'Those who can't be hypnotised'

I don't think that's convincing at all. Looking at stuff in terms of which areas of the brain are active is painting a picture with an extremely broad brush. The activity in the brain is very complex and we can't really say we understand what's going on just because a bunch of stuff lights up, all we have is a more or less vague idea of what might be going on.
Additionally, there are many different flavours of hypnosis. Some of them focus rather more on extremely focused attention than others. Who knows which kinds of approaches they tested, and which they perhaps didn't even know about...

I am one that believes everyone is able to be hypnotized as everyone is suggestable. Now I readily concede that the degree of suggestibility varies greatly from one person to another.

Yes it's the case that some people are more easily hypnotized than others, but almost anyone can be. The generally perceived assumption is that only people who actually can't mentally focus on anything "can't" be hypnotized.

Being receptive to changing a thought, emotion or behaviour doesn't need a hypnotic induction; it needs an openness to learn. That can be affected by what the patient brings (expectations), the situation, timing and skill of the hypnotherapist. I think that some of the best hypnosis I have done is by asking the right question at the right time.

In hypnotherapy, having the right expectations is crucial to the flow of the first consultation. To help prepare my patient, I use a hypnosis test to focus their expectations: http://www.clinicalhypnotherapy-cardiff ... osis-test/

All in the mind, I sored a 22 on your test, and yet I've never been able to be hypnotized. I think you may be missing a few questions there, or perhaps there's a better way to weight them. I wish I was so easy to hypnotize.

Be hypnotised to do what? Have you ever changed your opinion about something after hearing/reading about an alternative point of view?

Yes. And I've been able to lose myself in a movie, and tune out a portion of the drive to work. However, in spite of years of trying, no audio file, live hypnotist, self-hypnosis, automated script, spiral, or anything, has been able to produce even the simplest of hypnotic effects in me. I've never been made to forget my name, or stick my hand to the desk, or even just feel an emotion that I wasn't already feeling.

I can go into trance, but I usually pop back out of it quickly, and even if by some miracle I don't, I can't use that trance for anything except falling asleep.

I long to be able to use hypnosis to conquer my ADHD, and be able to hold a real job, and maintain a stable relationship, and be successful in life. Unfortunately, that's never been the case.

So if, like many hypnotists, you want to define hypnosis so loosely that it hardly means anything, then yes, I have been hypnotized. But if there's a word for actually doing something useful with it, then that's what I've never been able to do.

Surely the therapeutic effect is more important than the hypnotic effect. Your condition may be an obstacle for the effect that you are looking for in hypnosis. Does that mean you can't be helped?

The situations that you describe e.g. relationship, need the other party to interact with you. Being hypnotised to maintain a relationship is not realistic.

Would another therapy be more helpful?

The lowest score possible on that test seems to be 12, giving the impression that you've earned 12 points and are bordering on moderately susceptible when in fact you got the lowest score that is is even possible to get. Is this just a dishonest attempt to trick people into believing "you can do it too!" so that they have increased expectancy, or is there a less distasteful interpretation I'm missing?

Also, I am very much agreed with the idea that "hypnosis" itself should never be the goal, but rather the benefits you want out of it - as well as the idea that often the most helpful "hypnosis" feels like nothing out of the ordinary (until you notice the changes, that is!)

....But do you really not recognize that hypnosis really can extend far beyond a "natural several times a day occurrence" and into the mind-blowing and kinda mind-controlly? Do you not recognize why people might have it in their mind that such "real" hypnosis is more powerful (and therefore helpful) than what you're offering? And how it can make you look like you're making excuses for low hypnosis skills when other hypnotists insist that real hypnosis actually is the kind of thing where the subject does whatever the hypnotist says?

Jimmyh: A boundary needs to be placed somewhere in test results! I do state “This hypnosis test is not a scientific indicator of your personality type, but it will give you some idea of your level of suggestibility and likely depth of relaxation in hypnosis.” It doesn’t say that if your score highly, you can be made to achieve your goal. The test is just an interactive way of identifying with hypnotic experiences (hopefully it creates a more open state of mind for what a patient can expect if they have never had hypnotherapy before. Some people are very anxious about it).

There’s no attempt to trick people, if anything, the test is there to neutralise expectations about hypnosis, what it feels like and how natural it can be (if you read on). I’ve had too many patients arriving with “I had a friend who...I saw on TV/a stage show...so I want you to put me to sleep and make me do X”. At the end of the induction they will say that “but I wasn’t asleep, so that didn’t work!” * despite there being some therapeutic change from the session. They arrived at the start of the session highly convinced about what hypnosis is and where they will be at the end of the session. I will have spent much of the session convincing them that not everybody is the same. They leave dissatisfied. What a waste of my professional time and their money! Hopefully, it stops prospective patients in that category from arriving with those inflated expectations (I don’t need that type of patient; maybe other hypnotherapists thrive on that “type”).

*I agree with your second point (paragraph), that the “change work” is more important than the awareness in hypnosis. But some patients are more fixed on (what they think) hypnosis is. I think that I have done some of my best hypnosis “conversationally”.

