A client came to see me a year ago with a sugar addiction. Hooked, and she could not break the habit. Hypnosis might help, she suspected. She gave it a try.

An important aspect for a hypnotherapist is to understand a person’s suggestibility. That helps create the changes a client wants. (Suggestibility is how we communicate.) There are two forms, direct or literal, and inferred or inference.

A direct statement would be, “No food or drink is permitted in the store.” Inference: “Thanks for leaving your food and drink outside.”

Until 1975, only 50 percent of the world population was hypnotizable. Those were people who took in information literally. In 1975, the discovery of inference meant 100 percent could be hypnotizable.

Those hypnotized by inference generally did not go as deep as those who were direct. Generally after two or three sessions, a client began to go deeply into an hypnotic trance. By the third session , clients are comfortable with the hypnotist and the process of hypnosis.

It is crucial to know a client’s suggestibility. If suggestions are offered in the wrong way, the session is wasted. Somnambulism is an additional factor. Outside of hypnotherapy, somnambulism is a sleepwalker. Inside hypnosis, a somnambulist is a deep level hypnotic candidate. Such persons consistently are selected for stage shows. Easily hypnotized, they are uncommonly  suggestible.

The difficulty for a somnambulist is that their suggestibility is exactly 50-50. They have no filter to what is said to them.

Often they act on what is said without realizing they are doing so.

The client I spoke of earlier was a somnambulist. She responded to her first two sessions. However, she left a four-week gap between her second and third sessions. She said the hypnosis had worked at first. Then it stopped working. She decided to go elsewhere.

She called again not long ago. She wanted to come back.

I am glad to say that her second time around created positive results for her. Within just six weeks she had 100 percent overcome her sugar addiction.

The difference the second time: She  recognized only hypnosis had helped her.  Now she was willing to do the necessary work to create a successful outcome.

Do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net