The Myth of the Swinging Watch

By Barrie St John

Many people have a picture in their mind of hypnosis that almost always includes someone swinging a pocket watch. The idea likely developed from Hollywood movies somewhere in the 40s or 50s. If hypnosis was featured in a film it inevitably involved some doctor or authority on hypnosis taking out a pocket watch and swinging it in front of a person’s face. Suddenly the person goes into this trance-like state and is hypnotised. I can imagine this makes for fantastic entertainment. You have a mixture of mystery and possibly even fear, elements that undoubtedly make great movies. But is it real?

The portrayal of a swinging watch does in fact fit the concept of eye fixation that was part of the classical hypnosis induction. However, as time has progressed many different ways of bringing about hypnosis have emerged. Verbal suggestion is probably the most common and is the main medium used in our self hypnosis CDs and self hypnosis downloads.

In verbal suggestion, you talk about the person’s internal or external experience to help them go into hypnosis. For example, I might ask people to think about the way the palm of their hand feels and to focus intently on it. Or I might just suggest to them that they listen to the sound of my voice and let go of their thoughts.

Progressive relaxation occurs easily with the help of these verbal suggestions. There are plenty of ways to concentrate attention and bring about hypnosis — and no watches or swinging objects are required.

I don’t know any hypnotherapist that uses a swinging pocket watch, but I will say that I have used a crystal once or twice. It came about because it was communicated to me in the beginning of our hypnotherapy session that they expected me to do this as part of the hypnosis induction. This preconceived notion was so strong that it was actually easier to work with that idea rather than against it.

In reality, the swinging watch and other such eye fixation processes have lost popularity within hypnosis. Nowadays, the most popular hypnosis induction is progressive relaxation as I mentioned. It’s so much easier to just relax and concentrate your focus on the different parts of your body as you feel them relax. Your mind easily slips into hypnosis this way.

I still encounter people who automatically assume that I use some sort of watch or eye fixation process. I let them know that the idea of a swinging watch is old-fashioned and it doesn’t bring on any stronger hypnosis than progressive relaxation. Swinging watches may make for great movie scenes, but using them to bring about hypnosis is just not necessary.

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