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Prologue: The very
early years: First hypnosis & first
surgical case >click< Chapter One: A Historical Digest of Hypnotism from Mesmer to Freud >click< Section One (chapters 2 through 5) Chapter Two: The Structure of Hypnotism Chapter Three: Waking Hypnosis Chapter Four: Nature of Semantics & Syntax Chapter Five: The Making of a Hypnotist >click< Section Two (chapters 7 through 10). Chapter Seven: A Couple of Hypnological Theories Chapter Eight: Self-Hypnosis--Two Methods Chapter Nine: The Allegory Method Chapter Ten: A Sampling of Tests and Inductions >click< Chapter Eleven: A Triad Analysis of a Word-for-Word Induction. >click< Section Three (chapters 12 & 13). Chapter Twelve: Primer for Evaluating Trance Depth Chapter Thirteen: A Short Review of the NLP Approach >click< Chapter Fourteen: Miscellaneous Articles from the WDS E-Zine series. >click< Epilogue: The Future and some Final Thoughts >click< Reference Section Glossary Bibliography >click< Back to the cover page >click< Return to the WDS Library Index |
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The very early years: First hypnosis
and first surgical case
The time was the early 1960s, and I was taking a long
walk from a hospital room to the hospital's operating room. The man on
the gurney was someone I had gotten to know well. He was relaxed and
peaceful, but I was a nervous wreck..."Well this is it," he mumbled
"Show time!"
"Talk to me" Herb said, and I started an exercise that we had practiced a hundred times, while I spoke, I was poking Herb's numb right hand with a needle. "Hey guys! The stars of the show! Are you ready to make history?" It was Doc Scott the anesthesiologist. I noticed he was looking at me appraisingly, as I tried to act nonchalant. Scott said quietly to me, "Don't think I don't know how you feel, Carl, I went through something similar not so many years ago, and with a lot more preparation than you've had." I smiled my gratitude, and he was off to O.R.#3 to do whatever anesthesiologists do to get ready for a complex surgical procedure. One of the suggestions I had given Herb over and over again was that his main problem would be trying to stay awake, and he must continue to fight the feelings of sleep. He never understood why I had seemed so preoccupied about his not falling asleep, and, of course, I didn't want him to understand. I made the excuse that the nursing staff wanted him awake so he could follow instructions. I told him, because of his extreme sensitivity to anesthetic, the residual vapor in the air would affect him and make him groggy. I used the word groggy again and again. I reinforced over and over that the anesthetic smell would make him groggy, sleepy, and tired, and pushed the idea that he should fight to stay awake even though it would be difficult. I then modified the suggestion that if he did drop off, not to worry, I would be there to wake him up if need be...but his most important job was to help the doctors and nursing staff out by fighting the groggy feelings. Of course this was a type of implied suggestion used by hypnotists to minimize resistance. So I smiled thankfully when I heard Herb's soft snoring--so far so good; all the conditioning seemed to be working. But would it be enough? From behind I heard a soft voice say, "That's amazing--this patient didn't even get a Valium!" It was the scrub nurse."Can I talk to him a little bit," she asked? "I'll try not to disturb his nap too much." I stepped away to let her do whatever she needed to do, and tried to relax. I slumped against the wall and let my mind drift. I've always had a hard time believing in things that aren't grounded in rock-solid, hard-core observable facts. Faith is not something that comes easy for me. I sometimes wish that wasn't so, but I seem to have a questioning nature. On the other hand, esoteric things hold a fascination for me. I wasn't in my teens yet when I started wondering about hypnosis.
