Hypnosis is not one technique but a group of methods for guiding attention, imagination, expectation, and learning. A person may experience hypnosis as focused attention, physical relaxation, absorption in imagery, altered time perception, or increased responsiveness to carefully worded suggestions.¹
The most useful approach depends on the person, the goal, and the practitioner’s training. Techniques often overlap: a session might combine relaxation, imagery, direct suggestion, rehearsal, and self-hypnosis rather than follow one named method from beginning to end.
It is also important to distinguish a hypnotic technique from a complete treatment. For example, hypnosis may help support pain management or exposure-based treatment, but it does not replace medical assessment, psychotherapy, or appropriate behavioral work.
1. Progressive relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation, associated with Edmund Jacobson, involves deliberately tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups. In clinical hypnosis, a shortened version may be used to reduce physical tension and help a client focus inward.²
A practitioner might guide attention from the feet upward, inviting the client to notice the contrast between tension and release. Breathing, calming imagery, and suggestions of comfort may be added.
Common uses
Stress and physical tension
Sleep difficulties
Anxiety management
Preparation for imagery or therapeutic suggestions
The technique should be adapted for people with pain, recent injuries, significant weakness, or other medical concerns. Tensing should never be forceful.
2. Focused attention and eye-closure inductions
Many inductions begin by asking a person to focus on a visual point, a sensation of breathing, or the practitioner’s voice. Suggestions of heavy eyelids or comfortable eye closure may then help shift attention inward.
This is sometimes presented as a “classic” induction, but there is no single required way to enter hypnosis. Some people find visual fixation useful; others respond better to conversation, breathing, movement, or imagery.
A responsible practitioner does not treat eye closure as proof that hypnosis has occurred. Hypnosis is better understood through the person’s experience and response to suggestions than through one outward sign.
3. Counting and countdowns
Counting can organize attention and provide a predictable structure. A practitioner may count upward toward relaxation or downward while suggesting that each number represents greater comfort or concentration.
Counting is often used as:
An initial induction
A deepening method
A transition between exercises
A self-hypnosis tool
The numbers themselves are not magic. Their value comes from repetition, expectation, pacing, and the meaning given to them.
4. Direct suggestion
Direct suggestion uses clear, straightforward language. Suggestions may address comfort, confidence, sleep routines, coping responses, or the ability to practice a new behavior.
Examples might include:
“You can allow your shoulders to soften.”
“When you notice tension, you can take one slow breath and decide what would help.”
“You can practice responding to this situation one step at a time.”
Effective suggestions are usually realistic, specific, and connected to the client’s own goals. Hypnosis does not make a person accept every suggestion or act against deeply held values. Research on suggestion also shows that responses vary considerably among individuals.³
5. Indirect suggestion and metaphor
Indirect methods use stories, examples, questions, possibilities, and metaphors rather than only direct instructions. Milton H. Erickson’s work is often associated with this style, although modern practitioners use the term “Ericksonian” in many different ways.⁴
A metaphor might describe a person learning to approach a difficult task gradually, discovering flexibility, or finding that a familiar response can change. The story is most useful when it connects with the client’s language and experience.
Indirect language should not be used to conceal a practitioner’s intentions. Informed consent and clear professional boundaries remain important, particularly when hypnosis is used in therapy.
6. Guided imagery and visualization
Guided imagery invites a person to imagine sensory experiences: sights, sounds, physical sensations, movement, temperature, or emotional qualities. It can be calming, but it can also be used for rehearsal and coping.
A session might involve imagining:
A comfortable place
A medical procedure handled with steady breathing
A difficult conversation approached with preparation
A gradual return to an activity after an injury, under appropriate medical guidance
A performance completed with focus and flexibility
Imagery is not equally comfortable for everyone. Some people visualize vividly; others think mainly in words, concepts, bodily sensations, or memories. A skilled practitioner offers alternatives rather than treating vivid pictures as a requirement.
7. Future pacing and mental rehearsal
Future pacing means mentally rehearsing a desired response in a realistic future situation. The client imagines encountering a trigger, noticing an old pattern, and choosing a more useful response.
For example, someone working on public-speaking anxiety might rehearse:
Entering the room
Feeling early signs of nervousness
Taking a measured breath
Looking at the audience
Speaking one sentence at a time
Recovering calmly if a mistake occurs
Mental rehearsal is not a substitute for real-world practice. It is usually most helpful when paired with appropriate behavioral exercises and gradual exposure.
