Forms of indirect suggestion. Types of indirect suggestion

3.12. Trans therapist

In order to do good work, the therapist himself must go into trance—the therapist's trance. The therapist's trance is significantly different from the client's trance. Previously, trance was defined as an internal focus of attention, but the therapist's attention is focused on the client, he must carefully observe what is happening to him, note and ratify the minimal signs of trance, and note emotional reactions.

The therapist cannot allow himself to relax and completely “float away” into his trance, for him this is a job, and he must do his job well, be active in this work,

And finally, the therapist cannot completely “turn off” consciousness; he must think, analyze, control what he says and what he does.

Thus, the trans therapist is
- externally oriented,
- active,
- controlled trance.

It is advisable to practice this type of trance with the help of special exercises.

Chapter 4. Suggestions

Andre Weitzenhoffer defines suggestion as follows: “Suggestion is an appeal that causes involuntary and often unconscious reactions.” It is the involuntary response that distinguishes suggestion from other appeals - orders, demands, requests, instructions - the implementation of which presupposes conscious cooperation. An involuntary reaction can be conscious, but remain involuntary. Thus, the hand can move on its own (finger ideomotor signaling, levitation of the hand), and the person is aware of this movement without controlling it.

We must understand well that any suggestion may or may not be accepted. When a suggestion is not accepted, it does not work. When the suggestion is accepted, the effect is the same as if the person made it to himself. Therefore, Daniel Araoz believes that any accepted suggestion can ultimately be considered as self-hypnosis.

A person is inclined to accept meaningful and pleasant suggestions and reject meaningless and unpleasant ones. Therefore, we must try to formulate suggestions in such a way that they are pleasant and meaningful for the client.

All suggestions are divided into three types:
- straight,
- indirect and
- open.

Direct suggestions are divided into three subgroups:
- obvious straight lines,
- straight camouflaged and
- post-hypnotic.

Explicit direct suggestions are commonly used in traditional hypnosis. An explicit direct suggestion directly states what is to happen. For example:

“I will count from one to five and you will go into a deep trance.”

“From now on, you will be comfortable entering tight, enclosed spaces.”

“You will forget everything that was said in hypnosis,” etc.

This is how they worked at the beginning of the last century. There are people who still work this way. But Erickson's work had a huge impact on modern hypnosis. Even hypnotherapists who do not consider themselves Ericksonians mostly practice so-called semi-traditional hypnosis - quite soft, with a large number of indirect suggestions.

There are a number of problems associated with explicit direct suggestion.

First, if explicit direct suggestion is not implemented, the client is left with a feeling of failure and disappointment. Hypnosis is often used as a last resort, and if the suggestion is not implemented, the feeling may arise: “Well, hypnosis didn’t help.”

Secondly, explicit direct suggestion may require a change for which the person is not yet ready. “From now on, you will no longer be afraid of public speaking.”- and he is still afraid. Everyone changes when and to the extent that he is ready to change.

Third, explicit direct suggestion assumes that the therapist knows exactly what is good for the other person ( “I’ll count from one to five, and it will be like this.”). However, this is a rather dubious statement.

This is not least due to the cultural and historical context. In an authoritarian society, authoritarian hypnosis is quite effective. The more democratic a society is, the more it respects human rights, the more resistance authoritarian hypnosis causes.

The famous Ericksonian hypnotherapist, Milton Erickson's student Jeffrey Zeig, says: “I start working directly, and only when this doesn’t work do I move on to indirect methods.”

On the one hand, if the therapist began to work directly and it worked, there really is no need for indirect techniques.

On the other hand, if the therapist began to work directly and it did not work, he created a problem for himself; caused resistance, with which we now have to do something. It is better to start working indirectly, and only when the type of person’s reactions to the therapist in general and to his suggestions in particular is known, can you sometimes afford to use direct methods.

Milton Erickson said that he uses direct suggestion, even in an authoritarian manner, with insecure patients who seem to be asking for such treatment.

Jean Gaudin defines direct camouflaged suggestion as follows: “To the extent that the patient is not told directly that he will not suffer any more, we can speak of direct camouflaged suggestion.”

J. Becchio and C. Jouslin define it this way: “Something is offered openly, but at the same time it is camouflaged, since part of it comes from the patient himself. This is a direct suggestion that addresses the sensations that the patient experiences. It creates less resistance, makes it easier to learn trance and trigger unconscious processes.”

