspicuous in the early stages of induction and seems to taper off as you establish some form of equilibrium. It must be emphasized, however, that not everyone experiences this tingling sensation. Even for individuals that do experience it, over many sessions it seems to disappear.

A most characteristic experience of relaxation and further deepening is the slowing down of the heartbeat and of breathing. The breathing especially becomes very mild and takes on a slow steady rhythm, sometimes imperceptible. Also the breathing comes from much lower in your lungs, just above your diaphragm, and not from the upper part of your chest. In other words, your breathing is much deeper and more natural. As you learn to relax, this feature is very soon established. It shows that the body is establishing its own natural rhythm, which it finds the best for relaxation and other body functions. It is very therapeutic and if you do not experience this change in breathing, it almost certainly means that you have not relaxed sufficiently.

One aspect of breathing is worth commenting on. When very relaxed, and breathing is slow and steady, you may experience, on occasions, an expelling of air, as if there was an air pocket. Put another way, you take a sudden deep breath. The feeling comes usually from the pit of your stomach. Some authors have commented on this phenomenon, but have not given any reason for it. However, it seems to me that this is highly significant. There is a view in physiology that tension that has not found any outlet is retained in the muscles of the body. The obvious case is the person who ‘bottles up his or her emotions’ and has stomach cramp or a peptic ulcer. Tense or anxious people have tense expressions because their muscles are tense. It is even argued that such tension simply accumulates, unless dispelled in some way. Now during hypnotic induction, as the body truly relaxes, these tensions are released. It is very probable that when these deep-seated tensions in the muscles are released some physiological change takes place, which has, as one of its features, an expulsion of air. This is one of the reasons why relaxation is so therapeutic.

The likelihood of entering natural sleep

It has probably crossed your mind that if you relax, as suggested, then you may fall into a natural sleep. This is possible, but rather unlikely – or at least does not happen each and every time you enter a state of hypnosis. The hypnotic state, although often referred to as ‘sleep’, is not like ordinary sleep at all. When a hypnotist says, “Relax and go to sleep” there is a mutual understanding that you are not expected to go into a natural sleep, but rather to go into a state of focussed relaxation. The word ‘sleep’ is useful because you already have an idea that sleep is associated with ‘letting go’ and relaxing, and this is the very feelings you want at the induction stage of hypnosis. This is why the word is so frequently used by hypnotists. Some hypnotists, however, dispense with the word altogether and merely suggest limpness and relaxation. The self-hypnotist can see how they react with and without the word ‘sleep’.

Why you are unlikely to go into a natural sleep is because hypnosis is an active state that is requiring your constant co-operation and participation. Natural sleep does not involve this degree of co-operation and participation. Of course, if you begin the induction when you are very sleepy or exhausted, then you might well fall into a natural sleep. In engaging in self-hypnosis there is the difficulty of distinguishing between a loss of consciousness and falling asleep. The two states are not the same. Although a loss of consciousness is easier in heterohypnosis, it can still occur in self-hypnosis. They occur as you deepen the state. If they do occur, you should not presume you have fallen asleep, rather you have shut down quite considerably your conscious mind. Even so, the periods are quite short and you will find that you ‘come up’ to consciousness but are still in a state of hypnosis.

So what would happen if you did become so relaxed and fell asleep? Well, you would simply respond as you always do when you fall asleep. In your own time, or when disturbed, you would awaken. You will no longer be in a hypnotic state and you will awaken in the same state as when you awaken from a natural sleep or falling asleep in front of the TV set.

A situation in which you are most likely to fall into a natural sleep when hypnotizing yourself is if you have taken ‘too much’ alcohol or some soporific drug, e.g., hay fever tablets. The relaxation plus the drug is likely to lead very quickly into a loss of concentration and into a natural state of sleep. Hypnosis, both self-hypnosis and heterohypnosis, is best undertaken with a clear head and no other stimulants. In fact, one of the main values of hypnosis is to deal with the very situation that may be leading you to take alcohol or tablets.

Difficulty in holding thoughts

The induction and deepening aims at reducing sensory input and at shutting down, to a large extent, the left brain – the conscious mind. As you become successful at this, what you may find is difficulty in remembering your own instructions or suggestions. You may simply forget where you are in the script. It is as if the conscious mind ‘blanks out’ for short periods. Rather than being alarmed at this, it is a sign of success. Simply ignore it and carry on, or go back and repeat your suggestions from approximately where you thought you stopped.

