THE
Hypnotherapy Journal Issue 4 Vol 10
www.hypnotherapists.org.uk
Winter 2010
Mind-Body Connection How Suggestions Could Change Our Genes
Breaking Wind And Other Ancient CBT Techniques 10 Questions That You Should Ask Every Client Therapy Tools Grow Your Practice
Plus... Have Your Say on NCH Member Benefits for 2011
moving therapy forward
National Council for Hypnotherapy Address: PO Box 14542, Studley, Warwickshire, B97 9HH Phone / Fax: 0845 544 0788 / 0845 544 0821 Website: www.hypnotherapists.org.uk Email:
[email protected]
Contents
Editorial...........................................................................................................................................................1 Committee News.............................................................................................................................................2 Letters to the Editor.....................................................................................................................................12 Enhancing the NCH Membership Package..................................................................................................14 How’s That Therapy Tool Box of Yours Doing?.........................................................................................18 10 Questions Every Therapist Should Ask Every Client..............................................................................22 Tokophobia - The Response from Hypno-Psychotherapy.........................................................................23 Shame-Attacking Exercises in Ancient Philosophy....................................................................................26 The Psychobiology of Suggestion?.............................................................................................................28 Metaphor Corner...........................................................................................................................................33 Book and Product Reviews...........................................................................................................................34
The NCH Committee Chairman: Paul White Tel: 0208 647 9357 email:
[email protected] Company Secretary: Martin Armstrong-Prior Tel: 0116 276 4911 email:
[email protected] Executive Director: Sophie Fletcher Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Marketing Director: Neil Foster Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Ethics Director: Trevor Silvester Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Research Director: Donald Robertson Tel: 01403 248 266 email:
[email protected] Technology Director: Paul Howard Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Development Director: Andrew Hill Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected]
Ex-Officio Roles Administrators: Brenda Bentley and Annie Hughes Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Training & Accreditation: Jill Tonks Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected] Professional Standards: Jo-Anne Kelleher Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected]
Journal Editor: Rob Woodgate Tel: 0845 544 0788 email:
[email protected]
Cover: ©iStockphoto.com/geopaul
Supervision Director: Trevor Silvester Tel: 01638 720020 email:
[email protected]
The National Council for Hypnotherapy, established in 1973 under its former title “The Hypnotherapy Register”, represents the practice of Clinical Hypnotherapy as a discrete profession in its own right. Membership is open to those practitioners able to demonstrate appropriate knowledge, evidence of training and clinical experience relevant to the field. The NCH is a member of the UK Confederation of Hypnotherapy Organisations.
Editorial
H
ave you ever had the feeling that your subconscious mind has been trying to get your attention?
Mine has, though I must confess that this year I’ve been so caught up in the rollercoaster of life that it’s only now, as I reflect on the year, that I recognise the signs that were there all the time.
There is a phrase, often referred to as the ‘Chinese curse’, which says, “May you live in interesting times”. This year certainly seems to have been ‘interesting’ from an economic viewpoint, with many people hunkering down in the face of belt tightening governments, rising inflation and uncertain employment conditions. Also, in May this year, the Hypnotherapy profession suffered a great loss in the passing of Gil Boyne. Gil was a very special person - not just to me, who was honoured to know him as a personal friend, mentor and business associate - but to thousands of people worldwide. In the last years of his life we collaborated closely on ‘Gil Boyne Online’ - a project designed to support Gil’s amazing legacy by making his approach and experience more widely available, not just to existing fans, but to a whole new generation of people. Out of that collaboration grew a firm and mutually supportive friendship
The programme showed how illusions can trick the brain, even when we know we are seeing an illusion. That’s because the brain can’t handle all the sensory information flooding in through our senses, so it has to use past experience to work out what to pay attention to. In effect, what we see is often what our brains are predicting will happen in the future.
and I realise now that the loss of Gil has affected me more this year than I’ve cared to admit - and my grief has not always been channelled very constructively. It took me until September to realise this, however, and my epiphany came in the shape of a manuscript from another great spirit I’m honoured to call a friend: Trevor Silvester. You can read my review of ‘Cognitive Hypnotherapy’ later on in the Journal - but as I read the manuscript, my subconscious mind seized the opportunity to grab my attention and two messages particularly resonated with me. Firstly, the idea that people are either engaged in ‘growth’, which empowers and enriches life, or in ‘protection’, which shuts down our creative abilities and choices in favour of survival. Secondly, the notion that 80% of our experience and perception of the world comes from within us (i.e. our memories, beliefs, ideas, meanings). The first message had an immediate and profound effect on me as I finally recognised the state of protection I’d inadvertently adopted over the last few months in response to the events of this year.
What’s more, when there is conflicting sensory information, our brains make decisions about the ‘truth’ of what we are perceiving in order to remain coherent and consistent. In one illusion, positioning a rubber hand to that it looks like it could be your own and stroking both your own hand and the rubber hand simultaneously is enough to cause the brain to adopt it as its own - so the subject flinches when the rubber hand is hit. In another illusion (called the ‘McGurk effect’), the brain changes the sounds we hear according to the mouth shapes we are shown. So the word ‘baa’ can turn into ‘faa’ if we are shown video of that mouth shape being made whilst listening to the ‘baa’ sound. This is more than just fun and games though - it seems to scientifically underpin hypnotherapy. That’s because our work is concerned with helping clients change their internal perceptions, and these internal perceptions account for 80% of the reality we end up experiencing. Whatever you have perceived in 2010, may I wish you a very Happy Christmas and a New Year spent in Growth. Enjoy the read. Rob Woodgate
The second message only hit home recently after watching the Horizon programme, “Is Seeing Believing?“
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Committee News
View From The Chair
Later in The Journal you will be able to read the minutes from the AGM which took place at the Royal Society of Medicine on 2nd October. The meeting was an interesting and enjoyable event. We were delighted to note that the participation in the voting process was extremely high with over 500 members voting, which is significantly more than in the past; we really do believe that member participation is a strong indicator of our success as an organisation. You may be aware that our Company Secretary is looking at ways of increasing member participation further by introducing an online voting system; unfortunately we are unable to do this until we change our Company Memorandum of Association. In summary, it has been a very exciting few months. Following the changes in directors, we have allocated new roles and responsibilities and are in the process now of refocusing our attention on the CNHC voluntary self regulation final administration process. We are expecting, through the HRF, an announcement regarding the VSR initiative early in December. In antici-
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pation of this announcement and with the assistance of the CNHC we have already begun the process by reviewing the qualifying documentation. The good news is that we will be participating in the “bulk transfer” registration process which will enable our members to pay a registration fee, which we believe at this time will only be £30.00. I would encourage you all to take advantage of this introductory fee as soon as you receive your invitation to register. I think it appropriate at this stage to congratulate Doctor Jenny Gordon on bringing the HRF to a expeditious and successful resolution of the differing points of view of the members of that committee.
Vote”, though some members may believe that it is in fact an “Alternative Vote”, as Transferable Voting procedures usually have a threshold level when there is more than one position available and more candidates than positions. (It may be of interest to members that these will potentially be the choice of voting procedures at the “voting referendum” proposed by the Coalition Government for May next year.) Owing to a combination of reasons, we understand that the voting system had never previously been used at an NCH AGM. Martin Armstrong Prior, our resident NCH Historian, is unable to recall such an event and that’s good enough for me. The AGM voting process, although well laid out in our Bye Laws, has obviously confused people and produce a rather unexpected result. The Executive, as I mentioned earlier, are respecting the wishes of our members as reflected in the election result, however we are also mindful of the dissatisfaction with the process and feel it appropriate to highlight the remedy which is available to members who feel disenfranchised - simply email/write to the Company Secretary and request a “special meeting”.
When you read The AGM voting process, the AGM minutes If over 150 although well laid out I know many people request in our Bye Laws, has of you will be the meeting, we shocked and obviously confused people will arrange it disappointed and potentially and produce a rather to see that Rob change the voting unexpected result. Woodgate was process. not successful in seeking re-election. We all respect, This option does not, of course, of course, the outcome of the elec- reflect at all on those people who tion and the views of our members, were elected. We are fortunate in however if the views of those members having a wealth of talent within our who have written to our Company membership and the current ExecuSecretary since the election result are tive is, I am sure, dedicated and capareally indicative of member feelings, ble of providing an exceptional servthen we need to better explain the ice to our members. outcome and the potential remedy. Paul White The election process described in the NCH Byelaws is called a “Transferable
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
Member Services News
These past couple of months I’ve been focused on getting the results of our focus groups collated and the consultation up and running on how we can improve membership services. We have had some great feedback from the email sent out a few weeks ago and plenty of ideas, so many in fact that I can’t respond to all of them individually. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to send in their thoughts so far. If you haven’t seen it already you can find a copy on page 14. We are flexible on the deadline and there is plenty of time to send in your thoughts, so please get involved in shaping the future of the NCH Sophie Fletcher Training & Accreditation News
Since my last update, the throughput of HPDs continues to be steady and some interesting developments have taken place. The review of the National Occupational Standards for hypnotherapy has taken place and the revised standards are out for consultation. Donald Robertson and I have been involved in the process on behalf of the NCH. Any members wanting to be involved in this process can contact me for details of how to do this or approach your training school. All NCH accredited schools
have been invited to comment. Once this has taken place and these have been finalised, the revised HPD standards can be tweaked and introduced in the early part of 2011. The pilot of the HPD by the professional discussion route will continue until the New Year. It is proving so popular with experienced practitioners wishing to do the HPD to join the NCH, that I am planning to recruit additional assessors to meet the demand (see advert below). This is proving to be a very thorough and holistic way to accredit prior learning and experience. The current cost is the same as doing the HPD with a tutor. This will increase after the evaluation of the pilot - as the assessment is more time consuming but compared to other sectors, the cost is still very competitive. Welcome to the newly accredited schools, Insight Personal and Professional Development, and Inspiral Therapy training. I am looking
forward to working with you and seeing your portfolios come through next year. Jill Tonks
Research News
I was delighted that we managed to get Prof. Irving Kirsch, the most prolific modern researcher in the field of hypnosis, to speak at the NCH Extravaganza. That’s a massive achievement because mainstream researchers are often reluctant to engage with what they term “lay” hypnotherapy. It’s a real shame that more NCH members weren’t present for his talk. I just hope this isn’t evidence of apathy about evidence-based practice. We
NCH Assessors/Tutors Required In response to the increasing demand for experienced practitioners who want to do the HPD via the Individual Portfolio Route, I am looking to increase the current team of NCH assessors. The role involves assessing the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diplomas (HPD’s) against agreed standards of competence using a range of assessment methods and giving feedback on your assessment decisions. If you are an experienced assessor and hypnotherapy practitioner and have the HPD, this is a chance to become part of the NCH assessment team. If you are interested please send a written statement and relevant CV to training @hypnotherapists.org.uk. For an informal chat, please contact Jill Tonks Training and Accreditation Officer on 0786 7557477.
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have some members who are really common core curriculum, etc., probpassionate about what research says ably because they’re not well-underregarding hypnosis but I sometimes stood by many hypnotherapists. fear they’re the minority. It’s not optional though! Our clients arguably 3. The repeated failure of systemhave a moral right to expect that atic reviews in the 1980s to find any when they hand over hundreds of support for the central assumptions pounds for therapy, their therapist of NLP, and its subsequent abandonhas at least looked into what the ment by researchers. I don’t think current research in their field is saying. there’s been any significant peerWe owe it to our clients to keep reviewed research on NLP for about two decades now, informed about best practice and current Kirch’s view, famously, although (unusually in the therapy field) research. This is is that hypnosis offers most of its claims especially important a way of delivering are easily testable. in a field like hypnotism where research a “non-blind” or has frequently, and non-deceptive mega- 4. The “open secret”, which forms the very convincingly, placebo – perhaps the basis of Kirch’s latest undermined some of only “ethical” placebo book The Emperor’s the traditional claims New Drugs, that made in the popular antidepressants textbooks, as Prof. Kirsch’s talk made very clear. Some of don’t appear to be any more effecthe more controversial things Prof. tive, or at best are marginally more effective, than placebo pills. Kirsch Kirsch touched upon were: used the Freedom of Information 1. The view that hypnotherapists Act to try to force big pharmaceutishouldn’t treat any conditions with cal companies to disclose the details hypnosis that they’re not qualified to of hidden research studies so that he treat without hypnosis, particularly could recalculate the mean outcomes full-blown DSM diagnosable disor- (which he published as a peerders like PTSD, eating disorders, clini- reviewed meta-analysis). (If you have cal depression, etc. This is an impor- billions of dollars, an easy way to tant ethical dilemma that we urgently “cook the books”, according to Kirsch need to resolve, especially given the and other critics, is to carry out lots current changes happening around us in relation to things like psychotherapy regulation, the extension of the Advertising Standards Authority’s remit to cover websites, etc.
of studies on your patented drug and only publish the ones that find what you want them to find, brushing the negative ones under the carpet so they never see the light of day.) Kirch’s view, famously, is that hypnosis offers a way of delivering a “non-blind” or non-deceptive megaplacebo – perhaps the only “ethical” placebo. “Mega” because hypnotists study the psychology of suggestion and try to maximise its effects, rather than leaving them to chance. You’ll see the NCH website contains a recent article co-authored by Prof. Kirsch, which consists of a clinical trial comparing hypnotherapy headto-head against CBT in the treatment of social anxiety. This is a very valuable piece of treatment outcome research. What was the finding? Go online and read it for yourself, along with another recent article about Prof. Lars-Göran Öst’s ongoing research on applied relaxation versus tension in the treatment of blood phobia, another common problem. (Öst, incidentally, is held in high regard by other researchers for the quality of his work.) Öst’s findings suggest that for this particular (very common) phobia, relaxation techniques (of the kind frequently used by hypnotherapists) may generally be less effective than
NCH Research Grants
2. The lack of scientific support for the concept of a “hypnotic trance” and the predominance of modern cognitive theories of hypnosis like Kirsch’s own “response set” theory, which explains hypnosis mainly in terms of expectation rather than any kind of “altered state of consciousness.” Cognitive-behavioural (“nonstate”) approaches to hypnosis dominate the research literature but seem to have been repeatedly excluded from things like the UKCHO proposals for a
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NCH may offer a financial award to members who have successfully published research on hypnosis in a peer-reviewed research journal, within the preceding two years. To apply, send our Research Director a copy of the article and reference to the journal in which it has been published along with a brief plain-language summary of the findings (c. 300-500 words) for publication via the NCH website and journal. All awards are made at the discretion of NCH and additional criteria may be applied. Email:
[email protected]
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a special tension coping skill that involves doing the polar opposite and systematically increasing muscular tension, heart rate, and blood pressure, during exposure rather than trying to relax. You can read these two articles and all the other ones by visiting the following page on the NCH website: http://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/ category/research/ If you are aware of other research you’d like me to tell members about, please let me know. We’ve been considering what to do about the issue of NCH’s research grants for a while now. We want to encourage research but to avoid handing your money over to applicants without some safeguards over the quality of the work and its publication. (There’s no point NCH helping to fund bad research or research that never gets published.) Consequently, we’ve decided to continue offering financial awards for hypnosis research but hold payment until completion - i.e. after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. As always, we’d be delighted to hear your views on this and other matters. Feel free to contact me via the email address above. Finally, thanks to everyone who voted for my election to the committee at the recent AGM. I’m delighted to be in a position to continue working as research director for you. In my brief speech I said one of the main things I’d like to see would be a “research division” for NCH. I envisage that as a section of NCH that people can voluntarily join for a small additional annual fee and benefit by receiving one of the main research journals, online search facilities, access to forums, etc. That’s not going to happen unless you, the members, really get behind the idea, though. So get in touch to let me know if you’re for or against and I’ll do my best to make it happen if
there’s enough support.
