Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS): How To Use It

Filed under: Hypnosis Training

You’ll be excited to know, we’ve heard you loud and clear! You’ve emailed us, sent us messages, and some of you even asked us in-person…and we wanted you to know, the solution has finally arrived!

What is the solution you ask?

And what exactly is the question that needs answering?

Well all of that and more, will be answered in this brief blog post about bath time!

Rub A Dub-Dub

There are SUDS in the tub!

Or as it’s better known, the Subjective - Units - of  - Distress - Scale, is the key to unlocking all the evidence you need, to present to your client, on whether the hypnosis has worked or not!

You may be wondering what we mean, so let’s use a metaphor.

When you are finished, and are ready to get out of the wonderful bubble-time adventure known as taking a bath, what do you do?

You pull the plug so the water drains out!

The water needs to go somewhere, so obviously letting it drain out is the best way. But how do you know the water is all gone? Obviously, you would watch the water swirl down the mysterious pipe to who-knows-where-ville. This means the bathtub that was once full, is now drained of water.

Your hypnosis subject will have a moment in time when they just want to feel better. They will come to you feeling a certain way, with hopes of feeling a different way when they leave.

How would they know though, if they felt better or not, after seeing you? “I feel a bit better…” isn’t enough proof that the intervention worked. This may cause an apex problem.

One sure-fire way of giving them evidence that what you’ve done has worked, is by using a simple scale called SUDS. We teach our students to always get SUDS at the beginning of a session and then at the end, testing their work.

The easiest SUD scale is a simple 1 to 10. Ask your subject how bad they feel, with zero being no discomfort, and 10 being unbearable. They MUST give you a number, because this number is your baseline.

Once the session is complete, after you awaken your subject. You can ask them to try to focus on feeling the thing they came in for. Check SUDS again. Where has it gone?

If they say, “Oh, I just feel a bit better…” then you have more work to do.

However, if they say, “Oh wow..it was an 8 when I came in but now it’s a 1! I hardly notice it at all!`` Well then you’ve done an awesome job!

We always recommend something we call squeezing the lemon. Meaning that we want to get their number to absolute zero, even if it’s only a 1. There are plenty of methods you can use after a client gives you a 1 or 2 of SUDS, which will help you reduce their discomfort to zero.

One method of doing this is using Mike’s 6-step tapping protocol that you can learn inside of The Mike Mandel Hypnosis Academy. Having the tools to help other people in a wide variety of situations, can take you from being a regular person, to somebody’s superhero. 

We think so, anyway.

We trust you found this information useful and look forward to seeing you inside the academy!