"You gotta stare real hard" I insisted, stifling my own embarrassed giggle, and so Bobby stared--I was a year older and a grade ahead so he did as he was told. "Bobby, take a look at that hole up there with the sun shining through--don't take your eyes away from it. there is something about that old knot-hole that will make your eyes heavy. Now, as you look at that knot-hole with the sun shinning through, it will get your eyes real heavy." And I kept telling him over and over that his eyes would get heavy--but I didn't really expect it to happen. I was surprised when his eyes got kind of glassy and started to flutter. So I started telling him that he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes open and they would close whether he wanted them to or not. Bobby squirmed uncomfortably as his eyes were fluttering more and more, and giggled as I insisted that his eyes would close and he wouldn't be able to open them again. I was stunned as his eyes really did close even though I could see he was fighting to keep it from happening. And once they did close, I could see him struggling to get them open again. "Okay, that's enough, Bobby," I said cuffing him on the shoulder&but he still struggled to get his eyes open. "Hey!" I said, my voice cracking into a pubescent falsetto, "cut it out--open your eyes!" ...and his eyes snapped open as if they were spring-loaded." I giggled with embarrassed relief, but Bobby seemed confused. "What was that you did to me?" he asked, fixing me with an angry glare. "Hey! You'd better get rid of that stupid book!" he advised. Bobby went home a few minutes later, still acting strange and kind of quiet, and I worried that he would tell his parents of this weird thing I did to him, and I would be in big trouble. I hadn't told my parents about the book, and this was Southern Oregon in 1950. Farm communities had a bit of a Bible-Belt mentality, so I worried I was going to be punished for playing around with "demonic rituals," and at the expense of my young friend's brain! Something had just happened to Bobby that I couldn't understand--what was it? That experience imprinted a fascination for me that endured all these years, and it was twenty-some years before I even started to understand this strange phenomenon called hypnotism. On the farm I had observed that animals enter a kind of spontaneous state during moments of extreme pain or stress. I wondered if there was somehow a relationship to that stuporous condition and what happened to Bobby. 30 or 40 years ago, no one knew why (or how) hypnosis worked--but I learned, to my amazement, that a century before, hypnosis had been an important technique for pain reduction in surgery, before anesthetic chemicals were discovered. I imagined some 18th century doctor in a frock coat sawing off some poor patient's gangrenous leg with hypnosis as the only anesthetic--all with no pain? That was hard to believe, but if that was true, certainly hypnosis was something that couldn't be faked! After my days on the farm, there was some college, an aborted forestry career and marriage, more college, a failed attempt to make aviation my life's work, some stage performances...and then I was working in a tiny office in Seattle, Washington, a psychotherapist, specializing in hypnotherapy. That's when this fellow named Herb, walked into my office asking to be hypnotized. "I'm just curious to find out what it feels like," he told me. I did the usual susceptibility tests and proceeded to do a hypnosis process that was indicated by the results of this testing. His response was about average--not great, but okay. So I was surprised when he seemed disproportionately excited about his response as he rushed from my office. He showed up the next day with the truth. It turned out that he was soon to undergo open-heart surgery, and that the anesthesiologists could not find a general anesthetic that wouldn't be extremely dangerous--because, as he explained, there were allergic reactions. Herb was hypersensitive to the point that a bee sting could trigger anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal condition, especially given his heart condition. It was decided that hypnosis-anesthesia would greatly increase his chances of surviving the surgical procedure that was necessary to save his life, but the anesthesiologist was not able to get the results from hypnosis I had provided the day before. "Would I be willing to replace the anesthesiologist and go into the operating room to do the hypnosis procedure?" "Sure... no problem!" I said with faked flippancy, while adding quickly..."as long as the doctor's would approve." "I was sure the surgeons would quickly veto my involvement. Much to my shock and dismay, I got a call from his physician thanking me for my help and welcoming me to the team! Holysmoke! I was sure I had gotten in way over my head! It turned out that these docs felt a lot of pressure to follow-through on the hypnosis procedure and would be happy to have someone to share the blame if the procedure failed. I wracked my brain to think of some way I could back out. The hospital staff, however, helped by taking me into the operating rooms to watch hours of surgery until I could handle being in close proximity with real bloody procedures. I worked with my patient day after day, hours upon hours, hypnotizing him over and over again. I tested his sensitivity by poking him with needles, and doing everything I could think of that would allow him to deal with the pain and trauma of having his chest opened, his sternum and ribs retracted, without going into shock. Analgesics would be available, but it would be best if none were used, and. . . . . "Mr. Weisbrod..." A voice was penetrating the haze of my daydream& "Mr. Weisbrod! We're ready to go into the O.R. now," and she pointed to my surgical mask. As I fumbled to get the mask tied, she asked me, "why does Herb keep apologizing for dosing off?" I tried to explain that I wanted him preoccupied with the task of fighting drowsiness, rather than the surgery. The nurse just smiled, saying she didn't understand this hypnotism stuff; but added that it was not often she saw such a relaxed patient, even those under heavy sedation. Remember, Herb had been given nothing, so her affirmation eased my tension somewhat. As I walked to the front of the table, Herb looked relieved at my presence, and I started our well-rehearsed procedure. Tell us when we can start, Scott said, and I thought to myself, "as far as I'm concerned, never!" "That's amazing," commented one of the surgeons, looking at the red numbers on the monitor, and adding, "As soon as this guy started talking, the patient's heart rate dropped from 100 down to 80 in seconds, that's amazing!" Before long, Herb was snoring softly, and I thought, "it's now or never." I took a deep breath, nodded to Scott, who nodded to the surgeons. I wasn't prepared for the speed with which the surgeons worked, Herb moaned softly a couple of times, but in seconds they had him open and the bypass hooked up. As soon as the cooled blood was circulated he was unconscious, but with no anesthesia at all. Ten days later, Herb walked out of the hospital with a brand new heart valve. It had been good for me too. I billed Herb $160 for my part of the procedure.