In heterohypnosis, this is most likely to happen. You do not have to do the double act you need to do with self-hypnosis, and so you can give in to the state and lose all consciousness. In self-hypnosis you must always preserve that small degree of consciousness in order to give yourself instructions. If, however, you use recorded tapes or CDs, then you may find loss of consciousness occurs more frequently because then, as in heterohypnosis, you can let go more completely.

Sudden mental changes

As the induction and deepening takes hold, you will find that you will accept further suggestions more readily. You may even get the feeling that there is nothing you would not do. Occasionally, however, another change occurs which, unlike the gradual realisation, is very sudden. With your concentration in the centre of your forehead between your eyebrows, on some occasions you will find a sudden change occurs in your mental outlook. The most obvious sensation is the absolute clarity of your thought processes. It is as if you have ‘jumped’ onto another plane of consciousness. When this happens, it is quite unmistakable because, qualitatively, it is so different from both your thoughts when awake and your thoughts during the early stages of induction and deepening. During this state, you are at your most responsive and so many important suggestions you wish to give yourself should be done when this occurs.

If you find that you have not achieved this state, one possible reason is that you have not included any long periods of silence when no suggestions at all are made. The ‘jump’ is most likely to occur during one of these periods.

The cyclic nature of the hypnotic state

The hypnotic state does not deepen gradually or continuously, nor does it necessarily level off at some lower limit, as draw in figure (a). It in fact cycles, with a downward trend, as illustrated in figure (b). This should come as no surprise. In large part the body is an electro-chemical apparatus. Even the mechanical aspects, like the heartbeat, behave in waves. This cyclic feature of hypnosis reveals the changing impulses in the brain. We now know, from research on altered states of consciousness, of the importance played by alpha waves, beta waves and theta waves. Of these three waves, the important one in hypnosis, as it is in meditation, is the alpha pattern. These occur as the mental processes are slowed down, as we have already talked about. The point being made here is that the hypnotic state varies in a wave pattern. You can recognize yourself that during one particular hypnotic session you are very deep indeed. During another session, however, you are sometimes very deep indeed while at other moments you feel as if you are about to awaken from the trance state. At the same time the deepening trend is also quite apparent.

Some authors argue that the depth that a person can reach is fairly fixed and cannot be exceeded, and shown by the dotted line in figure (a). There is no evidence for this and it can lead to a false expectation. It is a negative attitude that must be avoided at all costs. This is not to say that in any particular session there is no lower limit, or that over some consecutive sessions only a certain depth can be reached. But these should be thought of as ‘plateaux’, as illustrated in figure (c). We are familiar with such plateaux in many learning situations, e.g. in sport, learning to type or learning a hobby. Why should learning hypnosis be any different? It is my contention that there are plateaux and when these are reached a change in approach, or more ingenuity, is required in giving suggestions in order to break out of the plateau and onto the next phase. Inducing hypnosis is an art.

One typical plateau encountered is when you have doubts about whether you are, in fact, going deeper into trance. Such a negative thought is sure to hold up the deepening process. You should try to believe absolutely that continued deepening is always possible, that Samadhi is attainable, and that the only thing holding you back is knowing how to do it and finding the reason for the lack of progress.

The view that only a certain depth can be reached seems to arise from laboratory experiments on hypnosis. Valuable as these are, they very rarely consider the same individual over long periods of time (see Self-hypnosis: Beyond the Chicago Paradigm). My own work on myself has demonstrated the existence of plateaux, and I have no reason to believe that I am unique in this regard. It seems to me quite a natural feature of learning, and I remember it well in my younger days when I was learning to play table tennis, and most especially learning to fence. Research by psychologists into learning to type have shown the existence of such a plateau, and that a significant change in learning occurs when the typist progresses from a ‘letter habit’ to a ‘word habit’.

The message to be draw from these comments is not to be discouraged when you feel that some lower limit has been reached. This limit is not immutable; it is not an absolute limit. In all probability, it signifies that you have reached a plateau, and that a change in your approach is almost certainly called for if you wish to progress further. In this regard, the use of the imagination will play a vital role.