In this type of suggestion, “straightforwardness” is camouflaged, that is, disguised. “Now the pain will disappear”- this is an obvious direct suggestion. It states directly what needs to happen. If you accompany a person in a pleasant memory, offer to find pleasant sensations and say: “After some time, these pleasant sensations will replace other sensations” - this is a direct camouflaged suggestion. It's still straight- it directly states what should happen.

But if in the case of an obvious direct suggestion, the pain should disappear precisely because of the therapist’s suggestion, that is, in order for it to disappear, you actually need to obey the suggestion, then the direct camouflaged suggestion is addressed to the person’s own feelings, which he himself produced. In this form, the suggestion is easier to accept and causes less resistance.

A post-hypnotic suggestion is a suggestion that is given during hypnosis and carried out later, after hypnosis. Milton Erickson showed that in order to carry out a post-hypnotic suggestion, a person spontaneously enters a trance; thus it is still performed in trance.

Traditional hypnosis used post-hypnotic suggestions of approximately the following type: “When you wake up from hypnosis, you will do this.”

In Ericksonian hypnosis, post-hypnotic suggestions of the following type are usually used:

“In the near future, your unconscious will find and activate the resources you need to solve your problem.”

The instructions for self-hypnosis are a post-hypnotic suggestion: “It will be easy for you to independently enter this pleasant and comfortable state. To do this, it will be enough to sit down, close your eyes, remember how you sat next to me, remember the words with which I addressed you, remember the images and sensations that came, and you will easily and quickly enter this pleasant state.” This instruction is given during hypnosis and is carried out after hypnosis.

The suggestion we usually end our sessions with is a typical post-hypnotic suggestion:

“This work can continue beyond this session... at night while you sleep... during the day while you go about your daily activities... hours, days, perhaps longer... for as long as necessary...”

The prescriptions Milton Erickson gave to his patients were sometimes unusual. Suffice it to remember that the book after which Erickson “woke up famous” was called “Extraordinary Psychotherapy.” When Erickson's children asked him: “Dad, why do your patients follow your stupid orders? There's no way we would," Erickson replied, "Because I talk confidently, I look confident, I act confident, and it doesn't occur to them that they might fail." To this it would be worth adding that he gave them as post-hypnotic suggestions.

You can give the so-called post-hypnotic suggestion for reinduction. After the therapist has given the client hand catalepsy once (see “Hand Catalepsy”), it can be used for re-induction, that is, re-inducing trance. This will work even better if, while doing catalepsy, you simultaneously give a post-hypnotic suggestion: “Every time I raise your hand like this, you will easily and quickly enter a trance.”

However, there are nuances here. Practicing Ericksonian hypnosis teaches you to carefully control your speech and monitor the meanings that are transmitted at different levels. It was said above that a person is inclined to accept suggestions that are meaningful and pleasant for himself. Let's also add: and safe. In this formulation, the suggestion may not be accepted because it may be perceived as potentially dangerous. If the therapist raises his hand somewhere in an inappropriate situation - for example, at a party, in a theater, on the street - will he have to go into a trance? To ensure that a suggestion is accepted, it is better to define the context in which it will operate, for example:

“Every time I raise your hand like this, you will easily and quickly enter a trance, and it will only work when it is necessary for you.”

Or: “Every time I raise your hand like this, you will easily and quickly enter a trance, and this will only work during our sessions.”

Or: “Every time I raise your hand like this, you will easily and quickly enter a trance, and it will only work in this office.”

But with this wording, if the session takes place in another place, it will not work.

For post-hypnotic suggestion for reinduction, any easy-to-use signal is suitable, for example: “Every time I touch your wrist like this, you will go into a trance.”

In order for the post-hypnotic suggestion to be accepted and work, you can obtain the client’s consent, for example:

“Every time I raise your hand like this, you will easily and quickly enter a trance, and it will only work when it is necessary for you. Is this right for you?

"Will you do it?"

An affirmative nod of the head or movement of a finger - “yes.”

The suggestion has been accepted by the client and will be carried out.

Practitioners of Ericksonian hypnosis often neglect post-hypnotic suggestion, since it is, by definition, direct. When used appropriately, posthypnotic suggestion is a very effective tool.

Indirect suggestions as such were not invented by Erickson. Another classic of hypnosis, Berngenm, wrote about indirect suggestions. However, Erickson developed and perfected many types of indirect suggestions.

