Hypnosis on friends or relatives

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Permalink Reply by Jonas on August 20, 2008 at 1:26pm

My wife really wants help letting go of stress, and sleeping better, and such. She's asked me to hypnotize her, and I've tried a few times, but I can't get her past a very very light trance. I have only tried a few times, because I keep thinking if I figure out a different induction that might work better for her, I don't want to spend a LOT of time establishing with her the idea that she "can't" go into a deeper trance. I've had a few people tell me even if she says she is willing, it's very difficult due to the close relationship and that I might have better luck getting somebody else to hypnotize her and "warm her up" so to speak. If there is a better option I would love to hear it.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Lee on August 20, 2008 at 1:35pm

It is not recommended to do therapy with family members or friends. You can not remain objective in your role as a therapist. It is not ethical to do this. You can equate this to a doctor trying to do surgery on themselves or a lawyer representing themselves in a criminal trial.

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Permalink Reply by Robert A Roberts on August 20, 2008 at 1:44pm

Who does not recommend working with family and friends and who determines the ethics? Sometimes we do not have the luxury of having other hypnotists around to help family and friends. True family and friends may not take you seriously when you first start practicing hypnosis but I see no problem with helping them if they need the help.

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Permalink Reply by Jill on August 20, 2008 at 1:53pm

Robert,

On the very first page of my hypnotism certification workbook, it says we can practice with friends or relatives to find our talk button. That we could teach them self hypnosis, but it isn't wise to practice therapy or give suggestions.

Peace,
Jill

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Permalink Reply by Jill Semonin on August 20, 2008 at 1:52pm

I was taught that one can ethically work on friends and family as long as no money is exchanged.
But other than that, the only person I had a hard time hypnotizing was my own mother. I guess I am just not an authority figure to her, so my suggestions would not be taken as someone whom she didn't know. So I find that portion is correct. It is very hard to hypnotize anyone of higher authority.

However; I was still able to convince her and drop her easily the second time, because I explained to her that I called my mentor, who is really fantastic at it and HE said to do this...(induction).. and it worked like a charm.

I did the exact thing twice.... with one thing different, so she felt the change. She went under and I used convincers that worked well.... so she knew she dropped.

My children I found were easy.... i do have authority over them.

I hope this helps
Jill Semonin

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Permalink Reply by Robert A Roberts on August 20, 2008 at 2:05pm

Jill who wrote your workbook? I have a state licensed school of hypnotherapy, in fact today I was renwed by the state . There are many schools of hypnosis out there and some "experts" tend to have a big ego . Some of these schools use to offer a 3 day certification. Again I see no problem with working with friends and family.

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Permalink Reply by Jill on August 20, 2008 at 2:24pm

Robert,

I took my course under the instruction of Jeff Oatman of World Hypnosis. He has been a hypnotist for over 10 years. The material is approved and protected by the NGH. It didn't really elaborate on the reasons why not to and I'd like to know.
I didn't ask at the time I took the course.
I'm new in the field and would never want to cross any boundaries especially with those close to me. I don't think I'd be causing any harm in doing a couple nail biting sessions with my son, however I still felt the need to consult with my more experienced peers.

Jill

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Permalink Reply by Conrad Cook on August 22, 2008 at 6:00am

While the rule is there, all of the master hypnotists who I've heard talk about their personal lives have broken that rule: either habitually, or on occasion.

The rule makes sense, and the argument against you helping your son with nail-biting runs like this:

Are you prepared for the possibility that your son bites his nails as a consequence of the stress and fear resulting from that time that he thought you'd lost him in the grocery store? Are you fully confident that, even if you yourself were able to set aside your emotions and run him through it correctly, that *he* would feel entirely comfortable expressing all of those scary, pent-up emotions all at once, knowing you are in the room? Are you certain that, if he were to express those emotions, it wouldn't be somehow damaging to your mother-son relationship, if not on your end then perhaps on his?

--Now, with all that said, it's entirely possible that your son's nail-biting is just a habit, with no dissociated emotion driving it. And if you treat it with the tools of habit control, it will probably either work or not, and it's unlikely that direct suggestion would cause the kind of turmoil you see with half-done regression work.

So: that's the reasoning for the rule: plus, a hypnotist's job is largely to serve the subject's best interests, and family members have an unfortunate tendency of knowing better than we do where our best interests lie -- that's more about shaping a person's character than about habit control.

So that's the other half of the answer to your question.

With all of that said, I've done small interventions of the kind you're talking about with loved ones, and had it work out well.


Conrad.

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Permalink Reply by Jill on August 20, 2008 at 3:05pm

Jill,

What induction did you use if you don't mind me asking.

Peace,
Jill

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Permalink Reply by Jill Semonin on October 17, 2008 at 12:04pm

I used the arm raising. Both times.
Sorry I didn't see this before....

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Permalink Reply by Paula Saxon Nongard on August 20, 2008 at 1:58pm

There is no clinical reason not to hypnotize them, but how a client percieves the hypnotist is half the value. A friend or family member will not view you as a hypnotist first. And a child may view the parent as controlling rather than helpful, and even distrust them... Even I have friends and family that wont let me hypnotize them, and one Son still thinks its B.S. even though hypnosis has been feeding him for years...

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Permalink Reply by Jill on August 20, 2008 at 2:34pm

Paula,

Thanks for the feedback.
I would have let the matter rest but he is insistent that I can help him. I'd rather give him some answers at this point rather than keep brushing him off. He thinks its great what I'm doing...maybe that's half the battle.

Peace,
Jill

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