As someone who's had an interest in hypnosis for a long time now but hasn't really put in any effort to actually putting someone into a trance or go into a trance myself, I would like to pose a question; does the phrasing of a suggestion matter or not? If one gives a simple suggestion to the subject such as "to act like a chicken". is it through the subjects perspective of how a chicken acts? How about if the subject is given the same command, but phrased differently, such as "to become a chicken", or "to have the mind-set of a chicken". Do these changes effect the subject's behaviour or not?

<<www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS4QGEQaclk|PHRASING!>>

Yes, it absolutely matters, but it also depends on the type of mind you're communicating to. Some may be more open to suggestion, where one could perhaps draw to mind the idea pf a sweet taste, perhaps of a silky milk chocolate slice that melts in the mouth or the spike of honey during a sip of tea, they key is to let the mind focus on that sweet sensation and not think about if they are already noticing a light drool at the side of their mouth.

In those instances a person fills in the blanks and you guide them, they have more freedom and thus are more open to accepting suggestion. A command triggers a flight or fight responce in some and they are able to reject the suggestion or command more easily even if it is not something they would want to reject.

Likewise with triggers some people react more to touch than phrases or to sounds or even sight.

Every person is different and learning how to manipulate a person is a long process, though Barnum Statements and passive voice suggestions just work a lot better because of natural tendancy for people to reject things.

Not going to pretend I understand much about hypnosis or any kind of psychology, but I've heard that it is better to try and avoid negatives, like "don't" and "never". On the other hand, it would likely be worse to try and reword what you're saying in a roundabout way, so don't assume negative are always bad.

From what I understand, it's more that the subconscious doesn't really understand negatives, like 'no' or 'never'. In a similar vein, another thing I recall reading about is to avoid negative terms like 'anxiety', 'anger' and so forth, because just mentioning them causes a reaction, kind of how merely watching sports makes our own brains imitate the signals to produce the motions we're seeing.

Beat me to it.

But yes the wording you use when doing a hypnosis suggestion matters a lot in my experience.