Be forewarned . . . this is yet another one of my rather longwinded rants regarding training curriculum and competence . . .
Recently, on the Marknosis list, a young man from Hong Kong posted a query about hypnosis training programs. I thought my response might be of interest to some of the folks on this list. I have edited my responses into one piece here and omitted some material particular to the other forum.
I am a hypnosis student in Hong Kong and I’ve enrolled in a one year program. The school is in Hong Kong. All the school teaches me during the first 3 months is progressive relaxation and take the subject through a visualized park. Is it a normal progress? I am suspecting that they are not competent in their teaching coz I see pretty amazing stuffs being discussed in this forum. It left me wondering are we talking about the same ‘hypnosis’ here.
Hello, I have been to Hong Kong a number ot times and love the city, it’s one of my favorite cities on the planet. Actually, my wife is from Hong Kong so we have family there. I am based in Taiwan so I have an idea what different options are available for hypnosis training in the region.
Your question is . . . unfortunately . . . not a unique one. I’ve met quite a number of folks who have gone through “extensive” training programs in hypnosis only to end up with a lot of general lectures about hypnosis but no real skills in getting it done. This phenomenon is not unique to Hong Kong and your situation, but it still happens quite a bit here in Taiwan (where it seems to have become institutionalized through at least one major organization with a lot of folks going through the “official” training without gaining any significant skill competence and then those folks in turn training others with even lower skill levels – see the HypnoAsia message archives for extensive past discussions on this very issue with some rather “respected” teachers attacking one another for just this sort of incompetence . . . I’ve also met a number of students who have gone through some of these programs who are not happy with having wasted their money and time in order to receive a piece of paper but no actual practice in hypnosis, let alone even the most basic of skill competence) and I’ve met quite a number of folks online who are in the US who have their shackles out to do business as “professional” hypnotists with similar training histories and very little actual experience, knowledge, or skill in the actual doing of hypnosis. While it may be a pervasive problem, that doesn’t make it acceptable.
It is not unusual for some courses to take three months to get through progressive relaxation. Particularly for courses where progressive relaxation is the only induction actually known by the instructor or taught for the course (unfortunately, this is more common than many of us would like to believe). However, I will tell you that while it may be normal for those courses, in my opinion, it is NOT good progress. In fact, the technical term for that sort of a program would be SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS and SUCKS SOME MORE. I know it’s not really a technical term but it applies in this instance. This is my considered opinion as a hypnotist, as a hypnotism and focused trance trainer, and as a university level educator (I teach both undergraduate and graduate courses at National Chengchi University, one of the top universities in Taiwan and I did my doctoral work at National Taiwan University which you have very likely heard of so you have an idea where I’m coming from).
Hypnosis is NOT rocket science. A good solid curriculum on approaches to hypnosis need not take a year. While a good practicum and internship program may include that much time as practical experience, the actual course of hypnosis would be much shorter with the bulk of the time in that sort of extended program focusing on other issues related to changework.
I do have a particular bias towards results-oriented hypnosis and so I would strongly suggest that a good solid background in Elman-based hypnosis along with demonstration and ample practice should be at least the minimum of any course on hypnosis. In any case, go from the basic foundation concepts and move forward. Progressive relaxation is not the foundation. Some folks are still using rather antiquated approaches and teach progressive relaxation as base foundation induction, but it isn’t. It’s a wonderful deepener, but it is not a reliable induction. In my opinion.
Heck, even the Elman basics I prefer to build upon are over half a century old at this point and aren’t really the be-all end-all. Add in some Erickson. Sprinkle in NLP (a friend here has really got my interest in classic NLP rekindled and I am thinking of how to combine my hypnotic work with NLP processes to have both context and rapid and reliable changework processes rolled into one). Then be sure to practice and get your own experience to develop your own formulae for real success at this stuff. However, Elman is a strong base for that recipe. Progressive relaxation is not reliably hyposis, it is a great way to relax the body, but it has not built in systems to test and compound for real hypnosis. In my considered opinion.