Due to the limitations imposed by consciousness (“I can’t do this,” “I can’t do this”), a person sometimes does not accept those ideas that can help him solve his problem. Indirect suggestion allows you to offer a person a certain idea, bypassing conscious control, to lead him in a direction that he usually avoids. As a result, ideodynamic mechanisms are launched, and when a person realizes that something has already happened “by itself,” he has already taken a step or two in the direction that he considered impossible for himself. Well, then, as Erickson said, change works according to the snowball mechanism.

We must remember that no suggestion gives a 100% guarantee that it will be accepted. Any suggestion can be rejected. Direct suggestion is easy to reject on a conscious level because it is obvious. Indirect suggestion is carried out bypassing conscious control, but it can also be rejected at the unconscious level.

Let's consider the types of indirect suggestions.

This type of indirect suggestion consists in the fact that a person is told several true statements that cannot be rejected, interconnected by unions, and then he is told what they want to suggest.

In English, this type of suggestion is called “yes set”, which can be translated as “a set of “yes””, or can be translated as “setting to “yes””. The second option indicates the psychological mechanism by which this suggestion works. When a person is offered several statements to which he will inevitably answer “yes,” he develops an internal attitude toward agreement. The installation has a certain inertia and cannot be changed instantly. Therefore, the chances are high that the suggestion will be accepted, that the person will also internally answer “yes” to it.

Let's look at an example of trance induction:

“You can hear the sounds that surround us... and you can feel the contact of your body with the chair... the seat that supports you... with the backrest... and you can feel how the clothes fit your body... and you can feel your breath... And in a few moments I will ask you to go in search of a pleasant memory..."

This induction uses the acceptance sequence. The client internally monitors the therapist’s words and cannot but agree with them:

"You can hear the sounds that surround us..."

"Yes I can".

“You can feel your body making contact with the chair...”

"Yes I can".

“You can feel how the clothes fit against your body...”

"Yes I can".

"And you can feel your breath..."

"Yes I can".

“And in a few moments I will ask you to go in search of a pleasant memory...”

The next type of indirect suggestion is implication. Translated into Russian - “implying”.

The essence of the implication is that what they want to suggest is mentioned as something self-evident, not subject to doubt or discussion.

“Once you understand how implication works, your job will be much easier.”

This phrase contains an implication - an indirect suggestion. Attention shifts to the second part - “it will be easier to work”, and the message comes through more easily: “You will understand how implication works.” Notice what is said Not « If you will understand..." and " When you will understand,” that is, what you will understand is beyond any doubt.

“When we meet next week, you will see...”— the meeting will take place next week.

"Don't try to relax... now"(that is, relax when “now” passes).

“How deep would you like to go into trance?” It doesn't matter what the person answers. Whatever he answers, he accepts the fact that he will go into a trance. (The answer “Yes, I don’t want to go into any kind of trance!” means that the suggestion is not accepted. Any suggestion, both direct and indirect, can be accepted or not accepted).

The most famous implication belongs to Carlson, who lives on the roof. He asks the housekeeper, Mrs. Frekenbock: “Answer honestly, quickly, without hesitation. Have you already stopped drinking cognac in the morning, yes or no?” No matter how she answered, the fact that she drank cognac in the morning is beyond doubt.

Excerpt from Erickson's guidance:

Erickson: When do you think your eyes will close?
Client: I don't know.
Erickson: Before or after your hand touches your face?

There are two implications here: the eyes will close, the hand will touch the face.

When Erickson's daughter visited the orthodontist, Erickson exclaimed: "This is terrible, what a terrible thing you have in your mouth, it will even take you some time to get used to it."

Technically, Erickson did two things. First of all, I joined and adjusted. When Erickson says, “What a terrible thing you have in your mouth,” he is showing the child that he understands how she feels and shares her feelings.

Secondly, implication. “It will even take you some time to get used to it” means: “You will get used to it.”

Erickson holds the record for the shortest psychotherapy session in the world. A teenager with deviant behavior was brought to him, he looked at him and said: “I don’t know how your behavior will change.” This is the implication - behavior will change. And it changed.

Implications can be used to induce hypnotic responses. For example:

“I don’t know in which hand the feeling of lightness may begin to arise - in the left or in the right...”(The implication is that there will be a feeling of lightness in the hand; a hypnotic phenomenon is caused - levitation of the hand).

M. Erickson and E. Rossi identify the so-called implied reference.

An implied statement consists of three standard parts:

1) introduction related to time;
2) an implied reference to something that is happening inside the client;
3) a behavioral response signaling that the implied instruction has been carried out.

General form of implied statement:

“When such and such comes true, such and such will happen.”

