Personalised Induction Essay

Submitted By Leah-Tesco
Words: 2018
Pages: 9

Word Count: 1942

“A personalised induction will always be more effective”. Discuss.

Course Code: CARDI1S14

Penny Edwards

Leah St Clair

This essay will be looking at the different methods and techniques used to personalise patient’s inductions to suit their needs, addressing the individual situation to discover the best form of treatment within hypnosis that will have the desired effect.
We will be looking at the permissive technique through the work of Milton Erickson as well as the authoritarian method through the work of Clark Hull and briefly looking at Sigmund Freud at the other end of the spectrum. The use of identifying a patient’s modality will also be discussed as another technique to personalise an induction. This essay will show an argument for and against a personalised induction and evidence to support it. The essay will then conclude that it will be more effective, however, whether this will always be the case can be debated depending upon the desired outcome of the therapy.
As human beings we have very similar attributes, we’re also very different in many ways, including our cultural backgrounds. For a start, this means that we will have been brought up in different environments, providing us with different outlooks on life as well as our values and perspectives. All of this would have a knock-on effect to what we like and dislike in our everyday lives.
This being said, when using hypnosis to treat a patient in order to achieve the best chance of success hypnotherapists need to do their utmost to assist their patients to realise the most beneficial state possible, and work with the subconscious mind to measure a patient’s suggestibility. There are several kinds of induction, varying in approach,, length of time and tone. They can be authoritative or permissive. Although inductions may be quite different from one to another they must all bring the patient relaxation of body and mind, renewed focus of attention, reduced awareness of the external environment and everyday concerns, greater internal awareness of sensations and a trance like state.
Although when we communicate with other people it would seem that we generally do so using spoken language, this isn’t necessarily true as our tone of voice, volume of speech and body language are very important aspects of human communication other than the words spoken in conversation. As hypnotherapists do not have the ability to take advantage of the uses of body language to communicate during hypnosis there is an important emphasis on the language used.
In order to achieve the best possible results therapists must work closely with the individual patient on their likes and dislikes as well as their personality in order to gain their trust and to assist them in reaching a suitable state of hypnosis for the work they’ll do together.
Through his work with hull, his own research and observation Erickson recognised that every individual is different so they should all be treated as such.
A book entitled “Wisdom of Milton Erickson” outlining the importance of observations of individual’s in the process of hypnotherapy in order to achieve success from therapy and reaching the patients initial goals can be briefly explained using the following quote.
“In brief, we need to look upon research in hypnosis but in terms of what we can think and devise and hypnotise, but in terms of what we can, by actual observation and notation, discover about the unique, varying, fascinating kind of behaviour that we can recognise as a state of awareness that can be directed and utilised in accord with inherent but unknown laws [1962].”
In his lifetime Erickson developed an interest in breathing patterns and language and was introduced to hypnosis by Clark Hull but they had differences of opinions in the process of hypnosis.
Erickson believed that the internal processes of individual patients were important to the success of therapy. Through observation Erickson noticed