Direct & Indirect Hypnotic Suggestion

When it comes to a contrast and comparison between direct and indirect hypnotic suggestion, one must always be willing to use both, but the trick is to know which method to use when.

Various past studies suggest that between five and twenty percent of the population (depending where the region of tests are located) are natural somnambulists. These natural somnambulists are the stage hypnotists ideal, because they follow hypnotic suggestions easily and directly, yet I’m sure that depending upon the situation even a natural somnambulist will refuse a hypnotic suggestion.

Milton Erickson suggests the use of indirect hypnotic suggestion yet, once a subject is in a deep trance he proceeds with direct forms of hypnotic suggestion. Milton Erickson’s quote “In psychotherapy, it is always better to get things happening indirectly” (Creative Choice of Hypnosis, Ernest Rossi, 1992, pg. 152), literally means as he states “having things occur indirectly”. Milton Erickson would begin with a very small change in the person, which would domino into greater changes. He did not necessarily mean the use of indirect hypnotic suggestion at all times, but that the desired changes happened as a byproduct of some new behavior.

For example, if he wanted a 400 pound person to loose weight, rather than offer indirect hypnotic suggestion to eat less, he might provide direct wording for the person to maintain a healthy full figure of 395 pounds, which would lend to an indirect loss of five pounds coming from a direct hypnotic suggestions. Milton Erickson seemed to enjoy this form of direction, which could also be considered simple semantics.

Studies have shown both that direct and indirect hypnotic suggestion are equally effective, but do not state much else. When people want to change, but cannot, I do not believe that, direct hypnotic suggestion will ever work, unless the person is in a medium to deep trance, and even at that point, some form of indirection would probably be more successful.

It is also known that when in a medium to deep trance with one’s critical faculty bypassed, the unconscious responds best to direct hypnotic suggestion, because one tends to comprehend with the literalness of a seven year old child. Due to this, the simplicity and directness of the hypnotic suggestion is critical, along with the hypnotic language used leading to the hypnotic suggestion, so that all associations direct toward whatever is desired.

Here below you will find some example's of both direct, and indirect hypnotic suggestions along with their respective advantages, and disadvantages:

Direct form of hypnotic communication are as follows:
- close your eyes, and take a deep breath
- from this point you will not smoke
- you will only eat, non-fattening healthy foods.

Advantages of direct forms of hypnotic suggestion are:
- Dealing directly with the matters at hand overtly lets the client know that you are working on her desired situation.
-Direct hypnotic suggestions keep the client focused on the matter/s at hand.
-Direct forms of hypnotic communication allow one’s subject to actively participate.
-Direct forms of hypnotic communication allow for the formation of a conscious problem-solving strategy within the client.

Disadvantages of direct forms of hypnotic suggestion are:
- An over-reliance of the conscious mind’s willingness, and ability to follow directions.
- Direct forms of hypnotic suggestion often bring up client’s resistances which are often unconsciously activated, even if the client really desires the change, due to unconsciously formed secondary gains achieved in relation to the challenge at hand.

Indirect forms of hypnotic communication are subtle, unobtrusive, and quite covert, allowing the client to take meaning from them in an idiosyncratic way using the resources of the unconscious mind. Indirect hypnotic suggestions can be offered in many forms including that of metaphor, jokes, assignments, subliminal suggestion, and can even be offered using pantomime techniques, or simply a description of what someone else has done, because once heard, the listener, if paying attention, has to do it in her own mind in order to understand what was just said.

Advantages of indirect form of hypnotic communication are as follows:
- The utilization of the clients own resources using her unconscious mind.
- Quite often due to new associations and understandings there are less resistances to battle.
- Allowing for the client’s own resources to encompass the changework at hand demonstrates a greater respect for her rather than having her follow orders.

Disadvantages of indirect forms of hypnotic suggestion are:
- The client may fear that the hypnotherapist cannot deal with the matters at hand,
- Once the problem is solved the client may be confused as to how the changes occurred,
- The client may not have a conscious problem solving strategy for utilization in the future.

As a general rule, I find it best to work with indirect hypnotic suggestion, and associations in order to bypass one’s critical faculty, in turn allowing for the subject’s own unconscious mind to react in a way best for him, or her. This can be accomplished a number of ways, such as this; if I want someone to write a letter to their mother, I might offer the suggestion that I am writing a letter to my own mother to inform her about something. This would in turn bring about thoughts of the person’s own mother, possibly giving them the idea of writing, or contacting the mother in some way.

One of my favorite lines from one of Milton Erickson’s books goes something like this “be careful not to put your pajamas on backwards once you’re done in the bathroom, before bed”. Erickson was known to have used this line on his children to get them to brush their teeth before bedtime, rather than tell them directly. This way the child wouldn’t argue, but instead, would have their concerns directed at dressing properly, while knowing that the reason for being in the bathroom was to brush their teeth.

I have also found it very useful when offering hypnotic suggestion to provide either the suggestion, association, or both within the persons least used representational system. This offers the unique quality that provides for a minimum of interference from a persons own conscious intrusion. A simple example might be the addition of a rose scent in the air when speaking of a gift for someone. There is a great chance that the scent will bring up thoughts and images of roses along with whatever other association the person might have formed.

It is best to use indirection, when a person’s critical faculty is up and running, but as a subject enters deep hypnosis, direct hypnotic suggestions provide for a greater direction.

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