trouble being hypnotized please help

[dchow22atuconn]

there are a lot of positive changes that im ready to make in my life through hypnosis, but i have a problem. I cannot be hypnotized. Well, although not completely true because we all experience some level of hypnosis every day of our lifes. i just cannot reach a level deep enough to experience any changes. i have seen a professional hypnotist and have tried self hypnosis countless times. what the hell is wrong with me? ive read so much about hypnosis for so many years and i just cant get it to work for me. is it true that different people reach different levels of suggestability? can people be extremely hard to hypnotize even though the they know so much about it? ive been dealing with depression for almost my whole life, and i want to change. hypnosis seems like the route i wanna travel, but i just cant get it to work. i also have a hard time visualizing things with my eyes closed. what wrong with me and what can i do? please help!!!

[Terry (existing)]

You've read about hypnosis for years you say? That means you should know a great deal about it by now. You have employed the services of a professional without results, and tried Self Hypnosis several times, again without result, now you ask a group of strangers who know absolutely nothing about you to give you an answer as to why you are unable to be hypnotised. I am puzzled to know why you should think we can tell you? Please explain? We don't even know if you did indeed fail, or if you just failed to recognise hyonsis when you met it.

[Don]

As Terry points out, we really don't know enough about you, the hypnotist you went to, etc., to give an accurate reply. However, I can make a couple of guesses:

1) You say you have read so much about hypnosis, but you haven't said what it is that you've read about hypnosis. Remember, anybody can write anything--that doesn't mean it's accurate. My guess is that part of the problem may be due to you have deep-set beliefs as to what hypnosis is, should do, etc., and these beliefs may be riddled with inaccuracies. As a result, although you consciously want to be hypnotised, your unconscious, for what it thinks is your safety, makes you resistant.

Solution: Go to a different hypnotherapist (make sure you really like the person) and let them know that you have read a great deal on the subject. Their pre-talk will alter to help your unconscious be read to accept suggestions.

2) Success builds success and failure builds failure. Your statement that you have "tried self-hypnosis countless times" indicates to me that you have failed to achieve self-hypnosis countless times. Now, imagine that you are an athlete who practices the pole vault and 1,000 times fails in the practice. Do you really think that without some change they're going to be successful on try 1,001? What they've really trained themselves to do is fail, and in this case, practice makes perfect. You have trained yourself not to be successful at self-hypnosis.

Solution: stop trying to hypnotise yourself. When you visit a professional, certified, experienced hypnotherapist, let him or her know what you have been doing with self-hypnosis. Not only will they retrain you unconscious during the pre-talk, but the hypnotist should be able to instruct you (and anchor it) in some form of self-hypnosis so you'll be able to achieve self-hypnosis quickly and easily.

Again, we don't have enough information to be sure, and the above are educated guesses as to what might be going on. The bottom line is that if you are able to focus long enough and have enough intelligence to make a post on an internet forum, you can be hypnotized.

[HypnoSonic]

Don's post is very insightful and I think he hit the nail on the head. What are your feelings on his guesses?

[Merlin]

>i just cannot reach a level deep enough to experience any changes.

Either you are hypnotised or not.
There is no 'deep'.

>what the hell is wrong with me?

Possibly your expectations?

> is it true that different people reach different levels of suggestability?

Not in my experience.
At least not when hypnosis is used.

>can people be extremely hard to hypnotize even though the they know so much about it?

Yes, it's possible.


>i also have a hard time visualizing things with my eyes closed.

Why do you want to do that?

[Jack]

Hello,

There is nothing wrong with you.

A trance state is voluntary in my opinion and for some reason you are not volunteering.

Now, as a mind reader I would say that the hypnotherapist to whom you went was not quite to the liking of your subconscious. Your own attempts were also sabotaged by your subconscious.

The solution is to find an hypnotherapist to whom your subconscious warms. At this point you will experience trance to whatever depth you need.

But, none of the above may be true. Then again, it might.

Jack






there are a lot of positive changes that im ready to make in my life through hypnosis, but i have a problem. I cannot be hypnotized. Well, although not completely true because we all experience some level of hypnosis every day of our lifes. i just cannot reach a level deep enough to experience any changes. i have seen a professional hypnotist and have tried self hypnosis countless times. what the hell is wrong with me? ive read so much about hypnosis for so many years and i just cant get it to work for me. is it true that different people reach different levels of suggestability? can people be extremely hard to hypnotize even though the they know so much about it? ive been dealing with depression for almost my whole life, and i want to change. hypnosis seems like the route i wanna travel, but i just cant get it to work. i also have a hard time visualizing things with my eyes closed. what wrong with me and what can i do? please help!!!

[dchow22atuconn]

"or if you just failed to recognise hyonsis when you met it." How can you recognize it if no noticable changes have occured?

[Merlin]

A good hypnotist uses something called 'convincers' to help their subjects to know.

>i have seen a professional hypnotist

have the hypnotist provide you with an agreed upon convincer.
Then you'll know.