Your third point/paragraph: Yes, I do believe that the “mind controlly” experience exists and I have worked with many patients who are that responsive. The induction is rapid and it’s as if they have been made to change, but they are in a minority. This may be based on their expectation (which accounts for a lot of the outcome) but I think it involves too many factors for it to be created on a scientifically verifiable basis for everyone.

“Real” hypnosis exists for a minority, but it gives the majority false expectations and disappointment when it isn’t instant. When a patient has a medical background e.g. depression, it’s rare that they will get “real” hypnosis. I aim to work with the majority and when a somnambulist comes my way, rapid change is effortlessly created. But just because one person gets it, expectation alone may not give it to someone else seeking a personality change (unrealistic goals and expectations).

I just think it's a little misleading when getting 0% of the possible points appears as "12 out of 13 needed to be moderately receptive". Makes it seem like you've earned your way almost all the way there when in reality you've earned nothing and it's just an absurdly low bar. I also think it's a bit misleading when you can get into the "19 and above are highly receptive to hypnosis" category with only 29% of the possible points. Seems like it's graded extremely and deceptively easy, which makes it unsurprising when "I can't be hypnotized" people like Saladinsmith score into the highest category. I wonder what Saladinsmith thinks.

With regards to the rest, how important do you think the hypnotist is in determining whether someone will be able to experience "real" hypnosis?

As I’ve stated in the test/previously, it is far from being a scientific indicator of anything. Your analysis is very helpful and you point to some useful criticisms of something that aims to be a light-hearted, interactive way of showing how altered/suggestible states are more common than people often think. If it is deceiving the public into believing that it can guarantee a therapeutic outcome using hypnosis, then that might come from those hypnotists and public who are already desperate for “mind control” as a universal fix for their condition. The cartoon image of a man swinging a watch at the very start of the test is an indication of its level of seriousness, as is some of the detail in the selected answers e.g. “Q. Do you salivate when thinking... A. Most of the time, Get me a napkin!” The hypnosis test costs nothing to take part in and takes about 2 minutes of your time.

If it is “attention grabbing” in its nature, then I think that the rest of the article aims to neutralise what you can universally expect from hypnosis and hypnotherapy. If anything, it aims to lower inflated expectations about reliable hypnotic therapeutic outcomes because everyone is different. It is not intended to mislead, even if, as you say, the grading is deceptive.

Saladinsmith: I don’t think they are traumatised by the test, they just state that it wasn’t helpful for them. I think that they have indicated that they are responsive to numerous altered states of awareness and have scored highly in the test. They are disappointed that this does not match the success of any therapeutic interventions that they’ve previously experienced. It’s difficult to know the context of their experiences based on their descriptions. Their ADHD may be a limiting factor in the therapeutic outcomes that they have sought. As I’ve mentioned in my follow-up post #8, their expectations may be unrealistic for “mind control hypnosis” with what they have listed as their therapeutic goals.

Importance of hypnotist for “real” hypnosis: As much importance as the receiver/patient wants to give them. In other words (as I’ve stated above #4), I believe that it’s a complex interaction of therapist, skill, situation, timing, need and expectation of receiver, realistic goals of receiver, visualisation abilities, prior medical background etc. This makes it hard for hypnotherapy to produce enough valid and reliable research that can be accepted by the NHS as a therapeutic modality (with a few exceptions). I think stage hypnosis shows build inflated expectations about “real hypnosis” that will transfer into hypnotherapy. Although no deception is intended, it is that sample of people who then desperately want “real hypnosis” to fix them when they could have chronic conditions. Yet they keep going back there because one person did respond well to it.

Some hypnotists/hypnotherapists use that expectation to their advantage and are successful with some patients, some of the time. And just because with “real hypnosis”, your hand sticks to a table following a hypnotist’s suggestion, it can have very little therapeutic impact on the hypnotist’s long-term ability to say, reliably build a patient’s self esteem (“real therapy”). My hypnosis test/article is aiming to promote a realistic belief about its application.

(By the way, re your Interactive Hypnosis site: you may not be aware that Norton is currently blocking your site as a dangerous site with security risks. This might limit some people’s access.)

simple answer:
if u believe strongly that u can be hypnotised, u can be hypnotised,,, if u think you cannot be hypnotised,, u surely cannot.

No, I'm certainly not traumatized by the site. However, I have been hypnotizing people for about a year now -- purely recreationally -- I've probably hypnotized about about 100 people in that time, sometimes doing more than 40 sessions with a single person. In addition to that, my mother used to be a professional hypnotherapist, and I've been reading about hypnosis for many years.

I don't think I'm being unrealistic. I mean obviously I would like a miraculous cure for my ADHD, but realistically I'm not at all certain that such a thing is possible. You can see about where I stand on that in the ADHD thread.

Really though, what I want out of hypnosis is to experience what I've made possible for the people I've hypnotized. I know that much is possible -- at least for people who don't have ADHD -- and I really wish it could work for me.