Physical and Emotional Suggestibility and Sexuality

Physical and Emotional Suggestibility and SexualityPhysical and emotional suggestibility are ways hypnotherapists generally classify their clients, in a manner to adjust therapeutic techniques to best suit them.

Physical 'Suggestibles' are often the type of people observed greeting strangers and new acquaintances with a hug, and gesticulating greatly with their hands and body when speaking. These people express themselves with their body, and feel most comfortable getting to know others through touch.Physical Suggestibles take things literally and at face value; if they receive a compliment, they will simply say thank you, interpreting it as exactly that; a compliment.

Emotional 'Suggestibles' are the type of people who aren't nearly as comfortable with touch as Physical 'Suggestibles'. These are the people who make very efficient eye contact when having a conversation, greet with a handshake, and only grow comfortable with physical contact after getting to know a person on an emotional and personal basis through conversation. Emotional Suggestibles generally do not take things at face value. They look into the tone and presentation of what is being told to them.

Out of the two, physical Suggestibles are much more susceptible to an efficient hypnosis. This is because physical suggestible are much more susceptible to suggestion. That is; when a hypnotherapist puts a physical suggestible into the altered state that is hypnosis, and gives them a suggestion (i.e. 'a balloon is tied to your wrist, tugging gently, softly urging your hand up along with it')they are more likely to physically feel the effects of this. While emotional suggestible are still able to be hypnotized, they often find it harder to stay engaged, as a session between a hypnotherapist and a patient is often intimate, and makes the emotional suggestible incredibly uncomfortable.

Most people are a mix of both physical and emotional suggestibility; the most extreme generally being 70%-30%.

Rather than the conventional definition of Suggestibility, Dr. John G. Kappas presented the "Physical/Emotional Suggestibility/Sexuality" (ref. Professional Hypnotism Manual).

In this context, Suggestibility is viewed as how a subject accepts and interprets a given suggestion, and the Sexuality as how the subject will respond to a suggestion.

Both Suggestibility and Sexuality are further classified into Physical and Emotional types. So, the subject will be in one of the following four main types:

* Physical Suggestibility, Physical Sexuality
* Emotional Suggestibility, Emotional Sexuality
* Physical Suggestibility, Emotional Sexuality
* Emotional Suggestibility, Physical Sexuality

Usually, a questionnaire is answered by the subject prior to the formal hypnotic induction. By looking at the dominant suggestibility/sexuality, the hypnotist can adjust the induction so that a better and effective communication can be achieved. For the same suggestion, each subject will accept and interpret differently, and then react and respond differently too.