Local Hypnotists

By Paul W Howard

 I cant tell you the number of times Ive heard about this technique and that technique that students have learnt on their hypnotherapy course. However, do these techniques make them good therapists? Of course they dont.

Most hypnotherapy training classes rely far too much on a myriad of techniques that the students in turn come to rely on. The belief is set up that there is a particular technique to solve a particular problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. In point of fact most techniques when adapted and personalised can be used to resolve most problems.

The trouble with most hypnotherapy training is that the student tries desperately to match the clients issue to the techniques they have learnt. This is a totally ineffectual way of training hypnotherapy students, and leads to ineffectual hypnotherapists. Hypnotherapy students need educating in how to THINK like a therapist, not training in how to ACT like a therapist.

To be an effective hypnotherapist you need to understand what a clients subconscious is trying to achieve with the problem behaviour. Until this puzzle is solved the hypnotherapist will have little or no chance of resolving the problem, no matter what technique they use. Therefore a deep understanding of the motivations and perceptions of the subconscious as they relate to the client is not only important but also critical to the education of the therapist. Any hypnotherapy course that does not take account of these needs is training the student to fail.

The training environment is another area where many hypnotherapy training schools fall down. Quite often the training is conducted in a single room where all the practical work is done as well. This is obviously not conducive to a genuine therapeutic environment, or for the concentration of either party involved. I have heard of training schools who conduct their lectures in hotel rooms and the practise sessions are sometimes held in the bar or public areas; always ask the question before embarking on a hypnotherapy course, and if it is being held in a hotel be cautious.

I have been particularly astonished to learn that some so-called hypnotherapy training is conducted in mega auditoriums, with several hundred students being asked to practice their therapeutic skills in the middle of the auditorium with so called assistants offering impromptu advice to maybe 20 or 30 people; the noise was described as being akin to a hall full of turkeys gobbling in nervous anticipation just before Christmas. On the upside I have heard it is a good place to meet future clients, as most people arrive calm and go home nervous wrecks. It brings a new meaning to the concept of touch therapy. Obviously having proper breakout rooms where the students can work one to one is far more professional, and allows the students to get the maximum out of the practicals.

Another important area is preparing the future hypnotherapist to deal with real clients. With most hypnotherapy training schools the first real client the student will encounter is after they are handed their diploma and told, Congratulations, you have passed. The first client a hypnotherapist sees is a very nerve wracking time. The client will not have been screened to ensure their suitability etc; so when you take a nervous hypnotherapist, an unknown client in an unsupervised environment, it is a recipe for disaster. I have known many a promising career halted at the start because of a very negative experience.

When we train hypnotherapists we intersperse their training with real clients that are screened by us to ensure suitability. We are always on hand to supervise in case there are any issues beyond the capabilities or experience of the student. This ensures that the student has the best chance of having a positive experience in their first few sessions, and helps them to build their confidence as an effective hypnotherapist. The sessions are conducted in proper therapy rooms to ensure the clients and the students get the most from the experience.

Another area of concern is, are the trainers practising hypnotherapists themselves? I know of a number of courses being run by trainers with very few client hours under their belt, or others whose sole income is from training new hypnotherapists. The old adage, those who can, do, those who cant, teach, seems to apply here. There is a simple way to check, just ring up and ask for a therapy appointment. If they no longer see clients, or they can get you in immediately, thats a fair indication that they either only train or that they see very few clients. The problem here is that if they are not seeing many clients they are unlikely to be up to date with their skills, or worse still they may not be attracting repeat clients, which probably means they are not very effective as therapists themselves. They might be able to talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?

Paul Howard is a trainer and practising hypnotherapist at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Wallington, Surrey, UK. He can be contacted ve the website at www.sich.co.uk. The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy run intensive and weekend diploma courses thoughout the year. Their courses are always done in small groups and the diploma is externally accredited by The National Council for Hypnotherapy - The premiere hypnotherapy governing body in the UK.

