Backing up Blog Post Part 5 from DrakeG's blog

Hello again, I hope everyone is ready for some more hypnosis discussion. Today we are going over susceptibility tests. As I mentioned before, this step is commonly skipped, especially if the hypnotist can build a good rapport with the subject. That being said, it is also possible to do this step and skip the induction. As a reminder this is all based on my experience and opinions.
The most important questions are how do these work and why would we use them? The first thing to susceptibility tests is like a shady carnival game, rigged from the start. The hypnotist does a trick that makes the person think they are not fully in control. Then before the subject has time to figure out the trick, the hypnotist moves on to the next one. Each new trick builds on the previous, proving the point more and more that the hypnotist is exerting control. This process is called heteroaction.
For example, the hypnotist may have the subjects put the palms of their hands together and interlock their fingers. Then hold their arms straight out as far at they can go, locking their elbows. Then tell them  to try to use the strength in your shoulders to pull their hands apart. As a person tries to do this the hypnotist will keep edging them on, pushing for them to pull harder and harder. Then the hypnotist will stop them, break their hands apart and then immediately start the next test. If these are done in a one on one setting, after about 3 to 5 tests the subject is probably in a good place to start an induction, assuming the person hasn’t already went into a trance. 
This brings us to two very important points in hypnosis. First putting someone into a trance means the person is not in full control of themselves. That means that it is the hypnotist’s responsibility to make sure they stay safe. If the subject is standing, be ready to catch them if they fall. If the subject is sitting make sure that don’t slide out of their chair. Both of those can be be prevented by just suggesting to the person they can maintain their balance. Second the hypnotist needs to watch the subject. During the pretalk, the hypnotist should have been watching the subject to get a feel for the subjects normal body language. When a person starts to go into a trance there are several signs. For example: eyes becoming heavy, head tilting forward, and jaw unclenching. The only way to see that something is changing is to have set a baseline before they start.
With that out of the way, lets get back to susceptibility tests. The most common use for them is stage hypnosis. They work as a quick way to get multiple people going into a trance all at once. Stage hypnosis also will make use of homoaction. Homoaction is like heteroaction, but instead of each different test building on the last, the same test builds on itself. So after taking the subjects through 3-5 tests, the hypnotist will then go back to the first test again, this time getting a stronger response. Earlier I said that this step is skipped in favor of going to the induction, but especially in stage hypnosis you can find just the opposite. The hypnotist may just keep doing the susceptibility tests until the subjects are all in trance. A few rounds of looping through these tests combined with the reactions from the audience can reinforce the suggestions are working till they are under with no induction needed.
So with susceptibility tests covered, we are ready to discuss inductions next time. Look forward to seeing you all there.