Principal review
activity
and
business
Donald Robertson Statement of Accounts NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HYPNOTHERAPY LIMITED (Limited by Guarantee) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2010 Registered Number 03195906
The company’s principal activity is to carry on the trade, industry or business of a Co-operative Association engaged in the marketing of its members’ professional services. These services are related to the provision of pyschotherapy, hypnotherapy or counselling including the supervision, training, continuing education, support, assessment of competence and accreditation of practitioners.
Brockhurst Davies Limited, Chartered Accountants, Chartered Tax Advisers. 11 The Office Village, North Road, Loughborough, Leics, LE11 1QJ
Fixed assets
Tel 01509 239492 Fax 01509 267249
Directors
The directors are satisfied that the company is entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain an audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 and that members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Act. The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. These financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 2010 and were signed on their behalf by: PR White (Director)
Movements in fixed assets during the period are shown in note 2
The directors who held office during the period and to the date of signing these accounts are as follows: • • • • • • • •
NSH Cooke (resigned 22/1/2010) P Howard T Silvester D Robertson PR White RJ Woodgate (appointed 22/6/10) SV Fletcher (appointed 22/6/10) JP Harrington (appointed 22/6/10)
Auditors No auditors have been appointed in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. Small company special provisions This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
Report of the directors
This report was approved by the board on 2010 and signed on its behalf by M Armstrong Prior (Secretary)
The directors present their report and financial statements of the company for the period ended 31 March 2010.
Statement of Directors Responsi-
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bilities. The directors are responsible for preparing the report and accounts in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the directors to prepare accounts for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the accounts in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the directors must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the
company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period. In preparing these accounts, the directors are required to: • select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; • make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; • prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business. The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that
Notes
Year to 31/3/2010 £
Year to 31/3/2009 £
Turnover
95,943
111,229
Administrative expenses
(90,866)
(128,674)
Operating (loss)/profit
5,077
(17,445)
Other interest receivable
92
1,091
(Loss)/Profit on ordinary activities before taxation
5,169
(16,354)
Taxation
(608)
-
(Loss)/Profit on ordinary activities after 4,561 taxation
(16,354)
Retained profit brought forward
45,436
61,790
Retained profit carried forward
49,997
45,436
are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. Notes These notes form part of the financial statements 1. Accounting policies: The accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008). Turnover: value, net discounts, customers in respect customers.
Profit and Loss Account for the period ended 31 March 2010
Turnover represents the of value added tax and of goods provided to and work carried out of services provided to
Depreciation: Depreciation has been provided at the following rates in order to write off the assets over their estimated useful lives: Office equipment 50% straight-line
Notes
31/3/2010 £
31/3/2009 £
2
-
1,016
2. Fixed assets (see table, p8)
4
1,379
13,065
3. Investments:
52,023
40,775
53,402
53,840
(1,608)
(7,623)
Net current assets/(liabilities)
51,794
46,217
Total assets less liabilities
51,794
47,233
Fixed assets Tangible fixed assets Current assets Debtors Cash at bank
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
5
The company has a 100% holding of The UK Council for Hypnotherapy Limited which is a company limited by guarantee. This company is a dormant company incorporated in the UK on 12 June 2002. 4. Debtors (see table, p8)
Capital and reserves Profit and loss account
49,997
45,436
NCH Reserve
1,797
1,797
51,794
47,233
5. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (see table, p8)
Balance Sheet at 31 March 2010
6
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Notes AGM Minutes
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting Held at the Royal Society of Medicine On 2nd October 2010 The meeting opened at 2.30 The members present were listed and with the Proxy votes added the Meeting was declared to have reached a Quorum. The minutes of the previous AGM, 2008, had been printed in the Journal. There were no matters arising. They were proposed by Donald Robertson, seconded by Jill Tonks and carried unanimously. The chair then gave his report: The Company Secretary will discuss in some detail our strengthening financial situation so I will focus my address on our services to members and the changing role of the NCH going forward. You will be aware that some of our directors have changed over the year and with the changes in directors’ responsibilities we now focus more on providing value to members, either through enhanced IT or members’ services. We still have a long way to go, however, we made a start last year by introducing the concept of focus groups and every member will see from our Services Director’s strategic plan, our intentions include enhanced peer support groups, more help for new members, and a drive to increase membership in the North. We really do want to be ‘the National’ Council for Hypnotherapy. Our significant bias of membership in the South makes it increasingly difficult for us to attract well supported functions
8
Y/E 31/3/10 £
Y/E 31/3/09 £
Turnover Subscriptions 2
72,238
68,974
Conference income 1
11,049
32,750
Other Members Income 3
10,656
9,505
95,943
111,229
Administrative expenses: Printing Postage and Stationery
7,712
10,263
Telephone
2,202
2,731
Administration fees 5
29,651
32,454
HPD/NCFE fees
8,150
5,337
CPD costs
239
3,657
Conference costs 1
10,218
40,559
Marketing costs 6
2,744
3,440
Hypnotherapy Journal costs 7
11,892
11,604
Computer software 8
1,026
1,057
Website costs 9
-
5,381
Insurance
798
680
Room hire
959
286
Directors & officers travel & subsistence
3,804
3,721
Accountancy
1,780
1,640
Legal fees
50
779
Book production costs 10
95
2,301
DVD production Costs
517
-
Bank Charges and interest
1,194
1,114
Depreciation
1,016
1,017
Sundry expenses
450
653 (90,866)
(128,674)
Other interest receivable
92
1,091
(Loss)/Profit on ordinary activities before taxation
5,169
(16,354)
Taxation
(608)
-
(Loss)/Profit on ordinary activities after taxation
4,561
(16,354)
Retained profit brought forward
45,436
61,790
Retained profit carried forward
49,997
45,436
Trading, Profit and Loss Account for the period ended 31 March 2010 in the North. None of the members of the Executive are happy with the status quo. Many of you will be aware of the increasing pace towards Voluntary Self Regulation (VSR). We have made great progress over the last few weeks. This NCH initiative seems to have galvanised the rest of the profession into action and we are hopeful
of an integrated approach to VSR by the end of the year. This initiative will fundamentally change the role of the NCH. Currently we act as Regulator and Professional Association. In the future our focus will be far more towards the services we provide our members, rather than regulation. This is a significant change in the focus of our purpose and presents all
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the Executive with exciting and new challenges. The tremendous success of both the Facebook page and our Twitter initiative, with a combined following of over 2,500 enthusiastic supporters, is maybe evidence of the way forward. However, we firmly believe that not only does technology have more to offer, but there may also be other innovating and interesting ways which we can maintain contact with our membership.
the most proactive and interactive memberships within our profession, and I am confident we will continue to “move therapy forward”. The Secretary gave his report:
taken some pressure from the effects of the World Financial Climate we have remained on track and avoided major losses. Our turn over for this year was £95,943 which yielded a surplus of £5,077.
The finances for the past two years have remained robust. While we have
While the past two years have been a roller coaster in many senses of Office equipment £
Total £
Cost brought forward
2,910
2,910
Additions
-
-
Cost carried forward
2,910
2,910
Depreciation brought forward
1,894
1,894
It is much credit to our Journal Editor that we have been able to maintain the Journal as an interesting and thought provoking medium, despite the advances in technology. Our members still enjoy expressing their views in the Journal. I hope that you all have enjoyed the new format and that some of the more provocative interviews and articles. It is amazing that despite the strong base of evidence-based research which is the foundation of our profession, much of the media is still seeking to create mischief. Behind the scenes we work hard, sometimes directly with the BBC, to reduce negative comment and articles. It is slowly paying off, but the spectrum of George the Cat will always haunt us if we are not vigilant and proactive. Of course VSR should do much to mitigate the effects of the media. However we will still need to be mindful of our detractors.
Depreciation for year
1,016
1,016
Depreciation carried forward
2,910
2,910
Net book value at 31 March 2010
-
-
1016
1016
This is most probably one of the most exciting times for the hypnotherapy profession. I believe that we should beware of not having an unhealthy preoccupation with the past, but embrace an appetite for the future. I anticipate an exciting, stimulating new year ahead, particularly enhanced by the second phase of our systems update and the opportunity for our members to participate in VSR if they so choose. We have a very profitable organisation, a strong, robust and creative team, and one of
Net book value at 31 March 2008
Note 2. Fixed assets 2010 £
2009 £
VAT debtor
709
8,144
Prepayments and accrued income
670
4,921
1,379
13,065
Note 4. Debtors 2009
2008
Taxation
608
-
Accruals and deferred income
1,000
7,623
1,608
7,623
Note 5. Creditors (amounts falling due within one year) Name
Payroll
Expenses
B Bentley
10,140
171.90
F Biddle
553.64
J Harrington
2,912 (7mths)
273.10
J Kelleher
3,445
530.44
J Tonks
1,350 (3mths)
270.64
M Armstrong Prior M Wiggall
293.00 10,140
P Howard
426.60 1,077.74
R Woodgate
2,600
S Fletcher
128.30 447.41
D Robertson
0
0
Total
25,675
4,172.77
R Woodgate
£744.86 (website software)
Other
NCH Officer Payroll and Expenses to 31st March 10
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the term. With the reorganisation of our admin, by splitting the role into two main areas: Financial and Membership, we were able to add to the facility. As the work load was already there to fill the time it was the obvious move. At the same time it has increased the number of hours that we have a member of the admin team on the other end of the phone for you.
was the perennial problem of generating a quorum, even with the use of proxy votes. As more of the changes to Company Law have become clear we have discovered new ways to amend our M&A and to enable more members to vote at the meeting. In fact there has been a crucial change in the law that recognises the growing use of electronic meeting spaces and networking environments. So we have joined Co-operatives UK and they are going to guide us through redeveloping our M&A to include the requirement for an AGM and the use of electronic, e.g. web based, means for members to vote as if present at the meeting.
At the same time that this was going on and plans were coming together for the 2009 Conference the big wide world went into financial turmoil. Because of this we conducted a review of the financial health of the NCH. While broadly speaking the finances were found to be in a robust In taking this opportunity to renovate state, revised forecasts for the Confer- the M&A we will be consolidating our ence threw up a problem. When the safeguards regarding quorum levels, bookings over time were compared to while at the same time developing the those of previous events it became flexibility that will enable us to move obvious that attendance would be on through times of change to come. substantially down, both on previous I think the term is “future proofyears and on that predicted for this ing”. Even with the potential changes event. This meant we were in danger that Regulation may bring we will of triggering serious financial penal- be better able to introduce new and ties on the booking of the venue, extend existing member services. something in the region of £14,000! It was realised that this, with other With Regulation coming we expect negative financial forecasts, would a clear and substantial shift in the place a serious strain on our finances. emphasis of our policies towards So the painful decision to cancel was even greater support of the members. taken. Initially there was concern This will be because the regulathat we would not tory elements of be able to continue We have a very profitable our business will without an AGM be very greatly organisation, a strong, but, as our M&A reduced, leaving us do not specify that robust and creative team, with more time and we have to hold funds to direct to and one of the most an AGM and the proactive and interactive the support of the amended Compamembership. memberships nies Acts no longer required one, we So what is the decided to develop current situanew ways of holding such events. We tion regarding Regulation? I’m sure trialled the CPD Extravaganza as an that you will all be aware of the event and found it very cost effec- announcement of an NCH/CNHC tive and even capable of producing initiative to bring an early and exclua small profit to add to the funds. sive opportunity to NCH members to Then there was the question of how enter Voluntary Self Regulation, at an to incorporate an AGM. Another issue early date. Here there is “Bad news that we had to tackle in this process & Good news.” Unfortunately this
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initiative, developed by the NCH, has to be changed. At a meeting between the HRF and Maggie Dunn, Chair of the CNHC, on Thursday it was made plain that the CNHC would agree to work with the HRF and essentially the position is that as soon as it has produced a PSB it would be able to open the CNHC register to Hypnotherapists. The arrangement would be that members of Professional Associations that meet the standards agreed with the HRF would be invited to join the register. Plans are to offer an early-bird concession for the 1st year for applicants who apply within a certain period. The target date that has been set is the 1st of December 2010. So for Christmas you may have your ‘Nationally’ based registration that is recognised by the DoH and is compliant with EU legislation. On other fronts we have been busy holding focus group meetings to assess how to develop our programme of member services and we are looking at some new and exciting ideas. As soon as we are able, to put these together, we will be announcing them and probably calling on you the members to help role them out. The Election of the Directors: As there were 11 candidates for 6 vacancies a ballot was called, in accordance with the Bye Laws. Candidates present spoke to their candidature including the members of the Board offering for election and Laura Townes and Gina Davey. Candidates not present to speak were Chris Gelder, Mo Ferrington, Andrew Hill and Neil Foster. The ballot papers were collected and counted. Following the declaration one of the Candidates (elected) called for a recount. This has been carried out and the final declaration published on the website.
