Hypnosis ScriptsBy Terence WattsThe notion of using a hypnosis script to resolve clients' difficulties has fallen somewhat by the wayside these days, along with the abilities to truly craft a work of art that will endure. Regression, analysis, EMDR, TFT... there are many who say that these methodologies and others like them are the only way. There are times, though, when a good old-fashioned, well-written script - and it must be a well-written script - can produce speedy and effective results. Don't get me wrong - I have used a variety of analytical techniques for years and actually started my career as a hypnoanalyst. But I have always been aware of the ability of this oldest of methodologies to produce amazing change just when it's needed... like immediately! Sometimes, clients simply don't want to explore past issues; sometimes, they feel silly with tapping their eyebrows and other bits of anatomy; sometimes they just want to hand everything over to the hypnotherapist and let him/her do the work. And when the presenting problem is a suitable one to work with, why should we not do just that? If you can write a classy hypnosis script embodying some or all of: covert language patterns, triggers/anchors, double binds, embedded commands, indirection and misdirection, then you can almost raise the dead sometimes! A Case Study A young athlete came to me a while back, wanting to knock a few tenths of a second from his 100 meter time. He felt he had concentration problems and that 'something was holding him back', even though he had no idea what that might be. He'd had several sessions of regression work in an attempt to discover the block, and several more sessions of EFT to change the flow of negative energy. At least, that's what the therapist said. It took only 3 sessions of scripted hypnosis work to achieve a result that the delighted young man told me might have otherwise taken three seasons. The reason it worked so well is that everything was personalised - the induction, the deepener, the hypnotic suggestion work, and even the exit from the trance state. If you're new or fairly new to the field of hypnotherapy, it's always a good idea to use ready-made hypnosis scripts written by an experienced professional therapist - but you must personalise it in some way if you are to get the best result for your client. It's not just personalising it for your client, either, because you need to personalise it for you so that you can read it comfortably without sounding as if you're reading at all. This is as true of inductions and deepeners as it is of the actual suggestion script itself. Technicalities We'll have a look at four particularly important components of scripted suggestion work - there are obviously many more things to think about but those examined here are often not known or greatly misunderstood:
It is not sufficient to just put somebody's name into a suggestion script - in fact, that can have a reverse effect if you happen to couple it with something that is alien to the client. You need to use aspects of the client's life and 'way of being' to truly customise your work. If the script says: "You will be relaxed while giving your presentation," it can become: "You will feel as relaxed when you give that presentation as you do when you [confident activity]." Of course, you would have already established an activity with which your client was totally confident, wouldn't you? Even if it's just tying a shoelace... as long as you've talked about it out of hypnosis, it will work: "You will feel as relaxed when you give that presentation as you do when you tie a shoelace." It works. Atmosphere An amazing number of therapists believe (and are probably taught) to deliver everything in a monotone. WRONG! It is important to generate emotion and as Hippolyte Bernheim stated, it doesn't matter what the emotion is as long as it's there. Emotion is the glue that will stick the suggestion to the client's subconscious - especially if it's personalised! It can be thought of as the very essence of a good hypnosis script. So, we'll add some into our suggestion for confidence in presentation. We'll need to add a couple of words, too, and the excitation is on the underlined sections: "You will feel as wonderfully relaxed when you give that presentation as you do when you tie a shoelace... because it's so easy!" We have an advantage here, too, in that 'you give that presentation' works like an embedded command. When we impart an atmosphere of excitement to our suggestion we greatly increase the likelihood that it will be effective. It's always best to feel as if you are slightly over-acting; this will never bother the client and in any case, most of the time, we don't sound as animated on the outside as we do on the inside. Conceptual Negatives This is an interesting concept that not many people realise. There are many teachers who stress that a suggestion script must never use the words 'no', 'not' and/or derivations. 'No Negativity' is a Golden Rule for many... which is a shame, because it can be very powerful. An example of a conceptual negative is in the concept of 'no need' - "You will find 'no need'..." In other words the client is being told about something that she or he will find. Let's add it in to our suggestion: "You will feel as wonderfully relaxed when you give that presentation as you do when you tie a shoelace... because it's so easy that you will find no need for doubt." Four Sense Test The Four Sense test lengthens a suggestion but increases its power phenomenally. It means simply that we incorporate four of our five senses in some way; it doesn't matter which four but we usually omit 'Taste'. When you craft your suggestion work, you simply make sure that the script includes a reference to those senses - not on every suggestion in the entire script but enough to create a strong visualisation without the client knowing that you are talking about visualisation. Look at this example: "Just imagine how the room will look... imagine the lighting and also imagine the smell of the room because all rooms have their own scent... you can feel your feet so firmly placed on the floor, and the expectant hush as you stand up boosts your confidence so much... that you will feel as wonderfully relaxed while you give that presentation as you do when you tie a shoelace... because at that very moment you realise that it's so easy that you will find no need for doubt." As you can see, this makes for a very powerful and persuasive approach. Inductions and Deepeners There are those who believe that it's easy to write an induction or deepener and that it doesn't really matter too much what goes in there as it's reasonably well-written and relaxing. This is actually far from being the case. What is needed is a structured approach that grabs attention, focusses it, bypasses the Conscious Critical Faculty by some method or another and then finally deepens that state to a working level. We are not going into it in great detail in this article but if you want to find out more, there's an example of the construction of an effective 'indeepener' (self explanatory; it's an induction and deepener in one) on the hypnosense site - you would only need to add the merest of beginnings and you have a ready made session. It shows the 'how and why' of the construction throughout. Search for 'construct a script'. I hope this article has given you some ideas for improving your script work with clients. Do remember, though, that you should never take the process of producing a hypnosis script lightly - if you're producing one from scratch, it may need many hours of work before it is as effective as your client deserves. If you are not particularly talented as a writer, it's probably best to begin with a 'ready made' (there are loads 'out there') and doctor it as necessary. Whatever your approach, have fun - that's important! Back to Free Stuff |