HomeDynamics Of The Handshake Induction
The handshake induction is one of the most fascinating and effective procedures developed by Erickson for
initiating trance. Is is essentially a surprise that interrupts a subject's habitual framework to initiate a
momentary confusion. A receptivity for clarifying suggestions is thus initiated with an expectancy for
further stimuli and direction. In a letter in Weitzenhoffer in 1061 Erickson described his approach to the
handshake induction as a means of initiating catalepsy. When he released the subject's hand, it would
remain fixed in a cataleptic position or would keep moving in any direction he initiated. He used this
approach as a test to assess hypnotic susceptibility and as an induction procedure. The prerequisites for a
successful handshake induction are a willingness on the part of the subject to be approached, an
appropriate situation, and the suitability of the situation for a continuation of the experience. An edited
version of his outline of the whole process and some variations is as follows
4 6:07 PM
Milton H. Erickson:
The Handshake Induction
Dynamics Of
The Handshake Induction
The handshake induction is one of the most fascinating and effective procedures developed by Erickson for
initiating trance. Is is essentially a surprise that interrupts a subject's habitual framework to initiate a
momentary confusion. A receptivity for clarifying suggestions is thus initiated with an expectancy for
further stimuli and direction. In a letter in Weitzenhoffer in 1061 Erickson described his approach to the
handshake induction as a means of initiating catalepsy. When he released the subject's hand, it would
remain fixed in a cataleptic position or would keep moving in any direction he initiated. He used this
approach as a test to assess hypnotic susceptibility and as an induction procedure. The prerequisites for a
successful handshake induction are a willingness on the part of the subject to be approached, an
appropriate situation, and the suitability of the situation for a continuation of the experience. An edited
version of his outline of the whole process and some variations is as follows:
movement. Occasionally a downward nudge or push is required. If a strong push or nudge is required,
check for anaesthesia.
There are several colleagues who won't shake hands with me unless I reassure them first, because they
developed a profound glove anaesthesia when I used this procedure on them. I shook hands with them,
looked them in the eyes, slowly yet rapidly immobilised my facial expression, and then focused my eyes on
a spot far behind them. I then slowly and imperceptibly removed my hand from theirs and slowly moved to
one side out of their direct line of vision. I have had it described variously, but the following is one of the
most graphic. "I had heard about you and I wanted to meet you and you looked so interested and you
shook hands so warmly. All of a sudden my arm was gone and your face changed and got so far away.
Then the left side of your face, until that slowly vanished also.". At that moment the subject's eyes were
fixed straight ahead, so that when I moved to the left out to his line of vision, the left side of my face
"disappeared" first and then the right side also. "Your face slowly came back, you came close and smiled
and said you would like to use me Saturday afternoon. Then I noticed my hand and asked you about it
because I couldn't feel my whole arm... you just said to keep it that way just a little while for the
experience."
You give the elevated right hand (now cataleptic in the handshake position) the suggestion of a downward
movement with a light touch. At the same time, with your other hand, you give a gentle touch indicating an
upward movement for the subject's left hand. Then you have his left hand lifting, right hand lowering.
When right hand reaches the lap, it will stop. The upward course of the left hand may stop or it may
continue. I am likely to give it another touch and direct it toward the face so that some part will touch one
eye. That effects eye closure and is very effective in inducing a deep trance without a single word having
been spoken
There are other nonverbal suggestions. for example, what if my subject make no response to my efforts
with his right hand and the situation looks hopeless? If he is not looking at my face, my slow, gentle
out-of-keeping-with-the-situation movements (remember: out-of-keeping) compel him to look at my face.
I freeze my expression, refocus my gaze, and by slow head movements direct his gaze to his left hand,
toward which my right hand is slowly, apparently purposelessly moving. As my right hand touches his left
with a slight, gentle, upward movement, my left hand with very gentle firmness, just barely enough, presses
down on his right hand for a moment until it moves. Thus, I confirm and reaffirm the downward movement
of his right hand, a suggestion he accepts along with the tactile suggestion of left hand levitation. This
upward movement is augmented by the fact that he has been breathing in time with me and that my right
hand gives his left hand that upward touch at the moment when he is beginning an inspiration. This is
further reinforced by whatever peripheral vision he has that notes the upward movement of my body as I
inhale and as I slowly lift my body and head up and backward, when I give his left hand that upward
touch."
Erickson's description of his handshake induction is s bit breathtaking to the beginner. How does one keep
all of that in mind? How does one develop such a gentle touch and such skill? Above all, how does one
learn to utilise whatever happens in the situation as a means of further focusing the subject's attention and
inner involvement so that trance develops? Obviously a certain amount of dedication and patience are
required to develop such skill. It is much more than a matter of simply shaking hands in a certain way.
Shaking hands is simply a context in which Erickson makes contact with a person. He then utilises this
context to fix attention inward and so set the situation for that possible development of trance.
As he shakes hands, Erickson is himself fully focused on where the subject's attention is. Initially the
subjects' attention is on a conventional social encounter, then, with the unexpected touches as their hand is
released, there is a momentary confusion and their attention is rapidly focused on his hand. At this point
"resistant" subjects might rapidly withdraw their hand and end the situation. Subjects who are ready to
experience trance will be curious about what is happening. Their attention is fixed and they remain open
and ready for further directing stimuli. The directing touches are so gentle and unusual that subjects'
cognition has no way of evaluating them; the subjects have been given a rapid series of nonverbal cues to
keep their hand fixed in one position (see last paragraph of the initiation), but they are not aware of it.
Their hand responds to the directing touches for immobility, but they do not know why. It is simply a case
Their hand responds to the directing touches for immobility, but they do not know why. It is simply a case
of an automatic response on the kinesthetic level that initially defies conscious analysis because the subjects
have had no previous experience with it. The directing touches for movement are responded to on the same
level, with a similar gap in awareness and understanding.
The subjects find themselves responding in an unusual way without knowing why. Their attention is now
directed inward in an intense search for an answer or for some orientation. This inner direction and search
is the basic nature of "trance". Subjects may become so preoccupied in their inner search that the usual
sensory-perceptual processes of our normal reality orientation are momentarily suspended. The subjects
may then experience an anaesthesia, a lacuna in vision or audition, a time distortion, a deja vu, a sense of
disorientation or vertigo, and so on. At this moment the subjects are open for further verbal or nonverbal
suggestions that can intensify the inner search (trance) in one direction or another.
[From Erickson M.H., Rossi E. & Rossi S . Hypnotic Realities. New York: Irvington, 1976.]
