Hubbard's Use of Covert Hypnosis - Exposed - Part Five

Lermanet has set this page in the same look and feel as the original from the March, 1952 issue of "THE JOURNAL OF HYPNOTISM", image HERE

"Hypnosis and Dianetics" article from the same journal is HERE

INSTANTANEOUS
HYPNOSIS
By HARRY ARONS
Part II

Before proceeding to the modus operandi, it is necessary to say a few words about the imitativeness of the human animal as a significant factor in his hypnotizability.

Human beings are, after all is said and done, very much like sheep. They will often be induced to do things that they see others do before them that they would not be inclined to lend themselves to in individual situations. In hypnotization, the operator must keep this fact constantly in mind, and must so arrange the setting and the sequence of the proceedings that this quality of imitativeness will be allowed free reign. As an example, I can cite the practice of arranging the chairs on the stage in a semi-circle so that each subject is able to see the others: thus, when the more suggestible ones begin to go under, the rest notice this fact and are in a position to be influenced to react in a similar fashion.

The stage hypnotist always selects the BEST of the "volunteers" for the first instantaneous hypnosis, as his success or failure with the first subject largely determines the course of the rest of the demonstra tion. The quotation marks around the word "volunteers" are not intended to imply that they are not indeed volunteers, but refer to the recommended practice of testing the entire audience or large portions of it with preliminaries like the Arms Rising and Falling Test and selecting the volunteers from among those who reacted favorably, thus eliminating really "cold" volunteers without impressing the audience too strongly with the fact that a subterfuge was employed. The same principle operates in clinic situations like Emile Coue's clinic at Nancy and is behind the so-called miracles at Lourdes and other shrines. Mesmer's old practice of grouping his patients around his famous "baquet" probably resulted in a greater degree of success than would have been possible had he worked on his patients individually.

You have all had experience with post-hypnotic suggestion and the marvelous results that it can produce. But few of you, I am quite certain, have given prehypnotic suggestion much thought. Actually, prehypnotic suggestion is an underlying factor not only in instantaneous hypnotization, but also determines the types and varieties of responses that will be elicted in the resulting hypnotic trance.

The latter refers to any and all types of preconceived ideas and notions about hypnotism that the subject has somehow gained through his past experience. Thus, a subject who believes that he may have difficulty awakening from hypnosis, or that he may awaken with a headache, may, if the hypnotist does not eradicate these fears while under hypnosis, actually react in this fashion.

Hetero-prehypnotic suggestion is usually administered by the hyp- notist by accident or design. In general, whatever he can make the subject BELIEVE before he tries to hypnotize him has a tendency to be subsequently realized. For example, if he succeeds in CONVINCING the prospective subject that he can hypnotize him instantly, and especially if he proceeds to demonstrate this feat on another subject (presumably another volunteer, but actually in most cases a pre-tested "sure thing") the chances are good in favor of the accomplishment. Most stage hypnotists make very strong and often exaggerated claims in their brief preliminary talks. This is designed to enhance their prestige in the eyes of their prospective subjects in the audience and serves as a vehicle for any prehypnotic suggestions that the operator wants to impart prior to hypnotization proper. Methods Based on Post-Hypnotic Suggestion

The simplest and most spectacular methods of instantaneous hypnotization are based on post-hypnotic suggestion. One need not be an expert to use these methods. The primary requirement is that the subject be previously hypnotized into a fairly deep trance and told that after awakening he will resume the hypnotic state instantly whenever he is given a certain signal. The signal may be a word, a meaningful glance, a snap of the fingers, a cough,-any signal that is arranged between subject and operator during the previous hypnosis. Should the subject have post-hypnotic amnesia, he will of course not know consciously what the signal is, but it will work nonetheless.

When these methods are used in front of an audience, the spectators rarely realize that it is not the hypnotist's skill that is causing subject after subject to fall asleep instantly, but a simple post-hypnotic suggestion given during the previous hypnosis. Here are a few of the ruses that stage hypnotists employ:

Preliminary tests are performed in the usual manner. Then a group of "volunteers" are hypnotized while seated in a semi-circle on the stage. Then they are taken through some of the simpler ex periments, during the course of which the hypnotist tells them, either audibly or in a loud stage whisper, that they will fall asleep again anytime that evening when he snaps his fingers and says "Sleep!" Or he may give each suitable (deep) subject an individual specific signal, so that each one reacts to something else. If this is done during some interesting action, the audience is none the wiser even if the posthypnotic suggestions are made aloud. Thus, Polgar's subjects fall asleep when he points his finger at them dramatically, or when he shakes their hands, or he may pass out cards on which the posthypnotic suggestion is written, whereupon the subjects reading the cards fall asleep in a matter of seconds.

Slater barks a staccato command and gives the subject's head a peculiar sideways twist. Weis brod's subjects fall asleep when they hear the word "moonlight." I gaze fixedly into my subject's eyes for a few seconds, snap my fingers, and make a short pass without contact over his face from the eyes downward. And so on, ad infinitum.

Most stage exhibitions are divided into four parts. The first consists of an introductory talk and a preliminary testing period, during which 15 to 20 susceptibles are brought up on the stage. In the second part the entire group is hypnotized, the refractory element unobtrusively eliminated and the remainder tested for hypnotic depth. It is during this second period that the deeper subjects receive the post-hypnotic suggstions for instantaneously resuming the hypnotic trance. The third part is the main and most spectacular part of the exhibition. Subjects are quickly hypnotized individually and in small groups and taken through the most fascinating and breath-taking experiments possible. The last part consists of a question and answer period.

In radio and television shows, the studio audience witnesses the entire demonstration, but the radio and television audiences see and hear only the third part. It is therefore small wonder that the radio listeners and tele-viewers are amazed at the speed and ease with which the hypnotist induces the trance, since they are unaware that these subjects had already been taken through their paces before the show hit the air-waves and were thoroughly conditioned to react instantaneously to the hypnotist's post-hypnotic sleep suggestions.

Instantaneous induction methods based on post-hypnosis, if judiciously employed, will tend to convince the average audience that the hypnotist using them is indeed a master of the art. However, the operator cannot be considered an expert in informed circles unless he has also developed the flair for speedily hypnotizing suitable subjects by means of methods other than those based on post-hypnotic suggestion.

(The next and last installment will deal with a number of recommended methods of instantaneous hypnotization).