Hi,
This is a question raised by one of our classmates. This is a great question and so I like to share it here.
Free Association is NOT Hypnosis! (or this will make Freud really mad, as he resisted hypnosis so much and we say that his own invention of Free Association is hypnosis!)
However, Free Association might lead to hypnotic state.
There can be at least 2 types of Free Association. The linear form that invented by Freud and the Radiant form that we use in Hypnotic Writing (it is taught in our Hypno-Communication Module of the NLP Practitioner Program)
In Freud's Free Association, the linear form of free association focuses people's attention. This focus of attention hypnotizes.
In Hypnotic Writing's Radiant form Free Association, one is "forced" to think of as many related words as possible. This "imagination", self-induced confusion, and fast shifting of attention causes hypnotic trance.
Free Association is not hypnosis, but you can easily find one in a hypnotic state when doing free association. (You can say Free Association can be a form of Induction!)
Then, why do I say "Free Association is not Hypnosis" while it can induce hypnotic state?
Because hypnosis also includes the element of "Establishment of a Selective Thinking" and that's Free Association does not do. This is the Establishment of Selective Thinking making hypnosis useful as this changes clients' thinking of his/her situation/problem.
It is just like you cannot say you being a hypnotist if what you learned is just induction. No matter how many kinds of induction you knew, you must also be able to establish Selective Thinking (eg. formulating Suggestions and/or gaining new learning using various kinds of hypnotic analysis, i.e. IR/IC/IG/AR/FT/ES...) to make yourself truly a hypnotist.
Keith
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