Do they work The Way Everyone Says...?
My point is that subliminals don't work . . . at least they don't work the way many people think they work. You'll do yourself more good by using direct overt hypnotic process and suggestion work . . . and doing the work of clearing things and compounding.
Scripts are much more effective than subliminals. Live sessions with a qualified and competent and experienced hypnotist who knows what he's doing are much more effective than scripts.
There are a number of studies that show subliminals are not appreciably more effective than simple placebo. Subliminals are bells-and-whistles, they are not effective tools for influencing the subconscious in and of themselves. I know,
I know . . . there are a number of webpages which refer to a famous early study regarding the flashing of subliminal images at a drive in theatre to drive up concession sales . . . well, that study was faked. It was a fraud propagated by an advertising firm looking to drum up business.
There has been good solid research in subliminal media but that's the study everyone remembers, even if it was a well-perpetrated hoax.
When subliminals have been used in controlled studies, they don't measure up well.
Direct Suggestion Hypnosis has been proven to be more effective than so-called subliminal processes . . . this is partly due to the fact that the subject has to at least do some of the work to get the job done. Purely passive subliminal systems are ineffective.
The thing about suggestion is that the person being hypnotized must want and believe and accept the suggestion. So, you have to do the work and get into the right frame of mind. Of course, this is one of the reasons live sessions are more valuable than taped ones as the hypnotist can work the feedback loop and help resolve any so-called resistance issues as they happen.
There are NO magic bullet methods that work on everyone all the time with no resistance or work.
Studies of subliminal tapes have shown they work primarily because of placebo. When given a tape with subliminal persuasion on it, the subjects tend to have success with it IF THEY KNOW IT'S A SUBLIMINAL TAPE. If they don't know it's got subliminals then it tends to have no effect.
If given a tape with nothing but white noise but no subliminals and they are told there are subliminals, subjects have the same positive benefits as a tape with subliminals that they were told were there. If they are not told the white noise tape has subliminals then there is no positive benefit.
Most of the tapes out there that claim to use subliminals don't use actual targeted media content, instead, they throw in light mixing or white noise. At least one study of a major subliminal tape producer showed that under analysis there was no appreciable content within the audio stream.
Many subliminal producers seem to think that all you have to do is down mix content or garble it into white noise. This is NOT the case.
While many will tell you their tapes are different, that they have a wonderful process which delivers one hundred percent of the content directly into the subconscious, directly, easily, with no pain for maximum gain . . . ask to see their numbers. That is, ask for their real success rates with a group of one hundred or more randomly selected individuals . . . with longitudinal feedback of say as little as a year or even a couple months or as little as two weeks.
Most won't have those numbers and will instead refer you to testimonies or Amazon.Com "customer reviews" which are not real indicators of success (in fact, in this industry especially, such things are often manipulated). Even if the testimonies are real, they only indicated individual success, not general patterns of effectiveness.
Of course, many folks will tell you they don't have the resources to do such studies - which seems odd since most professionals keep records and do mailings and feedback reviews as a part of a professional practice. If they do indeed help thousands, you'd think they would have some records of how many purchase their services and what the base rough rates would be.
It seems to me they are operating under the same delusion as the single-session stop-smoling guys who say they are one-hundred-percent effective because none of their stop-smoking folks ever call for a second appointment . . . when, as well all know, many of those folks don't get second appointments because they suck tepid sewer water when it comes to providing adequate services.
The studies that do look at large groups of control-case and case-case comparisons regarding subliminals come from universities rather than producers of the products and they are by-and-large consistent in their assessment that most such products are little more than placebo.
You'll have just as much success giving clients a blank tape and telling them it's a new high-tech sublimination process that goes directly into the unconscious. Of course, it's hard to give oneself a placebo of this type once the genie is out of the bottle or Toto moves the curtain aside to reveal the man operating the subliminal controls.
I hope that this time I've been a bit clear for you.
Go to http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for more information and so very much more.
All the best
Brian David Phillips
eXperiential Hypnosis Newsletter
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com
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