Detachment, dissociation and time distortion

As you go into a deep trance state you will often experience a feeling of detachment. As if you are hearing the world around you but it has no impact on you. The most notable non-reaction is to a loud noise. You hear it but you do not have the startle response so common when a loud noise is heard. Related to this is a feeling of dissociation. This more usually occurs in heterohypnosis. The hypnotist may say, “Your arm is getting light and is starting to rise” (see deepening script #12). The hypnotized person may not be aware their arm is rising even though it is. Their thoughts have become dissociated from their body. Body awareness varies during a particular hypnotic session and from one session to another. Sometimes you can become totally unaware of your limbs. In deep trance you can be almost pure thought with no sense of body whatsoever. You should not worry about this experience; on the contrary, it shows that you are in a deep trance state. Body awareness returns immediately when you awaken or when it is suggested in the trance state.

A common characteristic of hypnosis is time distortion. You may be in a trance for one hour but feel that it has only been ten minutes; or you have been in a trance for only ten minutes but it feels much longer. Time distortion also arises in the normal waking state. How often have you been waiting for a bus, thinking it has been at least ten minutes, but only two minutes have passed? Or been so absorbed in what you are doing that you have not noticed two hours have gone by. Because time distortion is a natural feature of our nervous system, and because it is a typical response in the hypnotic state, it can be utilized to great effect.

Objective characteristics of hypnosis

When considering objective signs of hypnosis, some can readily be observed in the subject while others need to be tested for to see if they are present.

Physical signs

During the induction phase of hypnosis a person can quite readily begin to blink, there can be a fluttering of the eyelids and the eyeballs may role up. As the trance state comes about blinking diminishes. A hypnotist will often utilize the blink by saying something like, “Yes, with each blink, your eyelids are becoming heavier and heavier”. The self-hypnotist can use the same utilization. When hypnotizing someone for the first (and possibly the second) time a subject may giggle. This is a sign of nerves. As rapport is established this tends to disappear. Giggling, however, is something we do more in company and is not likely to be experienced by a person engaging in self-hypnosis.

As the trance progresses, physical movements tend to become much less. This is truer with adults. Children may continue to fidget, but this should not be taken to mean they are not in a trance. What a hypnotist would be observing is a difference in their fidgeting. Very soon there is virtually no voluntary movement on the part of the subject. It is as if they become totally immobile, unless instructed to do some movement. When engaging in self-hypnosis you will become aware of this on occasions. The most conspicuous is when your head drops forward or, most especially, to one side. The head is a very heavy object, and will tend to take on one of these positions. If it falls to one side, it will pull on the neck muscles. This can be quite uncomfortable, yet the hypnotized subject does not move the head. You will be aware of this reluctance to move the head even though the neck muscles may be uncomfortable. The reason is that movement requires effort, and when in a trance state the individual is reducing effort to a minimum. If this should happen, and you become aware of a strain on your neck, simply suggest to yourself that you make yourself comfortable.

Keeping effort to a minimum also explains another feature sometimes observed in hypnotic subjects, and that is retaining posture for long periods of time. For instance, a hypnotist may use arm levitation (see deepening script #12) and once the hand touches the cheek, the person may simply leave it there unless it is suggested otherwise. In self-hypnosis you can become aware of this same phenomenon.

Once a person is in trance, if a hypnotist asks them to open their eyes but to remain in trance, they will do so but have a fixed stare. They blink very little, look straight ahead as if looking into the infinite distance and give the impression they are not listening to you when they are in fact very focussed on your words. A hypnotist can also notice that the pupils will be dilated. When engaging in self-hypnosis you can be aware of these characteristics. If you suggest you will open your eyes, you will be aware of having a fixed gaze and blinking very little. If you want to actually see what this looks like, suggest that you do this in front of a mirror.

There is nothing intrinsically useful about physical immobility, the trance stare and dilation of the pupils. All they provide is objective signs that a person is in a trance state. They are characteristic of the trance state and not of a person in a normal state of consciousness. They provide the hypnotist with reassurance and feedback that their induction and deepening process is truly creating a state of hypnosis. Where these are observed or sensed in self-hypnosis, they too provide feedback and a belief in the trance state.

