Book Report: Hypnotherapy by Dave Elman (c) 1970

Hypnotherapy by Dave Elman (c) 1970

Background Information:  Dave Elman is one of the two or three "big names" in 20th century hypnosis (the others being Milton Erickson and George Estabrooks). Regardless what style of hypnosis you do or are interested in, you will have encountered some "Elman" elements. Elman was a radio personality and amateur hypnotist, but his technique was so reliable that it was embraced by scientists and medical people.
https://daveelmanhypnosisinstitute.com/DaveElman-pg2.html

If you're interested in practicing hypnosis, or you just want a better understanding of the nuts-and-bolts of the hypnotizing process, this book is a must have. Elman is considered the main figure of "Authoritarian" or "Prestige" hypnosis, which simply means that it's a more formal process, when the practitioner gives the subject formal suggestions to follow. The well known "Elman Induction" is a series of mental imageries ("deepeners") and exercises that a hypnotist can present to his subject that reliably bring that person into a state of hypnotic trance (an induction is the verbal patter that the hypnotist uses to guide the subject into an hypnotic trance). With a little bit of basic knowledge, you could probably read an Elman Induction off a sheet of paper and reliably talk someone into an hypnotic state. This book describes how each single element of the Elman Induction came about, and what it does (Personally, I don't think they're quite as cut-and-dried in real life as they are in the book, but you'll have to be the judge of that). At the time he was writing this book, he was teaching his technique to a lot of dentists for painless extractions, so you can imagine that's a tough sell if the techniques didn't work! 

So if you want to demystify The Staircase, The Lost Numbers and other hypnotic goodies, you have to read this book. It's a cornerstone of modern hypnosis.

Some Abreactions and Observations with The Staircase Deepener

The Staircase Deepener. It's such a common part of hypnotic inductions that it's almost a cliche:
"You are going deeeper and deeeperrr... like a long staircase, down.... down... doooowwwwnnnnn..."

The Staircase Deepener is an odd one. In my experience, it’s extremely reliable and something that most clients can comfortably embrace, but it’s also something that can occasionally trigger unexpected reactions in a way that few other deepeners do.

As a deepener, it’s easy to take for granted. It usually works well whether you're an doing Ericksonian or Elman approach, or something else, and doesn't require much from the subject in terms of holding onto a visualization, like, say, Disappearing Numbers. 

The various parts of an hypnosis session all function together like the parts of an engine, and when any part fails to work, it has specific reasons for breaking down, and specific solutions. I've been lucky enough to work with a variety of different subjects and had some interesting unexpected reactions to the seemingly innocuous Staircase Deepener, which I'll share with you followed by my assumptions about why, as well as some simple solutions. 

First, let's be sure we're all on the same page.
The Staircase Deepener asks the client to imagine standing at the head of a long staircase going down. With suitable tonality and ancillary imagery, the hypnotist suggests that with every step down, the client is becoming more relaxed, stepping down into warm, comfortable relaxation, maybe stepping down into a place within themselves that is safe and secure. The hypnotist will usually suggest a number of steps (generally around 10-12), with the final step being the step off into total relaxation. Numbering the steps is very useful in reducing client uncertainty, and at the end of the session, the hypnotists can walk them right back up the stairs by reversing the count. As a "deepener" it's something that we introduce when the client is already in the process of being hypnotized, usually already relaxed and with closed eyes.

The strengths of this technique are that it combines a little visual imagination with some tactile imagination, and it has a distinctly limited length according to the number of steps. And because people commonly describe relaxation as the sensation as "sinking" or "going down” and "waking up" is synonymous with "getting up," it ties comfortably into ordinary everyday experiences of waking and sleeping.

So what can go wrong? An abreaction can occur when the hypnotist touch on something within the client that is emotionally difficult and powerful and it may or may not be related to the issue that the client has come to see you about.
The people I've experienced who have abreacted to the staircase deepener tend to be people with unresolved abuse experiences and, interestingly enough, police detectives, though I'm sure there are others you may come across. 

It's odd that something so seemingly innocuous can bring out such strong reactions, and it can catch a novice hypnotist off guard, particularly if the abreaction occurs during something like a light-hearted hypnosis demonstration, or in a private session with a client where no strong personal feelings are expected to come up. Murphy's Law being what it is, those are probably the first time you'll experience it.

The signs that the Staircase Deepener is taking a wrong turn may be subtle or they may be obvious. As the experience becomes less fun for the subject, you may see physical stiffening or tightness in the neck and shoulders, tightness in the face and around the mouth and eyes, change in breathing, or perhaps other signs of resistance. Their eyes may tear up, and they may even come out of trance completely. You must be sensitive to the client's subtle expressions and don't try to force the deepener. Instead of going down, go up. Reverse the count and have them climb upwards into someplace bright and friendly. Maybe even turn them into a bird and fly into the clouds. Sometimes, once the negativity starts to manifest, they'll get stuck on one of the negative feelings, in which case suggesting something like "you can come back to these feelings some other time, anytime you feel safe and comfortable and in control doing so, but right now let’s go in a different direction."