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
THE DISCOVERY OF HYPNOSIS THE COMPLETE WRITINGS OF JAMES BRAID ‘THE FATHER OF HYPNOTHERAPY’ EDITED WITH COMMENTARY BY DONALD ROBERTSON SENIOR CLINICIAN HYPNOTHERAPIST (NCH) FOREWORD BY DR MICHAEL HEAP James Braid introduced hypno3sm in 1841 as a scien3fic and ra3onal alterna3ve to Franz Mesmer's animal magne3sm. This major textbook brings together all of Braid's wri3ngs on hypno3sm for the first 3me. Braid's wri3ngs have been carefully edited and annotated to make them more accessible to the modern reader. This is absolutely essen3al reading for any hypnotherapist, hypno3st, researcher, or those with an interest in the history of Mesmerism and hypno3sm. “It gives me great pleasure to contribute this Foreword to The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Wri@ngs of James Braid, the Father of Hypnotherapy. My first task is to congratulate its editor, Donald Robertson, on the quality of his work and in par@cular the fine scholarship displayed in his introductory chapters, of which I am sure all readers will be much apprecia@ve.” – From the Foreword by Dr Michael Heap “This quintessen@al work should be obligatory study for anyone in the field of Hypnotherapy. Donald Robertson unfolds the history of this most powerful therapy, through the words and works, the experiments and demonstra@ons, of Dr. James Braid, in a straighMorward, deeply educa@onal and most enlightening fashion.” – John, Hypnotherapist, Ireland
Purchase from NCH, Amazon, or most online booksellers. RRP: £29.99
Published by the NaEonal Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) www.hypnotherapists.org.uk / Tel: 0845 544 0788 ISBN: 978-‐0956057006
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Motions From the Board: 1, to amend Bye Law 1, the Codes of Ethics and Practice, to follow the CNHC model.
Letters to the Editor
Trevor Silvester spoke to the motion and Fiona Biddle spoke against the Motion. 2, to amend Bye Law 2, regarding the Grievance procedure, as published. Jo-Anne Kelleher spoke to the motion and there was no speaker against.
Follow the Leader
First though, a little bit about me so that you know where I am coming from!
The votes were cast as follows: Dear Rob, Motion 1 - For: 474, Against: 32, Abstain: 18. The motion was carried. Motion 2 - For: 512, Against: 16, Abstain: 6. The motion was carried. Any Other Business: Shaun Brookhouse asked if there were any resignations forthcoming from the Board. Martin Armstrong-Prior stated that he was unaware of any planned resignations at the meeting. Stephanie Kirke asked the Chair if the Executive was aware of meeting that the chair had had with the CNHC. Paul White stated that Executive was not aware of the first meeting at the time it took place. There was no further business and the meeting was declared closed at 4pm
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I have been a Clinical Hypnotherapist for over twenty years and a member of NCH for almost as long! I was trained by the Legendary Stephen Brooks at both basic and advanced levels and have been on many courses and seminars since then.
I would just like to say strongly that I would like Book Reviews and Metaphor Corner to stay within the journal as I certainly have found both useful in the early days and indeed since then. It also helped me in writing my own metaphors in the initial stages of My approach to helping clients reduce practice which have led me towards has always been to discover the compiling a metaphor book. underlying psychological reason(s) for their being overweight and A resurrection of those I feel would then re-educating the mind to only benefit most. use food to keep the client fit and healthy. Exercise is also suggested at Many thanks, a level that the client can achieve and sustain. My clients have achieved a Michael Hughes great deal of success with this method of working. Editor’s Reply - As I’ve often said, the NCH Journal reflects the mate- About 16 months ago I received a call rial that members like yourself submit from a past client. She reminded me and sadly there has been a drought of that she had been to see me some metaphors and book reviews recently. fifteen years earlier and that since Perhaps if you sent in some book completing therapy had no recurreviews or metaphors, other members rence of the problems. My client may follow your lead? said that she had read the articles on Hypnotic Gastric Band in the magazines and that she wanted one!! I told her that I had no experience of this. Band Wagon She replied “OK, I have got every faith in you so how about an appointment in ten days time”!! I replied by saying sure lets meet to discuss this and Dear Rob, meantime I will find out all that I can I really must comment on Paul Peace’s about the hypnotic Gastric Band. article on Gastric band scripts.
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
I was amazed and indeed horrified at what I found. There were not many websites then but it soon became obvious that most of those who were advertising a Gastric Band did not really know anything about it! Indeed one lady hypnotherapist said to me “Well dear I don’t think that anyone really knows (about the band), so you advertise the band and then when the punter comes along for assessment, you tell them that the band is not for them! You then tell the client that you do have an effective weight loss programme and, because you know they can afford the band you bump the prices up”. This was a supposed professional hypnotherapist belonging to a recognised body. When I said how unprofessional this was, she put the phone down! This is yet another reason why we need a proper regulating authority for all hypnotherapists.
obtain as many members as possible regardless of the hypnotherapist’s ability and who lay a spurious claim to be the best; then something more needs to be done.
I would never leave this journal anywhere a client could see it. I am so disappointed that a modern and progressive organisation is making this error of judgement.
Chris Russell
Sincerely
In the centre of his article Paul says “by promoting gastric banding, even as imaginary or metaphorical, we are also, once again, promoting the quick fix solution to weight loss”. This is far too sweeping a statement to be credible! I know that there are hypnotherapists out there who are only doing this for the money and complete the “therapy” in five days or so. This of course applies to many other problems that such therapists deal with.
Tom Cottrell
I find it unbelievable that a therapist of Paul’s standing could have written his second paragraph. If you follow it to a logical conclusion, one should never watch a television programme or read any article about illness or health in case the mind spontaneously brought about the symptoms! Hypnotic Gastric Banding is being used in a very unprofessional way by far too many therapists but hypnotherapy is also used in this way in general. Self Regulation is all very well but when you consider that there are so called professional bodies who would seem to have been created to
Deirdra Barr Hypno-Drugs
Editor’s Reply - Sorry you didn’t like the cover but pleased it served its purpose of grabbing your attention and stimulating thought.
Here’s an interesting and relevant article on the neuroscience and medication of trauma published in Chemistry world:
My view in choosing the image was that it would do little harm as the context is made clear, as you noted.
Dear Rob,
http://tinyurl.com/3xb8jln Regards,
Misfortune
Dear Rob, I am astounded and dismayed at the cover image on the latest Hypnotherapy Journal which represents serious oversight from a branding and image perspective. The Council and your vision tagline “moving therapy forward” is totally undermined by using the image of a Fortune Teller and Crystal Ball on the cover, doesn’t hypnotherapy have ENOUGH issues validating itself seriously without this use of confusing messaging and linking the Hypnotherapy Journal to an image of what could be considered a charlatan?! I understand it was linked to the “What if? When uncertainty gets out of hand” article but surely as a professional body in this field you understand that generally speaking IMAGERY in advertising/ messaging shouts much louder than the words.
Plus, sadly, I suspect that many people would still turn more readily to a fortune teller than a hypnotherapist, so if you had left the edition in your consulting room, you’d have probably had quite a few interested readers. I did, however, pass your comments to the executive and their view was:
“The interpretation of the imagery used will depend upon the individual and we’ve no evidence that it’s been detrimental to the profession. We believe the majority of individuals will understand the connection with the headline beside the image about “What if?” thinking. The article in question was primarily about the cognitive distortion termed “fortunetelling”, which the crystal ball was meant to illustrate. However, please continue to provide us with your feedback in the future, we take it very seriously and have discussed it at some length.”
Got something to say? Whatever your view, email your letters to me at:
[email protected]
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Enhancing the NCH Membership Package
Summary of Consultations
Following the focus group consultations we identified four key areas of improvement:
By Sophie Fletcher
• Access to information & building peer support networks.
E
• Marketing services.
arlier this year we undertook two consultations one in London and one in York with the aim of identifying services which are important to members. The focus was on supporting members in the development of their practice and giving them the easier access to the community of hypnotherapists with whom they can build peer support networks. Firstly I’d like to thank all those who took the time to come to those seminars and to feed into the process, your feedback has been very important. There were others who wished to be part of this process but were unable to attend the focus groups and I hope that you are able to use this as an opportunity to add your views. In response to those focus groups this short article outlines the proposed improvements to membership services over the coming 12 months which will simplify access to relevant information for members and will enhance the already strong benefits of joining and staying a member of the NCH. There is still time to make comments and to feed into the process. This is a consultation document and the consultation period will run until a month after the publication of the Journal. All comments should be emailed to
[email protected] with CONSULTATION in the subject box.
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• Clear and transparent Corporate processes.
Background
• Events and Conferences. The National Council for Hypnotherapy is one of the longest standing We have summarised the findings of Hypnotherapy Membership Organisa- each key area below and the proposed tions. improvements to services. It is a cooperative and largely relies on the goodwill of members to donate their time to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. There are two part-time members of staff who work administratively and support the organisation’s general day to day function. There is an elected Executive Committee which meets quarterly.
Access to information & Peer Support
Information for members is vital, in order to build a healthy practice members need access to information from advice on how to set a practice up, through to research and case studies relating to new cases they may be taking the consultation on. There was a clear distinction between the period will requirements of newly run until a qualified practitionmonth after the ers and those who were publication of the already established.
Many will be aware that the NCH is currently involved in the consultation on proposed Voluntary Self Regulation and as we move through this process, whichever route will be chosen, Journal the NCH will continue Members who had just to evolve in order to qualified relied largely ensure that Members have access to on their Training Schools for support information and services that support and information on setting up. Those them as practitioners. This consulta- who were in areas outside of the tion will give an overview of what South East, and even in the South proposed improvements will be made East where the majority to members to member services over the coming are, found it very difficult to meet months so that you will be supported, other practitioners or to find peer as a hypnotherapist, by the NCH. support groups, and reported feeling quite isolated when starting out. In some areas supervisors were setting peer support groups up, but it was
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
inconsistent.
advisors play.
Many agreed that it was vital for practitioners to get support when they are starting out through supervision, peer support and having access to information that would assist them in starting a practice. For those more established, the focus was more on access online to information on specific areas of work such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Anxiety, Smoking and so forth where template fact sheets, research and scripts would be beneficial. The NCH already has specialist advisors who could take a more active role in managing and overseeing these areas on the website. Peer support for both new practitioners and established practitioners was seen as important and a network of connected practitioners would encourage knowledge sharing and support. Although this is already being done to some degree with the Facebook Page, many wanted to see a private members forum. We propose to: • To improve the members area of the website. • Develop an online information and resource centre. • Utilise the unique role that special
• Encourage the setting up of peer support groups regionally. • Set up a members only forum.
Marketing Services
internet - particularly through google ads, or based on recommendation. As a result we propose to explore ways of ensuring that the NCH has a excellent web presence and is viewed by the media as the leading hypnotherapy organisation, so that we are referenced in leading publications when there is an article relating to hypnotherapy.
One the of the most common things that came up during the focus groups was “how do I get more clients?” All members need clients, and we explored the role that the NCH had to play in this.
Members also fed back that they would like support on marketing from the NCH and that this would be a valuable member benefit.
Many members, although they are not getting direct leads from the NCH website, may have had enquiries that came indirectly through the NCH. By clicking on a weblink or through some other means, however members were unaware that this was happening and were unable to identify whether a lead had been sourced through the NCH.
• Continue to promote the NCH through Social Media, Facebook and Twitter.
We propose to:
• Continue to exchanges.
promote
link
• Information on how to set up a Google adwords campaign. • Further high profile advertising.
Over the past few years the NCH has worked on building up link exchanges between members that increases web ranking. There have also been some high level advertising campaigns recently with great success and we will continue to run these.
• Work on PR. • Invest in improving web presence. • Set up an online marketing pack in the members area.