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The Psychology Of Breaking The Chewing Tobacco Addiction
By Alan Densky

 For many people around the world, smokeless tobacco is at least something they have tried, if not something indulged in regularly. Most people associate smokeless tobacco with sports stars, and falsely believe that it is a safe alternative to smoking. Unfortunately for them, this can all too often prove dead wrong.

All different types of people use this highly addictive substance and no one is safe, dependent on social status, race, or gender. The reasons for using smokeless tobacco vary widely from appetite control to generalized stress reduction. And this epidemic is hurting the world. Targeting the world’s future with the primary users being only teens and sometimes preteens, it is a debilitating substance.

The truth of the matter is that teens and smokeless tobacco are getting to be excessively close to each other and creating lifelong habits and health risks that are just too great to be overlooked and too dangerous to be ignored. Adolescent use of smokeless tobacco is on the constant rise, with some users starting when they are only nine or ten years old.

Rural Caucasian teens have the highest risk of using smokeless tobacco products, and if the teens live in a household with an adult user, their chances of following the trend rises dramatically. Approximately 9.3% of all high school students in the United States use smokeless tobacco products. Among the white male student body, the average is approximately 1 user in 5 students.

But what are the effects of smokeless tobacco and what are the advantages and disadvantages of using it? On the plus side of course is “looking cool,” and fitting in. It also causes an odd sensation in users by first calming them, by the release of dopamine in the brain, and then exciting them with a release of adrenaline. Also the appetite is suppressed.

On the down side are consequences that make the reasons to chew look completely insubstantial. Use of smokeless tobacco causes a number of diseases, along with dental problems, bad breath, and of course the financial spending of the user to obtain smokeless tobacco. Most tobacco users with a can a day habit, over three decades at current prices will spend up to $50,000 on chewing tobacco in their lifetime, assuming they survive their addiction long enough.

There are no known cures for either the gastrointestinal or the oral cancers smokeless tobacco brings, and this may cost a fortune in medical treatment and sadly, perhaps funeral expenses.

Quitting smokeless tobacco is widely thought to be much harder than kicking the smoking habit. A part of the addiction is the tremendous amount of nicotine absorbed by the body when dipping or chewing. This amount is two times as much as that received from smoking a cigarette.

But how can one beat their smokeless tobacco addiction? Various products are on the market to help people quit using snuff and chew, such as a product that uses the spearmint plant to mimic the tobacco without supplying the nicotine. And some success has come from receiving same shot that inhibits receptors in the body for smoking. But the best way to quit forever without withdrawal symptoms, stress, and weight gain is through hypnotherapy.

Hypnosis offers a two-fold attack to the ritualistic dipping or chewing reflex built up by your prior habits and lifestyle choices. It first works to eliminate the psychological motivation for why you desire a dipp, and then it attacks the mental habit itself.

First you’ll want to consider the emotional reasons. Dopamine is a “feel good” chemical produced in your body and released by your brain to create a feeling of pleasure. In times of stress, the dopamine produces a general feeling of well being. Some common occurrences of natural release include eating a large meal, or sexual relief. In other words, putting some chew into the mouth gives a sense pleasure and relaxation. The very essence of hypnosis is relaxation, and hypnotherapy is excellent for promoting stress relief and relaxation.

Hypnotherapy also works to break the cycle of expectation that your mind creates. When you put in a chew after dinner, your mind begins to tell your body that you need a chew after every dinner. By inhibiting or eliminating this thought process, you won’t feel the need to habitually use smokeless tobacco.

By extinguishing these two root causes of chewing tobacco use, hypnotherapy programs can eliminate the urge to chew or dipp, stopping your physical need for the extra dopamine release. Thus hypnotherapy works in freeing you from this harmful addiction and allows a stress free method of stopping.

Alan B. Densky, CH offers NLP & Hypnosis CDs to overcome smokeless tobacco. His site offers hypnotherapy CDs for appetite, weight loss, smoke cessation, and stress related symptoms. He provides a library of hypnosis & NLP articles, and offers FREE hypnosis and NLP newsletters & MP3s.

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