Don ’ t get me wrong . The capacity to analyse and deconstruct reality has some vital uses in life . But if the tool is over applied , such overintellectualism can prevent spontaneous and creative thinking and block a person from experiencing hypnotic trance .
One particular client springs to mind . Andrew had to logically weigh up everything . If you made a joke , he would be more likely to think about it than react to it . And it was he who volunteered for my first demonstration of hypnosis for the day .
Being methodically analytical is a wonderful tool , but not necessarily a tool you want to use exclusively . Other parts of the mind need to be developed and used in order to gain fresh insights and capacities . I wanted to appeal to Andrew ’ s unconscious mind , but in order to do that I had to somehow bypass his powerful , if laborious , conscious mind .
Going off script with hypnotic confusion
After a little conversation , I used the words I began this piece with . Andrew blinked rapidly for the first time and started to look a little glassy eyed . The confusing nature of my words had tied up his conscious attention to such an extent that , while his conscious mind was preoccupied with unwrapping what I ’ d said , I was able to begin to communicate with his unconscious mind .
At that point I saw that I had interrupted the mechanical and automatic flow of analysis . A mild shock is hypnotic in that certainties are shaken . We can be shocked to some extent by being confused . Shock triggers the same electrical signalling in the brain ( the
PGO spike ) as is activated when we start to dream at night . This is why things can seem to go in slow motion or feel quite dream-like during , say , a car accident .
But what are the potential benefits of confusion in the mind ? And why do hypnotherapists use it to induce trance and enable the mind to develop new ways of responding to life ?
The healing potential of confusion In order to learn , we need to be open to experience . We need to come out of mechanical consciousness , which has us approaching reality predictably and automatically .