Trance logic and other verbal cues

Trance logic and literalness are characteristic of the trance state but a hypnotist only becomes aware of these when engaging the subject in dialogue. In normal waking consciousness, if you ask someone whether they are comfortable, they may respond, “Yes, I find this chair most comfortable. It is softer than the one I have at home.” If you ask a person in hypnosis whether they are comfortable, you are likely to get the reply, “Yes” with absolutely no elaboration. Replies to questions tend to be direct and brief. Questions are treated in a literal fashion and answered accordingly. But the most characteristic feature of trance logic is not being concerned about logical inconsistencies. A hypnotist may suggest to a subject that they are sitting in a chair opposite, and that they then transport a part of themselves to their living room and are sitting in a chair watching television. This dissociation  is commonly used in hypnotherapy. Now the person knows that they cannot be in three places at the same time, and yet in a trance this inconsistency is totally ignored. The same is true if the subject is asked to hallucinate a flower or other person. The hypnotist may suggest to a subject that they see their mother in a chair opposite and that they engage them in conversation. The hypnotized person may ‘see’ their mother. Of course, she is not there and at one level the hypnotized subject knows that she is not there. If they hallucinate a flower, it does not seem illogical that the flower is growing in the room. But given that they are complying with the suggestions of the hypnotist, they create what is suggested and do not concern themselves with the logical inconsistency that may be present.

What is important for the self-hypnotist is knowing that such trance logic exists and that accepting logical inconsistency is a common characteristic of hypnosis. In fact, not only is it a common characteristic but a necessary one in utilizing a number of hypnotic techniques.

Increased rapport, hypersuggestibility and amnesia

With successive sessions of hypnosis rapport tends to increase. This is not surprising. Both hypnotist and subject become more acquainted with each other, expectations are more clearly defined and if the hypnotist is doing his or her job properly, then they will be gaining the confidence of their subject. We discussed rapport 'hypnotizability' and it was highlighted there that it is possible for an individual who engages in self-hypnosis to increase rapport with themselves.

In addition, as the trance state deepens, which it tends to do over more than one session, the individual being hypnotized tends to become more suggestible. It is difficult to establish how much of this naturally occurs and how much is in response to suggestion. It is quite common during induction and deepening for the hypnotist to use phrases such as, “And you will find it easier and easier to follow all of my suggestions” or “Each suggestion will be easier than the one before”. Of course, there is nothing stopping the self-hypnotist from using similar phrases. “I will find each suggestion becomes easier and easier”; “I will find each suggestion easier to follow than the one before” and “I will become more and more responsive to my suggestions”.

Forgetting things is something most of us do to varying degrees. It is not uncommon to go upstairs to get something and then on arriving forget what it is you have gone for. Occasionally one finds going to a cash dispenser only to find that you have forgotten your pin number, or at least the exact order of the numbers. The most common thing we forget is our dreams. We awaken with a dream in our head and say to ourselves that was an important dream and I must remember it; and then in about two minutes it has all but gone from your memory. As a person shuts down their consciousness when going into trance, then the less they tend to recall of the trance experience. Somnambulism is partly defined as someone who has amnesia. Many people recall everything that occurs in their trance state. Even those who do have amnesia for part of the session, it can be argued that what they are responding to is the implicit association with sleep, and what happens in sleep is not recalled in everyday consciousness.

The self-hypnotist should not allow themselves to get hung up on the ability or otherwise to have amnesia. It is not important for the uses of self-hypnosis we shall discuss in part IV. The importance of amnesia lies with the research worker who uses it as a defining characteristic of deep hypnosis. As a self-hypnotist, and if you use a tape or CD for your own instructions, then you may find amnesia occurs for much the session. Whether it does or whether it does not is not important.

Other signs

When individuals go into a trance they tend to lose motor control. This not only applies to the limbs but also to speech. Subjects speak quieter and they also find it difficult to speak, where they often have long pauses when replying to a hypnotist’s questions. For this reason we also observe a lack of spontaneity in the hypnotized person. Probably linked to this is the observation that the hypnotized person lacks a sense of humour. Responses are matter of fact, and generally do not give rise to smiles or laughter unless these are part of the response. The hypnotized subject responds but does not initiate action. For this reason the hypnotized person often looks as if he or she is an automaton. To some extent these are expectations, both on the part of the hypnotist and on the part of the subject. It is what a hypnotized person is expected to do. As such, suggestions can be given to be spontaneous and to initiate action. It can be suggested to them that what they hear next will be the funniest thing that they have ever heard. Something totally innocent is then said, and the individual goes into fits of laughter. If the subject is truly hypnotized and responding to suggestions, then they can be directed to respond spontaneously and to initiate action and, as just described, they can have a sense of humour.