“When your unconscious finds and activates the resources necessary to solve a problem, the index finger of your right hand will let you know.”, where the first part is an introduction related to time - “When”.

The second part, an implied reference to something that is happening inside the client, is “your unconscious will find and activate the resources necessary to solve the problem.”

The third part, a behavioral response that signals that the implied instruction has been carried out - “the index finger of the right hand will indicate this.”

A behavioral response is needed because the therapist cannot know whether what he suggests actually happened. This is an externally observable signal that tells him that this really happened. Anything can be used as a behavioral response: moving a finger, raising a hand, lowering a hand, closing the eyes, opening the eyes, etc.

In the above session ending (see "Bringing Out of Trance") an implied instruction was used; here are all three parts:

“I am some part of this work that must be done right here and now... and when this part of the work is done, the unconscious will allow you to take a deep breath, stretch slightly and open your eyes, and return to your normal state... »

A question is rarely recognized as a suggestion - people are accustomed to asking each other a huge number of questions. E. Rossi considers the question a form of suggestion, “guaranteed against failure.” Indeed, if the therapist suggests some phenomenon ( “Now a feeling of lightness will begin to arise in one of your hands...”) and the phenomenon does not occur, the therapist puts himself in a difficult position from which he must extricate himself. If this suggestion is made in the form of a question ( “Will one of your hands begin to feel light?”), then if the phenomenon occurs, good, the therapist said so. If it doesn’t come, it’s okay, the therapist just asked...

Stephen Gilligan offers the following classification of questions (mostly S. Gilligan's examples are retained).

Focusing Questions

Used to capture attention during naturalistic (conversational) guidance. S. Gilligan recommends starting with generally accepted social issues:

How is the weather?
Did you get here easily?
Are you comfortable?

and then move on to questions regarding neutral external stimuli (actually fixation of attention):

How do you like this watch?
What do you think of my bookcase?
Where did you buy this beautiful suit?

Questions that open memory access

“Questions that open access to memory” in S. Gilligan’s classification are actually questions that trigger an internal search.

This group of questions is divided into subgroups:

A. Questions Concerning Trance-Related Experiences

How do you feel when you truly relax? Can you remember such a moment?
Can you remember a moment when you felt completely safe?
Can you remember how you feel when you take a warm shower or bath after a tiring day?

B. Questions Relating to Everyday Experiences of Trance Phenomena

For example, when a therapist is about to induce age regression, he may ask the following questions:

Did you have any nickname as a child?
Where did you grow up?
How many rooms were in your apartment?
Can you remember what your mother's voice sounded like when she praised you?

B. Questions Relating to Previous Trance Experience

When have you experienced the deepest trance in your life?
How do you know when you are starting to go into trance?
Can you remember the last time you went into a trance?

D. Questions related to the supposed experience of trance (if there was no such experience):

What do you think it would be like if you went into a light trance?
Can you describe any changes you might experience when going into a light trance?

Rhetorical questions

These questions are used to deepen the trance; they are asked when the client’s eyes are already closed and he is no longer talking.

I wonder how deep you will go into trance?
I wonder how much you will allow yourself to relax?
I wonder how your unconscious will manifest itself?
Is it true, you will dive in, you can dive in, you want to dive in, are you already diving even deeper?
Will it happen, and why not, why not happen right now?
What natural pair does waking life have? They say that a dream...
What natural pair does the rigid rational state have?
They say that trans...

Ambiguous questions

These questions allow you to adapt to both sides of the personality - both the one that wants to go into trance (“cooperation”) and the one that does not want this (“resistance”). These questions are constructed using the expressions “isn’t it?”, “really?”, “right?”, “isn’t it?”

And you would really like to go into trance, wouldn't you?
And you probably can't feel comfortable enough, or can you?
And it really is very nice to relax, isn’t it?

Hidden questions

These are statements that implicitly contain a question. There is no question mark at the end, but a person perceives them as a question.

And I'm interested to know how easily you will begin to fall into trance.
And I'm curious to know what you would like to do now.

Prompting Questions

These questions are actually guidelines. But due to the fact that they are given in the form of a question, they are accepted much easier and do not cause resistance.

Can you place your hands on your knees and place your feet on the floor?
Won't you sit down more comfortably?
Can you sit like this? (show how).

With the help of questions you can do almost anything, for example, you can induce a trance solely with questions. As an example, consider the guidance given by M. Erickson and E. Rossi.

