Ipnosi Terapeutica via Radio e TV — Di Pisa/en

The Prof. Erminio Di Pisa dedicates Chapter 6 of his book L'Ipnosi dalla A alla Zeta to therapeutic hypnosis practiced at a distance through radio and television. It is one of the most original and forward-looking sections of the book: Di Pisa demonstrates that the therapeutic power of hypnosis does not require the physical presence of the operator.

The chapter opens with a clear statement: «Hypnosis via radio is undoubtedly valid and effective, even though there are far too few doctors and professionals in Italy capable of practicing it. Numerous European, Russian, and American researchers have established that it is possible to hypnotize at a distance for therapeutic purposes with excellent results.»

Context and Clinical Indications

The main field of application indicated by Di Pisa is insomnia due to sleeping pill abuse, but the chapter extends to any painful physical disorder: arthrosis, knee pain, headaches, shoulders, arms and feet, muscle atrophy, paresis not resulting from cerebral hemorrhage, angina pectoris, breast nodules. Di Pisa insists on a fundamental psychological point: «The results will depend exclusively on the operators, it being all too evident that a person's suggestibility varies according to the skill, psychological flexibility, and power that the hypnotist has developed in the art of impressing.»

For specific insomnia, the session should be carried out around 11 PM, convincing patients that no sound or noise will wake them. Di Pisa also cites European clinics that use special halls in the quietest part of the building, with group sessions of 45 minutes and individual sessions of 25 minutes, always at the same time and in the same place, in semi-darkness.

The Radio Technique: Precise Instructions

Di Pisa reports in the book the exact text of the radio induction. The patient at home must lower the blinds to create semi-darkness, move away people who might disturb, sit comfortably in an armchair or chair without crossing their legs, with arms outstretched, palms of the hands resting on the inside of the thighs. Then they close their eyes and concentrate intensely on the site of their ailment — if they have liver pain, on the liver; if cervical pain, on the neck; if knee pain, they place the opposite hand on the knee.

The operator uses a count from one to three built entirely on the sensation of heat:

«One! A strong sensation of heat... of tingling reaches your head and slowly descends along your shoulders, arms, hands, abdomen, back, thighs, knees, legs, feet, warming your diseased parts. Your entire body is completely enveloped by this strong and pleasant sensation of heat from head to toe.»

«Two! The heat becomes stronger and stronger... Stronger... very strong! Your entire body is enveloped by this sensation of strong heat. The more the heat increases... the more the pains vanish. The pains disappear as the heat increases.»

«Three! The heat is now very strong, every one of your ailments no longer needs to exist... you feel good... very good... calm, serene, and relaxed. Open your eyes! Good: your ailments are over!»

At the end, Di Pisa invites healed listeners to call in live to confirm the success.

The Psychological Mechanism: Why It Works

Di Pisa clearly explains the underlying mechanism: «To eliminate pain, you must redirect attention to another point, relegate the ailment outside the conscious field and invite it into the depths of the unconscious. Analgesia is provoked by suggesting to the patient the appearance of a sensation of heat in the painful part. The patient awaits the appearance of the phenomenon, attention is diverted. The heat itself causes the decontraction of blood vessels, creating a state of calm and relaxation. You will then affirm that, the more the heat increases, the more the pain will decrease. The sensory changes obtained provoke analgesia. The ailment is no longer there due to the infinite imaginative capacity of man, which reaches and also influences his organs.»

This is the theoretical core: pain is not suppressed directly; perception is replaced with an alternative sensation (heat), and the body responds physiologically with vasodilation and muscle relaxation.

The Television Variant: Fascination Through the Screen

For television, Di Pisa adds an element that radically changes the technique: the gaze. The viewer must keep their eyes fixed on the operator's gaze through the screen, without stopping to look at it even for a second, positioning themselves about one and a half meters from the screen, with the diseased part uncovered.

The television sequence unfolds as follows:

Initial fascination of about forty seconds: the viewer fixes their gaze on the operator's gaze on TV while concentrating on the site of the ailment
Eye closure on command
Count 1-3 with the same heat suggestions as the radio

Di Pisa is explicit about the superiority of TV over radio: «On Television it will be much easier.» The reason is evident: visual fascination through the gaze greatly enhances the subject's receptivity even before the verbal suggestions begin.

For individual cases in live phone calls, Di Pisa indicates the simplified procedure: «Look me in the eyes (Fascination)... Close your eyes! A strong sensation of heat reaches your diseased part...» and then the same progression. With viewers already known and accustomed to the operator, he adds, the heat will enter automatically because they already expect the phenomenon: «When the viewers get to know you, the heat will enter them automatically, because they have already seen you, know you well, and expect the phenomenon. With much practice, you can avoid the count from one to three.»

A Forward-Looking Vision

This technique demonstrates that Di Pisa already conceived in the 1970s-80s what we would today call online hypnosis or distance therapy. For him, the gaze is not limited to physical presence: it is transmitted through the screen, creates a real bond between operator and subject, and produces measurable physiological effects. It is a vision that anticipates by decades what modern research is rediscovering about the neurobiology of gaze and mediated eye contact.

Roots in Tradition: Ceccarelli and Di Pisa

Di Pisa closes the chapter by recalling the types of music used by the three methods of group hypnosis:

Dominique Webb: Bolero by Ravel
Enrico Ceccarelli: Brahms' Lullaby and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
Erminio Di Pisa: Oxygène by Jean Jarre and Magnetic Fields by Jean Jarre (only for mass catalepsy)

Evolution in the Paret Method: The Ball of Light

Dr. Marco Paret has developed the Ball of Light as a direct evolution of this technique. The fundamental difference lies in the structure: while Di Pisa uses television fascination as a forty-second prelude, then has the subject close their eyes and proceed with verbal suggestions, Dr. Paret carries out the entire therapeutic sequence with eyes open, in full fascination, without interruption. It is therapeutic fascination in its purest form, bringing to completion what Di Pisa had intuited: the gaze itself is the therapeutic vector, not just the introduction to it.

Source

Prof. Erminio Di Pisa, L'Ipnosi dalla A alla Zeta, Chapter 6: «Therapeutic hypnosis via Radio and TV»