Post Hypnotic Suggestion

A post hypnotic suggestion is a statement about some action, thought, or attitude that is given during hypnosis but is expected to be realized or acted on after the trance is ended. Working with the subject to construct an effective post hypnotic suggestion is one task the hypnotist should perform before the hypnotic session.

Post Hypnotic Suggestion in Hypnotherapy

Post Hypnotic Suggestion Helpful for Concentration

Hypnotherapy is simply hypnosis for a positive change. Your client is experiencing some troubling habit, fear, pain or a lack (for example, lack of concentration while studying). The client hopes or expects a post hypnotic suggestion given to them during hypnotherapy to help them overcome their problem.

While some investigation into the origins of a problem may take place in hypnosis, most often hypnosis is used to implant a post hypnotic suggestion. This suggestion can help reprogram the mind to reduce or eliminate the problem or difficulty for which the client sought help.

The implanted suggestion then will come to mind during situations in which that suggestion should replace a previous mode of thinking. This way, the post hypnotic suggestion will be helpful and reduce the client’s problem.

Formulating a Post Hypnotic Suggestion

It is important that the post hypnotic suggestion be one that the client approves of. If you give a post hypnotic suggestion your client finds too surprising or goes against his or her sense of morality your client will reject the suggestion and may awaken. You will probably lose the trust of your client and you may lose other potential clients who could have been referred to you.

You will want to discuss the reasons why your client wants change. Suppose they want to lose weight. Is it to look better, feel better, regain health and vitality they once had?

Then ask how life will be changed once they reach their goal. What will they be able to do that they cannot do now? Once you get to the real, underlying reason you can formulate some visualizations that will “super” motivate your client.

Now formulate those visualizations depicting the client when the goal has been met. This will help motivate them to follow the post hypnotic suggestion. Use pleasant scenes and positive reactions. Perhaps like this:

“Picture yourself at your desired weight. This is the real you, slender, well proportioned, feeling great. You look at yourself in the mirror and admire the results you have achieved. You feel great. You look forward to another day. Your energy level is high and you know you can handle anything with ease.”

Next formulate a specific post hypnotic suggestion that is most needed now. Sometimes you will have a number of suggestions that have been helpful in the past that you can review with your client so he or she can pick out one or two that would be most helpful.

For other cases you can review some of the details of the problem with your client. You may want to get answers to typical questions like: Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? This will help you both understand the problem better and determine how best to address the problem.

For example, an overweight person who eats a lot of junk food (what) may eat at home (where) after dinner (when) while watching TV (when). Depending on what junk food is available, this habit could add several hundred to several thousand calories a day to their intake. This is obviously a habit that needs to be addressed.

You might also ask about how this junk food gets into the house. Does the client bring it from work? Does the client stop on the way home from work to buy these snacks? Does the client purchase them on a normal shopping trip? Does the client or does a spouse bring them home (who)?

Once you know more about a particular aspect of their problem you can develop an appropriate post hypnotic suggestion for improved thinking and behavior. So, you might formulate the following post hypnotic suggestion:

“After dinner you will notice that you feel full. Because you feel full you will be satisfied with what you have already eaten and will have no desire for more food until morning. You can watch TV and enjoy the programs knowing that you feel full and are well nourished. Because you feel full after dinner you no longer need to buy snacks when you go to the store.”

Your client will know that the visualizations and this suggestion are desirable because he or she helped formulate them. Because the client will have a strong desire to make that post hypnotic suggestion a part of their thinking, the post hypnotic suggestion will be even more effective.