Ah, but people under hypnosis can't do what they don't want to do. That whole thing where someone innocent is hypnotized into murder by some outlandish Svengali, that can't happen.

He has to believe himself to be a jerk for this to work, of course. I think it's axiomatic here. That he may not be willing to admit it is natural, but if he does realize his 'jerkiness', if you will, then hypnosis would allow him to process it and come to understand it more consciously.