Another Underground Hypnosis staple is the teaching of a truly little-known hypnotic technique invented by the late psychiatrist Dr. Milton Hyland Erickson. With the Erickson techniques, the use is made of deliberate confusion in order to induce a seemingly ironic state of extremely intense focus (which is claimed to actually be the core of the hypnotic state; hence “hyper-gnosis”). “In all my techniques, almost all, there is a confusion…long and frequent use of the confusion technique has many times effected exceedingly rapid hypnotic inductions under unfavourable conditions such as acute pain of terminal malignant disease and in persons interested but hostile, aggressive, and resistant…”, wrote Dr. Erickson.

It has also been pointed out that Taylor Starr’s Underground Hypnosis also includes little-known-about, but hardly “secret”, manipulative techniques from the institutions of Social Engineering and the Arts of Seduction. Put all of these factors together and it seems like the hype thickens.

However, even knowledgeable skeptics who have bought Underground Hypnosis to try it out have come away admitting that, while the course is sold in a conspiratorial cloud to, well, hypnotize people into separating themselves from their money, it actually does have a lot of good and authentic stuff to offer. And while it’s hardly something straight out of the underground, most of Starr’s techniques are known, by those who know about them, to be proven to work–though perhaps not always to the extent that Starr claims.

Underground Hypnosis may not be so underground, and it may not be the product of secret societies, but applying it can really change all of the rest of your interactions with people and life for the better.