El influjo del islam

In most of these, the key suggestion is hidden or implied within a more complex statement. There is considerable overlap in many of the examples given to illustrate different styles.

Permissiveness

Some permissive styles of suggestion are also indirect, such as: 'Allow your arm to become as heavy as it wants to'.

Embedded suggestions

We have already encountered this technique in earlier chapters. The sug-gestion is contained within a statement and the key words are spoken in a subtly different tone from the rest of the communication. For example: 'You may have noticed that when ... you are feeling relaxed... your limbs feel heavy and warm'. The suggestions, given in italics, are spoken in a softer tone and are separated by very slight pauses. Another recommendation is that sug-gestions of relaxation and calmness are given as the client is breathing out.

Creating (the illusion of) choice or permission

This form of suggestion is sometimes referred to as a 'bind' or, where the response alternatives are deemed to be unconscious, a 'double bind' (see Erickson et al 1976 and Erickson & Rossi 1979 for a more thorough exposi-tion). The therapist offers the subject a choice of responding, but all

possibilities imply the intended response. For example:

Your eyes may start to close now or not for a little while.

Do you want to relax in this chair or that one? (Answered 'consciously'.) W i l l your left hand or your right hand lift first, or will they lift together?

(Answered 'unconsciously'.)

Indirect implications using the negative

In a similar way to the above, the suggestion is given that something will not happen at a particular moment, with the implication that it will happen at some other time. For example, in an arm-levitation induction, instead of directly suggesting that the subject's eyes will be fully closed when the hand touches the face, one might say:

Your eyes won't be fully closed before your hand touches your face.

(Implying that they will close fully when the hand touches the face.)

Similarly:

You w o n ' t be deeply relaxed before you are thinking of a place you'd like to be right now.

Your hand will n o t come to rest back on your lap before you have had enough time to do some useful w o r k on your problem.

Paradoxes

Paradoxical suggestions are similar to the above in that they often use the negative; they appear to suggest to the subject the opposite response to that required, but the latter is implied in the wording. For example:

Parts of you may not be as relaxed as other parts.

Don't go into your trance just yet.

Make sure that you don't relax t o o quickly.

Your eyes may n o t become heavy enough for them to close completely on their o w n .

Try to stop your hands being drawn together t o o quickly.

Open-ended suggestions

Rather than describe for the subject a particular experience, the therapist simply asks the subject to observe what experiences are present at the time. For example, in the case of the suggestion of glove anaesthesia or arm levitation, rather than say, 'Your hand is feeling cold and numb (or light)',

the therapist may say:

N o t i c e the different kinds of sensations in your hands.

Here, the (reasonable) implication is that the subject is experiencing dif-ferent sensations in the hands. The therapist might then go on to say:

You may observe that one type of sensation is m o r e noticeable ... or less noticeable ... than another.

At some point, the therapist may ask what the subject is experiencing and then utilise that sensation to introduce the idea of the desired response. For example, if the subject reports a heavy feeling and the desired response is numbness, suggestions of the heavy feeling changing into a cold, numb

feeling may be offered.

Offering a range of alternatives or dichotomies (or covering all possibilities)

This is similar to the above. It is a 'fail-safe' type of suggestion and may be appropriate for less responsive subjects. For example:

Your hands may feel w a r m ... or heavy ... or comfortable ... or just relaxed.

Your hand may become so light that it will float off your l a p . . . or it may be so heavy and relaxed that it remains there.

Reference to the subject's experiences from everyday life

Consistent with the earlier mentioned notion that the perceptual and experi-ential changes that are targeted by suggestions are all encountered natur-ally, one can introduce a suggestion by first referring to a relevant life experience. One can preface this kind of suggestion with the phrase: 'You have probably had the experience of...' For example:

. . . c a r r y i n g something so heavy that your arm floats up when you let go. ( A r m levitation)

... n o t noticing you have a pain because you are so absorbed in something that is so interesting. (Pain relief)

... when your eyes feel so heavy and tired that they just don't want to open. (Eye catalepsy)

... coming into the w a r m t h of your home on a cold, frosty day and your hands feel warm and glowing. (Hand warming)

... when someone tells you something and you just put it right o u t of your mind. (Amnesia)

Reference to other people's experiences of hypnosis

For e x a m p l e :

It's surprising how many people find it so hard to move their arm f r o m that position. ( A r m catalepsy)

Some people, when they relax, feel very heavy, but some have a light, floating feeling. Some people feel w a r m , and others might have a cool sensation somewhere. Just notice how you experience your relaxation.

