Beliefs In Hypnosis: Client Belief And Hypnotist Belief

Occasionally a client arrives in my New York hypnosis office with a set of beliefs which entirely mismatch my own. When this happens I need to decide how to react.

An example of such a belief that I have experienced is that of hypnosis clients with the presenting issue of “entity attachment”. One reaction would be fear based, to just shut down further discussion. This is no good for anyone's learning and limits options for offering hypnosis help to the client.

Belief and Suggestion

Instead of addressing whether entity attachment is an actual phenomena, I would like to talk about the certified hypnotist’s own belief, expectation, and maybe, the very nature of suggestion. If our words are a minuscule percentage of our total communication, then how much of our inner beliefs are we sharing with our clients through our non-verbals, our energy and our intent? I often wonder about this as I marvel at the nature of change that goes on in our offices. I know that a split second subtle raise of the eyebrow is caught by the unconscious mind and a level of doubt is suggested. I know if I subtly raise my voice tonality at the end of a tag question, I insert a dash of uncertainty. If my tonality lowers, it's a subtle command and agreement is suggested.

Model of the World

How much does our model of the world influence our clients? I try to hold the best intention, the presupposition of change, and the belief that my client will be helped, in my mind with every client. I said try, because …well...nobody’s perfect. But if I have this in mind, then I feel that my non verbal communication will help the session go as planned. It's the same with some of the presuppositions of NLP (I use neuro linguistic programming as well as other methods in my hypnosis practice here in New York). If I act as if these positive presuppositions are true, then change is easier.

The Best Technique Depends Upon the Hypnotist’s Belief

Now, if I believed that only regression to cause can truly help my client then that is the process I better use, because the clients unconscious mind can sense incongruity on many levels. If I feel that only somnambulism allows for change, then NLP, EFT and all other lighter states of trance will be worthless.

I heard of a hypnotist who had a number of clients with “entity attachment” as the presenting issue. If a large percentage of your clients have a certain type of issue, then this itself is something that begs to be examined. Is it simply the law of attraction in action?

Maybe your inner beliefs influence your clients? I really don't know the answer. I know that we don't know much about the very nature of consciousness and the more research we do the less we seem to know. What if it's more like a metaphor that comes alive for the client, like the different parts we can create in order to facilitate change. It's a great symbol for a client that doesn't believe this is a part of him/herself. Like the casting out of demons…

Questions Question Questions

Questions, questions, questions. I still feel that whether this is true or not, and for my own psyche's sake, I hope it is not (I watched too many horror movies as a kid).

I do think that the question of why we attract certain clients should be explored. I think it can offer us some amazing insights into what it is we do when we do that thing that helps people heal.