Instant Hypnosis Techniques:
How You can Use Pattern Interrupts to Overcome Resistance and Get Your Point Across
Today we’re examining resistance, and how you can use pattern interrupts to counter resistance when you are dealing with somebody who for one reason or another simply won’t cooperate.
In a moment I will reveal the two very typical types of resistance you may encounter and typical reactions you can expect when you apply instant hypnosis induction. Then we’ll look at how to tackle these types of resistance head on. How to use the attitude itself as a lever to create change in the direction you want.
Instant Hypnosis Techniques: Basic Types Of Resistance
Resistance by Scrutiny
This means the person is already analyzing what you are doing, looking for a flaw even before you open your mouth. There is one in every crowd. Scrutinizers are naturally suspicious and will latch onto even the smallest fault.
The typical scrutineer will try to “figure out” what you are up to; looking for any clue that might give the game away. They are focused on uncovering the negative.
There are several methods for effectively countering a scrutineers resistance. There are ways to utilize resistance with instant hypnosis
Resistance by Distrust
The next kind of resistance is distrust. This character just doesn’t want to find anything positive about you.
They identify something about you that they do not believe to be genuine or more importantly believe to be entirely untrue. Make no mistake; establishing trust is paramount to the success of any instant hypnosis induction or persuasive endeavor.
Distrusting people question your motives, they question your facts. And bottom line – they are saying to you – I don’t believe anything you say and I don’t believe in you.
Click to learn more about how to hypnotize with conversational hypnosis and how to overcome unreasonable resistance in others.
Use Pattern Interrupts to Disrupt their Resistance
The use of pattern interrupts was first suggested by Erickson and later adapted and incorporated into Bandler’s NLP techniques.
Think back to high school. Imagine being sent to the principal’s office for some slightly misguided prank or other.
You drag your feet down the corridor, sweating, fearful that your parents will find out and you’ll begin to suffer the consequences that very day.
You know your parents will flip out and you will probably be grounded and miss the glam rock revival concert that weekend with all your friends.
When you reach the principal’s office you sit down and instead of a stern face you are greeted by an enormous smile.
The principal begins to commend you for your out of bounds but remarkably entertaining antics…
She introduces you to a reality TV show crew who has been invited to record your next endeavor.
Patterns are what we expect to get from a certain situation. Breaking the pattern is like throwing the subconscious a curve ball. It can land you a surprising result that is totally unexpected.
One of the ways of disrupting a person’s resistance is to use what as Milton Erickson called an embedded metaphor or Bandler calls nested loops.
How Nested Loops Work
You start by telling a story. And then you interrupt your story with a second story, interrupt the second story with a third and then a fourth, then slip in your suggestion and start closing the story loops one by one.
Leaving Nested Loops Open Can be Powerful
Subconsciously the person you are talking to is waiting for you to close all of the loops. The trick is to do it in your own time.
Breaking that pattern of expectation can lead to some powerful results.
If you don’t close all the stories it can drive some people crazy. It can go as far as to distract and even produce amnesia in some people.
This is very powerful stuff so it must be used responsibly.
Instant Hypnosis Techniques: Creating Distance from Objections
When you throw a curve ball to the subconscious, you disrupt a person’s resistance creating distance between them and their objections.
The distance you create is the beginnings of being hypnotized.
Any objections they may have had towards you are now being redirected towards a metaphor.
Whatever level of upset and disbelief they may have had is frustrated and directed away from you towards your metaphor!
Depersonalize your Message Use Permissive Language
Another way to create distance and overcome resistance is to avoid speaking directly about them or a specific issue.
Speak about the subject or the person as if you were both observers. This is disturbing in as much as it puts both of you on an apparently equal footing. Speak in the third person. For example;
‘People should help one another’ as opposed to ‘you should help Bob’.
‘People should share information with others’ not ‘you should share information with me’
By removing the person from the line of fire and forcing them to observe the situation from the outside on a similar footing to your own they have virtually no choice but to agree with you.
Erickson used the term metaphor to refer to a subject or object which could be substituted for the actual subject in a hypnotic discussion.
Many people mess this up by using a transparent “friend story”: This is not nearly cryptic enough to work as a metaphor in an Ericksonian sense. ‘My friend has a problem’. If the account you give is too familiar the metaphor will be exposed and you risk raising the resistance.
This is where good selection and use of metaphors is important.
In just about any case, a good metaphor, as prescribed in Ericksonian Hypnosis can help you overcome resistance!
Click to learn more about how to hypnotize with conversational hypnosis and how to overcome unreasonable resistance in others.