Poor old Sigmund Freud gets a lot of blame for the separation of hypnosis and the field of psychiatry and psychology. But Freud only dropped hypnosis after his unsettling discovery (in the late 19th century) that when unconscious information was hauled back into consciousness, it often returns very altered and in a symbolic form. Ironically, this is something we need to keep relearning--the last example was forensic psychology's use of revivication of memories in child abuse cases. To this day there are people sitting in jail because of manipulated memories. Freud dropped hypnosis at the time, not because it was ineffective, but because he needed a "less compressed" mental state to sort out the real from imagined/symbolic information. With the knowledge he had at the time, the most conscious involvement he could get from the patient was required. Many people don't realize it was Freud's position that once the "language" of symbolic cognition was sorted out, hypnosis would return as the major tool in psychiatry--unfortunately Freud's prediction hasn't happened. I think if Freud came back to life he would be surprised and disappointed at the minor role hypnosis plays in the fields of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Hypnosis is analogous to a jet engine installed on the Wright Brothers' airplane. In other words, too much power for the knowledge of the time, and I think Freud recognized this. I think one reason re-incorporation hasn't happened is hypnosis is just plain hard work, and many shrinks are a bit on the lazy side. Doing hypnosis for an eight-hour day is a grind, similar in intensity to the work of the surgeon. Surgeons, however, seldom operate more than a couple of hours a day, and make mega-bucks in the process. A shrink can expect to make around a hundred bucks for a one-hour hypnosis session, while a surgeon will make at least ten times that amount. So as usual, some of the problem gets back to "follow the money." I saw one study that showed shrinks that did hypnosis throughout the day had double the burnout rate of those relying more on testing, and psychotropic meds. Because of the income problems, there's potential for a hypno-technician to do ancillary work within the psychiatric profession--unfortunately, this potential has never been adequately explored. I worked on this for a time--attempting to model hypnotism training on the program for physical therapists. RPTs are generally the most respected of the ancillaries by the docs they work for. RPTs really know their stuff. But attempting to insert a new ancillary program into a established profession is difficult at best. After all these years, psychologists remain outsiders for medical treatment of mental disorders--some psychiatric (MD) residency programs offer psychotherapy only as an elective. It gets into the politics of certification, nasty turf battles, and a lack of interest in adapting training programs. Look at it this way, allopathic medicine still functions within the 19th-century infectious disease model, even while over seventy percent of US deaths result from chronic degenerative disorders--as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And there are other problems... I've noticed that hypnotism, over my career, has become an increasingly structured procedure. This is due, in part, to the 1970s profusion of popular books and seminars. Hypnotists, of the 18th and 19th centuries, could have worked an entire career without observing the work of another. Nevertheless, according to historical notes, these people did procedures few of today's hypnotists could duplicate. Before chemical anesthetics, a primary use of hypnotism was pain control during surgery. In my youth, the public library wouldn't allow certain books in the public stacks--those that were considered to contain "sensitive material." Some examples were medical and surgical textbooks. Other subjects considered off limits to the general public were books on hypnotism. During my early years, it was a rare opportunity to observe the clinical work of others. In the 1960s, we closely guarded, as secret, the creative methods we might develop. Dr. Milton Erickson, the renowned psychiatrist and hypnotist, was one of the first to allow other therapists to sit in on his hypnotherapy sessions. The good part of this growing openness is obvious, but there is also a downside. Many 1980s and 90s therapists started using scripts. Without a script, the hypnotist's choice of words and timing was controlled second-by-second cues. These cues are hardly noticed by the non-hypnotist, but essential for the hypnotist (or should be) to coordinate semantics, syntax, and inflections. Another problem with packaged programs; it seemed less necessary to develop the foundation of knowledge once considered essential. Here are some of the topics I included in my training programs. 