One of the top issues being debated in our industry is the acceptance of "erotic" or "Fetish" hypnosis. In recent years, many porn sites have incorporated hypnosis as the "gimmick" they use to attract customers, just as they have also incorporated hot girls on motorcycles, leather wear, or high heels as the key focus, in order to differentiate their porn from others. Admittedly, these websites and sellers of porn DO have a high profile, selling "hypnoporn" in the same way as any other porn site markets a product, and in most cases, with fake hypnosis anyway.
However, this note is not about porn, because while "hypnoporn" may attract what some deem as negative or undesirable attention to erotic hypnosis, I want to discuss erotic hypnosis as a legitimate study or experience.
Sex is unquestionably the domain of marriage and family therapy, and I am a licensed marriage and family therapist. About 13 years ago, I first learned about stage hypnosis and saw my first stage hypnosis show at an "adult" comedy club. Although I had been doing clinical hypnosis since grad school, what I practiced was nothing like what the stage hypnotist did…. He had people simulating sex with chairs, experiencing orgasms on-stage with just the shake of a hand, and manifesting sexual phenomena in seconds.
I have to admit, I was SHOCKED!
Therefore, I immediately went to my clinical supervisor, an Ericksonian trained hypnotist and psychologist, who promptly educated me of the 'evils' of stage hypnosis.
Nevertheless, I kept thinking, “If that stage hypnotist can get people on stage to respond sexually in mere moments, how come in traditional therapy it takes me months to deal with sexual dysfunction? What if a marriage and family therapist could bring the power of stage hypnosis to couples counseling and provide solutions to sexual performance issues in one session, rather than seven months of insight-oriented or cognitive-behavioral therapy!!??"
And so I disregarded my supervisor’s warnings and began my studies of stage hypnosis - and today, I practice both stage hypnosis and clinical hypnosis, as well as professional psychotherapy. Hypnosis, wahtever its label new age, mystical, erotic, stage, "clinical", medical, is still hypnosis, and every branch of hypnosis can benefit from an understanding and respect for the other branches. Each has much to offer.
Back to the original subject: Erotic hypnosis.
Let us not mistake sellers of porn using hypnosis as their sales gimmick for what erotic hypnosis really is. It seems that some of the hypnosis organizations have recently chosen to take a stand, essentially blackballing any hypnotist who offers or engages in "erotic hypnosis."
Is this really a good idea?
Our profession is a big tent, and under this tent you will find those who practice past-life regression, medical anesthesiology, psychiatry, sports performance, prosperity enhancement and more, because hypnosis is effective for impacting these issues. It can be used for cancer treatment, recovery from surgery, pre-surgical preparation, learning disorders, test-taking performance, health and wellness, decision-making, focus and concentration, the alleviation of fears and anxiety, therapeutic relaxation, management of depression, and many more things as well. Of course, lets not forget smoking cessation and weight loss.
As “professionals,” should we avoid the "erotic" side of hypnosis? In seventh grade Science class, we learned that there are seven systems of the body - and one of them is the REPRODUCTIVE or sexual system. So, according to seventh grade science, essentially one/seventh of who we are is sexual.
I will state that hypnosis, when properly done, brings a sense of pleasure and wellbeing, and that sex itself is hypnotic and produces a trance state. So, should professionals avoid “erotic hypnosis,” because it appeals to the base biological drives and pleasures of who we are as individuals? I think it is actually impossible. Since trance is natural phenomena, everyone in the world is already practicing erotic hypnosis!
Should professional hypnotists impose a blanket ban on "erotic hypnosis" because some adults who enjoy sex from a very basic need/drive or carnal perspective, with perhaps different moral convictions than the majority, may bring embarrassment or attention to hypnosis?
Now I am a therapist, and I have certainly shared my biases already in the very way that I have written this article. But for me, the applications of hypnosis to enhancing couples intimacy, sexual satisfaction or even helping people understand or experience fantasies seems healthy. And perhaps it is precisely because I am a therapist that I feel no threat from those whose sexual behavior is different than mine, but value trance and its application to enhancing sexual enjoyment.
Until the Internet, things like "hypno fetishes" were probably relegated to the private discussion of a few, and most people never thought of joining a group, sharing techniques or ideas regarding sexual enhancement through hypnosis, or even promoting hypnosis in a sexual manor. But today, at Amazon.com, my second best selling item is "Hypnotic Sex: Igniting Sexual Passion in the Bedroom by Learning to Hypnotize your Lover." And despite the catchy title, being a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Clinical Hypnotist, I created it for couples to enjoy each other to the fullest.
And isn’t that the proper use of hypnosis?
Sure, "hypnoporn" sites often look tacky. I have never produced, consulted or worked with a porn site. But I do think Erotic Hypnosis does have a place in our profession, because it has a place in our real lives. To exclude this as a topic for professionals, or to fail to recognize that it can be utilized by professionals to help couples share all that life has to offer, is quite limiting.
As a final point, if some in the hypnosis community choose to excommunicate "erotic hypnotists" -by whose standards to we do this? Undoubtedly, much of the "hypnoporn" is fake; hypnosis is merely the gimmick. But in real stage hypnosis, do we say that on stage, PG is too much? Or R? Or X-rated? And by whose standards will these ratings come from? A G-rated show will not SELL in Las Vegas - it is an adult playground where ‘adult’ themes are the standard - even though in reality, the most ‘adult’ show in Vegas is no stronger than any R-rated movie.
As far as erotic hypnosis for lovers goes, by whose standards to we judge what is appropriate or not? It seems to me that excluding any group of hypnotists based on a perceived "indiscretion" sets the stage for fragmentation rather than creativity. Certain organizations forbid stage hypnosis in its entirety, and this stifles creativity. I became a much more effective marriage and family therapist AFTER becoming a stage hypnotist.
Excluding the reasoned study or demonstration of erotic hypnosis won’t make it go away. After all, everytime anyone has sex, they have entered a trance state. And, by embracing erotic hypnosis, perhaps we can take it back from the hucksters faking it to sell porn....
Any thoughts?