As a practicing
hypnotherapist, I spend a lot of time wondering, exploring and analyzing facets
of behavior so I can create an effective hypnotic script that will help my
clients to achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. I
admit that this has become a subconscious, occupational behavior for me in a
lot of non-clinical contexts, too. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I
automatically contextualize every behavior and emotional reaction in terms of Hypnosis
Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s models of suggestibility and
sexual personality. Yesterday was no different. As I settled into my seat on
the sofa to watch Blackfish with my
mother, sister and her two sons, I was as riveted by my family’s responses to what
they were watching as I was by the content of the documentary. I described
their responses to the film in yesterday’s blog (Watching Blackfish, Part 1; 4/27/14). Today, I will explain the “hows” and “whys”
behind my and my family’s behaviors and reactions to Blackfish as well as those of people who were interviewed for the
film in the context of Dr. Kappas’ model of suggestibility and hypnotic
modalities.
Suggestibility:
Suggestibility (how we learn) is
established by the age of 14. The primary caretaker—typically, mom—influences what
type of suggestibility the youngster develops. (For more information, see my “Sources
of Suggestibility” blog on 12/28/13). My sister, mother and I tried very hard
to not reveal our emotions or thoughts about the film to the boys so they could
to come to their own conclusions about Blackfish’s
Big Question: Do orca belong in captivity? At age 10, the youngest was still
very “physical” (direct and literal) in his interpretations of what he was
watching. The orca trainers were shown smiling, nodding and enthusing about the
information they were providing during a SeaWorld performance. The orcas’
mouths were open as if they were smiling, too. My nephew perceived that
everyone was having a great time and he asked his mother to take him to the
park one day. The picture of smiling people saying that they and the animals were
having fun was consistent with what he knows (a known) as being happy or having fun.
A little and while later in the film, a former
trainer described the day a three-year-old orca calf was separated from its
mother. The baby was being shipped to another park, and its mother was
inconsolable with what the trainer and other marine biologists interpreted to
be grief. How did we, the audience, trainers and the biologists know that the
mother was experiencing grief? The orca was making a plaintive, screeching
noise over and over again, which the scientists identified as calls of distress
and even long-distance location calls previously heard when wild orca are
looking for a lost member of the pod. The trainer who witnessed the separation
and just about everyone who knew that a child had just been forever separated
from its mother (and vice versa) only needed to watch and listen to her to
understand what was going on. This was a great example of emotional suggestibility
(audience and observers), who saw the emotional pain in one creature and then
interpreted and internalized this distress as if it were our own. My youngest
nephew was visibly distressed to see and learn that the baby would never see its
mother again. Could this happen to me?
A little later
in the documentary, a list of human/animal “accidents” recorded at the park flashes
on the screen, interspersed with video clips of a few of these incidents. As he
watched, my older nephew asked why no one had stopped the interactions if this
kind of thing kept happening. He pointed out that it probably wasn’t a good
idea to put humans in a tank with predators like killer whales. This
observation would also be consistent with that of an emotional suggestible: captive
orca + human has resulted in human injury or death several times, so why wouldn’t
it happen again?
I will address how
hypnotic modalities likely influenced our emotional reactions to the
documentary—and visitors’ responses to their experiences at ocean-theme parks—in
my next blog.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2014