For the self-hypnotist these are not important other than being aware that you may experience them even in self-hypnosis. What is important is that you can create any response by mere suggestion. If you feel your body is limp and lacks motor control, and assuming you want motor control, then simply suggest to yourself that you have it. If you are speaking in your trance state and it is slow and sluggish, simply suggest to yourself that you will speak normally and clearly. If you do have a tendency to forget what transpired in the trance state, then simply suggest to yourself that you will recall everything.

A common misconception about hypnosis is that the subject is under the spell of the hypnotist (see fallacies). Part of the reason for this belief is the compulsive behaviour one observes on the part of the hypnotized person. It is as if they must do what the hypnotist tells them to do. There is no doubt that when in a trance some suggestions can have a compelling need to be carried out, as if resistance if futile. It is this feature of hypnosis that leads to great concern about its moral use. However, for the self-hypnotist there will be occasions when such a compulsive response is very noticeable, even to his or her own suggestions! Such compulsions do not occur throughout the whole trance state, and therefore not to every suggestion given. Its intensity varies from one trance state to the next. What is most important for the self-hypnotist is to recognize when this happens (which is quite easy) and to utilize the moment for the very suggestions you want to bring about.

Resistance and how to handle it

Some people want to be hypnotized and so fully co-operate but fail to go into a trance. The point is that they consciously want and do co-operate but unconsciously do not want to go into hypnosis and so do not co-operate at the unconscious level. There are many reasons for this and most are to do with the concern about loss of control. Such unconscious resistance can be overcome to some extent by allaying an individual’s worries and concerns about being hypnotized. We dealt with these on the fallacies web page. In heterohypnosis and when a person sees a hypnotist to overcome some problem, resistance to the hypnotic state at the unconscious level may result because the person concerned does not want a solution to their problem. In other words, the problem serves some purpose and so that purpose will not be served if the problem is corrected. Therefore unconsciously the individual prevents this happening by not entering trance in the first place. On other occasions a person enters a trance, and then part way through opens their eyes and professes that they are not in a trance. They invariably are.  How do we know this? A person who is consciously co-operating and wants at the conscious level to go into a trance would not say that they are not hypnotized – at least not during the process, although they may say so once it has been concluded. Another variant on this is someone who insists that they were not hypnotized when they clearly were. In this case the statement is revealing an unconscious resistance to the hypnotic state.

One important reason why a person may not enter hypnosis when they especially want to is because they are trying too hard. This occurs both in heterohypnosis and self-hypnosis. It is in trying too hard that conscious interference occurs in the induction process. Rather than letting things happen, which is the ideal state for entering hypnosis, the person is trying to go into a trance: trying too hard to follow the suggestions of the hypnotist. All the person is doing is keeping their conscious mind active, which is not conducive to hypnosis. Whether in heterohypnosis or self-hypnosis, this must be avoided at all costs. Simply have an attitude of indifference, and simply let things happen. Be neither concerned about going into a trance nor concerned about not going into a trance.

In most cases, however, the resistance is related to the problem an individual has. In heterohypnosis the reason for this can be explored. This is not so easy in self-hypnosis, but not impossible. The application of ideomotor signalling allows the self-hypnotist to have a dialogue with their unconscious.

So long as an individual is willing to be hypnotized, if they do not go into hypnosis on the first attempt or with the standard induction (e.g. inductions  #1) then it is necessary to try a variety of induction techniques until a suitable one is found. This is the reason why we considered so many alternative induction routines. Even for the self-hypnotist this may become necessary. However, some techniques are not suitable for self-hypnosis. One procedure used by Ericksonian hypnotherapists is the confusion technique. The hypnotist gives a series of confusing and possibly contradictory statements.

You may want to go into hypnosis, then again you may not, you may want to on Tuesday, which is two days before next Thursday and one day after the day before yesterday. Then again, you might like to go into trance on two days before next Wednesday and one week after the last full moon. Etc.

The subject is using all of his or her faculties trying to make sense of what is being said. When the hypnotist considers the subject sufficiently confused, and so off-guard, they are then given a clear direct suggestion “And so now you can go into a nice deep, deep trance state” or some such phrase. Because the statement is clear and not at all confusing, the mind latches onto it. It is as if the mind wants something that it can understand rather than all these confusing statements that it has been hearing. However, it is simply not possible to use this technique on yourself. Even if you try using it on a tape or CD you would be aware of what is taking place and so it would lose its force. Like so many Ericksonian techniques, they do not lend themselves very well to self-hypnosis.

Luckily, for the person truly interested in learning self-hypnosis such resistance is less common than in the hypnotist-client relationship.