8. Self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis teaches a person to practice focused attention and selected suggestions without a practitioner present. A basic exercise may include:
Choosing a quiet, safe setting
Focusing on breathing or another comfortable sensation
Relaxing or narrowing attention
Repeating a small number of realistic suggestions
Imagining the suggestions being applied in daily life
Returning attention to the room and resuming normal activity
Self-hypnosis can give clients an active skill to use between sessions. Studies of self-hypnosis and related hypnotic procedures have examined applications including stress, pain, sleep, and medical care, although results depend on the condition, the protocol, and the individual.⁵
It should not be practiced while driving, operating machinery, or doing anything that requires full external attention.
9. Anchoring and cueing
An anchor is a deliberately practiced cue associated with a particular response. The cue might be a word, breath pattern, posture, or discreet hand position. During practice, the person develops a calm or focused state and then pairs it with the cue.
For example, a client might practice:
Exhaling slowly
Relaxing the jaw
Saying a personally chosen word
Recalling the feeling of steadiness
Repeating the sequence in several situations
The cue does not produce an automatic guaranteed response. It functions more like a reminder or practiced retrieval pathway. Repetition in relevant settings is usually more important than the cue itself.
10. Fractionation
Fractionation involves moving in and out of hypnosis or deep relaxation several times. A practitioner might invite a client to open the eyes briefly, notice the room, and then return to a comfortable inward focus.
This can help a person learn that entering and leaving hypnosis are controlled, ordinary experiences. It may also provide opportunities to practice a skill, return to it, and strengthen it.
Fractionation should not be described as a guaranteed way to increase “depth.” Hypnotic depth is difficult to define consistently, and greater depth is not automatically necessary for useful therapeutic work.
11. Ideomotor responses
An ideomotor response is a movement associated with an idea or expectation, such as a finger lifting after a suggestion. In hypnosis, practitioners may use small movements to demonstrate responsiveness or support a structured exercise.
Some methods use finger signals for “yes” and “no” responses. These signals should be treated cautiously. They are not a dependable way to uncover hidden facts, diagnose illness, identify unconscious truth, or verify memories. Movements can be influenced by suggestion, expectation, conscious choice, and ordinary motor processes.
Ideomotor signaling can be used as a communication exercise, but it should never replace direct conversation or evidence.
12. Hand levitation and arm catalepsy
A practitioner may suggest that an arm feels light and begins to rise, or that an arm feels comfortably steady and remains in place. These are examples of hypnotic motor suggestions.
They can help a client notice the difference between intentionally producing a movement and allowing a movement to develop with minimal conscious effort. The experience may also be used as a demonstration or as a bridge into imagery.
The practitioner should avoid force, awkward positioning, and competitive framing. A client is free to move, stop, or decline the exercise.
13. Analgesia and other pain-management methods
Hypnotic analgesia refers to using hypnosis to reduce the unpleasantness of pain. Some people experience changes in pain intensity; others experience a shift in distress, attention, or sense of control. Research has found that hypnosis can be useful for some forms of acute and chronic pain, although it is not equally effective for everyone.⁶
Methods may include:
Focusing attention on a neutral or pleasant sensation
Imagining coolness, numbness, distance, or comfortable pressure
Changing the size, shape, location, or intensity of a sensation
Rehearsing coping responses before a procedure
Using breathing and self-hypnosis between medical visits
Hypnosis does not determine the cause of pain. New, severe, or changing pain requires appropriate medical evaluation. Hypnotic analgesia is not a replacement for medically necessary anesthesia, monitoring, or treatment.
14. Hypnosis-assisted exposure and systematic desensitization
Exposure-based treatment involves approaching feared situations in a planned, gradual way rather than relying only on avoidance. Hypnosis may be used to support relaxation, attention, imagery, and coping during parts of that process.
A typical plan may include:
Identifying the feared situations
Arranging them from easier to harder
Practicing coping skills
Imagining or approaching an appropriate step
Remaining with the experience until it becomes manageable
Repeating and progressing at a suitable pace
Imaginal exposure is not always enough; many problems also require carefully planned real-world practice. Hypnosis should support, not obscure, the principles of evidence-based exposure treatment.
15. Resource imagery and safety-oriented stabilization
A client may practice recalling or creating an experience associated with steadiness, support, confidence, or calm. The exercise can then be paired with breathing, a word, or another cue.