It’s evident that most clients are accessing information through the
www.hypnotherapy-resources.com John Hudson MNCH Senior Clinician F.A.P.H.P
“Words that change lives” Inductions, Scripts, Metaphors Theory and Practise for Successful Suggestion Therapy
£27.00 (includes Stop-Smoking Demo CD)
CPD Training Courses in Bristol or Bath
Sport, Stress Management, Successful Stop Smoking, Practice Building etc. Dates, venues, fees - see web page
Resource Packs
Sport, Stress Management, Improve your Practice
Training CDs
Effective Reflective Language The Affect Bridge
Online Shop - www.hypnotherapy-resources.com - or - Ring 01454 616191
hypnotherapists.org.uk - Issue 4 Vol 10 - The Hypnotherapy Journal
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Congratulations to our latest HPD qualifiers! Mehmet AKTAS Theresa AKTAS Charlotte ALCOCK Zelda ANDREWS Hazel BALLARD Simon BASON Oliver BAUM Sarah BEAMISH Jane BENNETT Terence BENTLEY Erkan BILGI Nicola BRAMALL R. Alan BRAY Alison BURGESS Fiona BUTTON Mark CLUTTON Melissa CONNELLY Linda COPE Shiona CRANSTOUN Paula CROSBIE Lenny DEVERILL-WEST Radhika DOOHAN Michael DOUGLAS Carlene DOWSETT Pat DUCKWORTH Jason EDWARDS Charlotte FARRANT James FOX David GALLOWAY Thomas Francis GAVAGHAN Libby GRIFFITHS Angela HADLEY Roger HAMPTON Sandra HANEY Paula HAYES Ellen HECKSTALL-SMITH
Sarah Gemma Zoe Emily Michael Reuben Rachael Wayne Johleen Nick Kaja Sarah Shelley Sarah Ozge Peter Taggart Jules Lorraine Monika Diane Samira Sandra Thomas Denise Gauthier Patrick Ann Michala Samantha Deborah Chris Cyrus Peter Stephen Anthony
HEDLEY HOLMES HOLT HOOK HOULIHAN HOWES HUDSON HUMPHRIES JEFFS JENKINS JENSEN JOHNSTONE JONES JONS KARAYIBIK KELLY KING KING KNOCKTON KRZYZAK LAIRD LAMNOUAR LAPIERRE LAWRENCE LEEMING LEPOINT LILLEY LILLICO LOTA LUXFORD MACCARINELLI MADDEN MANN MARSLAND MASON MAYS
Mark Martina Aaron Deidre Sally William Paul Caroline Mairwen Joanne Marie Lloyd Charles Nicola Jason Fay Demi Lia Hesma Karen Dawn George Paul Loretta Sarah Jane Claire Alison Ronn Raj Patricia Anne Ruth Dawn Helen
MCALISTER MCKEOUGH MORTON MULLAN NOBLE NOON OGILVIE PILL PRICE REINELT ROBINSON SANDFORD SASARU SAUNDERS SAXTON SCHNEIDER SEXTON SHAH SHEPPERD SIMMONITE SMITH SMITH SPENCE STEVENTON STIRLAND TAYLOR TELFER THWAITES VIRDEE WEGLARZ WIDDUP WILD WISHART ZAROD
Want to see your name here?
Contact Jill Tonks at
[email protected] or visit www.hypnotherapypractitioner.org
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The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
Clear and Transparent Corporate Processes
The NCH is set up as a cooperation and as such relies on the goodwill of members to function. The Executive committee is elected, but is unpaid and again relies on the goodwill of those members to run the organisation. Having spent the last 6 months as Executive Director, I was surprised at just how much time is given up by Directors at the expense of their own practice. We are extremely fortunate to have a membership with such a wide range of skills upon which we can draw but we need to put in place procedures that make the best use of the time that is offered up by those members who do get involved. In addition, as a cooperative we all have a responsibility to ensure that processes are adhered to and are as transparent as possible to members. Each and every member has a role to play, even if it is just registering a proxy vote for the AGM. Over the next 12 months we will be taking the time to ensure that governance processes are transparent and easy to access online, that the membership are involved in relevant processes and that AGMs are more frequent. We propose: • Writing a summary of our corporate processes in clear English. • Establishing online voting. • Having more frequent and easily accessible AGMs.
We propose: Events and Conferences
Over the last few years the NCH has chosen to hold one day events called “Extravaganzas.” Many members were unable to attend longer conferences for a many reasons, including financial and family responsibilities. This was reinforced by the focus groups and many felt that the Extravaganzas worked well, as they were affordable, accessible and counted towards CPD. They were also seen as a good opportunity to meet other hypnotherapists and members. One thing that did arise was the fact that people to the north of the UK, particularly in Scotland struggled to attend events in the South and the Midlands.
• To explore how we can involve members further North in events. • Greater lead in time for events. There is still time to make comments and to feed into the process. This is a consultation document and the consultation period will run until a month after the publication of the Journal. All comments should be emailed to
[email protected] with CONSULTATION in the subject box. Sophie Fletcher is the Executive Director of the NCH.
Full price £175 - only £100 for NCH members Taught by NCH member David Botsford, author of the book “Hypnosis for Smoking Cessation”
www.selfhypnosiscd.co.uk/marketing hypnotherapists.org.uk - Issue 4 Vol 10 - The Hypnotherapy Journal
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How’s That Therapy Tool Box of Yours Doing? By Joy Lawton
I
s it filling up nicely now with more varied tools to support and help you more each day? I hope so! In part one of this article we covered all sorts of basic factors to help you to slip into the therapy process more easily by selecting and using different and appropriate ‘tools’ to help you and your clients. By now there should be a good assortment of all shapes and sizes nestling next to each other, finding their own unique place in that strong, roomy and valuable tool box of yours. You should be well on your way towards adding to your very own personal and unique tool box of resources. Or are you?
it’s a good idea to add some more. One of the most important tools I’ve learnt to utilise is how to interpret your therapy ROLE correctly. If that sounds like gobbledygook, I’ll explain more. For quite a while I laboured (didn’t we all to some extent under Gordon, and how do you think Dave and Nick are doing?) to really understand exactly what my therapy role was. I’ve lost count of the times when a client didn’t want to take responsibility for the outcome. Expecting the good old scenario when all will be sorted as I scatter copious amounts of fairy dust and wave my magic wand over them, and hey presto, everything in their world is perfect again!
If we’re going to be realistic, and If you really think about it, what an believe me in this therapy world we absolute and total responsibility that need to be just that, we need to keep leaves us with. It certainly weighs a continuous eye (and the other one down that tool box! Some clients too) on what we do to ensure that do take responsibility for themselves, we stay on top of our although it’s a game. So we have the sad fact that last laugh (in the nicest Check out too that your the majority possible way) about insurance does in fact of others just Fred the therapist down aren’t prepared the road who’s strug- cover Products Liability, to. It’s as simple gling to keep up with as materials given out to and brutal as us. Looking on with clients can be classed as that. What we wonder as we continue need to accept ‘products’. to walk confidently is that some along our chosen therclients (yes, apy path, adjusting and hooray with refining the contents of our tool box bells on) will move quickly and seamalong the way. lessly towards success. Whilst others, despite our best efforts seem to easily You hopefully have the basic ones in fall by the wayside along the way. Or your tool box already. As you gain simply not wanting to accept change. more knowledge and experience now You’ll find that often happens.
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A client may stop coming to see you for a number of reasons. If you know you’ve used your selection of tools of support to help guide and empower your client in the best possible way you can, and they don’t want to continue to play their part in this potential joint venture for success, then don’t blame yourself! I’ve learnt to accept it and move on, able and ready to give my next client my full and undivided attention, support and help instead. Which helps to lighten the load, and hopefully the next client won’t expect that predictable fairy dust and magic wand scenario to be played out, although I wouldn’t take bets on it. Or would I? (Has anyone seen my gambling addiction script anywhere?). You’re continuing to collect, sharpen, polish up and use more sophisticated tools now. So your MARKETING strategies need to keep pace, match and reflect your progress, knowledge and experience. It’s up to you to maximise anything and everything you can about your practice within your various marketing strategies that sets you apart from the competition. Let’s think again about stuff like websites. If you haven’t already got one, now’s the time to do it! If you’ve got already, look at it with new eyes. Time now to perhaps revamp and revitalise it. You could tell them about your USP (showing off now sorry, it means simply your unique selling point) if you have one. Remember though, creating a USP the same as Fred the therapist down the road won’t do you any favours if you both specialise in working with children. This just divides the availability of potential clients for you which doesn’t make any economic sense for the survival of your own practice. Instead go about finding a NICHE MARKET if you can e.g. hypnobirthing, or for the less squeamish (I’m with some of you guys at the back
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
Message from the Editor: I’m really keen that this Journal continues to be a platform for NCH members to communicate their ideas, discoveries and experiences. If you have something that would be of value to your fellow members, for example • • • • • • • • •
A case study A book review A metaphor A technique A ‘how to’ article Research you have done A Historical Piece A discussion of theory A comment on something you read in the Journal
or anything else to with Hypnotherapy or related subject areas, just send it to me at:
[email protected]
Articles published may contribute 2 hours towards your annual CPD requirement, so there has never been a better time to make your contribution!
of the queue with that one) something like a common medical condition that other therapists don’t seem very interested in. Although be realistic! It logically needs to be something that interests you, because if you do choose something that really doesn’t push any of your buttons it won’t enhance your work or your reputation. Neither will it bring anything new nor innovative for you to use to really help establish your therapy practice. It’ll turn out to be a pointless exercise in terms of time and money spent on specialist training which you could have put to better use. TRENDS come in and out in therapy too, just like leggings in fashion do. If no one wants your particular ‘trend’ at the moment, then put it into the trusty tool box just for now, and instead learn to use other ones for a while. Always be willing to use diversity (great young dancers aren’t they? makes me tired just watching them). You can always dust it off again ready for future use when it bounces back in again. You might feel confident enough now to provide CD’s prepared by your good self to reinforce the work you do with clients in session. Great! That’s another resource tool for you to use now. You can either provide clients with a personalised CD, or create a different type of master CD for a variety of issues that you deal with in your practice. Then when it’s appropriate in either case you have the potential of a valuable and varied tool that you can create, record and run off to help a particular client in your own individual style. Just remember if you do create a master CD make it generic e.g. no names, and be aware of possible phobias. You may have a particular client who’s frightened of lifts, so using a specific deepener on a CD that takes them down and back up in a lift may not go down too well! (A pun on words there I hope you notice).
Check out too that your insurance does in fact cover Products Liability, as materials given out to clients can be classed as ‘products’. If not, simply arrange to have this added to your Certificate of Insurance. Also if you want to provide CDs for commercial purposes for the general public to buy you need to be aware of the logistics of copyright, and that you may need an additional insurance arrangement in place as these are classed as commercial purchases. This is different to providing a client with a CD within your practice, so check out these variations before you spend further precious time and money. Another easy tool that’s useful to utilise for your benefit is how you package your additional resources. For each CD that I provide for a client I always label it nicely, and pop my business card in at the front. So every time that client opens/closes that CD case they see my card. By displaying your name, practice and contact details on all outgoing materials it helps to ensure that every time they’re used, your client is reminded of the source of these extra resources to support and help them. That’s YOU. So a marketing tool that you can use for yourself, and done with very little effort. ‘Every little helps’, as they say in the adverts. You’re now actively helping your practice to be healthy and to prosper. (That reminds me, was it Spock who said the words ‘be well and prosper’ when he said goodbye to fellow Vulcans? Trekkies let me know if I’m right). Now you’re becoming a familiar presence in your area and others around know you’re there. This is the time when you could potentially receive occasional ‘cold call’ approaches from other sources or therapists who might just want to rent out their available room space, and have ‘selected’ you. I was tempted with an offer like this years ago and was undecided, although with some objective advice from
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Always be aware of your SAFETY too. This is a vital tool to carry with you always. This makes sense as you’ll probably have a huge cross section of the general public coming to see you at any one time, so you need to feel and keep yourself safe at all times. Some therapists choose to record their sessions, others video them to ensure safety for both therapist and client. It’s up to you It should be the client if, and how much In the same way, be who goes into relaxation you utilise these of precauaware of other ‘cold and down into trance, types tions, and of course call’ approaches rather than you falling you’ll need the offering you different and easy ways asleep because you’re so co-operation and from of obtaining more bored and fed up with permission your client if you do clients. This is happening more repeating the same stuff choose to record in time and time again. this particular way. and more now in I personally have this increasingly competitive age. If you’re really inter- never had cause for worry or unease ested, look at all the angles and the with any client, although it’s always cost before you go ahead. Use your better to be safe than sorry. basic tool of good sense. How it will suit you? Is it going to be worth it, Registering with the Data Protection and for whom? (English ‘A’ level Agency should be another useful tool to carry in your tool box, as personal coming through there). client data/information is regularly Now you’re taking on more work with being held and processed by you. So clients, you’ll find that other periph- hence the necessity to cover all stored ery factors come into the equation and recorded information in whatever now. (Yes, I admit I had to look that format you personally use for each client that you see. particular word up). others (hubby of course and a fellow therapist who had had a similar experience) I resisted the temptation of their particular offer. It might have been great, although it didn’t really suit me at that particular time. If you’re approached like this, you need to ask yourself why it is available? Like me if you aren’t really sure, ask others around you for advice before you commit.
Another tool to use is your INSTINCT. Listen to it if you feel that you aren’t going to be able to work with a prospective client, or carry on working with an ongoing client. I’ve found out from experience that circumstances can change. You take a client on, and then they go and change the goalposts for some reason best know to them, and this brings in doubts about the wisdom of carrying on with sessions. So take heed of that instinct! It’s there for a purpose, so seek further advice from your supervisor. Then if need be terminate the sessions, or refer your client on to another therapist if appropriate.
