Rapid inductions are a fantastic tool for the professional hypnotherapist. However, they’re not necessarily something that you will use with every client that you work with. So, how do you know when to use a rapid induction with your hypnotherapy clients, or when to use a more progressive type induction? Well, it partly comes down to experience, and to some extent it also comes down to the clients condition. However, one of the main deciding factors is your client’s natural level of suggestibility.
Testing whether rapid inductions are suitable for your client
Suggestibility is a very important factor, because some people respond better to rapid inductions than others. Those people who are fairly suggestible will usually respond quite well to rapid inductions. However, where people are less suggestible, they tend to respond much better to a longer, more progressive approach. To find out if this is the case with your client, you would quite simply use a suggestibility test. By using a suggestibility test, you can quickly establish whether your client will be receptive enough to your suggestions in order for a rapid induction to work well for them. If you perform a suggestibility test and the client does not respond very well at all, then it usually makes sense to use a non-rapid induction. If they respond moderately well or better, then a rapid induction is likely going to work great for them.
As well as helping you decide on which type of induction to use, suggestibility testing also gives you a whole host of other benefits, which is why suggestibility tests are something that all the best hypnotherapists learn to do very early on during their studies!
Rapid induction vs. Progressive induction
As well as testing suggestibility, you may also consider what your client’s condition/problem is, when choosing your induction type. For example, if somebody is in a significant amount of pain, then a slow progressive relaxation type induction is less likely to work for them, because it won’t be able to cut through their acute pain response – have you ever tried relaxing whilst in pain? It doesn’t tend to work that well! In this case, a rapid induction would be much more effective, as it does not rely on the client focusing on internal sensations, and can even be used as a kind of distraction from the pain, making it easier for the client to go into a hypnotic trance.
Another area where rapid inductions can work great is sport hypnosis. With athletes, you do not necessarily want to create a deep state of relaxation, and it can be better to generate a more energized and focused state of hypnosis (active-alert hypnosis). Rapid inductions work fantastically for this, and when combined with a ‘rapid physical deepener’, you can generate a deep state of hypnosis fast, without even using the word ‘relax’ once!
Usually, when learning rapid inductions, you will also find out about how to do rapid deepening too, as the two go hand-in-hand, as is the case in my popular book, the Instant Hypnosis and Rapid Induction Guidebook.
In contrast, you might choose to use a more progressive induction with clients who are experiencing high levels of stress. It can be beneficial for clients who are stressed to show them how to relax, and what better way to do that than with a nice, gradual progressive hypnotic induction. You might even teach them how to do the progressive relaxation process as homework too, in order to use it themselves when they’re feeling stressed! So, as you can see, rapid inductions can work fantastically when helping with some conditions, and in just the same way, more progressive approaches can also ‘tick the boxes’ for other conditions.
Other factors to consider when using rapid inductions in hypnotherapy
Finally, experience comes into this as well, and that’s something that only really comes with time and an ever increasing number of client sessions. Sometimes you may have to base your induction decision on your clients general mood, their energy may be sky-high, or super low – this can alter your induction choice. You might consider the level of rapport that you have with your client, and whether they’re likely to accept a quick succession of suggestions from you (e.g. a rapid induction), or if they need more time accepting gentler (progressive) suggestions in order to go into hypnosis.
As well as considering the client, you may also factor in the different types of techniques that you are planning to do throughout your hypnotherapy session, and whether those techniques are complemented by a rapid induction or by a progressive induction. You could even consider the amount of time that you have available for the session (or the hypnosis part of the session) when making your decision, because rapid inductions can save you a lot of time during your hypnotherapy session, meaning they give you a lot more time to do actual therapy!
If you’d like to learn more about how to use rapid inductions in your hypnotherapy practice, check out our range of rapid induction training options. From books, to online and in-person rapid induction courses, we’ve got you covered:
