Hypnosis: What It Is, How and Why It Works

By Joseph J. Di Peri PH.D. RH

This wonderful phenomenon has been used by medical doctors to control sensitivity to pain. Entertainers, charlatans, politicians, religious leaders, large corporations, and their salesmen have successfully used it to control peoples attitudes and activities. Most people do not appreciate the power of direct or very subtle verbal and nonverbal suggestions. This book explains how suggestions affect our daily activities and answers most of the questions you may have about the phenomenon of hypnosis. It also shows you how to induce and use hypnosis to understand and help yourself and help others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499068146

Joseph J. Di Peri PH.D. RH

Joseph Di Peri is a retired electronic systems engineer. He established the Metaphysical Research Institute in San Francisco in 1957 and the Hypnosis Clinic of Camarillo, California, in 1984. He was the senior hypnotherapist there until his retirement in 1997. He lives in Santee, California, with his wife, Vera, and two Siamese cats.

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Copyright © 2014 by Joseph J. Di Peri, Ph.D., RH, Hypnotherapist.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014915891

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4990-6812-2

  Softcover   978-1-4990-6813-9

  eBook   978-1-4990-6814-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

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Rev. date: 12/23/2014

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Model of the Human Body and Psyche

Communication

Consciousness

Memory Map and Mind Model

Hypnosis

Hypnotic Behavior

Induction Technique

Procedure

Deepening Technique

Posthypnotic Suggestion

Reinduction Procedure and Self-Image Booster Script

Terminating Procedure

Applications

Significant Cases

Hypnoanalysis

Self-Hypnosis or Autosuggestion

Other Applications

The Impact of Religion and Philosophy on Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy and Pain

Significant Cases

References

Biography

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my gratitude posthumously to Dr. Maresca Ansaldi (my mentor), a practicing psychologist known as Il Buon Samaritano to Italian radio audiences, in New York City from 1941–1953); Maria Terranova, one of his dedicated and helpful assistants; and Dr. Alfred Harder, a prominent physician, surgeon, and anesthesiologist in Kingston, New York, whose experiences with shock syndrome provided many hours of fascinating discussion. My gratitude also to Dr. John Kappas and all the instructors at his Hypnosis Motivation Institute in Tarzana, California; Elizabeth Thompson, supervising hypnotherapist in the institute’s intern program; the faculty of California Coast University, whose sound educational programs and counseling have been invaluable; the regents of the College of Technology in Sussex, England, for their favorable review and award; the many authors and researchers whose books and papers are listed in the reference list; and last but by no means least, my wife, Vera, whose love, understanding, and inspiration have, for the last sixty-three years, supported my search into this peculiar dimension of human behavior.

Introduction

The phenomenon of hypnosis has been recognized and exploited throughout the ages, under different names in different cultures. It is not magic. It is only possible because of the peculiar psychophysical structure of all animate systems. This text is a synthesis of sixty-five years of research, experience, analysis, and deep introspection involving the phenomenon of hypnosis. After over one thousand individual inductions of the state in men, women, and children from all walks of life, I have many questions that cannot satisfactorily be addressed without the development of new instruments. A straightforward induction procedure has been included for the benefit of those adventurous individuals who may want to examine the phenomenon further. Care must be exercised in its application, as mature readers will realize when they read the note contained in the induction procedure. This phenomenon is not to be indulged frivolously. It is serious and should be treated with due respect for its potential. The model of the human body and psyche, which is essential to a complete understanding of the process, is bound to precipitate controversy. Hopefully, it will lead to serious investigations and development of new instruments to permit detailed scientific evidence of the various functions of the psyche.

In this day and age of advanced technology, what was once considered impossible or miraculous has become common. We can travel over land and sea in automobiles and powerboats at speeds in excess of one hundred miles an hour. We can fly from continent to continent in jet planes that travel faster than two thousand miles per hour. We explore the universe in spaceships that travel at speeds greater than twenty-five thousand miles an hour. We are exploring the oceans with submarines that can dive to depths greater than twenty thousand feet. We can communicate with each other over vast distances instantaneously by radio and telephone and watch events while they are happening in distant places via television. We examine distant galaxies with giant radio telescopes and study miniscule viruses with the help of an electron microscope. Vital human organs are regularly repaired or replaced by electromechanical devices, systems, or organs donated and preserved for that purpose. Devastating diseases are being controlled by chemical compounds specially designed and developed for that purpose. Living structures are being modified by manipulation of genetic codes, and yet, people are anxious, stressed, depressed, fearful, angry, lonely, and unhappy.

Many people feel they are out of control or doomed to failure and suffering. They feel they can’t learn, can’t speak in public, can’t control habits, don’t remember, or can’t develop meaningful relationships and be happy. Science has not eliminated or even begun to understand the causes of these very personal, subjective, psychological elements of individual human experience. Psychologists and sociologists have studied animals and humans, conducting controlled scientific experiments, in an attempt to understand the causes of human behavior and the factors that affect negative perceptions and attitudes.

Researchers have observed certain anomalies in human systems exhibiting various psychological disorders. They are attempting to determine if the chemical anomalies in a human’s system cause the psychological disorder or if the psychological disorder causes the body chemistry to change. These studies will lead to the development of chemicals that may correct the body’s chemical balance and eliminate the observed disorder. However, the abstract, invisible causes may not be so easily ascertained.

The phenomenon of hypnosis provides some insight to the psychodynamics of human behavior. Application of the principles defined in this text will provide a means for development of nonchemical techniques to diminish the effect of negative perceptions that affect human behavior and may lead to a better understanding of the psychodynamic forces that cause them. Thorough analysis and appreciation of the model of the human body and psyche and the concepts it presents are essential to understanding the dynamics of hypnosis.

The subject is controversial and stimulating. Hopefully, it will provide the readers with an understanding of the limitless potential of each individual human and make them understand that we are all part of a living universe. Knowing who and what we are and how we got to be what we are is the first step in determining where we want to go and what we can do to get there.

Model of the Human Body and Psyche

In the physical world of reality as we perceive it through the senses of our bodies and our sensitive scientific instruments, there are only two basic types of objects or forms of matter—animate and inanimate. Both are constructed of the same basic atomic elements—in varying quantities and combinations. Both are subject to the same laws of the physical universe. However, the obvious difference between animate and inanimate objects is that one is self-motivating and the other must be moved. The animate object has a nonphysical intelligent life component that enables it to move itself, and the inanimate object, devoid of this intelligent life component, must be moved by some external force. Cells of animals and plants are animate objects in themselves. The primitive motivating forces of the intelligent life component are survival, stability, and