Food & Nutrition

The impact of a direct suggestion can heavily depend on its meaning to the individual being hypnotized. When offering suggestions, it’s essential to consider the language being used. A good example of this would be a particular case involving an individual from a different country where a common implication (as opposed to their dictionary definition) of the word “fat” would mean healthy, whereas calling someone “fat” in English would commonly be used offensively. In other words we benefit from considering cultural connotations, before we rush to decide that our own language is what works for the person being hypnotized. Rapport building and conversation is key to knowing the best approach. We are not the same, but the same in that we are all different.
Cultural environment plays a factor when indirectly influenced. Since studies have shown that indirect and direct language can equally be effective, it makes sense to consider the cultural desires and dislikes of the client when using indirect suggestion before putting the person into a deep trance.

The previous blog advanced the idea that if you are not sure if you were hypnotized or not during a hypnotherapy appointment, that you can assume that you were hypnotized if you got the results that you desired. The following is an anecdote illustrating this idea.

One day at the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, the director, Josie Hadley, was giving a class in hypnosis for weight reduction. She asked for a volunteer on whom an induction would be demonstrated, and several people responded with alacrity. The lady she chose, whom we’ll call Susie, came to the front of the room and stated that she was carrying an extra fifty pounds as a result of eating.

It seems that whenever her partner left town, she would be besieged by a horde of high quality chocolate-covered ice cream bars named after the bird of peace. When he returned, she could keep the ice cream bars at bay. However, the previous week, she had fallen prey not only to the chocolate-covered bars, but had suffered a skirmish with a key lime pie. The pie had prevailed and had joined itself to her entirely, with not a crumb to spare.