When someone is under the effects of hypnosis, we can plant a myriad of suggestions within their subconscious. After the person awakens from hypnosis, they are still vulnerable to these same suggestions even though they're not in any hypnotic state whatsoever.
Much research has been conducted to try and ascertain how long a suggestion remains in a person's subconscious. It has been found that suggestions can remain within the subconscious indefinitely. In one case a certain person was given a hypnotic command that was planted within their subconscious over 50 years ago, and they acted upon that command when it was said to them, 50 or so years later.
Suggestions can be removed through hypnosis, just as easily as they are planted, however when a suggestion isn't removed it remains in the subconscious. A person who has a suggestion implanted within their subconscious is vulernable to what's called posthypnotic suggestion ie: suggestion after hypnosis.
Now in most circumstances, a posthypnotic suggestion will only work by the same hypnotist that planted the original suggestion. This is due to familiarity of rapport with the hypnotist that placed the suggestion.
When someone is given a posthypnotic suggestion, they will typically act upon the suggestion subconsciously, without being consciously aware of it. If a hypnotist associated the word "flower" with laughter in a person's subconscious, and the hypnotist later said to the person the word "flower", then the person should start laughing, even if they're not in the mood to laugh.
Posthypnotic suggestions can be useful in covert hypnosis if we want to invoke certain behaviours or reactions from a person we're speaking to. We can plant posthypnotic suggestions during the course of an ordinary conversation by simply inducing a trance, and then manipulating the subconscious with a posthypnotic suggestion. Then, even when the person is outside of that trance, they should act upon any suggestions we planted within their subconscious earlier.
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