The role of hypnotic induction, deepening and emerging techniques in formal hypnosis

As Michael Yapko once famously stated, the hypnotic process is about ‘being hypnotic’ rather than ‘doing hypnosis.’ Client receptivity is built through the quality of the connection and carefully chosen words, and absorption begins way before formal hypnosis which, in any case, is more about subtle two-way communication than something administered. Inductions are therefore not strictly necessary.

However, the ritual provides a powerful framework for ensuing suggestions and therapeutic work through enhancing relaxation, expectation and suggestibility, and through encouraging focus on the hypnotist’s voice while everything else becomes peripheral. Over time, clients get more skilled at responding and therapists at delivering. Sensitivity to signs of resistance or absorption, flexible interaction, good timing, and an authoritative yet reassuring voice delicately shifting from conversational to hypnotic tone and pace are cornerstones of success, as are carefully structured instructions for behavioural and cognitive strategies (e.g. ‘look at me and think only of sleep’) and progressive sensory and motor suggestions (e.g. ‘your eyelids are getting heavy’).

A classic induction technique involves eye-fixation: the client focuses on a point located at the height of their forehead, imagining a bright light shining into their eyes, until their eyelids are getting heavier as they grow tired even as they try to keep them open. The hypnotist continually suggests and describes this happening until it naturally does. Seemingly paradoxically, the more the client consciously tries to keep their eyes open the more they want to close, which is what they are told to imagine. Variations on this include the client watching an object gradually moving closer to their eyes, effectively defocusing them so they want to close. This is even quicker when combined with a five-to-zero countdown interspersed with the suggestions. Another rapid technique has the client count backwards aloud from 100 with their voice quietening a little more with each number they count as they imagine going to sleep. Ericksonian hypnosis, by contrast, involves no counting, and it is a lot less directive: although suggestions (e.g. arm catalepsy) are given, they tend to be indirect and permissive, and the whole process until eye closure can take much longer.

Deepening further enhances client absorption as the focus and intensity of their experience are amplified. Techniques often stimulate imaginal absorption through visualisation. A common deepening technique is a variation of progressive muscle relaxation: clients scan body parts in turn, relaxing more and more. Another effective deepener involves the therapist counting down while repeatedly inserting the word ‘sleep,’ which encourages a sleep-like state (as do certain breathing techniques). Added guided imagery (e.g. a flight of stairs leading to a safe place deep inside oneself) provides a more gentle descent. To further deepen the experience one can add fractionation, a technique where with each number a suggestion is given to relax twice or even a hundred times as deep, etc.

Emerging, finally, is designed to gently help clients reorient themselves and become gradually aware of their surroundings again after hypnosis. It essentially reverses the induction. An effective induction (typically but not necessarily while counting down) is delivered with the voice gradually slowing down, getting deeper, directed downwards, while clients are best emerged with a voice that gradually gains momentum (typically while counting back up). The hypnotic effect of any intervention ultimately depends on congruence – well-chosen words spoken with confidence and an engaging, suggestive voice in sync with the content delivered. Emerging techniques vary depending on the client’s presenting issue and the situation: do they want to feel calm or energised upon waking? Finally, one is well advised to make good use of the first minute right after emerging as clients are still very suggestible.