sis. When this is the case, the subject doesn't respond
until such time that he relates well to the hypnotist. Even the most
calculated procedures will fail until a positive transference
relationship is established. I am sure that you sometimes have said,
"For some reason I don't like that person." If pressed for an answer,
you'll usually reply, "I can't explain it, but I just have a feeling
about him." Actually, your subconscious reactions are influencing your
thinking and you "feel" a certain way. The same thing takes place in
business transactions. You either like or dislike the proposition
presented to you. You may say, "I have a certain feeling about this
deal." You may not be conscious of the reasons, but your subconscious
has reacted automatically because of previous experience along similar
lines.

In giving you some insight into the hypnotic procedure, I am trying to
point out certain problems in regard to acquiring self-hypnosis. For the
most part, it is not a simple procedure that is accomplished
immediately. You can't just will it. It requires working toward a
specific goal and following definite procedures which eventually lead to
success.

The hypnotist is usually endowed by the subject with an omniscience and
infallibility which logically is unjustified. The subject is naturally
extremely disappointed if he doesn't respond immediately. If he loses
confidence in the hypnotist, he may never achieve hypnosis with this
particular hypnotist. I have hypnotized subjects who have been to
several other hypnotists without success, and I have had some of my
unsuccessful subjects hypnotized by other hypnotists. How and why does
it happen? I believe that some of the reasons are so intangible that it
would be impossible to explain all of them with any degree of
exactitude.

I once saw an individual about 12 times who wanted to learn
self-hypnosis and had been unsuccessful in every approach. I asked him
if he would volunteer as a subject for a class in techniques of hypnosis
that I was teaching for nurses. He readily volunteered and showed up at
the designated time. Much to my amazement as well as his own, he
responded within a relatively short time as one of the nurses hypnotized
him before the group. She had used a standard eye closure technique,
requesting him to look at a spinning hypnodisc that I had previously
used with him every time he was in the office. Her manner was extremely
affable, she had used the ide