To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19 virus, I have temporarily suspended in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office, but they will be returning soon! Meanwhile, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE!
Am I Suggestible or Just Gullible?
(This blog was originally posted on January 28, 2016)
Many years ago, someone told me that she would happily give someone the
benefit of the doubt and believe what another person was telling her to be
true until that “fact” was called into question. Her implicit trust impressed
me—especially since this statement was made around the time that The X-Files was at the height of
its popularity. During the late 1990s, just about everyone I knew kept reciting
the series’ famous tagline: “Trust no one.” Some mutual friends liked to tease
her for this gullibility, but I respected her open-mindedness. It’s a lonely
world to question, doubt and double-think everything that somebody tells you. When
I started my hypnotherapy certification at the Hypnosis
Motivation Institute in 2004, I learned that gullibility is really just a disparaging
description of hyper-suggestibility.
Furthermore, we are all probably susceptible to being led down that
too-good-to-be-true rosy path to some extent, at some point during our lives.
John Kappas, Ph.D., a
psychologist and founder of the Hypnosis
Motivation Institute, described suggestibility in terms of how a person
learns. It develops between when we are born through the first eight or so
years of life, through interactions with the primary caretaker (usually,
mother). If Mom’s communications were typically direct and literal—i.e., “I say
what I mean and I mean what I say”—you’re more likely to take other people at
their word because that is how you were taught/learned to communicate. This is type
of communication and understanding is a hallmark of Physical Suggestibility. Conversely,
someone whose caregiver who did not always follow through or support her words
with congruent actions is more likely to always wonder if there is a hidden
meaning behind what was said. For example: Mom tells you to finish your
homework before you’re allowed to play with your friends but eventually she
gives in to your begging and whining and allows you to play first (for just a
little while). In this case, you also rely on the speaker’s tone of voice and
context of the communication/action to infer
the meaning behind her words: She “said” I can’t go play but she just pointed
to the door and indicated I should leave the house. The comparative ambiguity
of this communication creates Emotional Suggestibility.
Now, as very young children, most of us are taught at a very young age
to listen to and respect adults and to always tell the truth (not lie). This is
all well and good until the first time an older relative comes to visit at the
holidays and teases or pranks you. Deep down, you know that Mom has only run
out to the market to pick up some ingredients for the meal; but your grandparent
or an older cousin tells you (smiling) that mom has actually gone away on a
trip without you. You have been
taught to trust and believe grown-ups—and you basically do—until Mom saunters
back into the house with an armful of groceries and you realize that you have
been “had.” Where does that trusting instinct go from here?
Our suggestibility will continue to be challenged throughout our
lifetime. Often, this happens willingly (with our permission), such as when we
suspend our disbelief about a plot-twist while watching a movie or reading a
book, or even when we go shopping for groceries or clothes. Yes, I really do want to buy that chocolate cake/those
Jimmy
Choo stilettos; I just “need” someone to persuade me to give into that
whim. When we are engrossed in a thrilling story or interacting with a highly
motivated salesperson, it is even more difficult to be skeptical and overcome
the power of the hypnotic
modalities that increase our suggestibility in the first place.
Someone who is ready and willing to believe anything and everything probably
possess a somnambulistic suggestibility and go through most days in hypnosis.
(The friend I described at the beginning of this essay probably fit this
description.) As I explained in a previous blog, it is not uncommon for me to
have to de-hypnotize
a client before we can work on the issue the person wanted to address. This
technique is also effective for increasing our critical thinking, logic and
reasoning faculties in the conscious mind that enable us to resist and/or avoid
the temptations to which our suggestibility can make us vulnerable.
Special Offer!
I am extending my May 2021 special offer! This month, when you book your FIRST
(Introductory) hypnotherapy session with me you are eligible for a $25 discount
on BOTH your Second AND Third follow-up, a la Carte appointments! This
promotion may not be combined with any other offer. It is non-transferable and
may not be exchanged for cash. Discount does not apply for hypnotherapy-package
discounts. Valid through June 30, 2021.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. In July 2019 and in September 2020 she was voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
©
2021
Hi, there. I am Tom Neil and I wish to describe how life had been for my younger brother living with schizophrenia and how he had been permanently able to overcome this debilitating disorder via naturopathic, herbal means.
ReplyDeleteMaicon - my kid brother was twenty years old when he was brought to the emergency room by the campus police of the college from which he had been suspended several months ago. A professor had called and reported that he had walked into his classroom, accused him of taking his tuition money, and refused to leave.
Although he had much academic success as a teenager, his behavior had become increasingly odd during the past year. He quit seeing his friends and no longer seemed to care about his appearance or social pursuits. He began wearing the same clothes each day and seldom bathed. He lived with several family members but rarely spoke to any of them. When he did talk to them, he said he had found clues that his college was just a front for an organized crime operation. He had been suspended from college because of missing many classes. My sister said that she had often seen him mumbling quietly to himself and at times he seemed to be talking to people who were not there. He would emerge from my room and ask my family to be quiet even when they were not making any noise.
My father and sister told the staff that Maicon's great-grandmother had had a serious illness and had lived for 30 years in a state hospital, which they believed was a mental hospital. Our mother left the family when Maicon was very young. She has been out of touch with us, and they thought she might have been treated for mental health problems.
Maicon agreed to sign himself into the psychiatric unit for treatment. The whole family except I had agreed to have Maicon transferred to a mental asylum. I knew inwardly there was still some plausible means by which my kid brother could overcome this condition. I knew botanical means of treatment will be more favorable than any other type of treatment, and as such, I had taken a keen interest in the research of naturopathic alternative measures suitable for the treatment of schizophrenia. I had pleaded for some little patience from the family in the delay of the transfer, I was looking forward to proving a point to the entire family, of a positive botanical remedy for this condition.
It was during my ceaseless search on the internet I had been fortunate enough to come across Dr. Utu Herbal Cure: an African herbalist and witch doctor whose professional works had majored on the eradication of certain viral conditions, especially schizophrenia, ( improving the memory capacity positively), via a traditional, naturopathic process and distinguished diet plan. It was by the administration of this herbal specialist that my brother had been able to improve his condition for better.
Before the naturopathic remedy - Maicon's story had reflected a common case, in which a high-functioning young adult goes through a major decline in day-to-day skills. Although family and friends may feel this is a loss of the person they knew, the illness can be treated and a good outcome is possible.
My brother Maicon is just like many other patients out there suffering from this disease. Although he was able to overcome this condition via a naturopathic herbal remedy administered by this African herbal physician and saved completely thus, rekindling the lost joy which had been experienced by the family members.
I wish to use this opportunity to reach across to anyone who may happen to be diagnosed with this disastrous condition to spread the hope of an everlasting herbal remedy that is capable of imposing a permanent end to this disease.
For more information concerning this naturopathic herbal remedy, feel free to contact this African herbal practitioner via email:
drutuherbalcure@gmail.com