This can be useful before more demanding therapeutic work, but “safe place” exercises are not universally comfortable. Some people have no easy memory of safety, while others find that imagined places bring up grief, fear, or unwanted memories. The practitioner should ask permission, offer alternatives, and return to present-moment orientation when needed.
A resource exercise is not a guarantee that someone will feel safe in every situation. It is a skill for practicing access to selected states and coping responses.
16. Parts-oriented work
Parts-oriented methods describe conflicting thoughts, emotions, or action tendencies as different “parts” of a person. One part may seek immediate relief while another wants long-term change. The technique can help organize an internal conflict without treating any part as a literal separate person.
A practitioner may ask:
What does this response seem to be trying to accomplish?
What concern does it have?
What other response might meet that concern more effectively?
What would the whole person consider acceptable?
This approach overlaps with several therapeutic traditions, including ego-state work and Internal Family Systems. Those traditions are not identical, and a practitioner should not imply that a metaphorical “part” is an independently verified entity. Trauma-related work requires appropriate training and careful pacing.
17. Regression and memory-focused work
Age regression refers to experiencing thoughts, feelings, imagery, or memories associated with an earlier period of life while in hypnosis. Some practitioners use it for exploratory or therapeutic purposes.
This area requires particular caution. Memory is reconstructive, and hypnosis does not reliably make memories more accurate. Suggestive questioning can increase confidence in events that did not occur or can alter the details of genuine memories.⁷
For that reason:
Do not treat hypnotically recalled material as automatically factual.
Avoid leading questions such as “Did someone hurt you?”
Do not use hypnosis to search for hidden causes of unexplained symptoms.
Do not present imagery as proof of abuse, crime, or a past life.
Keep subjective experience separate from independently corroborated information.
Refer legal or safeguarding questions to appropriately qualified professionals.
In many cases, present-focused therapy and coping work are safer and more useful than attempts to recover forgotten events.
18. Hypnoanalysis
Hypnoanalysis generally refers to using hypnosis to explore associations, emotions, conflicts, or personal meanings thought to contribute to a problem. The term has been used in different ways, so its meaning depends on the practitioner.
Exploration can sometimes help a client reflect on patterns, but hypnosis does not provide direct access to an infallible unconscious record. Interpretations should remain tentative, and clients should not be encouraged to accept a practitioner’s explanation simply because it was offered during hypnosis.
Any analytical method should be grounded in a clear therapeutic rationale, a strong working relationship, and reality-based discussion after the exercise.
19. Post-hypnotic suggestions
A post-hypnotic suggestion is a suggestion intended to influence a response after the session, often when a specified situation or cue occurs. A practical example might involve remembering to use a breathing exercise when noticing early signs of stress.
Useful post-session suggestions tend to be:
Specific
Realistic
Consistent with the client’s values
Easy to recognize in daily life
Paired with a behavior the client can deliberately practice
Hypnosis does not create unlimited control over later behavior. Suggestions compete with attention, motivation, circumstances, habits, and other influences. They should never instruct someone to ignore danger, medical symptoms, or professional advice.
20. Aversion methods
Aversion methods pair an unwanted behavior with unpleasant imagery or sensations. They have been used in some attempts to address habits, but they raise ethical and clinical concerns and are not automatically superior to positive replacement strategies.
Potential problems include shame, distress, symptom substitution, and excessive reliance on punishment. Where appropriate, practitioners often prefer identifying the function of a behavior, building alternative responses, changing the environment, and strengthening motivation.
Any aversion procedure requires informed consent, a clear rationale, careful monitoring, and the option to stop.
21. Confusion and pattern interruption
Confusion techniques introduce a temporary change in rhythm, sequence, or expectation. In some induction styles, a brief interruption may help a person stop following an automatic pattern and attend more closely to the practitioner.
Because confusion can be disorienting, it is not appropriate simply because it is dramatic or fast. It should be used transparently, with consent, and followed by clear orientation and safety. It should never be used to exploit vulnerability or conceal what is happening.
22. Rapid inductions
Rapid inductions use a brisk change in attention, movement, posture, or expectation. Examples include certain hand-drop procedures and other methods taught in stage and clinical settings.
Speed is not a measure of therapeutic quality. A rapid induction may be unsuitable for someone who is anxious, physically vulnerable, startled easily, or uncomfortable with directive methods. Physical contact should never be assumed; it requires explicit permission and a clear explanation beforehand.