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Another tool I find to be vital is VARIETY. Aim to keep your ongoing therapy work stimulating and interesting. Easier said than done not to become complacent! It should be the client who goes into relaxation and down into trance, rather than you falling asleep because you’re so bored and fed up with repeating the same stuff time and time again. (Fancy if that did happen, waking up after the session and finding your client gone!). So be prepared, adaptable and flexible, and use your finesse to recognise the correct pace to go for each client. Each one can differ in their personal ‘journey’ towards success. If you do happen to have one who’s emotionally fragile, bulldoz-
ing ahead on their first session with your treatment plan regardless won’t do them any favours, and certainly won’t do much for your reputation as a compassionate and caring therapist either. ‘Bad’ therapists are always talked and complained about more to others than ‘good’ therapists who do their job sensibly and well. Be open and honest with yourself to go for a spot of therapy in order to iron out anything that needs it, either in your professional or personal life. We need to accept that we’re as vulnerable as the next person, and often it’s nice to be at the receiving end of some therapy for a change! I’ve benefited from therapy in the past and feel that it’s helped me understand myself and my clients more because I’ve experienced the process too, just like them. So, in a nice way, it’s a taste of your own medicine that we might need to swallow from time to time. It’s also about being brave enough to tackle your weaknesses by learning to replace them with stronger and more resilient tools. Helping you to achieve ongoing experience and expertise, so you can learn to gradually build on your STRENGTHS and then pop these into your tool box too. One sophisticated tool that’s hard to keep sometimes is BALANCE. It’s a really important one to have around you, as you’re spending more time now with a mixture of clients, old and new. There’s more to do overall, such as putting ideas in place for sessions, follow ups, ongoing marketing, reading/research, keeping your books and your CPD up to date, regular supervision sessions to fit in and crikey, all those email and phone enquiries to sort out too and reply to. AARGH! Sounds great in theory and easily sorted, although maybe not so easy and seamless as it sounds in real life. Sometimes it might feel like there are just too many balls having to be kept up and balanced in the air at any one time. And there’s your personal side of your life to manage too!
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So don’t spend excessive amounts of time and energy looking after and supporting your clients that you forget to think about yourself. Be aware of the possibility of ‘burn out’. It does and can happen, trying too hard and attempting to do everything yesterday. Everyone of us, whatever the content or extent of our therapy work, should learn to give ourselves opportunity and enough time to be able to simply ‘switch off’ (instances that spring to mind are when World Cup football was on, what are your theories about why we didn’t get very far? Or when Jordan appears in the tabloids yet again) and enjoy life in different ways to suit. So it’s nice sometimes to just lay those tools back down in that tool box of yours and to close the lid, allowing you the opportunity of a nice, relaxing rest. If you prefer to do some retail therapy (Oh yes I tell my husband, this is definitely a legitimate therapy when I come in again after yet another successful ‘session’) or watch sport on a Saturday, then do it! Arrange your diary to suit so you can do exactly that, so it becomes, and remains, your best friend. Remember quality time off and holidays are essential. Anyone up for a beach and sangria holiday? (Sorry, got a bit carried away there). Also be realistic about how many clients you’re prepared to see in any one day, or any one week. There are some of us that can manage to see bucket loads of clients each and every week, week in week out, and be fully comfortable and at ease with that amount of turnover. There are others of us that find one or two clients per day/per week quite enough thank you very much. Never be afraid to go with what’s right for you and your personal circumstances. Money isn’t everything in this therapy game. (Although I’ve personally found that it helps with the retail therapy). Other times when you have less say of when to keep those tools in full and productive use are when seasonal
variations in BOOKINGS occur. Now you’re more established and busy you’ll have seen the months go by, noticing perhaps that certain times of the year are quieter than others. I discovered this a few years ago from bitter experience (I’m over it now, thanks) when I spent some very hard earned cash in vain one time around New Year. I thought I’d cleverly cash in on the new resolution thing that lots of us vow to do (reduce weight, take more exercise, eat more healthily, sound familiar?).
endeavour (who would have thought that this was Morse’s first name? Still miss him you know, Lewis just isn’t the same) to keep my client records/ business books etc. bang up to date. This helps to ensure the smooth running of my practice, and to avoid any backlog. As the summer months when the kids are on holiday also seems to go mysteriously quiet for some reason, I usually take my holidays in August too. If you can’t beat them, join them I say.
Well, it turned out to be a turkey (sorry, had to put that one in) when my doorstep leaflet drop OF THOUSANDS didn’t bring in one single client. (I think I said bother at the time, or a word like that). I reckon that everybody (except veggies of course) had wrapped the remnants of their festive turkey in them and thrown them in the bin! Won’t do that again at that time of year, lesson well and truly learnt there. Since that debacle (you guys must admit my articles teach you something, although you may not be quite sure what yet) I’ve used the time instead over the Christmas holidays since then more productively.
Now you should have much more idea of what your tool box can do for you and what it should contain. So remember to hang onto old tools, and continue to bring in new ones. We need them all. Maintain them so they’re all in tip top condition (hang on a minute please, best look at mine now after all that advice …… yes thank goodness, all present and correct). Serviceable tools ready for use at all times to support and help keep you afloat and successful in the competitive market place. Enabling and allowing you the opportunity to constantly improve and upgrade your practice in ways to suit you, along with your NCH membership status along the way.
I tend to use this quieter time to update and REFRESH my practice wherever I feel it’s needed. So when the busy times come around again, and they usually do in February, I’m in relatively good shape (e.g. taken some weight off, exercised a bit more, and chomped my way through more than one apple a week etc.) to meet the challenges of another busy and enjoyable year in practice. I also
With the help of your trusty tool box, you can do it! Who needs to scatter copious amounts of fairy dust and wave a magic wand over clients to help create change anyway? I reckon it’s better to depend upon and fully utilise the varied contents of that invaluable tool box in order to help tackle real problems in a real world. An equation that’s just as magical and much more effective...
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10 Questions Every Therapist Should Ask Every Client By Dr Paul Peace
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he questions we ask vary according to client, context, presenting issue and so on. There are a number of questions, however, that should be asked of almost every client. We assume you already routinely ask about contact details, medical and psychological history, allergies and phobias (to avoid mentioning in trance), suicide and self harm, and history and origin of the problem.
discussed today that you wanted to talk about?
1. Out of all the things we have covered today, what do you think was most useful?
9. How do you think you are doing in relation to your goals?
2. Imagine, for a moment, that there was a positive reason for this having this problem. That in some way, despite the problems it brings, it actually provides some reward. What would that reward be? (Notice the question asks the client to ‘imagine’. This helps bypasses resistance and encourages creativity in exploring possible secondary gain). 3. What, if anything, has changed for the better since last session?
7. What are your hobbies and interests? (Work these into therapy in inductions, metaphors, and analogies and examples the client can relate to) 8. Is anyone else likely to answer your telephone? Will they know you are in therapy with me? (an oft-overlooked aspect of protecting confidentiality)
10. How did you find out about me? (If you don’t know where clients have come from, how will you assess which marketing strategies work and which do not?) Dr Paul Peace, Chartered Psychologist, Hypnotherapist and Trainer. Excerpt from his free ‘Advanced Training in Hypnotherapy’ ebook. Email admin@ training-hypnotherapy.co.uk with questions, comments, or to obtain your free copy of the ebook.
INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATION The National Guild of Hypnotists is the oldest (founded in 1951) and largest professional society for hypnotherapists in the world. The NCH has negotiated a reciprocal agreement with the NGH in the USA, which currently has members in 40 countries. Check their website at www.ngh.net for more information about their conferences and publications. A 20% discount is available for your first year’s membership, which brings with it four editions of the Journal of Hypnotism and four editions of the Hypno-Gram. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity please contact the NCH administrators for an application form.
4. What would you like to work on today? (If it seems reasonable, have the courage to abandon all your plans if necessary. The client usually knows best. Negotiate if you have any doubts.) 5. If anyone, who will support you as you go about these changes? 6. Is there anything else we haven’t
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Tokophobia - The Response from HypnoPsychotherapy By Sharon Mustard A review and evaluation of primary research into anxiety disorders in childbirth and a proposal of effective treatments and interventions. This is Part 4 of a 4 part series of articles
More Treatment intervention from Hypno-psychotherapy
In this final part, I will discuss further treatment interventions:
by inducing an attitude of positive expectancy. Kroger (1977) found that hypnosis can promote or suppress lactation. (b) Working with maternity staff A multi-disciplinary approach can allow Maternity Services and a Hypno-Psychotherapist to work towards a common aim of treating tokophobia or indeed preventing it in the first place.
(a) Use of visualisation Prior to birth, use of Timeline techniques can reframe expectation for the women. Successful birth rehearsal, visualising her ideal birth, will enable her to begin looking forward to birth as opposed to dreading it. Extrapolative learning exampleswhereby you are putting the mechanics in place so your brain acts as if it is happening right now, can develop a woman’s faith in the power of the mind-body connection. For example, the effects of visualisation are evident in a study where 81% of breech babies were turned to a vertex position within 37–40 weeks gestation period as opposed to 43% in the control group (Gilman, 1995). Visualisation can be used for early placental separation & reduce uterine bleeding following the birth; also for breast feeding. In the latter, hypnosis can to abolish worry and fear
Because of the faith women will have in their expert knowledge, birth professionals have ‘prestige suggestion’ defined as “A persuasive message delivered by or attributed to a highly respected or admired source to maximize its credibility”.
committed to empowering women, but changing language around childbirth is an evolving process. We live in the context we live in; we know of medical procedures and drugs. These subjects need to be discussed carefully antenatally eg. in parentcraft classes; otherwise they can become hypnotic suggestion which creates negative expectation. Attendants during birth can influence positive expectancy by avoiding negative terms or suggestions, and replacing them with positive equivalents eg. “Are you comfortable?” rather than “Are you in pain?”. The birthing environment can also be controlled to give an atmosphere that says birth is normal and not an emergency waiting to happen. (c) Language-external and internal (i) External influence: Negative suggestion is of course not confined to birth professionals. Everything a person hears/learns related to birth becomes part of their hypnosis.
We have heard stories from wellmeaning friends and family that Hao et al (1997) in China measured send shivers up our spines, and so the effect of nursthe legacy contining suggestions to ues. If a pregnant Attendants during birth labouring women woman is made can influence positive and recommends aware how powerexpectancy by avoiding that the conversaful suggestion can negative terms or tion of the nurses be, she is forebe “control- suggestions, and replacing warned and therefore forearmed. led carefully for them with positive She can seek to the purpose of equivalents encourage those advancing the around her to use birth process”. This randomized control trial examined 60 positive suggestions, and be taught first time mothers with a matched to re-frame suggestions if they don’t. control group of 60 first time mothers and found a statistically signifi- (ii) Internal Language: cant reduction in the lengths of the A hypno-psychotherapist can assist first and second stages of labour. women in preparing their mind for Midwives in Britain are generally very success by using positive affirmations
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to counteract any fears: eg. “Each contraction is bringing me closer and closer towards the birth of my baby” (thereby focussing on the desired outcome).
will tend to assess the world through her partner’s eyes as they are the most familiar ‘anchor’ in the environment. They are therefore integral to the whole process, not simply in the role of coach to the expectant mother.
(d) Anchoring As memory is state-dependent and context-specific: women and partners will have a blueprint for recreating the CCC mental state. This mental state can be ‘anchored’ to some sensory stimulus, so that the same response can be elicited in the birth environment. The response is capable of being formed and reinforced by repeated stimuli, and thus are analogous to classical conditioning. Example: Women I have trained have ‘anchored’ to my distinctive irish accent, whereby the two midwives based at Salisbury District Hospital with the same accent have facilitated relaxation more easily than their colleagues. (e) Partner’s involvement During pregnancy, I encourage women to find out how their partner feels about the birth. In an intense experience such as labour, a woman
Anchoring can again be utilised with eg. partner saying name, or saying the word calm becoming a cue to relax. (f) When it doesn’t go according to plan Trauma and subsequent tokophobia can result if the person then becomes alarmed as it is not happening exactly as they were told it would. Even in situations where ‘things are not going according to plan, maintaining CCC is the ideal mental state. Encourage expectant mums to think of each birth as unique-like a fingerprint. The individual differences can be seen as something to cherish. A positive, calm state of mind will help keep the woman’s mind open to options/choices, rather than feeling helplessness. CASE STUDY: Christine and her partner Simon were both familiar with the use of hypnosis. They were plan-
ning for a home birth with the use of a birthing pool. Christine chose to remain in what her partner Simon called “her zone”. She laboured comfortably and felt in control for the duration. At 9cms, still comfortable, Christine remained at this stage for 2 hours. When examined, she was found to have an unusual pelvic formation which meant that the baby was unable to move down further. The midwife presented Christine with 3 choices; they were able to calmly process the professional’s words and chose transfer to hospital. Due to the special circumstances, Christine had a caesarean section-both Christine and baby had remained calm throughout. Afterwards, both Christine and Simon emphasised that they did not feel at all cheated out of the experience they wanted. (g) Post-Natal Period Jenkins and Pritchard (1993) found that primagravid and multigravid women using hypnosis were more satisfied with labour than the control group, and reported post-natal benefits of hypnosis such as reduced anxiety and help with getting to sleep. In the post-natal period, women
NCH Specialist Advisors Sue Adamson
01625 879000
Pregnancy and childbirth
Caroline Barker
01903 237 666
Depression
David Collingwood-Bell
01978 769178
Tinnitus
Gill Drury
0800 0832125 or 01142 552252
Pregnancy and childbirth
Brid Hendron
07732177110
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Rae Jenson
01506 830 190
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John Lawrence
01506 830190
Pain management (Including Phantom Limb)
Alix Needham
020 7935 1965
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Hilary Norris-Evans
01249 740506
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Edwin Salter
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Penelope Walford
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Smoking
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using hypnosis techniques tend to:
health problems.
• Heal quickly and recover faster.
The function of a person’s tokophobia may in part be due to anxieties about the future responsibility of having a child. Therefore a valid component of Hypno-psychotherapeutic intervention is to allow them to explore their beliefs about their ability as a parent.
• Have deeper refreshing sleep. • Return more quickly to pre-pregnancy shape and size. • Have a greater sense of calm and tranquillity. • Have an increased bond with your baby. • Have a decreased chance of PostNatal Depression. McCarthy (1998) interviewed 600 women having used hypnosis during labour and found a virtual absence of postpartum depression, compared to the typical rates of 10 to 15 percent. Women with a history of postpartum depression did not develop this condition, even though an estimated 50 percent eventually do. Harmon et al (1990) also reported lower depression scores in the hypnotically treated group.
Confidence in childbirth has everything to do with confidence in parenthood.