If the feelings around the abreaction do not seem to be involved in the issue for which you've hypnotized them, respect their privacy and lead the trance back on its correct path. Even if the client specifically and explicitly asks to explore these difficult feelings, it's usually best to explore with another approach that allowed the client to access those inner feelings in a way that gives them more of a feeling of control. Since part of the abreaction for the client is feeling helpless or even a feeling of being controlled by these emotions, I'd generally take an approach other than walking down into a dark cellar, horror-movie style.

I suppose that unresolved, strongly emotional issues, such as abuse, get stored away deep within a person, and as they imagine going down within themselves, it may lead  to that place within themselves where these things are stored, even if that is no one’s conscious intention.

But why might a police detective, in particular, have a bad reaction to the imagery of a staircase? Rather than psychological, it's a purely experiential one -- when a detective has to go down a staircase into the unknown in real life, it's never a good thing. What's waiting for him at the bottom may either be an armed suspect, or a decomposing body! In this case the deepener is revivifying a prior experience of dread. Sometimes the unintentional trigger is one that touches directly on memories, rather than something more psychological or metaphorical.   

It's important for both hypnotists and subjects to know that while the Staircase Deepener might accidentally access hidden emotions and experiences, as in the rare cases mentioned above, it won't compel the client express those feelings or memories out loud if they don't want to. It's not a truth serum. Trying to use it as such may only compromise the client’s trust.

©Jeff Sauber 2018

What Hypnotists Can Learn From Bad Music

"The Singer" by Edouard Manet (1861)

In the little theater, a guy with a guitar stepped into the spotlight. The crowd grew quiet. He adjusted his guitar strap, fumbled with the strings, and dug through his pockets for the guitar pick. After a minute he held it up to the audience, "got it!" A little nervous laughter flutters through the crowd. He starts to sing and he's not too bad, maybe singing a folky love song or an old soft rock favorite, doesn't matter. The audience is starting to get into it, beginning to feel that feeling a good song makes you feel. After about 40 seconds, his voice changed a bit, he ran out of breath and the last two words of a stanza were undervoiced and indistinct. He took a deeper breath and continued, but it threw off the rhythm of the song a little bit, an for a few seconds, the tempo had gotten slower. Then he caught up with the original pace. Getting close to the end of the song his eyes darted around and he blinked rapidly, a really nervous smile crept across his mug, and he started to stammer as he tried to remember the last of the lyrics. His eyes suddenly lit up--he's remembered--and he plowed through the rest of the song. At the end, he mumbled a quick "thank you" to the audience and darted off stage before the audience's polite applause had even finished.Was he bad? Yes and no. He certainly wasn't playing at a professional level, but you gotta give anyone a lot of credit for just getting up in front of people and doing his best.

Now compare him to a seasoned professional. There are singers who's first note entrances an audience, and as soon as they have that audience, never let go. They take their audience on an emotional trip, one that can change and inspire an audience, never to be forgotten, and do it in 3 minutes!

Music is one of the most hypnotic things in our everyday life, and something that just about anyone with ears can relate to. For their skill, musicians can win fame and fortune and the undying love of their fans, so they have to be doing something right.

As hypnotists, we want to be able to touch our clients as deeply and make inspirational changes, so music should be able to teach us a lot. If you listen to your favorite musician to try to analyze what he's doing, it's too easy to get lost and swept away by the music you like, unless you're very disciplined. So lets have a look at a musician who's not quite there yet, like the performer in our example.

But first, let's take a quick peek at the powerful elements of a song that give it it's amazing effects:
Rhythm -- We pick up the tempo of a piece of music quickly, and it sets the emotional tone. A slow pace might be considered somber, sad or serious, possibly relaxing, while a faster pace might be considered lively, cheerful, perky, passionate or exciting. The tempo also controls the speed at which we absorb the other elements of the music. Notice that a piece of music that changes tempo too quickly can have a disturbing effect on the listener, as was famously used for effect in The Beatles' "I am the Walrus."

Melody -- Every melody is unique, and is the "identity" of the piece of music. Even without words, a melody can inspire strong, even specific, emotional messages merely by it's juxtaposition of individual notes, one after the other. Some melodies are "unforgettable" and really "speak" to certain listeners ,so much so that there are even people who will claim some piece of music as part of their own identity "That's my song!"

Lyrics -- The specific verbal message or story of the music. Some lyrics are funny, some are serious, some seem to have little to do with the rest of the music, or even sound like gibberish. They can be fact or fiction, a coherent narrative, or a moment-by-moment commentary. When a song "works, usually, the melody, lyrics and rhythm all work together, or "compound" each other, as a hypnotist might say.

