In an interesting discussion on empathy, identification, and symptom transfer . . . one of the discussion participants made the statement that one of the challenges when hypnotizing others is for the hypnotist to make certain he doesn’t hypnotize himself into accepting the suggestions or transferring the client’s problems to himself.

Thanks for posting this as it is a new one on me.

I believe this should NEVER be an issue. As the hypnotist, you are still driving the session. Even if you are entering trance yourself, your unconscious should be focused on ways to help the client find solutions to the issues. If a hypnotist finds it a challenge to keep focused and keep the emotional feedback loop clean then they are likely very exceptionally empathic and extremely suggestible to the point that you need to find another route to changework. When working with a client, we need to identify with the client but not with the issues.

Transferring problems from one host to another is extremely rare and implies a therapist who just perhaps needs some therapy to work on over-identification.

The therapist should be oriented on solutions, not problems. The identification for the therapist should be on helping to find solutions not on how the problems are affecting the person or how they might affect the hypnotist if they were transferred. Stay focused on solutions and all will go well.

We should empathize with a client’s problems but we should not identify with them. To be a good therapist, you must have a certain degree of empathy but you also have to maintain a rather healthy degree of detachment so you can do your job. Doctor’s don’t perform surgery on their kids as they are too attached and can’t see the forest for the trees. The same goes to therapeutical relationships. We should empathize but not feel the pain to the degree that it interferes with our task of helping to find solutions. This is another reason it’s not the best idea for folks to do large scale changework with loved ones (there are other good reasons as well).

Now, many hypnotists will enter a trance state while working with a client. Many find it very useful. However, the folks who feel that this poses any danger to the hypnotist are focusing too much on negative possiblities that are in fact very unlikely for most people, especially therapists who are worth their salt. While some folks may suggest doing a preventative or self-protective self-hypnosis script to guard against taking on client symptoms I would suggest that this practice probably has more potential disadvantages than advantages. If we try not to take on the symptoms we’re focusing on those symptoms and the possiblity of transfer too much and that just opens up the possibility of self-fullfilling prophecy for the folks who believe this sort of thing happens (try not to think of an elephant . . . notice the first thing you think of).

Don’t focus on trying to avoid this issue (don’t think of an elephant). Rather, focuse on your state change being geared towards leading the client into state and then allow your unconscious to help you find resources within you that allow you to guide the client into finding her own resources within to solve the issues facing her.

In my opinion.

Of course, this isn’t quite what the original poster was asking about in reference to going into trance while listening to his own voice in a recorded induction which may have to do with a triggering effect based upon being in state while doing the recording and then having the words and tones retrigger that state. Or, simply, you respond really well to the induction set you chose to record and found it very easy to respond again. Either way, it was obviously an interesting and powerful phenomenon.

All the best,
Brian