Conclusion
In the western world particularly we have lost connection with the inner wisdom of, what is and always has been, a natural process and instead birth is being seen more and more as a medical procedure. The inference or ‘negative hypnosis’ given by the medicalised approach and knowledge of all the drugs available only serves to move our beliefs further away from this being something that our body has the natural ability to do, instead The self-hypnosis taught doubles serving to reinforce the fears. Our as an essential life skill that can be society dictates to us, through TV used well beyond the birth. It equips and magazines, negatively programwomen and men with an ability to ming us that ‘we need help to give better adjust to the life-changing birth’, ‘it will be painful’, ‘could have complications’, event of becom‘that it’s a long ing a parent. In the western world arduous task that They can feel particularly, we have lost takes place lying more empowered to deal with the connection with the inner on your back in hospital, screamchallenges ahead. wisdom of, what is and ing, drugged and Tokophobia can always has been, a natural wired up to a have its origins machine’. It is no in part due to a process wonder that with traumatic start to these mental parenthood. images strongly embedded into our The National Institute of Clini- subconscious that women these days cal Excellence (2007) discussed the feel so anxious about birth, often benefits of teaching postnatal women to the extent of an extreme fear. I relaxation and self-help/coping strat- believe Hypno-psychotherapists have egies, especially in reducing depres- a significant role to play in the treatsion and anxiety for women who are ment of tokophobia and anxiety vulnerable to suffering these mental disorders associated with childbirth.
Throughout history, there were of course possible complications, and that is where medical advances really come into their own; but a calm mother will give the baby the best chance she possibly can within her control, for the baby to be born safe and well. Hypno-psychotherapy, in joint working with birth professionals can therefore aid in the prevention of trauma and in turn tokophobia. References Gilman, E. (1995) ‘Turning breech babies with hypnosis’, American Health, 1, pp.30. Kroger, W.S. (1977) Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Lippincott Company. Hao TY, Li YH, Yao SF. (1997) ‘Clinical study on shortening the birth process using psychological suggestion therapy’, Zhonghua Hu Li Za Zhi, 32(10), pp.568-70. Jenkins, M.W., & Pritchard, M.H. (1993) ‘Hypnosis: Practical applications and theoretical considerations in normal labour’, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 100(3), pp.221226. McCarthy, P. (1998) ‘Hypnosis in obstetrics’, Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 26, pp.35-42. Harmon, T.M., Hynan, M., & Tyre, T.E. (1990) ‘Improved obstetric outcomes using hypnotic analgesia and skill mastery combined with childbirth education’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, pp.525-530. nhs National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (2007) Antenatal and postnatal mental health, N.I.C.E., HMSO.
As the founder and director of the Easibirthing institute, Sharon runs Hypnosis for Childbirth courses privately and as part of a contract with Salisbury District Hospital NHS Trust. She also trains practitioners throughout the UK to specialise in the area of ‘Hypnosis for Childbirth’. Contact Sharon on 01980 623089 or visit www.easibirthing.co.uk for course dates and information.
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Shame-Attacking Exercises in Ancient Philosophy By Donald Robertson
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his is a brief excerpt from humiliated about their personmy new book, The Phihood. (Ellis & MacLaren, 2005, p. losophy of Cognitive-Be95) havioural Therapy: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Ellis further explains the exercise as Psychotherapy, published by Karnac. follows: In certain concrete practical respects, REBT also contains therapy interventions that resemble techniques familiar within ancient philosophical therapy. Ellis was known for what he described as REBT’s “trademark” use of various “shame-attacking exercises”.
ble conditions for life in society: cleanliness, pleasant appearance, and courtesy. They practiced deliberate shamelessness – masturbating in public, like Diogenes, or making love in public, like Crates and Hipparchia. The Cynics were absolutely unconcerned with social proprieties and opinion; they despised money, did not hesitate to beg, and avoided seeking stable positions within the city. […] They did not fear the powerful, and always expressed themselves with provocative freedom of speech (parrhesia). (Hadot, 2002, p. 109) Ellis seems unaware of this precursor to his “shame-attacking” exercises. However, the Cynics themselves specifically refer to the deliberate practice of “shamelessness” (anaideia) as a psychotherapeutic exercise. In the case of Diogenes, this was referred to metaphorically as his “defacing the coinage” of social conventions, which inevitably shocked others. So notorious were the shameless acts of Diogenes that Plato allegedly called him “Socrates gone mad”.
Here clients deliberately seek to act “shamefully” in public in order to accept themselves and to tolerate the ensuing discomfort. Since clients do best to harm neither themselves nor other people, minor infractions of social rules often serve as suitable shame-attacking exercises (e.g., calling out the time in a crowded department store, wearing bizarre clothes designed to attract public attention, and going According to the Greek biographer into a hardware store and asking Diogenes Laertius, the famous Cynic, Crates, who trained the clerks Zeno the founder of whether they the Stoic school, was sell tobacco). nicknamed “Door(Dryden & Ellis, So notorious were opener” because of 2001, p. 329) the shameless acts of
In order to help clients overcome selfconsciousness, social embarrassment and inhibition, Ellis would prescribe changes in behaviour which were designed to forcefully and directly challenge their sense of shame. For example, he refers to the technique of asking clients to repeatedly stop a bus without getting off, or asking his habit of invitstrangers in the street to give them Diogenes that Plato ing himself into money, etc. This aspect of allegedly called him people’s houses to Ellis’ work is striklecture them someI realised, soon after I started ingly reminiscent “Socrates gone mad”. what abrasively on REBT in 1955, that what we call of the practices of philosophy(Laertius, “shame” is the essence of a great the ancient Cynic 1853, p. 250). deal of our emotional disturbance. philosophers who […] Seeing this, I created my now appear to have adopted, albeit in a famous shame-attacking exercise more extreme manner, controversial He also mentions another practice in 1968; and perhaps millions of lifestyles and behaviours in order of Crates which sounds like an even people, especially psychotherapy to liberate themselves from social more provocative version of Ellis’ shame attacking exercises, ‘He used clients, have done this exercise and conventions. to abuse prostitutes designedly, for trained themselves to feel shamed or sorry about what they did, and The Cynics break with the world the purpose of practising himself in about the public disapproval that […] was radical. They rejected enduring reproaches’(Laertius, 1853, often went with it, but not to put what most people considered the p. 251). Epictetus seems to imply that themselves down and not to feel elementary rules and indispensi- Diogenes and the other Cynics, whom
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The James Braid Society The society is non-profit making and offers an open invitation to therapists to come along to one of its monthly meetings, whether members or not. Annual subscription is a oneoff payment of £20. Visitors are welcome to come and “try out” the club before joining by just paying £5 entrance fee. Meetings are held in Central London, upstairs at “The Carpenters Arms”, 12 Seymour Place, W1H 7NE. Nearest tube station Marble Arch. Talks cover a range of subjects of interest to anyone involved in clinical hypnosis. Expert speakers are always welcome. The meetings begin at 7.15pm and end at 9pm on Thursdays. Dates for 2011: Jan 20th Feb 17th Mar 17th Apr 14th May 19th Jun 16th Jul 21st Sep 15th Oct 13th Nov 17th Chairman, Leila Hart 0207 4024311 Secretary, Fiaz Ayub 0207 2864107 Membership, Margaret Sinclair 0208 3956766
www.jamesbraidsociety.com
he greatly admired, deliberately broke wind in front of people, presumably also as part of their practice of shamelessness (Discourses, 3.22.80). Indeed, I am indebted to Still and Dryden for the following illustration drawn from Montaigne’s account of a quite surprising Stoic anecdote,
piece of salted fish was enough to dissolve our friendship!” (Laertius, 1853, p. 230). Notoriously insolent and iconoclastic, he once asked the Athenians to erect a statue to him, and when asked why he had done so, replied, “I am practising disappointment.” (Laertius, 1853, p. 235).
These and many In the midst similar popular of a discusDiogenes and the other philosophical anecsion, and in the presence of Cynics, whom he greatly dotes illustrate the striking parallel his followers, admired, deliberately between the ancient Metrocles let broke wind in front of Cynics’ psychooff a fart. To people, presumably also therapeutic techhide his embarrassment he as part of their practice of nique of anaideia, or shamelessness, stayed at home shamelessness and the “shameuntil, evenattacking” exercises tually, Crates made famous by came to pay him a visit; to his consolations and Albert Ellis within REBT, precursors arguments Crates added the exam- of certain more modest “behavioural ple of his own licence: he began experiments” used to challenge social a farting match with him, thereby anxiety and inhibition in modern removing his scruples and, into the CBT. bargain, converting him to the freer stoic school from the more socially Beck and his colleagues also refer to oriented Peripatetics whom he had “anti-shame exercises” and observe formerly followed. (Montaigne, in that cognitive therapy provides opportunities for clients to deliberStill & Dryden, 1999, p. 157) Crates’ exercises in shamelessness, or the overcoming of social anxiety and inhibition, can be seen as a practical training in his maxim, ‘That a man ought to study philosophy, up to the point of looking on generals and donkey-drivers in the same light’ (Laertius, 1853, p. 252). Zeno appears to have assimilated some aspects of his mentor’s philosophy into Stoic therapeutics, although moderated by a greater respect for society than the Cynics allegedly displayed. Like Crates, Diogenes the Cynic, who was revered as a Sage by some Stoics, reputedly tested prospective students by instructing them to follow him around carrying a salted fish, or a piece of cheese, in their hands. When some refused, out of embarrassment, he would chide them: “See how a
ately expose themselves to feelings of shame in order to conquer them (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 2005, p. 282). Indeed, there are many more parallels which can be drawn between the principles of REBT and those of Stoicism.
“
QUOTE-NOTES
If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice, shame on me.
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Chinese Proverb
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The Psychobiology of Suggestion? By Trevor Silvester
E
very now and again I come across a book that stops me in my tracks. Trances People Live was one, The User Illusion was another. Recently, it was a book called the Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton. I’m on a journey to find out why hypnotic suggestion works. So far the journey has taken about 12 years, and from it I’ve developed Wordweaving, but it’s only the story so far. What Lipton suggests in the first third of his book is a model that, when added to Wordeaving, connects suggestions from the words that are spoken, all the way down to their effect at a cellular level. Let me repeat that. At a cellular level. I’m talking about a model that describes hypnotherapy as a true means of mind/body communication. So I’m a little excited. Let me start with a précis of Lipton’s theory of where mainstream biology has got it wrong. In cellular biology there exists something called the Central Dogma. Now dogma is a strange word to use in science because its definition goes something like ‘a specific tenet or doctrine
authoritatively laid down, as by a church.’ It suggests something not
open to question, a received truth, and Lipton makes much of this title, claiming it made him realise, as a lecturer in cellular biology, that he was teaching religion. The term was actually coined by Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA, who later had this to say about his choice:
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spring from which flows the idea of genetic determinism that dominates so much of popular opinion. Barely a week goes by without the press reporting the discovery of a gene that causes cancer, or homosexuality, or even a belief in God. Psychologically I can quite see that acceptance of the concept leads to a helpless position where what happens to you is outside of your control – ‘it’s not my fault I’m fat, thin, lazy or violent, it’s in my genes’. Lipton contends that this isn’t “As it turned out, the use of the just the popularly held view of the way word dogma caused almost more things are, it’s also the prevailing view trouble than it was worth…. Many within biology. As an outsider, and a years later Jacques Monod pointed non-scientist, looking in, I haven’t out to me that I did not appear to found the evidence to support this. understand the correct use of the Certainly the idea of genetic deterword dogma, which is a belief that minism is present – because it does cannot be doubted. I did appre- exist. Certain genes do predict absohend this in a vague sort of way lutely the existence of certain condibut since I thought that all reli- tions, such as cystic fibrosis and some gious beliefs were without foun- cancers. But there seems to be a strong dation, I used the word the way presence of scientists within the I myself thought about it, not as field who acknowledge other factors most of the world does, and simply beyond the central dogma that exist applied it to a grand hypothesis and influence the growth and behavthat, however plausible, had little iour of an organism. It might be that Lipton is guilty of disambiguation – direct experimental support.” otherwise known as the straw man So the label was a mistake, but, as is argument, where you propose a point so often the case, it has tended to be of view your opponent doesn’t actuviewed as a truth by many in the field. ally hold, and by destroying that point But not by all, and Lipton doesn’t of view enhance your own. If so, I appear to be alone in his resistance think it’s more in order to be heard to it being thought of as a settled to an audience whose attention he’s truth. So what is the trying to gain, than central dogma? That Barely a week goes to hide any weakness in his own argument, DNA controls its own by without the replication and acts as but I’ll let you be the press reporting the judge of that. the blueprint for the body’s proteins. discovery of a gene that causes cancer, Because the nucleus of a cell contains its According to the dogma, the flow of or homosexuality, or DNA, and the DNA information is from even a belief in God. is responsible for the the DNA, to the RNA, creation of proteins, to the protein. The premise is that, it seems to be the general consenas the nature of its proteins defines sus within biology that the nucleus the character of a living organism, acts as the brain of the cell. This is and the proteins are encoded by the place where Lipton begins to the DNA, then logically DNA would swim away from the mainstream. He represent the primary determinant of cites experiments he performed that an organisms traits. This is the well- demonstrated that cells continued to
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function normally after the removal of the nucleus, only eventually wearing out from the inability to manufacture new proteins. He considers the membrane of the cell to be the brain, and has a detailed model for how it interacts with environmental signals to cause the genes to be expressed. I don’t need to go into detail about this model, thankfully – you can buy the book if you’re interested – it just brings us to the crux of his argument, namely that genes aren’t self-emergent. Something in the environment has to trigger gene activity. Epigenetics is the study of molecular mechanisms by which the environment controls gene activity, and it has established that DNA blueprints passed down from our parents at birth are not set in concrete. Other influences from the environment, including nutrition, stress and emotions can modify these genes, without changing the basic blueprint. These modifications can themselves be passed onto future generations. Not only does this seem to contradict the central dogma, but also traditional Darwinism, which suggests that evolution takes many generations to have an effect. Evolution can happen from one generation to the next, which obviously has massive implications. Lipton reverses the Central Dogma by suggesting that it is the environment that causes genes to act. Essentially, environmental signals pass their message through the cell membrane via receptor and effector proteins which cause a gene to be read and copied. This model he calls the Primacy of the Environment. Gene activity does not happen unless something in the environment requires it to. At a micro level, the signals we’re talking about are things like neurotransmitters and peptides, but at a macro level we’re talking about everything that comes through are senses, and from our minds.
