Brainwashing Hypnotherapy
Liz Kotarska

On Radio 4 this morning there was a short piece about brainwashing and other interrogation techniques "including hypnosis" used on spies during WW2.

In the therapeutic world we tend to take the view that when in hypnosis clients will not do anything against their will or personal code.

Also that clients will not go into hypnosis unless they are relaxed and comfortable with their therapist.

Also that the subconscious is trying to look after it's person. Consciously unwanted behaviour usually has a subconscious purpose.

Now, I often find that the media has a complete misunderstanding of hypnosis, thus I pricked up my ears when I heard the term bandied about this morning.

So, is a presumably terrified prisoner really going to go into hypnosis? If he does, can he really be induced to do something that would be against his internal code ( I could imagine yes if this is the expedient life saving thing to do)?

Has anyone any information which can enlighten us about the military uses, or other misuse of hypnosis? (I am already aware of certain schools of hypnotherapy which have, hopefully unwittingly, therapists who look for 'forgotten' abuse in childhood, ending up with clients in a worse state than when they started.) 

It's always useful, after all, to know both sides of the story. 

This report is full of priceless information, valuable insights and practical suggestions to help hypnotherapists significantly build their practices, and takes a candid look at the reality of the hypnotherapy profession today.

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U.K.C.H.O. UPDATE

I have recently attended the Executive meeting of UKCHO at The Royal Society of Medicine in London. We are moving forward towards National standards, although the target date is not certain.

The good news is that:

All of our members in the UK, and in Eire, have had their membership on the UKCHO Register extended until December, 2010.

Your subs have been covered by The Corporation. Our subs remain as they are.

Regards

Greg

REPLY to SILKE MILLER

Silke Miller asked if anyone had experience of autism and hypnotherapy. I do. My final experience in special education was working with autistic children - mainly v.young at that. I tried to reply to her, but was not aware of my relevant password for Outlook Express. If you were able to give her my contact - either 01206 323089 or e-Mail Me - I would be delighted to discuss the issues with her.cheers
Hugh Clover

Thanks Hugh, I've forwarded you message Greg

SELF-HYPNOSIS COURSES

Local advanced hypnotherapists Hugh Clover and Liz Kotarska have announced the dates for the autumn running of their ever popular self-hypnosis courses.

The courses – running weekly for six sessions of two hours – will be held in East Bergholt on the Essex Suffolk border, commencing Thursday 8th October. To accommodate those who find the day time easier, a morning course will start at 10 a.m. For those more suited to an evening session, there will be an evening course timed for 7.30pm.

The courses concentrate on giving participants the opportunity to develop relaxation, positive thinking, and self–help techniques to assist them in coping with today’s stressful world. As one participant said “I believe everybody would benefit from self-hypnosis.”

Due to popular request Hugh and Liz will also be running another “extension” course for those people who have already participated in the original course. This evening course, also running for six weeks, will commence Monday October 5th at 7.30pm.

Anyone wishing to attend either the initial or the “extension” course should contact Liz on 01206 299724 or Hugh on 01206 323089 as soon as possible.

For further information concerning Hugh’s and Liz’s work please consult their websites Hugh Clover and Liz Kotarska

I thought members might be interested to hear of some very shabby – no scandalous - practice I recently read about. Unfortunately the practice involved at top sports star, who not only would have benefited from good practice, but now, no doubt, does nothing but ridicule our efforts – and I would not blame him.

The star in question is former English Test cricket batsman Marcus Trescothic - for the uninitiated, a totally gutsy and talented opening batsman, who for many years put the best and most feared fast bowlers to the sword. We are not talking about a wimp here.

Sadly, though, on dark and distant, highly pressurised tours (away from his family) Trescothic began to develop anxiety attacks, which bewildered and terrified him. He was able to trace the roots of these feelings back to childhood, and comes candidly clean in his autobiography “Marcus Trescothic – Coming Back to Me”. The book explains how he battled – ultimately unsuccessfully – to return to Test cricket.

To any of us hypnotherapists reading this, it would seem sensible that Trescothic would turn to hypnotherapy to help him in his quest. This, he did – and this was his experience as outlined in his book.

“The session lasted about an hour and a half. First he (the hypnotherapist) talked me through a process whereby if I started to feel bad I should tap myself on the hands and the wrists (presumably his idea of TFT – Hugh) and that would make me feel better. People swore by this method, he said. I’m sure they did.

The next thing that happened was that he asked me if we had a full length mirror in the house. Before I could stop myself I said “Yes. It’s in the bedroom” and before I knew it he was following me upstairs.

It was too late. I had to go through with it now.

He made me stand in front of the mirror. I was to look myself straight in the eye, he instructed, and repeat after him whatever he said.

“I do love myself,” he said.

“I do love myself”, I said.

“I’m really happy with myself,” he said.

“I’m really happy with myself,” I said.

“I am a good batsman,” he said.

“I am a good batsman,” I said.

Then he asked me to say things about my cricket, that I’d played for England for this long and that I had scored that number of runs etc.

By now I may have been saying: “I have scored 14 test hundreds”, but what I was actually thinking was “What the “f**k” am I doing?”

Then, when he told me his rates, I felt even worse.

“I normally charge £700 per session”, he informed me, “but I’ll take £500”.

I walked downstairs thinking to myself “What on earth have I just done?”

I bade him farewell, told him I’d send him a cheque, which I did, and spent the rest of the day in shock. I was gutted. I’d wanted a miracle cure, to be taken to a better place. And all I got was taken for five hundred quid.” (Source: Marcus Trescothic – Coming Back to Me), HarperSport (HarperCollins), pgs 309 and 310).

As a cricket fan, and great Trescothic admirer, this made me feel quite sick. As the book made plain, the problem had its roots well before cricket, and I believe hypnotherapy would have been a good method to unravel the problem. Also what kind of initial consultation was going on here if Trescothic was still able to think in terms of a “miracle cure” after the therapy had started.

I don’t know how many people have read this book – many top sportsmen I am sure among many others. I think, if I was anyone of them, I know what my attitude to hypnotherapy would be today.

After this man’s intervention in Trescothic’s frightening experience, I believe everyone’s a loser.

I am tempted to write to Trescothic to apologise and offer to work with him for free. However, he is not in my area (I am Suffolk, he is Somerset), and I am quite sure he would not take up the offer, and who would blame him.

Hugh Clover

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