...don't mix.
It seems to be a commonly held misconception that it's easier to hypnotise someone if they've had a lot to drink. Unfortunately this couldn't be further from the truth. Hypnosis is about following instructions and engaging the imagination, and of course excessive alcohol consumption improves neither of these.
I have decided that drunk people are no good in or around hypnosis, full stop. This revelation coming to me after another evening with friends in Oxford and having had another bash at a bit of pub hypnosis. On this occasion I'd gotten to the point where I'd talked a friend who'd kindly volunteered into a light level of trance and was performing a convincer on him, and everything was working absolutely fine.
Enter, at this point, drunken girl. A nice girl, and really good natured, but obviously three sheets to the wind. Even the best of hypnotic subjects find it hard to get into a trance when somebody's poking them and asking them if they have spare marshmallows to toast (another story). The spell was broken and my friend was awake again and finding the girl too hilarious to concentrate.
Losing my subject was the least of my worries though. Drunken girl (I never did get her name) demanded that I hypnotise her instead. I was skeptical whether it would work, but of course I find it impossible to resist trying with someone who's showing enthusiasm. I did a hand drop induction, and things sort of worked for a bit but she just didn't have the patience. She opened her eyes and started giving me pointers on how I could be doing it better, then on the spur of the moment showed me a magic trick with her necklace.
Hypnosis and Alcohol; if you want a lot of one, you can't have much of the other.
So, if you ever see me looking heartbroken as the people around me get the drinks in, now you know why. Not to worry though, I can always watch people do lots of silly things on their own and not have to take any responsibility!
1 comment:
I've had a couple of experiences using hypnosis around alcohol myself.
On one occasion I'd gotten together with a bunch of old highschool mates, and we'd been for a couple of drinks, hypnosis had come up as part of the conversation, and my friend Andy had asked if I could hypnotize him.
Here I started my standard induction (I need to work on my rapids) but it wasn't long before he was swaying and shaking his head, it seemed to be working, but at the same time, it was making the poor guy feel queasy, so we stopped. He'd had a fair bit to drink, so it's pretty understandable that he'd feel even more disorientated once we started with the hypnosis.
On other occasions, after just one glass of wine, I've actually had a lot of success. After one glass, inhibitions are lower, people are more relaxed, but they're not yet at the point where they can't think or stand up straight.
So in my experience I'd say one drink or so is fine, but if a person is obviously showing signs of starting to become drunk, it's a bad idea.
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