The implications of this are massive. What actually happens is that light According to Lipton only 5% of comes in through the eye and hits cancers are genetically determined, the retina. It’s converted to electriwhich means that, potentially at cal signals and shuttled to the brain least, 95% of cancers are caused by where it is processed simultaneously a reaction to our environment – or by different parts of the visual cortex, to ourselves. The message Lipton is parts responsible for movement, trumpeting is that genes are not our colour, etc. The image is re-assemdestiny – which is obviously great news bled, predominantly in the part of on its own. The reason it gave me the the brain called the thalamus, which is when we become chills, though, was because I recognised only 5% of cancers are consciously aware there was something genetically determined, of seeing. However, this begs a big quesI could add to the which means that, tion. If the image mix which might potentially at least, is assembled in the help close the circle brain, how come we on the nature of the 95% of cancers are mind/body connec- caused by a reaction to see it in front of us? Why not on some tion. our environment – or kind of screen in our to ourselves. heads? Think about Lipton’s book the that when you have Biology of Belief the time because contains a brilliant exposition of cellular biology. it’s a big thought. It leads us to He’s one of those rare scientists who conclude that we project onto what render the complex simple. The first is around us what we take it to be. In 100 pages are quite breath-taking a very real sense we’re responsible for in the way they illuminate a model how things look. Here’s another big of genetics that frees us from the thought (actually it’s the end result determinism that shapes our every- of the earlier one). On a clear evening day perceptions. Personally, I found go outside and look up at the stars. my highlighter called upon less and You’re seeing light from billions of less as the book progressed beyond light years away, you’re seeing to the his field. I felt his recourse to Quan- edge of the viewable universe. But tum physics, and the idea of thought that view is being projected from your as energy that can influence the cell brain. Your brain is creating the show. was unnecessarily speculative when You’re walking around in a bubble of other explanations are available that reality as wide as the universe that I think are more solidly founded. And you’re making up. it’s these other explanations that connect to Lipton’s argument that Here’s an interesting, if slightly geeky it’s our environment that causes our fact. There are about 7 million light actions, from the cell upwards, that I cells in the eye. So what, I hear you say? Well, you never know it want to pursue next. could win you a cheese with Trivial I’ll begin with using Francis Crick Pursuit, but I mention it because of again, who once wrote, “One thing another even geekier fact; there are we can be sure: we do not see things 100 million nerve cells in the first in the way common sense says we visual area the nerve impulses from should.” And he’s right. Most people the eye reach. Does it strike you as think we see the world through our odd that there are 100 cells available eyes, but we don’t. Nothing travels to process information from every from our eyes outward, we’re not single cell that receives light from the looking at the world out of them, the environment? Why would there be world travels in through them. this massive overcompensation? The
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answer is that there isn’t, the processing areas are doing something other than merely making something out of the light sent their way by the eye.
ing. So much for reality.
Lipton’s model suggests that our cells respond to messages from our environment that causes the DNA within A part of the brain intimately involved them to be expressed in order for the in the processing of information is response to be possible. At the level the thalamus. It has been described as of the cell the form of this message the junction box of the brain because is in the shape of neurotransmitters, information received from the senses peptides, hormones etc. At the level is sent to it, and from there it is of the organism it’s anything that disseminated to the other areas of causes our senses to pass the message the brain responsible for processing on to the processing areas of the it. The key point for our purposes is brain. Now, if our brain creates 80% this; that when these neural messages of our awareness of the environment return to the thalamus they contain that our cells respond to, doesn’t that 80% more information than when sound like a mind/body connection? they were sent. Think about that, It’s a big point, so let me reiterate it. because the implications lie at the The world we respond to is largely heart of my case. 80% of the world a projection created by the computhat we become consciously aware tations of our brain. Every response of comes from ourselves. We are to the world is ultimately occurring making up most of the world we live at the cellular level. Therefore, our in. In the words of Richard Gregory, thoughts are the major events that “Our sight consists of a hypothesis, our cells respond to. I heard on the an interpretation of the world. We news today that research has shown do not see the data in front of our that depression is as likely to cause eyes; we see an interpretation.” At a heart disease as obesity or smoking. low level of bandwidth – somewhere No kidding. A thought is as much probably close to the 20% mark – we a reason for a cell to respond as a all agree about what we see. What we carcinogen in a cigarette, or satudon’t agree with is our rated fat in junk food. experience of what we It’s all just information 80% of the world see – and this, I think, for the mind/body to is what the apparrespond or react to. that we become ent surfeit of neural consciously aware connections (that I This synthesis of of comes from mentioned earlier as Lipton’s theory from ourselves. We are a geeky fact) is for. cellular biology with The brain is using past making up most of accepted neuroscience experience stored as the world we live in. provides us with a memory, and anticiuseful model for the patory memory (an mind/body connecimagined future), as the basis for tion, but as a therapist what I’m giving meaning to the information interested in is how knowledge can that flows into us from our environ- be used to help our clients. This is ment. So we don’t see what we sense, where the third strand of my synthewe see what we think we sense. And sis comes in. this choice is made for us because when we experience the world around If we accept that we don’t see things us, for us to experience it, means it’s around us as they are, just as we know already been processed – given mean- them as a result of our life experiing – by our brain. By the time you ences, the question arises as to how perceive an object in front of you the the brain achieves this. How do two brain has already decided its mean- brains see the same object but project
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onto it different experiences? Why does one person stroke a dog and the other run from it? Now we touch on what was described by David Chalmers as ‘The Hard Problem’. Consciousness. It’s such a hard problem that I’m going to oversimplify my argument to get to what is useful. Consciousness is what leaves us when we fall asleep, but being awake doesn’t necessarily mean we’re conscious – think about the times you’ve found yourself staring at the TV with no idea what you’ve been watching for the last hour. If we refer to being conscious as being when the part of you that considers you to be you is fully engaged in what is going on in the here and now, research has shown that we’re in that state only 10 % of each day – which dovetails sweetly with other research showing that 90% of our actions are driven unconsciously. The evidence is pointing very strongly to the notion that our mental life is in a state of flux quite naturally, that we move through various states of awareness, often in response to situations around us, or thoughts we’re having. And, when you think about it, it’s not so strange to us. Who doesn’t daydream? Who doesn’t drive for miles without paying attention, or lose themselves looking into a fire or out to sea? The surprising thing is how often we do this – that being conscious is the exception, not being in trance. Notice I’ve just dropped in the word trance in the middle of a discussion about our mental life. That’s because I’m suggesting that what we label trance is a fundamental part of our subjective experience; in fact, I’m suggesting that trance is the label we give to the way our brain projects meaning onto our environment, it’s how the 80% of information from our memory materialises onto our experience of what is around us and happening to us.
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Charles Tart has coined the term ‘consensus trance’ as an alternative to consciousness, because in his view trance is all there is, and consciousness is just the term we give for the bandwidth of experience that we tend to agree about, and that when our experience exceeds that bandwidth it tends to get labelled as something special or abnormal. So when we talk about trance phenomena, we’re just talking about particular labels we give to distortions to our reality that lie beyond Tart’s consensus trance, such as negative hallucination – like when you don’t see something right in front of you even though you’re looking for it, or time distortion where a boring meeting seems to last forever, but an evening you’ve been looking forward to passes in a trice. These phenomena are created by the brain to create a particular way of ‘seeing’ the world that will cause us to respond to it in the way it thinks will serve us best – and serving us best means surviving to procreate, not to make us happy. These ways of ‘seeing’ are called into being in response to particular matches made between past experiences labelled significant to our wellbeing by our brain at the time they happened, and information brought to our attention through our senses in the present. When a match is made this distortion to our ‘seeing’ occurs, and what I call a reality tunnel is created (out of the 80% of information) that moves our actions in a certain direction, often with us being aware of not being fully in control of our actions. This can be a disconcerting fact, because usually it feels like we’re in charge, doesn’t it? That we’re steering our own boat? Yet time and time again it’s shown that the reasons why we say we do things aren’t actually the reasons why we’re doing them. Indications are that our conscious self likes to feel in charge and so rationalises our actions to give an impression of a coherent personality; in a way we are a story we tell ourselves.
So, things are getting wobbly, aren’t scary appearance of her boss. Sensory they? I’m suggesting that 80% of distortion is where a sense, other than what surrounds us is an illusion, and visual, is distorted beyond an ‘average that maybe so are we. The good news experience’. In this case her kinaesis that if life is an illusion, it leaves us thetic sense is distorted to make her free to imagine it and us in any way perfectly healthy body feel frozen. that we want – because that’s what What we often treat as a metaphoriwe’re doing already, it’s just that a cal phrase is often describing a literal lot of the way we imagine the world experience. and ourselves is negative, which leads to the problems and For the purposes of issues my clients bring if life is an illusion, this article, I hope to therapy. In Trances it leaves us free to I’ve gone far enough People Live, Wolinsky with my description imagine it and us of trance states and first introduced me to in any way that the idea that trance trance phenomena states were part of the we want – because for you to see where problem pattern that a that’s what we’re they fit in the picture client experiences, and – namely that if our doing already that ‘waking them up’ genes are turned on by from that state was our environment, and, fundamental to helping them change. at a macro level at least, 80% of our Nowadays these states leap obviously environment is an illusion created by from the mouths of my clients, it’s our brain, then this illusion must be just a question of tuning your ears created by something and I’m arguto them. The trance phenomena they ing that that something is what we’ve voice as their means of knowing their come to call trance. Which now brings problem exists are the obvious point- us to hypnotherapy. ers. A phrase like, “My boss only has to look at me and I freeze” is one of The foundation of hypnotherapy is those phrases that could be dropped trance. Hypnosis is the term given to into a coffee break conversation the utilisation of trance states. The without it sounding strange to those fact that I’m now describing such hearing it, and yet it contains inter- states as naturally occurring brain esting information about this person. states rather than a special state of Something about her boss – the qual- ‘hypnosis’ created by the hypnotist ity of the look, the fact that they’re an doesn’t change anything other than authority figure, something, causes perhaps the breadth of the remit her brain to find a match with some- hypnotherapy could claim. Because, thing from her past which is threat- if all problems are problems bound ening, which in turn causes a physical by trance states, then it turns the old response – in her case, freezing. So, bone of ‘is hypnotherapy a psychoin one phrase we have the initiator of therapy’ on its head and asks ‘is all her negative reality tunnel – her boss psychotherapy hypnotherapy?’ Guess – which plunges her into an experi- where I’d fall on that one. ence where she is no longer in control of her body. Two trance phenomena Anyhoo, if hypnotherapy – and here might be the means by which this I mean Cognitive Hypnotherapy – is tunnel is created – positive halluci- about finding the best ways to use nation and sensory distortion; posi- this modern view of trance to help tive hallucination is when we project ourselves then it’s a means by which onto our environment something the circle of mind/body communicathat isn’t there, or that the major- tion can be described. Which brings ity of others wouldn’t agree is there me back to Wordweaving. If you’ve in the form you describe – like the read other things I’ve written then
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you’ll know that it’s a specific model that teaches how to use language to influence the client using the information they provide, which includes the trance states they use to create their problem. Much of the effect of Wordweaving, I currently believe, is based on priming; the fact that our brain brings to our attention what it’s been made ready to expect. An easy example is advertising. Billions are spent every year by companies to get us to unconsciously associate their product with a need we feel we have. As we walk mindlessly along the supermarket aisle we shouldn’t be surprised that a product catches our eye that we’ve seen on the tv. What we don’t think of are the hundreds of other products on the adjacent shelves that haven’t had the benefit of dancing before our eyes every
night on our telly. That’s priming. So, at least part of what Wordweaving achieves is to prime the client’s brain to notice things. Traditional suggestion will largely prime them with what the therapist thinks they need to notice to feel better; in Cognitive Hypnotherapy our Wordweaving will prime the client to notice what they’ve told us that would mean they’re getting better. A subtle but fundamental difference. So Wordweaving primes the client’s brain to bring to their attention whatever the client’s evidence would be for being better. Bearing in mind that 80% of what comes to mind is our own invention anyway, then our deliberate use of trance phenomena is harnessing this to enable the client’s brain to create a positive reality
tunnel to replace the one that housed their problem. They begin to create an environment which supports the goals they want to achieve. As the client experiences this new reality the possibility exists, if Lipton is right, that this enriched environment would then cause a change in the genes that are read and lead to physical changes in us. We become the person who fits the tunnel; we always have. But now, by creating the best tunnel, we create our best self. From mind to body; from thought to matter, via the magic of words. Well done if you’ve stayed with me this far, I hope you can see why I’m excited.
