Some Things to Remember About Habits

(This blog was originally posted on August 8, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

Most people seek hypnotherapy to change or get rid of (quit) an unwanted habit. Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking, stop procrastinating, improve sleeping habits or any myriad of behaviors, hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery are powerful, effective tools to help you achieve your self-improvement goal. While I do not typically need to delve into your entire back-story to understand why you started, and want to change the unwanted habit, I will need certain, specific details about it to create an effective hypnotic script. Following is some important information about habits and habit-change to keep in mind.

• You must be coming in for hypnotherapy because you want to change the behavior for this therapy to be effective.

• While you (your conscious mind) want to change an unwanted habit, the subconscious mind is unlikely to share that goal. Changing habits entails getting out of your comfort zone (rejecting a subconscious known) which the subconscious mind considers “pain.”

• Hypnotherapy can help create and establish healthier/more productive and desirable behaviors in the subconscious mind to replace the unwanted one(s). However, habits do not begin overnight and habits do not change overnight. Furthermore, the longer you have been practicing that behavior, the more time it may take to change it. Remember, each time you have engaged in the habit strengthened its positive association in your subconscious mind.

• Increasing awareness of when you engage in the undesired habit helps you gain greater control over that behavior.

• Some behaviors may be a defense mechanism to avoid change and thereby protect the subconscious mind from the pain induced by change. In this instance, it may be necessary to address the cause of the behavior (habit) to help you achieve your vocational/avocational self-improvement goal.*

*California law allows access by California residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as an alternative or complementary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they be considered a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or procedures.

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/.

© 2018

Hypnosis, Mind Control and The Vampire Diaries

(This blog was originally posted on October 13, 2014)

One of the most prevalent myths and misconceptions about hypnosis is that it is a form of mind control. This notion is so widespread that several popular books, films and television series have included story-lines wherein a character is hypnotized to do something dangerous, illegal and likely detrimental to his or her survival. Cases in point: the use of “compulsion” in L.J. Smith’s young-adult novels and popular CW television series, The Vampire Diaries.

First, let me reassure you that you cannot be made to say or do anything in hypnosis that you would not say or do when you are in a wide-awake, alert state. If your subconscious mind does not “agree” with the hypnotic suggestion, you simply would not do it. Furthermore, as a certified hypnotherapist I would not ask you to do anything that goes against your moral and ethical standards. Needless to say, it would also be unethical for me to ask you to do so.

Having said that… I find the concept of compulsion in the context of The Vampire Diaries absolutely fascinating. In my blog titled Gullibility, Suggestibility, Hypnosis I describe how a person can induce a trance state in another person and get him or her to behave in a certain way. The process by which the vampires get their victims to act in a certain way—usually, to stay still and “don’t scream” before an attack—is practically a textbook example of how this kind of hypnotic induction works. This is why:

• They have authority. If you are familiar with the series, you know that in addition to their myriad supernatural abilities, Stefan and Damon Salvatore and the vampires in question are charismatic, charming and, of course, very good looking. They literally command an audience when they enter a room. If you are (un)lucky enough to make direct eye contact with one of them and you do not know their true identity, you will be suggestible to their confidence, charisma and physical attractiveness. If you do know that they are vampires, your natural fear about how the encounter might end will induce its own kind of trance. Either way, you will not only will you be told what to do and when to do it, you will be helpless to resist the command. 

• They have a message. That message can be about almost anything, although it is usually an instruction to the unwitting victim that he or she must perform a specific task that will help conceal the vampire’s true identity in the community. Of course, the content of that message is inconsequential for the above reason(s). 

• They overload the person’s subconscious mind to accept the message without question. In this case, the vampire locks eyes with the intended victim and gives the instruction (compulsion) in a whisper or hushed voice. By this point, the person’s subconscious mind truly is overwhelmed by the monster’s charm, strength and powers of persuasion that the individual is willing to do as he or she has been instructed.

Whenever I watch The Vampire Diaries I must suspend my disbelief about how the characters use hypnosis—as well as my own experience of how hypnosis really works—so I can just enjoy the “fantastic” elements of the story. Remember, you would not behave that way because someone else told you to while you are hypnotized unless you would do these things or hold a specific belief when you are in an alert and aware state. Having said that, the next time a barista overwhelms you with so many options about beverage-cup sizes and pastries to accompany your quadruple latte that you actually purchase a croissant you never planned on buying, you were probably hypnotized.

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/.

© 2018

Hyper-Suggestibility at the Doctor's Office

“Patients cannot hear it when you say disparaging things about them to colleagues

out of earshot. But they can feel it.” – Mark Reid, M.D.

Photo by Rick Hustead

When you go to the doctor’s office, you are likely to perceive a lot of things. You will see the doctor’s white coat, smell the astringent odor of anti-septic and cleaning products, feel the cool air circulating throughout the clinic (it always seems so cold in a doctor’s office). Then there will be sounds: a child’s cough, the buzz over the reception area desk instructing the next patient to step check in, the voices of other patients’ chatting in the waiting room, the medical staff discussing…whatever. Sometimes the topic of the medical team’s conversation or the tone of their voices causes unnecessary (and unintended) anxiety and distress.

For example: I once overheard an Ob/Gyn physician call to his nurse, “Bring the cow in here.” Now, calling a woman a “cow” is unkind and derogatory, to say the very least. I was seething. What kind of physician would refer to his patients this way? I wondered, gritting my teeth. Then I saw the nurse wheel a computer into the examining room and shut the door. Cow. C.o.W. Computer on Wheels. But you wouldn’t have known what the doctor really meant if you hadn’t seen the item he wanted the nurse to bring into the room.

The tone of the medical professionals’ voice and cadence of their speech can also influence your level of anxiety or comfort/relaxation during a medical visit. When I over-heard the doctor instruct the nurse to bring the C.o.W. into the examining room, his tone was mild or even indifferent. My hyper-suggestible state intensified my emotional-suggestible interpretation to his comment. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was mocking or belittling the patient and he didn’t seem to care that he was insulting her. If I had been in that examining room, I would have been very insulted—until the computer came into the room, anyway.

Whether you are at the clinic for a regular check-up, preparing for/recovering from a scheduled surgery or an unexpected trip to the emergency room, hospitals and medical environments can be an overwhelming and anxiety-inducing experience. As the smells, sounds and sights of this environment fill and overwhelm the senses, it is easy and natural to slip into a hyper-suggestible state of awareness (i.e., environmental hypnosis). Fear, anxiety and/or nervousness you experience being in this medical environment, combined with any negative emotions/associations you have about the examination or procedure you are about to undergo likely intensifies this state.

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/.

© 2017