A practitioner should choose a method based on safety and fit, not on a desire to impress the client.
23. Dream suggestions
Some practitioners suggest that a client remember dreams, notice themes, or consider a problem before sleep. This may support reflection or creativity, but dreams are not reliable diagnostic messages, and their content cannot be controlled with precision.
Dream-focused work should be avoided or modified when it predictably worsens nightmares, sleep disruption, dissociation, or trauma symptoms. Clients should be encouraged to treat dream material as personal experience rather than objective evidence.
24. Metaphor and symbolic work
Symbolic imagery can help people think about change in a flexible way. A locked door, shifting landscape, changing weather, or growing plant may represent a personal process without being interpreted as a universal symbol.
The client’s meaning matters more than the practitioner’s preferred interpretation. A metaphor should open reflection, not impose a hidden explanation.
25. Bilateral stimulation and related adjuncts
Some practitioners combine hypnosis with alternating sounds, taps, eye movements, or other forms of bilateral stimulation. These methods are sometimes used to support attention or emotional processing.
They should not be presented as automatically producing “hemispheric synchronization,” nor should they be equated with EMDR unless the practitioner is trained in and is actually providing an appropriate EMDR protocol. Evidence varies across techniques and conditions. Any stimulation should be client-controlled and stopped if it causes distress, dizziness, headaches, or unwanted memories.
Which techniques matter most?
For many clients, the most broadly useful skills are:
Focused attention
Comfortable relaxation
Direct, realistic suggestion
Guided imagery
Future rehearsal
Self-hypnosis
Present-focused coping
Appropriate behavioral practice
More specialized methods—such as regression, hypnoanalysis, rapid inductions, parts-oriented work, and pain procedures—require additional training and careful clinical judgment.
The best technique is not necessarily the most dramatic one. It is the method that is safe, consent-based, suited to the client, and connected to a sound treatment plan.
Safety and ethical practice
A qualified practitioner should:
Explain what hypnosis is and what it is not.
Obtain informed consent before beginning.
Ask about relevant medical, psychiatric, and trauma history.
Avoid promising guaranteed results.
Use neutral language when discussing memory.
Stop or modify an exercise when distress increases.
Document significant suggestions, responses, and between-session practice.
Coordinate with medical or mental-health professionals when appropriate.
Teach the client how to end self-hypnosis and return attention to the present.
People experiencing psychosis, acute suicidal thoughts, severe dissociation, uncontrolled neurological conditions, or serious medical symptoms need appropriate professional assessment. Hypnosis should not be used to delay emergency care or to investigate possible criminal or abuse memories.
Bottom line
Hypnosis techniques range from simple focused-attention exercises to specialized methods for pain, exposure, imagery, and therapeutic exploration. The techniques with the widest practical value are usually the least theatrical: relaxation, attention training, realistic suggestion, imagery, rehearsal, and self-hypnosis.
Their effects depend on the person, the problem, the relationship with the practitioner, the quality of the surrounding treatment, and the opportunity to practice skills outside the session. Hypnosis is best used as a collaborative tool—not as a way to control someone, uncover infallible memories, or bypass appropriate care.
Notes
Gary R. Elkins, Arreed Barabasz, Michael Cardeña, Dirk L. Fisher, Mark P. Hammond, William D. Rhodes, and David Spiegel, “Advancing Research and Practice: The Revised APA Division 30 Definition of Hypnosis,” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 63, no. 1 (2015): 1–9.
Edmund Jacobson, Progressive Relaxation, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938).
David Spiegel, “Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis,” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 40, no. 3 (1998): 247–254.
Milton H. Erickson, Ernest L. Rossi, and Sheila I. Rossi, Hypnotic Realities: The Induction of Clinical Hypnosis and Forms of Indirect Suggestion (New York: Irvington, 1976).
Gary R. Elkins, Mark P. Jensen, and David R. Patterson, “Hypnotherapy for the Management of Chronic Pain,” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 55, no. 3 (2007): 275–287.
Mark P. Jensen and David R. Patterson, “Hypnotic Approaches to the Treatment of Chronic Pain,” American Psychologist 66, no. 8 (2011): 724–736.
Elizabeth F. Loftus, “Planting Misinformation in the Human Mind: A 30-Year Investigation of the Malleability of Memory,” Learning & Memory 12, no. 4 (2005): 361–366.