times. A
subject calls my office, requesting to be conditioned for self-hypnosis.
He further requests that he be allowed to bring along a member of his
family or a friend for the hypnotic session. These individuals usually
ask if I object to this procedure. I interpreted this request as a sign
of distrust during my early career as a professional hypnotist. I was
affronted by the idea of the unspoken insinuation verbalized by this
request. Didn't they trust me? Between trying to defend myself and
assuring them that there was no need for another person being present,
since my secretary could observe the procedure, I usually "won" the
argument but lost the client. As I developed understanding into the
needs of these persons, I began to realize that the request was not
directed at my integrity, but was a safeguard for their ego.

[Illustration]

Here is an interesting sidelight that has happened frequently in regard
to the foregoing situation. I would request the subject to sit near my
desk and tell the onlooker to sit in back and to the side of the
subject, away from the subject's view so as not to distract him. In this
situation, I invariably place the hypnodisc on a spinning, portable
phonograph turntable and turn it upright for the subject to look at. The
hypnodisc, which is made of stiff cardboard, looks like a 12-inch
phonograph record and has concentric heavy lines drawn on it. As it
spins, the subject feels he is being pulled toward the center. At the
same time, it causes his eyes to become very tired. I have included a
drawing of it on this page for those who are not familiar with this
hypnotic device. The revolving hypnodisc causes a physiological
reaction and must work with everyone. You feed back certain known
physiological responses for the successful attainment of hypnosis.

The onlooker has no choice but to look at the hypnodisc as well. As I
suggest to the subject that his eyes are becoming heavy and tired and
that soon he'll have an irresistible impulse to close them, the onlooker
is naturally hearing the same suggestion. Because this person feels
apart from the hypnotic situation, there can be no conscious resistance.
Since these defenses are not hampering the attainment of hypnosis, the
onlooker may readily fall under hypnosis. More than once, the onlooker
has confided to me that he was getting a better night's sleep, was
feeling wonderfully well or had derived other benefits since coming to
my office