Exploring the Power of Suggestion

by Tim Brunson, PhD

No other field so completely, overtly, and explicitly uses the power of suggestion as does hypnotherapy. Yet although the term is frequently used by practitioners – including the general public and those who use hypnosis for other purposes – when challenged, I sincerely doubt that the presumptive user could adequately explain it. Even popular dictionaries fail to give explanations of substantive relevance. Implying – or may I say suggesting – that a suggestion is merely an idea or proposal that may be considered does little to clarify how a verbal, physical, or mental act could influence a future action or state and thus precipitate a transformative experience.

In order to understand the nature of suggestion, one must appreciate the brain's ability to anticipate and simulate. As a suggestive phrase or act implies that something may change in the future, our predictive capacity allows us to future pace a probable condition. Thus when I demonstrably gaze at the treat jar on my bookcase, my dog will have a Pavlovian reaction as she anticipates a favorable experience. Likewise, when a car suddenly approaches from a perpendicular direction at the speed that suggests a lack of the driver's intention to stop, it is clearly suggested that I should show caution and more than likely use my brakes. Indeed, just about every creature is capable of anticipating and simulating and thus adjusting behavior accordingly.

Another key concept that must be grasped is that of potential. When a suggestive act triggers an anticipation or simulation, the brain automatically matches the potential future condition to pre-existing patterns of meaning, which have been previously programmed into the mind and body. Once potentiality is determined through this rather instinctual pattern matching process, weighting occurs. How important is the potential state? Initially a person, creature, or organism will assess any existential threats, which may be represented should the future occurrence become a reality. Thus I will immediately move my foot toward the brake pedal should I determine that an approaching vehicle may pose a physical threat to either me or others. This also means for a suggestive action that is deemed to exist within my peripersonal (e.g. rather immediate) space/time realm, I will place more weight than for a suggestion that does not. Again, this is because suggested actions or states, which are deemed to have negative implications regarding my safety will warrant more attention than others. Of course, a second tier of suggestions would include those that are experienced peripersonally yet give a pleasurable response. Finally, non-peripersonal suggestions generally have a much diminished – but possibly still relevant – impact.

Suggestions must be a major part of any intervention, which is designed to affect a person's health, happiness, or ability to efficiently pursue self-fulfillment. However, in order for it to be used most effectively it must take into consideration the potentiality concept just mentioned. This is because throughout nature there is an inherent tendency to resist change. Even when a pathological condition exists, there will always be an inertia that will seek to resist change. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion summed this up when he stated that an object at rest will remain so unless compelled to change by sufficient external forces. This is very similar to David Elman's statement that the "critical faculty" of the mind must be overcome for a somnambulistic state to be achieved. In my courses I emphatically state that for a suggestion to be effective it must be sufficiently antithetical to overwhelm this resistance to change. Clearly, this is in line with Newton's thinking. This happens when one (or a few) suggestions are sufficiently potent or should multiple less intense suggestions have a significantly greater cumulative effect over time. An example of this would be repetitive "sound bytes" used by politicians or advertisers who wish to manipulate the opinions of large groups.

So, if a suggestion is to be adequately antithetical, how should it be structured? Going back to my original comments about potentiality, any suggestion that has implications regarding the subject's personal space and time (i.e. peripersonal) will be reacted to more quickly should it pose a possible threat. Secondly in the hierarchy of suggestions would be a pleasurable peripersonal-oriented one. And lastly, any non-peripersonal suggestion will have a lesser immediate impact on overcoming inertia. Non-peripersonal-oriented suggestions should not be overlooked as they can play a significant role in conditioning and the attainment of mastery. Also, if the subject's imagination (i.e. self-suggestion) recurringly involves peripersonal (i.e. associative) experiences, using counter-suggestions to move such suggestions to a non-peripersonal (i.e. dissociative) experience may be crucial to an effective intervention.

Even though impactful suggestions that have here-and-now dimensions and negative, survival-oriented implications are the most powerful, this does not mean that they should be used exclusively. When employed they may also create a stressful, fight-flight reaction and change the brain's primary focus to the instinctively reactive limbic functioning. If the goal is to modify cognitive processes, such tactics could retard – or even prevent – the achievement of the therapeutic intent. Therefore, negative or adverse suggestions should be used very rarely. Conversely, positive peripersonal suggestions have more beneficial impacts as they are more suited to cognitive transformation. For instance, getting a golfer to associate into an experience in which he or she expertly putts a ball into the hole with confidence is preferred over emphasizing negative self talk as to personal worth should the putting effort fail.

This leads to the further consideration as to whether a suggestion should be authoritarian, direct, permissive, or indirect. Ill-trained hypnotherapists tend to prefer one of the approaches over another. This is highly unfortunate as it retards the efficiency of the hypnotic operator. Essentially, all suggestions should be given with the requisite amount of confidence and authority – meaning that all suggestions must be authoritarian. When given with sufficient authority, direct suggestions are extremely powerful and can overcome just about all inertia. Permissive suggestions, to include those which indirectly imply the existence of choice, must also be given with sufficient authority. When done so, they tend to overcome resistive inertia by overwhelming the brain's stability mechanism. Hypnotherapists who exclusively use such permissive techniques typically rely on them to disrupt resistive patterns and then rely upon the subject's "subconscious mind" to achieve an alternative pattern. This permissive-only approach is mistaken to be hypnotherapy. It only tangentially improves the efficiency of selective thinking (which is the core definitional criteria for a hypnotic process.) A qualified hypnotherapist may use permissive suggestions effectively as a tool to counter resistance. However, hypnosis has not occurred until direct suggestions – to include post hypnotic suggestions – have been given.

The art and science of effectively using suggestions is at the core of the profession and occupation of hypnotherapy. Knowing how to effectively structure suggestions that intentionally affect the mind and body – to include specifically altering neurological structures – is not something that is done with pithy guided imagery phrases that unleash the so-called wonderful "subconscious mind." Rather what is required is a skill set, which allows the practitioner to skillfully and methodologically coordinate the use of peripersonal and non-peripersonal suggestions together with a mixture of direct and indirect/permissive phrases and actions. Once this is accomplished, a hypnotherapist will have achieved a level of competency, which hopefully one day will become the norm.