As you are in Hong Kong, you may also wish to join the HypnoAsia yahoogroup as it is specifically intended for folks in Asia interested in hypnosis (there are folks on that list in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, and a whole bunch of other places). You might post there with a query on other local courses or options. As you are in Hong Kong, I doubt you would find it convenient to join my local practice group in Taipei, the Taipei Experiemental Hypnosis and Focused Trancework Workshop but we actually do have one member who lives in Hong Kong – albeit, she certainly doesn’t come to every meeting.
Of course, having said that, I do want to stress a caveat that I don’t know which program you’re enrolled in or the number of hours per week or what the specific course goal is beyond hypnosis. I can’t honestly say that the course really sucks as I don’t really know what the course purports to be, what the context of the instruction is intended toward. If it’s actually for something other than simply hypnosis or hypnotic changework, then the progress you’ve made may actually be appropriate. I am doubtful, but I couldn’t say for certain without specific details. Personally, I doubt it could be considered solid progress as I happen to feel that suggestibility testing and then the Elman Induction would be the stronger way to approach basic hypnosis instruction. To me, the Progressive Relaxation Induction is a wonderful deepener but not a very strong induction (I just had dinner with a hypnotist who also studied hypnosis in a year-long program who typically takes an hour in the induction process . . . I “showed” her the Elman and popped her into trance right then and there in a very loud and very crowded restraunt with full hypnotic effects of suggested catalepsy and amnesia as well as some interesting positive emotional anchors all in about four minutes . . . after a year of study on a subject, one should not be shocked and ovewhelmed to discover that hypnosis can actually happen “like that”).
Personally, I suspect your suspicions about your program may be correct . . . but I can’t say for certain as I don’t know the particular program or what it’s specific goals are . . . but if the program is to teach hypnosis and hypnosis alone . . . then, yes, it’s a whole bunch of suck . . . and is very likely to be about three-sucks-to-the-ninth-power-of-suck.
This is, of course, in my opnion only.
The Dave Elman book is excellent and I do highly reccommend it. However, while the book as a lot of interesting material, it is not the only source of the Elman induction.
Here is a copy of the Elman Induction in its pure form as taught by Jerry Kein (Jerry is considered by many to be one of the top hypnosis instructors in the United States; I also took my certification training through Jerry, albeit I was already familiar with much of the material before taking the course; take a look at the “interesting articles” section of Jerry’s site as there are a number of gems there; Gil Boyne also teaches Elman-style hypnoanalysis and his material is worth looking into):
This is a very good sequence and well worth your time and effort to master. I also have an essay on my blog discussing adapting this induction to groups:
As the blog has a a number of essays related to hypnosis in different contexts, you might wish to take a look at it anyway.
My free fractionation DRTRC MP3 file at:
Is also adapted from the Elman approach.
If you go to the resources section of my webpages, you will find a large number of hypnosis inductions and techniques archved there.
The Hypnosis Technique Exchange is another worthwhile resource for techniques and methods discussion (with well over two thousand members). I am the owner of that list as well.
I do teach workshops in Taipei which is certainly a lot closer to you than Los Angeles where a number of folks have suggested you go for your training. I haven’t taught anything in Hong Kong, but if there were enough interest, we could probably arrange one (would give my wife and daughter a chance to visit family). However, my friend Dr. Deepak Vidmar recently taught two courses there . . . he’s back in Taiwan now and I’m not sure when he may schedule another trip to your wonderful city. Nor am I sure when I will go there next. Deepak does have courses in Taipei so it’s worth checking out his rather interesting webpages.
I really do encourage you to join HypnoAsia as that list may have more specific information on hypnosis training and the like in Asia of use to you.
I am curious about the program you are enrolled in, without being overly critical, as you may or may not be aware of it, but I am a hypnosis competence training advocate and have a strong interest in various hypnosis course designs and curriculum enhancement.
