35. Inductions
There are many techniques for the induction of hypnosis. What do they have in common?
It seems to me that all of them tend to turn off left brain conscious logic and encourage a shift into daydreaming (good or bad imaginings, or emotional states).
The goal becomes dissociation from conscious logic, an “altered state of consciousness” with focused attention, and in which a subject lowers critical testing and is more open to suggestions. Even though hypnotizability has measurable characteristics of a trait, and direct suggestion works best for those who have this trait, the ability to go into a state of trance sufficient to analyze implicit imprints with ideomotor signals seems to be almost universal.
- Confusion of the conscious mind is relieved by just turning it off. Milton Erickson could rapidly induce an eyes open trance with his confusion techniques.
- Eye fixation with an upward gaze tires the weak levator palpebrae muscles so that the eyes ultimately close from fatigue, and the illogical idea that they are closing because the hypnotist suggests it is an abandonment of conscious logic.
- Eye roll induction is unique. With eyes closed and eyeballs rolled upward, it is almost impossible to think of a mathematical problem or anything logical. For me, it rapidly brings on a meditative state where my mind can be blank (left brain turned off), or I can do ideomotor self-analysis or analyze my own dreams.
- Repetitive meaningless stimuli like a swinging watch, a blinking light (particularly if timed with alpha waves), or a military drum beat require no logical thought or attention, and lead into trance-like states requiring no logical thinking. Counting sheep to turn off the day and get to sleep is amusing, but historically it works. Monotonous verbal repetition acts the same. Dull lectures induce daydreams, and the best time to pass the plate in church is right after the sermon, when we either feel inspired by the message or guilty for dozing off.
- Back drop induction is used often by stage hypnotists because it is almost instantaneous. Asking the subject to “Imagine that your body is a board, standing on end” has the compliant volunteer in an instant daydream, with left brain logic turned off.
- Trauma. The first law of nature is self-preservation. When there is a perception that life is threatened, nothing else matters. Fear is the strongest of all emotions. We have fire drills because in an emergency we immediately drop logic and go into automatic, and a pre-programmed escape plan avoids desperate measures like jumping out of a tenth story window.