Speed Hypnosis
Abreactions
So, what other problems can occur during speed hypnosis? “Abreaction” is a contraction of “abnormal reaction”. This is when someone has an unusual emotional reaction during speed hypnosis. One of my students had this happen to him when he was performing speed hypnosis recently. There was much crying, tears, screaming out loud, etc. This happens. So what happens if you’re doing speed hypnosis and you hypnotize somebody and you’re just putting them through their paces and making them forget their name and things like that, and suddenly he or she starts sobbing uncontrollably or screaming. Or, what if the person begins laughing as if possessed? An abreaction doesn’t have to be sad, it could look happy, but when you see them react this way, it’s not really happy. It’s pretty recognizable that something really serious is happening with that person.
So, what should you do when you get an abreaction during speed hypnosis? Well, those of us who are NLPers will say first of all, do not touch them because you don’t want to anchor that peak experience for them. The reason for this is because later on, someone else could touch them on the same spot and it may bring back that emotion again. In this case, the person could experience a strong emotion and have no idea why. So you don’t want to touch them. One method I learn to deal with an abreaction during speed hypnosis from Jerry Kein. It works very, very well. Simply tell the subject, “the scene fades and you tend to your breathing.” Say it calmly, over and over and the abreaction will subside. You may have to say it many times, but eventually the abreaction will fade away. During therapy, often I bring on an abreaction so that I can find the root cause of a client’s problem, so I deal with abreactions all the time and this works beautifully. It is important not to let the subject of your speed hypnosis realize how frightened you are, because when they start screaming, you may want to just run away, but you can’t do that. You started this thing, this speed hypnosis, an you’ve got to deal with it. So, “the scene fades and you tend to your breathing.” Practice this several times before you go out to do speed hypnosis. It might come in handy.
Runaways
Another problem that can occur during speed hypnosis is a “runaway” or a “wanderer”. I’ve had this happen. You’ve got the subject in a deep trance, you’re working with him and suddenly he jumps up screaming and runs away. Recently a friend of mine had a “wanderer” during a speed hypnosis demonstration. He told the a young woman that she was the world’s best dancer and she began dancing all around and came very close to dancing off the end of a dock! She almost made it to the water, but he was watching her and stopped her before she danced off the end of the dock!
Another thing to remember during speed hypnosis is that even though your “wanderer” has his/her eyes open, that does not mean the subject is out of hypnosis. Always formally dismiss the subject by counting up and emerging from speed hypnosis!
