cal aids, it is agreed that we are primarily
interested in seeing the subject feel better or achieve whatever goals
he seeks through the intelligent application of self-hypnosis. If a
hypnotic aid will help the subject achieve hypnosis, we can concur it is
justified. It is not to be considered a subterfuge. If the physician
administers a placebo to a patient with the remark, "Here is a new
medication that can help your condition" and if this technique does help
alleviate the patient's condition, it is considered good medicine.

You know beforehand that in using the 12-inch hypnodisc, the subject's
eyes must begin to water, his eyelids must get heavy, and eventually he
must close them. Even before you begin to use the hypnodisc, you suggest
that these conditions will take place. During the induction of hypnosis,
as these reactions are noted by the subject, a favorable, psychological
attitude automatically develops which, in turn, helps further
suggestions. If the subject reacts favorably to suggestions A, B, and C,
it follows that he is more prone to accept suggestions D, E, and F which
are therapeutic in nature. The subject can relate better to the latter
suggestions when he has seen proof of his initial suggestibility. This
approach works better than beginning immediately with the latter
suggestions. The build-up of suggestions convinces the subject he is in
a heightened state of suggestibility and can benefit from the
therapeutic suggestions of the hypnotist or his own. Perhaps this needed
assurance is so helpful because it eliminates the anxiety of the subject
concerning his suggestibility. He seeks and needs the satisfaction of
knowing he has attained the prerequisites necessary before any
therapeutic program can benefit him. The subject's prerequisites need
not be actually related to the hypnotic process, per se, but merely
match his preconceived ideas about what is necessary. Let me give you an
example.

Many subjects feel that they must experience amnesia before they can
benefit from hypnotic suggestions. This premise is inaccurate since
favorable and lasting results can be achieved in any degree of hypnosis,
depending, of course, on the nature of the problem. Let me relate
several interesting occurrences that take place every so often in my own
practice as a professional hypnotist. A subject who is responding well
to hypnosis, but not to the point of amnesia, insists that he will not
benefit until he is "knocke