As with many of these suggestions, it is important to pause at the appro-priate moments to allow the subject's own response to the suggestion to develop.

Creating suspense or uncertainty about what will happen and when With many indirect styles, the subject is placed in the position of waiting for a response to happen. On this basis, one may argue that the suggestions themselves have 'trance-inducing' properties in the weak sense of the term, and that the response is determined more at an unconscious level than when a direct suggestion is made. For example:

You may n o t notice a light feeling in your hand before you are aware of a tingling sensation.

Explicit use of suspense or uncertainty may be made by prefacing the suggestion with the following kinds of phrases:

I wonder (if, when, w h a t . . . ) . . . (e.g.... when you will start to have a numb feeling in your hand).

I don't know ... (e.g.... if your arm will feel so light it will move from your lap).

I don't know if you know ... (e.g ... what that pleasant m e m o r y might be).

You may not know ... (e.g.... how deeply you are going to relax today).

I wonder how surprised you'll be when ... (e.g.... your arm starts to move).

Questions

Indirection and suspense may simply be conveyed and elicited by framing the suggestion in the form of a question. For example:

W h i c h sensations do you notice first?

Does one of your hands feel a little heavier than the other?

Do your eyes want to close now or later?

Confusion

We earlier stated that one may think of confusion as a naturally occurring trance experience. When we are confused, we focus on wherever the confu-sion lies and try to grasp at anything that seems to make sense. Erickson (Erickson et al 1976) exploited this by deliberately communicating to the subject in a confusing manner, thus encouraging the subject to attend more closely and be more receptive to any statement that made sense. Thus, after confusing the subject, one can slip in the key suggestion in the direct form.

For example, a suggestion for age regression may begin:

As you are relaxing ... maybe now ... maybe not quite now ... you can be thinking about today ... and about how today is yesterday when it is tomorrow ... and when today is tomorrow. ... But today was tomorrow yesterday ... and this week was next week last week ... and if this year is next year, then you are now back to last year . . . .

The confusion method is regarded as useful for patients who tend to analyse the hypnotist's suggestions rather than 'go with the flow', and therefore prove resistant to more conventional methods.

The conversational approach

Many of the above techniques can be expanded into an actual induction that, when written down, resembles more an ordinary conversation about hypnosis. This can be useful as a preparation for hypnosis in which the trance experience is emphasised (first approach). The therapist describes to the patient what hypnosis is like, reminds the patient of relevant trance experiences in everyday life (e.g. reading a book or listening to music), describes other people's experience of hypnosis, and so on. All the time, the therapist is using embedded suggestions as above, gradually slowing the pace of the delivery and softening the voice tone, and subtly leading and following the subject's natural inclination to relax and adopt a more atten-tive and recepatten-tive mental set. Some suspense and confusion may be stra-tegically introduced. For example:

I don't know, and I don't know whether you know, or whether you are beginning to wonder, and I am wondering to, just how ... you are going to experience hypnosis . . . .

Finally, the therapist might introduce into the conversation the 'special place' technique described in Chapter 6. This can be done along the follow-ing lines, with suitable pauses:

One of the best ways to experience hypnosis is to take yourself in your

imagination to somewhere where you know you feel safe and relaxed. A very special

place where you can go to in your imagination whenever you want to. It may be a place you've only been to once, maybe on a holiday. Or a place you go to

regularly. It can be outdoors, or indoors. You might be on your o w n or w i t h others. You might be doing something active, or just sitting or lying around. It doesn't have to be a real place. It can be just a fantasy, or a combination of both.

Then one can give the indirect suggestion:

Either now or in a little while you may find it easier to bring such a scene to mind by allowing your eyes to close.

The 'Yes' set

This is not an indirect method but, like the confusion and conversational technique, it illustrates the idea of the trance as a naturally occurring state of receptiveness to suggestion. In its simplest form, the therapist asks the patient a series of rhetorical questions to which the patient is certain to respond by saying 'Yes'. For example:

Therapist

A n d it's been a really difficult time for you.

Yes.

And you want me to help you overcome this problem.

Yes please.

A n d you agree that it would be really great if you could ... stop worrying about these things. ...

Oh yes!

A n d ...just learn how to relax (softening the tone).

Yes indeed.

A n d do you want to ... relax right now'.

M m m .

W i t h your eyes gently closing....

Therapeutic metaphors and stories

The use of metaphors and stories is another key aspect of the Ericksonian approach to therapeutic communication. In Chapter 13, we provide a brief introduction to this and discuss its application with children in Chapter 14.