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The Art of Hypnotherapy
Mastering Client Centered Techniques: 4th edition
C Roy Hunter
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eBook - ePub
The Art of Hypnotherapy
Mastering Client Centered Techniques: 4th edition
C Roy Hunter
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About This Book
Now in it's fourth edition, this classic text presents a comprehensive overview of client-centred hypnosis based on the teachings of Charles Tebbetts. Since the person undergoing hypnosis is the one with the power to change him/herself, the hypnotherapist acts as the facilitator, tailoring the hypnosis session to the client. All of the techniques found in The Art of Hypnotherapy, including regression therapy and parts theory, centre on this concept. The Art of Hypnotherapy shows students how all hypnotic techniques revolve around four main therapeutic objectives: Suggestion and Imagery; Discover the Cause; Release; and Subconscious Relearning. New features in this edition include an arrangement of techniques from simple to complex, so that those using hypnosis in a limited way easily learn the applicable technique; a chapter on the common application of hypnotherapy now includes new sections on anger, impotence, stuttering, and tinnitus, and the chapters on anchoring and triggers have been updated, with sections on how to help a client establish a safe place, and why this is important.
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Chapter 1
Introduction to
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy
Increasing numbers of people around the world want answers. Not only do they want answers to life, they want to know how they can reach their own goals and bring their dreams into reality. Untold numbers of men and women spend countless sums of dollars annually, seeking professional help to overcome undesirable habits.
Why is Hypnotherapy the Answer?
My work is based on the teachings of the late Charles Tebbetts, who personally trained me in the art of hypnotherapy. He began the first chapter of his hypnotherapy textbook, Miracles on Demand (2nd edition), with these words:
Millions of people are suffering mental anguish and are striving unsuccessfully to find help. Hypnotherapy is the answer for most of them because it is short-term, safe, practical and effective.
All quotes throughout this book from Miracles on Demand are taken from the second edition, which is out of print (see NOTICE at end of this chapter).
With the advent of the fast-food society, increasing numbers of people are looking for faster methods of achieving their desires than in the past. Public interest in alternative modalities continues to increase. While this makes some people vulnerable for the “quick fix” artists out to make a fast buck, the upside is the most favorable public acceptance of hypnotism that we have seen in centuries – and possibly in the entire recorded history of the human race. The downside is an increase in controversy over what the typical hypnotist or hypnotherapist is qualified to do professionally for clients seeking help.
As with any profession, including medicine and psychology, we must endure a few who seem self-centered and greedy. The hypnotism profession is no exception, and has its share of practitioners more skilled in marketing than in practicing the art of hypnotherapy; but a small number of psychologists are too quick to throw us all out as “lay hypnotists.” Some of this criticism understandably resulted from numerous weekend training programs scattered across North America during the 1980s and 1990s, and this is one of the reasons why I believe that anyone who learns the art of hypnosis should invest in a quality training program.
I have stated in print that we who practice hypnotherapy are the artistic community (Hunter, 2010). Perhaps it is time for us to be called the professional artists of hypnotherapy, or hypnotherapy practitioners. Our growing profession deserves recognition for the many millions of clients empowered by the professional practitioners of the art of hypnotherapy; but we should govern our own training programs and insist on higher training standards for anyone who practices hypnosis professionally.
We still need both the scientific practitioners and artistic practitioners of hypnosis, because research will advance the field. However, many highly educated counselors, psychotherapists, and psychologists received only minimal specific training in the art of hypnotherapy – just as many hypnotherapists have only minimal training in psychology. Just as there is a need for both fields, there is a much greater need for building bridges of mutual support and cooperation. The world is laced with experienced and properly trained hypnotists and hypnotherapists who DO know how to competently use a variety of beneficial techniques. These professionals are quite willing to call in psychologists or physicians when appropriate. Likewise, some physicians are equally willing to suggest that a patient seek hypnosis or meditation when appropriate (Siegel, 1990).
The question, then, is not in what academic degrees the hypnotherapist does or does not have. Rather, how thorough was the specific training in the art of hypnotherapy? A few psychologists are very willing to persuade lawmakers to pass laws that would outlaw even a veteran hypnotherapist from engaging in the legal practice of professional hypnotherapy, as demonstrated in Australia in early 2007. Fortunately, the Council of Clinical Hypnotherapy unified the professional artists of hypnotherapy across Australia and blocked the passage of the law just barely in time.