Guiding gaze fixation using questions (M. Erickson, E. Rossi)

1. Can you find a point that is comfortable to look at?
2. When you continue to look at this point, do your eyelids want to blink?
3. Will the eyes blink together or separately?
4. Slow or fast?
5. Will they close immediately or after a while?
6. Will your eyes close more and more as you become more comfortable?
7. Now can your eyes remain closed as your comfort increases, as if you are falling asleep?
8. Can this comfort grow more and more, so that you don’t even want to try to open your eyes?
9. Or will you try and find that you can't?
10. And how soon will you forget about them because your unconscious wants to dream?

This guidance uses the same principle as when setting up finger ideomotor signaling.

When signaling, a voluntary response is first requested. Then the therapist gradually “slides” to the request for an involuntary response, introducing and increasing the moment of involuntariness and dissociation (the finger dissociates) and ends with the request for an involuntary response (“the finger will let you know”). The same thing is done here.

“Can you find a point that you feel comfortable looking at?” A voluntary response is requested from an active, awake subject.

“When you continue to look at this point, do your eyelids want to blink?” A moment of involuntariness is introduced - “the eyelids want to blink.”

“Will the eyes blink together or separately?” The moment of involuntariness intensifies, in addition, confusion is added (see “Confusion”),

They suggest something to a person, asking him not to do it.

"Don't think about the white monkey right now."
"You don't need to relax."

To make the suggestion even stronger, you can add an implication:
"You don't need to relax... now."

This type of suggestion is increasingly used in advertising: “You don’t want to try this piece of herring... You don’t have the slightest desire to put it in your mouth and enjoy its taste...”

A distinction should be made between a simple “bundle” and a “double bind”.

"Bundle" is an offer of illusory choice; it is a choice without choice, both parts of which are addressed to conscious behavior.

“Will you fix the outlet now or after you clean the carpet?” This is a link, both of its parts are addressed to conscious behavior.

The “double bind” (the full name is the “conscious-unconscious double bind”) is a message that the client receives consciously, but which initiates unconscious processes. The “double bind” is a choice without choice addressed to unconscious behavior.

“I don’t know whether the feeling of lightness will appear in the right or left hand.” The appearance of lightness is a trance phenomenon, an involuntary behavior.

We often hear that the double bind does not work. The fact is that this type of indirect suggestion is easily “read” at the level of consciousness. Erickson says that in this case the therapeutic meta-frame, the general therapeutic context, comes to the rescue. A therapeutic situation is a situation in which one seeks help, and the other provides this help - and both know it. In this situation, the suggestion is accepted because the person knows that what is happening is for his benefit.

The French call this type of suggestion “intercontextual” (Intercontextuel). In English it is called “embedded suggestion”. To avoid confusion with the “built-in metaphor” (see “Amnesia”), we preferred to use the term “contextual suggestion” in the Russian version, which adequately reflects the psychological mechanism used in this type of suggestion. In translations from English, you may also encounter the expression “scattering technique” or “powdering technique.”

The technique is to turn a word into a suggestion by taking it out of context, slightly changing the tone of voice or the direction of the voice. Need to highlight
without attracting attention, highlight it so that the consciousness does not notice it. In written texts, contextual suggestion is usually shown in bold.

For example: "And in a few moments I will ask you to go in search of have a nice memories... That is, a moment in your life when you felt good... calm... comfortable... And when is it pleasant the memory will come... you will nod your head to let me know about it..."

This is a typical example of a so-called two-level language. At one level there is accompaniment in a pleasant memory, and at another level the unconscious systematically receives messages: “good”, “calm”, “pleasant”, “comfortable”... ideodynamic mechanisms are triggered, and the internal state begins to gradually change.

Let's give a few more examples.

“Many animals are remarkably capable relax».
“A person often does not notice that he goes into a trance».
“It's nice to know that there is a part of yourself that can work on its own, and let her do the work for you».
“There are places where sensations come naturally relaxation and comfort».

A wonderful example of M. Erickson’s use of this technique is the story about the tomato, which has long become a classic and wanders from book to book and from article to article. Nevertheless, we present it for completeness.