SUPERVISION Below are a list of members who have successfully completed the NCH accredited Supervisors course or have been granted the designation AccHypSup through accredited prior learning. Peter Adamson Martin Armstrong-Prior Fiona Biddle Dawn Biggs Catherine Bremner Michael Cameron Jennifer Charles Nick Cooke Tom Cottrell Josephine Goss Kate Harvey Val Hird Pat Hoare Christine Key Stephanie Kirke John Lawrence Joy Lawton Mary Llewellyn Theresa Long Lynn Martin Gloria May Joe McAnelly Susan McIntyre Hilary Norris-Evans Paul Peace Su Ricks-McPherson Lynnzie Stirling Joanne Waine Carole Wan Patrick Waterson
Warrington & NW Leicester Loughborough & London Bexhill Alton London Gloucester Birmingham Edinburgh and Biggar Scotland Nottingham York Exeter Surrey Thatcham Linlithgow Leeds Doncaster Wimbledon Honiton, Devon London Newcastle upon Tyne Burnham on Sea Wiltshire Sheffield & London Daventry Edinburgh Bedford S.Yorks & London Ballymena (NI)
01942 677 426 0116 276 4911 0150 988 1411 0870 787 5218 07762 799737 0208 445 1369 01452 760166 0121 444 1110 0131 2254437 01343 835705 0115 948 0815 01904 629 347 01392 410090 01932 560725 01635 869444 01506 830190 07771 556162 01302 743113 0208 241 7930 0208 457 2643 0207 486 4553 0191 286 1161 01278 784490 01249 740506 0114 235 1985 0844 736 2904 0131 66 77 199 01234 852930 01246 416 544 028 25631415
Do you run a not-for-profit peer supervision group? Advertise it free in the Journal! Contact the Editor.
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Metaphor Corner
The Cleaning Lady
During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”
Giving When It Counts
The Boulder
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will save her.”
In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?”. Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.
Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand - “Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.”
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. “Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say “hello.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. - Author Unknown
“
QUOTE-NOTES
Holding onto bitterness is like taking poison yourself and expecting your enemy to die from it.
- Author Unknown
”
Author Unknown
- Author Unknown
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Book and Product Reviews
self, the message will touch your life profoundly. ISBN: 1848765053 Published by Matador RRP: £16.95
Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy choices in favour of survival. Cognitive Hypnotherapy: What’s That About and How Can I Use It?: Two Simple Questions for Change by Trevor Silvester Reviewed by Rob Woodgate
Having thoroughly enjoyed Trevor Silvester’s WordWeaving series of books, I was keen to get my grubby hands on his latest offering, ‘Cognitive Hypnotherapy’ - especially as it’s been 4 years in the making. Thankfully, one of the perks of being Editor of the NCH Journal means that I’m sometimes lucky enough to get a sneaky peak before everyone else, and so it was that I found myself immersed in the typesetter’s copy of the manuscript one sunny afternoon in September, some 3 months before publication. A rare treat indeed! There is no doubt that this is an ambitious book - ‘Cognitive Hypnotherapy’ sets out a comprehensive framework for understanding ourselves and our lives, and a way for therapists of all backgrounds to better tailor their treatments to their clients. It has, at its core, a simple premise - that people are either engaged in ‘growth’, which empowers and enriches life, or in ‘protection’, which shuts down our creative abilities and
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As I read the book, which draws on a vast array of sources - from Bruce Lipton to Bruce Lee - I started to get a sense of why it has been so long in the making. This is no compendium of techniques, it’s a fully thought out philosophy of therapy which embraces ‘what works’ from many disciplines and seeks to understand it within the Cognitive Hypnotherapy framework. As the author notes, “[Cognitive Hypnotherapy] is not a ‘style’ of therapy, more a style of thinking to guide therapy”. In many respects, Cognitive Hypnotherapy is like an evolution of NLP - NLP models excellence to create interventions that work, and Cognitive Hypnotherapy takes interventions that work and seeks to understand the principles of mind which underpin their efficacy so the therapist is better equipped to respond fluidly to the needs of the client. Reading this book was a real pleasure and I felt a genuine excitement - as if my subconscious mind were recognising some lost ancient wisdom in the message - and I found page after page of value, both as a therapist as well as personally. Trevor’s passion and knowledge shine through every page of this marvellous book, and whether you are a therapist or someone looking to help your-
by Roger P. Allen Reviewed by Fiona Lightfoot
Scripts and Strategies is a useful book that consists of 14 chapters in a hardback format. It includes everything from inductions to amnesia and deserves its place on the bookshelf of the hypnotherapist, especially so those who are training or in the beginning stages of their career. The opening chapter consists of 13 inductions, including a self-hypnosis training script, and covers a broad spread of scenarios including scripts for children, analytical or anxious clients. Following this, logically, is a chapter on deepeners, some of which are fairly standard (The Garden and The Stair) although the reproduction of a Michael Yapko script ‘The Mind’s Eye’ adds some variation. This is a short but effective deepener that assists clients in reducing the inner self speak and thus allows for a deeper trance state to be accessed. I personally have found this very useful with clients and would encourage others to try it, paying particular attention to pace (go slow) and intonation (emphasise the heaviness and then the peace). The book then branches out into chapters which include habit breaking, fear and panic management, building confidence and self-esteem, therapy strategies and performance
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improvement. The scripts themselves provide good foundations for framing and wording within a therapeutic session, which is particularly useful for new hypnotherapists, who will find that both useful and reassuring. There are a range of issues recognised within each chapter, so within healing and pain management there is a choice that includes the fast allergy cure, switches for pain and going to the dentist. As the therapist’s experience and skills increase the book can become more of an idea generator and as it is quite comprehensive, it provides good reference points for most of the common issues clients present. Over 70 pages are devoted to smoking cessation, beginning with Allen’s own technique of dealing with the first call from a prospective client (bluntly put, he puts it bluntly) and including a useful smoking questionnaire and several scripts. With the smoking ban however many hypnotherapists have reported a drop in numbers of smoking cessation clients; the anecdotal reasoning being that only die hard smokers are left (and they probably will, er, die hard), so perhaps in some future reprints some of this space will be given to other areas that do seem to miss out (see below). The perennial problem of weight loss includes a weight loss reframe and a weight control script, plus background information about overeating for the client to digest (ho ho). The addition of the SWISH technique is certainly beneficial for those who are not familiar with this method, which is a stalwart strategy originating from NLP. Simple in its execution yet seemingly powerful in results, the SWISH technique is a useful tool within a weight loss programme. It can be performed without ‘deliberate’ trance (as hypnotic trance is generally not an essential requirement for the use of NLP techniques), but combining the two can be extremely effective. Clients will often report this to
you so it is well worth looking into if it isn’t already in your repertoire. Disappointingly, some more sensitive matters are not introduced in a similar way to smoking and weight loss, so that chapter 8 on Sexual Issues and Problems, contains four stand alone scripts. Issues which are still somewhat taboo in public life (impotence, inorgasmia and sexual assault) can affect a person’s sense of self and identity in significant ways, and these simple scripts seem unfortunately not to deliver any caveats for use or discussion on how distressing and complex these subjects can be. I personally would have preferred to see a more thorough treatment given to these matters or for them to be excluded entirely, so that practitioners might look to other resources for a substantial understanding of these issues. In summary, this is a helpful resource, in particular for new hypnotherapists who need an overall view of the discipline and the various types of issues they will encounter. For those who are more experienced or have specialized interests, there probably isn’t enough depth here to greatly further your knowledge, although it’s a handy little book to return to when you want to refresh or mix things up a little. It is very reasonably priced at around £23 and will repay the investment. ISBN: 1855757567 Published by Crown House RRP: £22.99
The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) by Donald Robertson Reviewed by Stephen Bacon
The Philosophy of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) by Donald Robertson is a fascinating and very readable analysis of how ancient philosophy has informed modern, evidence based therapies (whether they know it or not!). I’ll be honest... I wasn’t originally going to buy this book because although I have maintained an active interest in Psychology since my degree, and more recently started training specifically in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, I didn’t think I was at all interested in Philosophy. I decided, just as retail therapy (!), to buy the book anyway because other publications I have read by the same author have all been written with clarity, insight and obvious enthusiasm. This book is no exception and it turns out that I really am interested in Philosophy, certainly in so far as it relates to CBT; it was just that I had previously had a complete misunderstanding about what Philosophy actually was and how much it can contribute, indeed how much it has contributed and continues to contribute. I think that the two things I got most from the book were firstly that there is ‘nothing new under the sun’; that dealing with modern pressures is not really any different to dealing with ancient pressures and philosophical / psychological solutions which worked long ago quite clearly can and do work now (they just have new
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names and more empirical evidence supporting them). Indeed there is still a lot more that modern CBT can learn from ancient philosophy. Secondly, the book reads as if you are lifting the bonnet of CBT and really taking a good look at the engine. It reduces modern CBT to its lowest common denominators by removing all the glossy, shiny, sparkly bits which have been added over time by different schools of thought and takes you straight to the techniques that are underlying it all and doing the work. In summary, I really liked this book and it has, I think, a very broad appeal… to those interested in CBT in terms of its origins or practice, and to those involved with CBT as therapist, client or academic, and to those interested in self improvement, as well as to those just interested in getting the most out of life. In my opinion, an excellent read and a resource well worth keeping close to hand. I’m very good at starting books and getting to half way through chapter 2 before getting bored… I’ve finished this one! ISBN: 1855757567 Published by Karnac Books RRP: £22.99
Platinum Therapist Business Membership
ship, which aims to help therapists replicate some of his success in their own practice, my interest was piqued. The platinum programme is a six month web based course, which, amongst other things, promises to show members how to make the most of social media (Facebook, Twitter etc), create online audio programmes that will allow you to earn income from your website, and how to market yourself and your practice effectively so that you stand out from the competition and create a ‘following’ in the community. It also includes personal mentoring with the two course leaders - Adam, who can advise on things related to running a successful hypnotherapy business, and his partner, Keith Watson, who is an online marketing guru and technical wizard. As well as mentoring, there is an opportunity to share ideas with other like-minded hypnotherapists, both in the forums as well as in the group meetings for platinum members. Put all together, the aim is to equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to make your business more successful and profitable, and help you stay focused and motivated whilst you take action.
Reviewed by Rob Woodgate
As an added bonus, platinum members also get access to all Adam’s other material - which amounts to a huge library of techniques, ideas and interviews.
There’s no denying that Adam Eason is doing something right. His blog is, according to web statistics company Alexa, ranked in the top 10,000 websites in the UK, and it receives nearly 4000 unique visitors a month.
At the time of review, the platinum programme was still in ‘bubble wrap’, and there were only a half a dozen topics available to review - though by the time the Journal is published, the programme will be well underway and there will be topics added all through the 6 month course period.
So when Adam sent me details of his Platinum Therapist Business member-
Aside from a few minor sound quality issues in these early topics, my first
by Adam Eason & Keith Watson
36
impressions were very favourable. The video topics are presented as ‘screencapture’ slideshows with commentary from Keith and Adam, and the ‘live’ conversational feel makes them very engaging and interesting. The content so far is excellent - and if the rest of Adam’s ‘Inner Circle’ content is anything to go by, the programme is shaping up to be very interesting indeed. The price tag might raise an eyebrow at first glance, but considering the platinum membership includes ‘lifetime’ access to all Adam’s material, personal mentoring for six months and the web based tutorials, it starts to look like very good value. Will it help you make millions? Who knows. Will it help you market yourself more effectively online and avoid time wasting mistakes? Undoubtedly. Website: www.adam-eason.com/nch Price: £600
Advertise in the Journal and be seen by over 1800 Hypnotherapists and Trainees. Whole Page - £150 Half Page - £90 Quarter Page - £45 Half column - £30 Back Page - 50% extra Inserts - £150 Series discounts available. Please contact the Editor for media pack 04/07.
The Hypnotherapy Journal - Issue 4 Vol 10 - hypnotherapists.org.uk
The Hypnotherapy journal Address: PO Box 149, Gravesend, DA11 8XL Phone / Fax: 0845 544 0788 / 0870 7627329 Email:
[email protected] Editor: Rob Woodgate MNCH(Reg), HPD, NLP(Master Prac) Proofreader: Lisa Langhorn, 01932 860107 Printer: Meridian Printers, 51-53 West Street, Long Sutton, Spalding, Lincs. PE12 9BN THE HYPNOTHERAPY JOURNAL is published quarterly by The National Council for Hypnotherapy and is free for members. Because of potential copyright implications, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior permission of the Editor, but where possible this is usually given, so please ask. CONTRIBUTIONS are welcomed, but we can accept no liability for any loss or damage, however caused. The preferred method for receiving contributions is by email in MS Word, Rich Text, or PDF format via email. Artwork can be sent as a Photoshop file (PSD), PDF, Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), TIFF or JPG (Max Quality Only). Snail mail contributions should be provided on a CD or typed (14pt Arial please) on single sided paper. Include postage and packing if you wish your work to be returned, and a stamped addressed postcard if you wish an acknowledgement of receipt. By submitting a contribution you grant the NCH an irrevocable worldwide non-exclusive royalty free licence to publish in The Hypnotherapy Journal or any other NCH publication, in any format capable of existence. You also warrant that the article is original, does not infringe any existing copyright, and that you have authority to grant us these rights to publish. Copyright remains with the author unless otherwise specified. DEADLINES are the second week of January, April, July and October, unless by arrangement. VIEWS expressed in The Hypnotherapy Journal are those of the contributor and are not necessarily shared by the Editor, Committee or members of the NCH. The appearance of an advertisement should in no way be taken as an endorsement by the NCH. If you would like to advertise in The Hypnotherapy Journal, please contact the Editor by email for a Media Pack. ISSN 1476-7570
Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas ... ... and A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year! From Your Committee
hypnotherapists.org.uk - Issue 4 Vol 10 - The Hypnotherapy Journal
Preferential Rates on your Professional Indemnity Insurance as a member of the NCH Have you considered what would happen if a client or third party tried to sue you as a result of your hypnotherapy work with them? As a NCH member, you are entitled to preferential rates on Professional Liability Insurance, which would protect you in the event of a civil claim against you for compensation. Student offer If you’re a student of a NCH Accredited Training School you are entitled to a 50% discount from the normal rates for practising members.*
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