Techniques to influence your client as a hypnotist
Solving a problem is easier said than done. Sometimes people don't want to give up their wrong beliefs because they are not yet ready to really change, but they came to you for a reason. Many people think that hypnotherapy means you put yourself under hypnosis and then the problem is gone. Many people don't realize that they themselves are part of the solution. Therefore, real change is sometimes a difficult threshold to overcome.
To help you help your clients, in this blog I discuss persuasion techniques you can use during hypnotherapy to help your client cross the threshold.
During hypnotherapy, you are often in conversation with your client. It would be great if all you had to do was give hypnotic suggestions and you were done convincing your client. But if that doesn't work, then you need other techniques.
Describe characteristics for behavior
Someone who doesn't like, like or socialize themselves sometimes needs to change their mind. Anecdotes can be used for this purpose because certain behaviors imply that someone also has certain qualities.
For example, if you coach children at the local soccer club, this shows that you are a committed and sociable person. For someone who doesn’t have that self-image but is nonetheless committed and sociable, you can hold up a mirror to them in this way.
You have him/her tell you something about an event and then you can describe the trait associated with it.
This allows you to demonstrate the inaccuracy of a particular belief. You can also start with a personal anecdote so that your client recognizes the importance of certain characteristics of a particular behavior. Then he or she can more quickly accept that he or she does, in fact, possess positive qualities.
Opposites
Using opposites also uses a form of logic that your client can think about. The idea is that if one thing is true, the total opposite is also true.
You don't even have to use a statement that is true, as long as the opposite helps your client get rid of his/her problem.
For example:
Leaving something messy does not clean up well.
Before something gets cleaned up, it gets messy.
Or
War takes care of the state of the world now.
We need peace to make this right again.
After A comes B
Cause and effect relationships is an issue that can be debated. Consider the chicken and egg issue. Which came before?
Another well-known cause-effect relationship is that you have to sow before you can reap.
However, if you can reap without having sown, you need to find another cause. Perhaps someone sowed without your knowledge?
In the case of people who use drugs or alcohol , for example, it is often known that stress can be the cause. However, if you have eliminated the stress and this behavior does not stop, then there must be another identifiable cause.
By stripping away a variety of causes with your client, you can find the ultimate cause of a problem.
The small chance is as big as the big chance
If your client has a problem and has been walking around with it for a long time, there may have been a belief that there is no chance of solving the problem. Actually, you then have two problems to solve, the belief about the probability of the problem being solved and the actual problem.
Then you need to find something related to the problem that does have a greater chance of success, so that the small chance of success in his/her mind becomes a bigger chance.
You can use this in positive ways and negative ways, such as:
Positive: If you can eat at a restaurant, you can certainly get food from the supermarket.
Negative: If X doesn't want to deal with me, X won't want to deal with you (or others.)
In a positive scenario, you create something that is likely bigger than the problem, thereby making the problem seem smaller. This is a technique you can use, for example, to address fears. If you dare to touch a large spider that never appears in your home, then the small spiders you do encounter in your home will no longer be a problem.
In the negative case, you make sure that the negative outcome is a good outcome for your client, and make his/her problem smaller than the major problem which therefore also becomes unlikely.
This can be done, for example, with people who lack self-esteem. If they measure it against other people, the interactions those other people have are the bigger picture. If they do not have certain traits or social connections just like your client, this in turn can increase self-esteem.
Changing the context that makes behavior acceptable
Your client has a problem that seemingly hinders him/her in daily life because of the behavior he/she then has or because of the inconvenience he/she suffers from the behavior of others.
By asking about the behavior and the situations in which it is a problem, you will know the context in which the behavior that is problematic is placed by the client.
You can resolve this behavioral issue by changing the context. For example, if your client has a poor relationship with a supervisor because the supervisor is always critical of his or her work , changing the context could be a solution here.
For example, the client may be convinced that the manager or supervisor thinks he or she is stupid and is therefore always negative.
In general, managers and executives want the very best for the company, which is why mistakes must be learned from. Criticism ensures that the employee, your client, is aware of the mistakes and therefore will not make the mistake (as quickly) in the future.
This actually says nothing about how the manager/supervisor views your client. This behavior may even be seen as nice, because it is indicated now rather than during a conversation about renewing a contract.
By changing the context and providing more information, behavior can be seen more positively by the client.
Or your client may have experienced a violent moment where a man pushed a woman when he was little. Now what if that man pushed the woman out of the way of an oncoming van but that the woman's fall made more of an impression on your client?
Turn the Steps
In general, things in life happen in logical steps. How logical those steps are for your client all depends on beliefs. To interrupt wrong beliefs, you can reverse the steps.
For example: Your client always counts the calories of a meal first and then eats. Now what if he/she eats first and only then counts the calories?
You can also make this even bigger if someone turns everything into a ritual, by reversing this ritual your client can see how illogical the behavior is.
Tell a story
If you are in business and concerned with how to sell your products then you know that there is a new trend that is slowly but surely taking over business and that is storytelling for your marketing, this is because stories are incredibly persuasive.
That power of persuasion comes from the fact that stories go directly to a person's subconscious, and therefore to your client.
The story starring your client as a hero can help your client get over fears and address problems.
You can think of this story as a kind of guided visualization.
By having the hero of the story—your client—achieve a goal they want to achieve, they are much more likely to gain the confidence to take the steps needed to reach that goal. By stimulating your client’s imagination, you also help them become convinced that they can indeed solve the problem without too much effort.
Building on a definition
If a certain definition is true, a derivative of that definition is also true.
With this knowledge, you can present many things as truth for your client to solve his/her problem.
It is generally said, for example, that self-confidence is more important to attractiveness than a person's appearance.
If someone has a negative self-image about appearance and therefore finds themselves unattractive , you can build on this definition of attractiveness.
Indeed, if self-confidence is more important to attractiveness than external features, someone who does not look like a model can also be attractive.
In that case, you can bring out other factors in which your client does have confidence so that that inner strength radiates outward more so that attraction is increased by points other than appearance.
Then all you have to do after that is work on self-acceptance about the body and self-confidence about all the other things that make a person a person.
Would you like to learn more about these persuasion techniques and exactly how to apply them during hypnosis? Then come to a workshop or check out the training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.