“I’ve heard that more intelligent people are more difficult to sway into giving up their free will and conforming to the hypnotist’s whims.” This statement always manages reminding us of the old black and white films where the top-hatted man with a mustache swings his pocket watch to make a poor witless victim succumb to his every wish. This only happens in Hollywood to give the film a bit of drama, playing on anticipation of the audiences' naivety.

 

The actual truth is that those who are more in touch with their emotional side, especially the intelligent ones, are more easily hypnotized. The reason being their communication skills are sharper and well-thought out making the translation from their thoughts to the hypnotist’s ears direct. The reason clarity proves to be so important is after the initial discussion, while the client is awake, the hypnotist notes specific words and phrases the client used. These words are the focal point of the session. So, you see in effect, the client’s own words are the ones which will lead him into breaking his habits, so better descriptions make for an easier trance. The skill of the hypnotist determines exactly how deep of a hypnotic state is reached for the process to work.