Certain psychologists have tried more than once to get similar laws passed in the USA, prohibiting an experienced hypnosis professional from practicing what they term “lay hypnotism.’
The controversy over “lay hypnotism” now extends to the legal use of the very word hypnotherapist.
Which Title Do We Use: Hypnotist, or Hypnotherapist?
In the first decade of the 21st century, several American states now have laws prohibiting the use of the word “hypnotherapist” by anyone without an advanced college degree. We find an increasing debate taking place regarding the ethics of whether to use the title “Hypnotist” or “Hypnotherapist.” Some psychologists object to a “lay hypnotist” using the word “therapy” because it implies psychotherapy and/or treating someone with psychological techniques. The National Guild of Hypnotists apparently seems to accept the viewpoint of the psychology profession, and has encouraged hypnotherapists without advanced degrees to give up the professional titles that many of us worked hard to earn.
Perhaps a true definition of exactly what constitutes “hypnotherapy” in both professional and legal terms might help resolve the dispute. Here is what I wrote in the third edition of The Art of Hypnosis (Cown House Publishing, 2010) on page 194:
For 15 years I taught that one could define hypnotherapy as: the use of hypnosis or any hypnotic technique to enhance goal achievement, to enhance motivation or change, to enhance personal or spiritual growth, and/or to release clients of problems and the causes of problems.
At the bottom of page 195 I continue …
In short, the hypnotist simply gives many suggestions and hopes for results, while the hypnotherapist knows how to solicit the subconscious to reveal the cause(s) in order to facilitate release and relearning … and resolve problems.
In light of the recent debate over the use of the title “Hypnotherapist,” I now question whether my definition quoted above might have to change again in the future in order to protect the professional practice of many of my colleagues around the world. Since most states still allow me to call myself a hypnotherapist, the name for this book remains the same as the earlier editions: The Art of Hypnotherapy. If future laws force me to change the above definition of hypnotherapy again, along with other techniques taught by Tebbetts and other recognized experts in our profession, then I will deal with what legally emerges. Any law that might be construed to limit a hypnotist to the use of suggestion and imagery would hurt both our profession and our clients. Readers of this book will understand why.
Tebbetts believed that some of the simplest hypnotic techniques could result in some of the most profound benefits when facilitated properly, and he called it hypnotherapy. He did not require his students to have advanced degrees; but he took great care in how he taught these techniques, because my late teacher felt strongly that we should know enough about hypnosis to fit the technique to the client rather than to try to fit the client to the technique. Why? Read on …
The Biggest Hypnotic Secret Revealed
As modern science brings technological enlightenment to this world, it’s high time to bring the art of hypnotism out of the dark ages and shine the light of truth on its secrets. Let’s rip away once and for all the shroud of mysticism that has surrounded this art for so many centuries. Let’s begin by exposing the biggest secret of all: the power is NOT in the hypnotist, it is in the client – the person who is guided into hypnosis! This fact is recognized by several hypnosis associations, including The National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH). In fact, the NGH states in print that the hypnotist will “Induct a client into a Self-Hypnotic State” (NGH, 2006). In other words, hypnosis is guided self-hypnosis.
Charles Tebbetts, who became a legend in the hypnotherapy profession while still living, revealed this secret of hypnosis at the start of every session he did with these words: “All hypnosis is self-hypnosis.” I expanded on this in the first edition of my basic hypnosis text as well as the most recent edition (Hunter, 2010). Tebbetts believed that the hypnotist or hypnotherapist was simply a guide (or artist) facilitating the client’s inborn ability to change as desired, because all the power is already inside the mind of the person experiencing hypnosis (Tebbetts, 1985). In short, he believed and taught that all hypnosis is guided self-hypnosis. The founder of the American Board of Hypnotherapy held that same opinion (Krasner, 1990).
Some professionals from the scientific community also believe that the power is in the client (Temes, 1999); and that if a hypnotist tries to become too powerful, the client can break rapport and reject suggestions (Teitelbaum, 1969). Whatever power the therapist has is acquired from the client, and can be terminated by the client (Yapko, 1995). Our 19th century hypnotic pioneers believed otherwise (Hunter, 2000), and believed that the hypnotist had power over the subject (Zanuso, 1986).
Most certainly if it were the hypnotist that had the power, it stands to reason that very intensive (and expensive) training would be vital before turning a new hypnotist loose on any trusting person entering the trance state – especially if the person in trance was powerless to refuse suggestions. That is simply not the case, unless the person entering hypnosis was tricked into believing that he/she was under the control of the hypnotist. Even in such a case there are limits to the suggestions such a person might accept (Teitelbaum, 1969).