In the town where Milton Erickson lived, there was a man named Joe. He was a florist, grew flowers for sale and was a well-known person in the city. And then he got cancer. The disease was fatal, he was in the hospital and received large doses of morphine to relieve pain. Therefore, he was in a semi-fainting, narcotic state. And since this was the city in which Erickson lived, there was not a single doctor or trainee left in the hospital who would not try hypnosis on poor Joe - and all to no avail. Joe could no longer hear the word “hypnosis” without shuddering. And so he was discharged from the hospital and sent home to die. His wife decided to call Dr. Erickson. Erickson arrived, sat down next to Joe and began to talk. This is what he told him:

“Joe, I would like to talk to you. I know you're a florist, you grow flowers, and I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and have always loved growing flowers. I still love it. So I would like you to sit down in this cozy chair and let's talk. I want to tell you a lot, but it won’t be about flowers, because you know more about flowers than I do. This is not what you need. Now I'll talk, talk calmly and I want you too calmly listened to me. I will talk about a plant - a tomato. Quite a strange topic for conversation. You have become curious. Why about a tomato? That's why. You plant a tomato seed in the ground. You expectantly that it will grow into a whole plant, the fruits of which will give you pleasure. The seed absorbs water, this is for him easily because the rains are coming peace and quiet and help flowers and tomatoes grow. This little seed, Joe, swells a little, then puts out a little root covered with root hairs. You may not know what root hairs are, but these are... something that helps a tomato seed to grow, break out of the ground and turn into a sprout, and you can just listen to me, Joe, I will continue to talk, and you can just listen further, and you will be interested, just wondering what you can actually find out. .."

At that moment, Joe's wife came up with a note: “Dr. Erickson, when will you finally start hypnotizing my husband?” and saw that her husband was sitting motionless, that he did not see her, his eyes were unfocused and he was looking into the distance, that is, he was in a deep trance.

If you read separately those words that are highlighted contextually, that is, the message that the unconscious receives, you get the following: “This is not what you need, calm, calm, curious, expectant, will give you pleasure, peace and quiet, the kind of thing that helps, and you can just listen to me, Joe, and you can just listen on, and you'll be interested, just wondering what you can actually find out..."

As a result, it was possible to significantly reduce the dose of morphine that Joe received, and he spent the last two months of his life in a clear consciousness with his family, and then, naturally, he died. The fact that a person was able to spend his last days with dignity is considered a therapeutic success, and it is also important to know that there are different successes.

Two sentences (or more) are connected by conjunctions and mutually reinforce each other; however, there may be no logical connection between them.

“You sit next to me, and you hear my voice, and various thoughts and images may come, while you go deeper and deeper into a trance...”

Erickson and Rossi give the following classification of compound suggestions:
a) sequence of acceptance and reinforcement;
b) contingent (continuous);
c) superposition of opposites;
d) denial;
e) shock, surprise, creative moments.

A. Sequence of acceptance and reinforcement

The sequence of acceptance is a separate type of indirect suggestion, but at the same time it is a type of compound suggestion.

The sequence of acceptance and reinforcement, according to M. Erickson and E. Rossi, are “everyday forms” of compound suggestion.

Acceptance sequence is a statement of something good and obvious, followed by a suggestion of possibility:

“Today is such a nice day, let’s go for a swim.”
“Today is a day off, why don’t I do what I want.”
"You've done a good job and you can continue."

Reinforcement- it’s the other way around: first there is a proposal, and then a statement of something good and obvious:

“Let’s go for a swim, today is such a nice day.”
“Why shouldn’t I do what I want, since today is a day off.”
“You can continue, you did a good job.”

B. Contingent (continuous) suggestions

Contingent suggestion is where the therapist takes something that is already happening or will definitely happen and adds a suggestion to it. For example:

The person sits next to the therapist - and will continue to sit for some time. Composite contingent suggestion: “As you continue to sit here, you will find that you feel more and more relaxed and comfortable.” Suggestion can be strengthened contextually: “As you continue to sit here, you will find that you feel more and more relaxation and comfort».

A person is breathing and will naturally continue to breathe. Composite contingent suggestion: “With every breath you take, you go deeper and deeper into a trance.”

It is extremely convenient to attach suggestions to the movement of the hand from catalepsy (see “Catalepsy of the hand”) and in levitation (see “Levitation of the hand”). The hand begins to fall from catalepsy - and almost any suggestion can be attached to this movement:

“As the hand descends, the trance deepens.”
"As the hand goes down, you come out of the trance."
“As the hand goes down, you quietly travel back in time to the origin of the problem.”
“While the hand is lowered, the unconscious seeks and finds all the resources you need to solve this problem.”

It's the same with levitation. The difference is that with catalepsy, the therapist has one hand movement at his disposal - downward; with levitation, two movements can be used - up and down.

Forward:
Back: