The Hypnotic Trinity

There is an old superstition that bad things happen in threes, and also that ‘three is the charm’. This sentiment is often regarded as an old wives tale, but for many people, that other old adage, ‘the proof is in the pudding’ actually bears it out.

Hypnotists in both the stage and therapeutic professions have always known the power of a suggestion given three times, and that in a clinical situation, most people need at least three sessions to effect permanent change. There is even a name for it -- the Hypnotic Trinity.

Now science has discovered what those old wives knew all along Research by
R. Douglas Fields has revealed the mechanisms by which long term memories are created. As the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what is and is not ‘reality’ when a person’s eyes are closed, during a hypnotic trance positive and helpful suggestions that are made and repeated at specific time intervals become a new reality for that person.

Of course, people remember what things were like before their session, but have no trouble accepting that those old behaviours are over, and that the new ones are the new reality.

Both long- and short-term memories arise from the connections between neurons, at points of contact called synapses, where one neuron’s signal - emitting extension, called an axon, meets any of an adjacent neuron’s dozens of signal-receiving fingers, called dendrites. When a short-term memory is created, stimulation of the synapse is enough to temporarily ‘strengthen’ or sensitise it to subsequent signals. For a long-term memory, the synapse strengthening becomes permanent.

Early molecular biologists discovered that genes play a role in the conversion of a memory from short to long-term. Their experiments with animals trained to perform simple tasks demonstrated that learning required new proteins to be synthesised in the brain within minutes of training, or else the memory would be lost. In 1977 experiments by Uwe Frey of the German Federal Institute for Neurobiology, Gene Regulation and Plasticity, and Richard D. Morris of the Univerity of Edinburgh further showed that whatever these ‘memory proteins’ were, they did not need to be addressed to a particular synapse – they could be broadcast through the cell but would only affect the synapse that was already temporarily strengthened, and make that connection permanently stronger.


In his laboratory at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the US, R. Douglas Fields and post doctoral fellow Kouichi Itoh discovered how to stimulate synapses using electrical frequencies. They were then able to measure the increased response from the synapse to subsequent stimulations after it had received the first high frequency stimulus.

This increased strength, termed long term potentiation ( LTP ) can be, despite it’s name, relatively short lived, and is the cellular model for short-term memory. However, if the same stimulus is applied repeatedly, three times in those experiments, the synapse becomes strengthened permanently, a state called late LTP. The interesting thing is that the stimuli cannot be repeated one after the other to gain this result. Instead each burst of stimulation must be followed by a period of inactivity before the same stimulus is applied, to create a permanent imprint.

Moment to moment memories necessary for operating in the present are handled well by transient adjustments in the strength of individual synapses. But when an event is important enough, or is repeated enough, synapses fire to make the neuron in turn fire neural impulses repeatedly and strongly, declaring ‘this is an event/idea/reality that should be recorded’. The relevant genes turn on, and the synapses that are holding the short–term memory when the synapse – strengthening proteins find them, become, in effect, tattooed.

Many people can have a good result from just one hypnosis session, but after a few months find that the change is wearing off. Others become disheartened if they experience little or no change after one or two sessions. Science has proven what hypnotherapists have always found to be true. Most people need at least three sessions to effect permanent change. Change your mind - and change your life !


To find a qualified hypnotherapist in your area , visit the PHWA website , or one of the national associations , such as the AHA , or the CCH . These organizations have strict regulations that require members to attend regular training to keep their membership , ensuring that clients always have the benefit of the latest research and techniques .