Even now, however, there are professionals in both the scientific community and the artistic community who debate where the power of trance resides. That does not surprise me, however, because we still cannot even agree on the proper definition of hypnosis. Al Krasner wrote: “Ask two hundred experts. I guarantee that you’ll get at least two hundred different answers … all of them correct, yet full of contradictions” (Krasner, 1990).
Charles Tebbetts: a Master Teacher
Charles Tebbetts spent all of the last years of his life teaching hypnotism and hypnotherapy. He kept his students in “hands-on” training for 150 hours, taught in three parts. The first part was devoted to learning the basics of hypnotism: inductions, deepening techniques, trance management, etc. Tebbetts taught hypnotherapy during the second and third parts of his course, and then required his students to pass both a written and practical exam, successfully demonstrating the art of hypnosis prior to certification. He believed that hypnotism could be learned and used effectively by almost any mature adult with average intelligence and education, provided he/she was honest, ethical, had a sincere desire to help others, and was willing to invest enough time practicing to master the art. (My own experience validates his opinions.)
During the decades when hypnosis was shunned by both the medical profession and the mental health field, Tebbetts successfully used hypnotism to help people get results. He invested over six decades of his life practicing and studying hypnotism, and eventually opened his legendary “Hypnotism Training Institute” in the Pacific Northwest – where I enjoyed the privilege of learning the art of hypnotherapy. Indeed, Tebbetts directly touched the lives of thousands of people, and indirectly touched the lives of my own clients through his teachings – as well as the lives of clients reached by his former students.
My mentor, honored for lifetime achievement by the International Hypnosis Hall of Fame, believed that too many people spent too much money and too much time trying to deal with causes of their problems on a cognitive level rather than at a subconscious level where one can obtain results (Tebbetts, 1985). Let me quote his own words, taken from the preface of his book, Miracles on Demand:
… I have helped thousands of people improve the quality of their lives through my knowledge of hypnotism and my understanding of human behavior. Although I have studied psychology in depth in college courses, I am more concerned with beneficial results than with interesting theories.
He goes on to say:
I feel a glow of pleasure and satisfaction when someone stops me on the street and says, “You’re the man who changed my life!” Of course, he did it himself, but I feel fortunate in possessing the knowledge that enabled me to help him.
Experience taught me how that “glow of pleasure” feels a number of years ago when one of my former clients came up to me in a public place and introduced me to her sister with the words, “This is the man who gave my life back to me!” This woman already had the power to give herself a better life. All I did was use the client-centered techniques taught by Tebbetts to help her unlock the power of her own mind – but I was still moved emotionally by this woman’s gratitude for my part in facilitating her personal growth. My master teacher indirectly helped give this woman her life back to her by teaching me what he knew.
I enjoyed the privilege of knowing Charlie (as his friends called him) as both a mentor and as a personal friend, learning much from him before his passing. One of my original goals in writing this book was to organize and preserve the essence of what my late mentor taught, updated with both my own professional experience (as well as some techniques learned elsewhere). Now the changing times make it necessary for me to update this book again to keep up with an evolving profession.
Although successfully employing Charlie’s techniques since training under him personally in 1983, I realize that the only permanent thing in the universe is change. My hypnosis course, based on his teachings, is now called Diversified Client-Centered Hypnosis. Even that course is still evolving.
A handful of people criticized my giving Tebbetts too much credit in my first two editions of this book, and told me that I should “own” these techniques myself. As a published author, I know how it feels when others teach my work and represent it as theirs … so I will continue to give credit where credit is due. It is far better to be accused of giving others too much credit than to be guilty of plagiarism. Charles Tebbetts was a master teacher; and even now his work indirectly touches lives all over the globe.
Learn the Art of Hypnosis First
This book picks up where my first text ends. Before my own students are exposed to the techniques presented in these pages, they have completed the same training detailed in The Art of Hypnosis: Mastering Basic Techniques (3rd ed., Crown House Publishing,2010), the first part of what I originally called the Charles Tebbetts Hypnotism Training Course.
Some references will make more sense to the reader who has the first volume, so I hope it is already in your library. If you have not had formal training in the art of hypnosis, it is my very strong professional opinion that you should obtain professional hypnosis training before attempting the techniques presented in this second volume! Even if you have a doctorate in medicine or psychology, hands-on training really makes a difference, because there is no substitute for practice to master an art with confidence and...