Compliant Child Syndrome Part 2 – Adventures in Hypnosis

Every now and then, I run across a client who is so willing to get better that he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. Usually this is the person who has already tried everything else with little or no success and has finally come to the conclusion that the answer he’s looking for must come from within.

In the earliest stages of my career, as a hypnotherapist, I performed hypnosis as a form of entertainment. At parties I’d have fun with people, suggesting silly things to the subject like “When you wake up from this trance, you’ll want to sit down but you can’t find your butt. As suggested, the person would try to sit but simply couldn’t. Everyone would laugh and think it was great fun to see how suggestible some people can be. What most people don’t know is a ‘stage-hypnotist’ generally interviews and screens each subject before using them in his act so that he can find out who is more suggestible, because that person is the one who makes the show so funny. Mr. B was that person. After getting him to do a lot is silly things, I finally decided to finish with the old ‘missing number’ routine. I simply suggested to Mr. B while under hypnosis that, when I woke him up, the number 4 would be missing from the numerical system. He nodded his head and I proceeded to wake him up. As soon as he opened his eyes, I asked him if he was hypnotized.

“Absolutely not!” he said laughing.
“Ok.” I said. “Can you tell me how many fingers you have?”
“Ten of course!”
“How many on each hand?
“Last time I checked I had five fingers on each hand.”
“Would you mind counting them for me?”
“Sure, 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10……..11.
“How many fingers did you say you have?” I asked again.
“Ten.” he responded a little less confidently.
“I must have heard you incorrectly? I thought you just counted 11, would you count them again for me?
“Okay.” he said, now even less confident. “1,2,3,5,6,7,8,910……..11.

Of course the fun didn’t stop there. It was even more interesting when I had him count his fingers backwards because he continually had one finger left over. After I had my fun with him and truly woke him up, I asked him if he was indeed hypnotized. Interestingly, his answer was still the same. “No, I wasn’t hypnotized.” he said. “At least I don’t think I was. I made the decision to count 11 fingers all by myself.” he said. “Although now, I’m not so sure why. I guess it was just an oversight.” In taking with Mr. B later, I found out that he was terrified of dentists, needles, hospitals and anything associated with them. When he was a child he had a very painful and negative experience with a dentist who was in a hurry and didn’t wait until the novocaine had sufficiently done its job. The end result was an incredibly painful experience which turned into emotional, physical and cellular trauma laced with fear, anxiety and anger. He resolved to never put himself in that position again. Unfortunately, like most children, Mr. B loved candy as a child and hated brushing his teeth so by the time I met him he was 23 and in need of long overdue dental care. He asked if I could help. At that time, I wasn’t in the business of helping people with hypnosis, but since he was such a good subject, I consented. While under hypnosis I figured I’d maximize his suggestibility so I told him that not only would he be able to see the dentist without any fear, but he would be able to numb his face, gums, and jaw with very little novocaine. I got a little carried away but I figured he could use all the help he could get as his teeth were a mess. The end result was much more fruitful than either of us thought it would be.

The next day, while sitting in the waiting room, Mr. B noticed that he was unusually calm but he also noticed that his face was starting to become numb. At first this startled him and he began to panic then, suddenly he remembered what I had suggested to him and he began to relax again, this time with much more confidence. He marveled at how his face was becoming so numb that he couldn’t feel his teeth, gums or tongue. When the dentist finally sat him in the chair preparing to give him the standard numbing shot, Mr. B asked him to wait. “I don’t think I need the novocaine.” he said. “We’ve got a lot of deep work to do” the dentist said still holding the syringe. “Are you sure?” “I don’t need it.” Mr. B said with total and complete confidence. “Really, I’m fine without it. Please begin, if I feel any pain I’ll raise my hand.” Well, to make a long story as short as possible, the dentist was able to perform the work on Mr. B without any novocaine. When I spoke to the dental assistant, she was in awe of how much control Mr. B had over his pain. “At one point in time,.” she noted, “he was bleeding a lot and it was interfering with the surgery, so I asked him if he could control the bleeding. He didn’t know for sure if he could or not but he said he would try. It was absolutely amazing, he restricted the blood flow in the area where we were working as if it were a faucet. When we completed the work and stitched him up the doctor asked him to allow the blood to flow again and immediately the area became red and little trickles of blood started oozing from the stitches. I’ve never seen anything like it!” she declared.

In all honesty, I have to say Mr B was a rarity. I’ve not had another client before or since then who demonstrated so much physical control over his body, but I have seen amazing healings take place over the years which I will share with you in the next issue of this magazine. Till then, remember this: the universe is friendly and willing to give you everything you ‘believe’ you can have. The only requirement is that you believe on a subconscious level that you deserve it. I can help you with that.