1) A basic understanding of human behavior 2) Foundations of psychopathology 3) Deductive vs inductive cognition 3) Patient workup procedures 4) Diagnostic procedures 5) Testing & evaluation 6) and others. If you want to be a hypnotist, you have a variety of fascinating things to learn. It can be a lifetime quest with some pretty exciting stuff on your plate. After all, the human imagination is the most powerful entity on earth, and surprisingly the principles are not commonly taught. To begin with, it's good to immerse yourself in the classic literature, and allow your hypnotist identity to build slowly. Avoid getting caught up too soon with the "gurus," living or dead. A condition of vicarious identification can overshadow your uniqueness. I suggest you start by honing some of the basic communication skills. Practice leaving each transaction with the other person feeling a little better at the end of the conversation. This, by the way, is the very foundation of charisma. As these skills develop, start perfecting some visual imagery techniques. Next practice some susceptibility tests. At first, do fun little subliminal tests as experiments. For example, find out if scratching your nose transfers to other itchy noses, or play around with contagious yawning. Pay attention to the people that seem the most susceptible--look for patterns. There is a huge group of tests in the ideomotor group. The classic is called Chevreul's Pendulum. Some of these tests can even be part of the production of hypnosis. Most stage hypnotists rely heavily on ideomotor tests. A hypnotist should know several dozen tests, and perhaps use several during the evaluation (first) induction. I routinely used about half a dozen such tests. My suggestion is to avoid getting involved with expensive programs that promise too much. Forget about certification and joining associations at first. Stay away from groups for awhile--there is a danger of the reigning factor being ego-driven rather than learning-driven, and it's easy to get caught up in the psychology and energy of such a group. The best hypnotists are those that tend to stand back, observe, and reflect; someone not so much in touch with his or her power, or even the power of technique, but rather the power of his patients. Here's another analogy: The best jockeys are those in touch with the power of the horse, and the best pilots are those in touch with the power of the airplane. Consider seriously the foundation training I mentioned a few paragraphs above. If you would like to be a clinical therapist that specializes in hypnosis, this is my suggestion. An important criteria for any kind of psychotherapist--as opposed to a physician or a profession ancillary to a physician--is to be broad-minded. But as I use it, I'm not talking about a character judgment. I know some wonderful folks who are very narrow-minded, and some real jerks that are broad-minded To be a therapist--unless you specialize--being broad-minded refers to having a good understanding of various lifestyles and belief systems--and the ability to suspend judgment when dealing with someone whose lifestyle conflicts with your own. I need to briefly discuss a term I don't like--it has become more of an insult than an objective evaluation based on facts. It's sometimes used when one professional group wants to devalue another. The term is "Quack or Quackery." By definition, it's one who pretends to have medical or healing skill. But consider that MDs have been known to call chiropractors quacks, and I've even heard doctors of internal medicine call surgeons quacks. So I suggest a more descriptive term is fraud. An example of a fraudulent practioner is one that suggests he or she holds a something equivalent to a graduate degree--which is a couple of years of formal education beyond an undergraduate degree. A doctorate degree (Ph.D.) is a bilingual individual that has published a studious dissertation on an original subject, and has followed-up with research. All published material must be peer reviewed in an appropriate journal. Adding initials to one's name is risky from an ethics standpoint. My suggestion is to rely more articles and books you have published as credentials. An alternative is to practice under the guidance of a preceptor for at least two years. |