My own course design is divided into straight hypnotic techniques and then advanced chagework models. For the basic levels which deal with simple competence in hypnosis and related issues, I would suggest ten days is not out of line for basic hypnosis but unless there’s a great deal more meat to the program than the typical hypnosis training program, three months on progressive relaxation seems very inappropriate to me. However, as I have already stated, I am not certain what the course goals are.
One person responded to your query about your program by saying that in the United States, the progressive relaxation induction is typically taught in less than a day. Others have implicated that this induction is not commonly used anymore. We need to watch out for generalizations in this regard. While some (but not all) trainings in the US spend much less time on the progressive relaxation induction and a number of those spend more time on much more powerful methods, it’s not a difference between Asian and American teaching methods as far as progressive relaxation goes. While I may be used to much more powerful techniques as a base line, there are a LOT of folks around who only teach the progressive relaxation induction and they seem to be taking a lot of time on it. Of course, there are also a number of American trainers who spend very little time on the progressive relaxation induction even though it’s the only induction method they teach in their little one-day hypnosis certification course which qualify one to do nothing but pay a fee and hang a piece of paper on a wall.
As shocking as it may seem to folks who regularly use rapid induction sets like the Elman or who use instant inductions or even those who use non-ritual trance systems such as NLP, 3D Mind, or the like, progressive relaxation is actually the standard form of hypnotic induction taught in many very pervasive hypnosis training programs.
For the licensed professionals, many are unaware of any other induction. While for other “lay” hypnotist programs, they often default to progressive relaxation and spend most of their time on it. I’ve met folks who were actually taught that rapid induction sets like the Elman are not appropriate for most clients as they are “too fast” in getting clients into hypnosis . . . duh.
As to myself and many of the folks who read this forum are well aware that progressive relaxation as the initial induction process is really rather easy, but there are folks who make the whole process of hypnosis way too difficult, implying it is a very mysterious and arcane knowledge passed from master to apprentice and all that whatnot.
In all honesty, I find it very difficult to get my head around the idea that anyone could spend more than a few hours on teaching the progressive relaxation induction, even as a deepener. I can’t for the life of me imagine what in the world folks would be doing for three months with this one induction in a training program as there are so many other wonderful skills that one could explore. What really gets me is that in a number of these programs, not only do they spend that much time on that single induction but the students aren’t even running the process themselves until half way through the unit.
Honestly, most inductions are really rather easy once you have the principles explained, see a demonstration, then do the practice work . . . the real key to competence is solid supervised practice work and lots of it with many different folks.
Most American psychologists I have personally met, and I have met a few (most of whom are very caring, professional, healers doing their best to help people), who have any training at all in hypnosis beyond the single cliche Psych 101 course that says hypnosis doesn’t exist but it is too dangerous for lay people to learn, have only learned the progressive relaxation method. I have crossed paths with a very few very outstanding exceptions to this general rule but they are incredibly few and far between so when I show them how to do what I consider a very basic induction and changework process, they are oftentimes just blown away. Just as my good friend, a verteran and highly respected psychologist, tells me that when he took his first NLP training, it completely turned topsey turvey everything he had previously believed to be true and revolutionized his process from one of longterm hit-or-miss slow talk therapy to very effective highly accurate rapid changework.
Actually, most working hypnotists I have personally met, lay or otherwise, who do not share the same training background or experience as myself either only know or only use the progressive relaxation induction (often, they may have spent one or two hours in their initial training having a few other induction sets “explained” to them and a few may have actually practiced one or two but they are then told to use the progressive relaxation as their standard induction when working with the public). Weird but true.
Training programs that teach other induction approaches, particularly rapid and instant methods, are actually much rarer than they may seem when one explores email lists like the ones I moderate or a few others that exist. The training programs that also explain the mechanisms behind instant and rapid systems so that folks can create new approaches that work in just about any situation (that is, getting the theory behind the process so you can adapt it to any context at any time with any tools) are even more unique.
Progressive relaxation may be a dinosaur (albeit a dinosaur with usefulness as a deepener, particularly when considering many folks’ preconceptions regarding what the hypnotic process should include) . . . but it is a very very pervasive dinosaur.
All the best,
Brian
