Due to certain shows and television programs, suggestive techniques have been greatly damaged, they have lost credibility and are perceived as a kind of spell through which a hypnotist can get anything from another person. From being a musical prodigy to being absolutely ridiculous.
Nothing could be further from the truth, Suggestion is a highly studied psychological process and that, carried out by qualified health professionals, can be of great help in certain cognitive-behavioral treatments.
In literal terms, the psychological process that allows the mental manipulation of other people through a series of techniques is known as suggestion; other people, media or all types of agents such as music or books, They have the ability to guide or direct people’s ideas, emotions or behaviors.
Although traditionally associated with hypnosis, suggestions are effective and commonly used in other settings where the person is outside of a hypnotic state. For example, advertising in the media has always been accused of manipulating our behavior to achieve its own ends and benefits.
However, suggestion can exert enormous power over our behavior, as well as the way we perceive reality. But for this, the ability of a person or agent to exercise suggestion is equally important, as is how suggestible or manipulable the target person is.
This means that a highly suggestible person is susceptible to being manipulated by any agent without them realizing it. In these cases it is very likely that she will be carried away by what is transmitted in the media, advertisements and publicity or by what other people tell her.
Its application in hypnosis and clinical practice
As described in the previous point, suggestion has traditionally been associated with hypnosis practices. And although they are closely related, there are some factors that differentiate them. By hypnosis we can understand the complete process through which the person is immersed in a mental state of trance or altered consciousness, while suggestion would be the specific act of transmitting a certain message or information to the person.
Nevertheless, There is extensive debate about whether hypnosis or the hypnotic state is a real trance state or if, on the other hand, the behavioral alteration is explained through motivational factors or conditions such as the person’s attitude or expectations. Although for many years these techniques have been highly questioned, in recent years a progressive increase in their use in clinical and health contexts, both physical and psychological, has been observed.
The main reason why these procedures have traditionally been greatly doubted is that they have been represented as an almost magical practice in which a person, who looked more like a magician or sorcerer than a psychology professional, exercised a series of spells. about the other that led him to behave in an eccentric or strange way. However, various studies have shown that, carried out seriously and always by a professional in psychology and hypnosis, suggestive techniques They can be considerably effective as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral treatments.
This means that, according to this research, treatments for a series of specific conditions or ailments that are accompanied by some sessions that include hypnotic techniques are more effective than if they are carried out without them.
These interventions include treatments to stop smoking and some behavioral addictions, management of physical pain, sleep disorders, weight loss processes or nocturnal enuresis in children; for which hypnotic processes have been shown to be highly effective.
In the same way, many other experts highlight the possible effectiveness of hypnotic techniques such as part of cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of emotional disorders such as anxiety or depression.
There is an extensive classification of the types of suggestion, which are distinguished according to whether it is done directly or indirectly, according to the moment in which the effect of the suggestion is carried out or depending on the reaction that is expected to be provoked.
Direct or indirect suggestion
The first classification is that which distinguishes between direct and indirect suggestions.
1. Direct suggestion
Also known as authoritarian, in this type of suggestion the person is directly told what they are intended to experience. For example: “Notice how your eyelids are getting heavier and heavier.”
2. Indirect suggestion
Incorrectly called permissive suggestions, in this case an attempt is made to obtain a response without the person’s conscious consent. They are especially useful for skeptical people or suspicious of the treatment.
Suggestions according to the moment
On the other hand, depending on whether or not the effects of the suggestion end at the end of the hypnotic intervention, we can differentiate between hypnotic suggestions or post-hypnotic suggestions.
1. Hypnotic suggestions
When referring to hypnotic suggestions we are talking about those that begin when the professional begins the suggestive technique and end with the end of the hypnotic state. That is to say, The person will only experience the effects of hypnosis for the duration of the session.
2. Post-hypnotic suggestions
In this second type of suggestions, more used in clinical practice, the suggestions are given or ordered during the session, but are experienced by the person once it has ended. The intention is for the person to modify their behavior or thinking in daily life, not only throughout the consultation.
The last and most extensive classification is the one that divides the types of suggestion according to the reaction that is intended to be obtained. In this case we can distinguish between the following.
1. Motor suggestions
Motor suggestions aim at a physical or motor response. This includes both the induction of certain movements and their inhibition. Through them you can get a person to move any of their joints or, on the contrary, plunge her into a state of paralysis or catalepsy.
2. Sensory-physiological suggestions
By sensory-physiological suggestions we mean the induction of all those responses related to the psychophysiology of the person as well as with proprioceptive capacity.
Examples of these suggestions are those that attempt to provoke or inhibit in the person sensations of pain, changes in temperature, heaviness or any sensation related to the senses, with the exception of life and the auditory sense, which are included in cognitive suggestions. -perceptive.
3. Cognitive-perceptual suggestions
Finally, cognitive-perceptive suggestions refer to reactions provoked in higher mental processes such as memory, as well as auditory and visual sensory processes.
Therefore, through suggestive techniques, a person’s ability to perceive a specific stimulus can be altered, as well as causing a type of hallucinations or visual or auditory images.
However, it is necessary to specify that these hallucinations They have nothing to do with what traditional hypnosis shows aim to provoke or pretend to achieve as well as the hallucinations experienced in certain psychiatric disorders.