Here's what our singer has taught us not to do:
1. He came on the stag unprepared and unaware of the first impression he was going to make.
2. He didn't pay attention to his phrasing, and he ran out of breath.
3. His words weren't clear.
4. He messed up the tempo.
5. He forgot the words, or wasn't thinking about what came next.
6. He expressed his insecurity in his exit by running off the stage.

Here's what hypnotists can learn from our example:
1. As with any kind of presentation, and this includes a one-on-one session with a client, the first and the last few seconds are the "packaging" of everything you have to give. Just as with any product, a well considered, well designed package will do more to impress than a raw, rough-around the edges wrapping. The first moment of an interaction will be the first information someone gets about you, and that first impression will color most of whatever else they learn about you. So, before you meet with a client, or give a presentation, how you plan to present yourself and what kind of impression you'll make. Take a moment to gather yourself mentally and put your BEST SELF forward.

2. Be aware of your verbal skills. Be sure to enunciate slowly and clearly, sometimes even more slowly than you think you should. Be sure you are using your breath properly, and your voice is solid and clear. Many people under-voice, which is to say, they don't have enough breath behind their speech, so the sound has a wiry,gravelly quality. A client can't follow your commands if they can't understand what you're saying. Get used to listening to yourself on recordings, and notice if there's anything that needs improvement, and work on it. There are even books, CDs, videos and coaching available to give you really great speech. Develop a special "hypnotic voice" and make it amazing and powerful.

3. Speak clearly! As with the above point, be aware your words have to have power. You should wield them just as a good singer wields his singing voice. Just as a song delivers it's emotional message with melody and rhythm as much as with lyrics, when you speak, you deliver you hypnotic message with voice quality, intonation, and tempo, as much as with the words themselves. You can add important emphasis to specific messages by careful use of pauses, change in tone and pacing. (also known as "analog marking"). Both on stage an in a hypnotic session, it can be very helpful to speak a little more slowly than you normally would. Every letter should be clear and distinct, even if it sounds a bit odd at first. With practice you can do it comfortably and naturally.

4. Develop a good hypnotic tempo. Remember when we were talking about the attributes of a song, how the rhythm controls the speed at which the listener absorbs the message, and that it also carries a message itself? A change in tempo is a great way to distinguish between everyday input and  hypnotic speech, something special. Think about the way people read a story to children--slowly and with exaggerated emphasis, and the effect it has to entrance the kids. Works the same way with people. For the common kind of "relaxation trance," speaking slowly helps the client to relax, and relaxation opens up the mind to more suggestion. The slower speed also gives their mind more time for each word to resonate, as well as creating greater expectation for the very next word, and that creates "compliance."
Wait! What about those stage hypnotists? they speak pretty quickly, but they drop people into trance like a sack of brinks in a minute or two. What's up there? Good question. Rapid inductions work well with a quick tempo because, instead of opening up the mind with relaxation, they are using "confusion." In a confusion induction, you are overloading the client's mind so the suggestions will slip through before he can sort out everything you've said. But even with this kind of hypnotic induction, clear diction and steady pacing is very important.

5. Be clear in your own mind about what you're going to say before you say it. Whether you're following a script or creating your own induction, know where each step is leading, and have a good idea of the step that should come next. Even if you do forget something, or mess something up, there's no reason for the client to know that, and many reason for them not to. Lets say you usually do three deepeners before you begin to give suggestions, but you forgot to do one. Don't exclaim "Whoopsie! What am I doing?" That will spoil your client's confidence in you. Instead repeat another deepener, or use verbal commands to go deeper, or improvise something else. What's important is you get your client comfortably in trance and give them good, effective suggestions. If you had to do a little course-correction on the way, that's OK, just don't fall off the road.

Even more importantly, sometimes a client may give you an unexpected response during a session, and it's vital not only to not let it throw you off. Instead, find a way to use what you have constructively to your advantage. This is Milton Erickson's "Utilization" principle. Use whatever they give you.

Several times before, I've mentioned the values of speaking more slowly than you might normally do. Here's another advantage. Speaking more slowly gives you more time to think about your next move. Don't rush.

6. Have a confident and polished finish. Have you ever had a conversation with someone, maybe a boss or a teacher, and it seemed to be going well, but as they walkaway, you suddenly have doubts: Did they understand me? What did he mean by that? What's she really thinking? If a client is paying for a session, or you're giving a presentation, the way you finish has as much influence on the outcome as the first impression. If you leave a client with a doubt, it can sabotage the whole session and possibly the outcomes. Finish on a solid, well thought out, note, and if there's a moment or two of silence afterwards, be comfortable with it. The confidence you have in yourself will equal the confidence other have in you.