Hypnotherapy articles and videos

Stage hypnotist or hypnotherapist: What’s the difference?

This spring saw the broadcast of ITV’s new gameshow, ‘You’re Back in the Room’, in which a stage hypnotist encourages willing contestants to perform tasks under hypnosis in the hopes of winning a prize. The portrayal of hypnosis as entertainment on such a mainstream TV channel certainly reignited debate amongst hypnotherapists as to how helpful a portrayal this was to our profession.

For me, the two most important questions that I have already been asked as a result of this programme are as follows:

Can hypnosis 'erase' an upsetting memory?

In the 2004 film ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, an estranged couple separately take the decision to erase each other from their memories. Forever.

An appealing idea?

Some thoughts on New Year's resolutions and why I still don't know how to play chess

New Year's resolutions. Do you make them? Do you stick to them? Do you think it's all over-hyped nonsense designed to make us feel terrible for the rest of the year? 

I've never really made New Year Resolutions. There was one half-hearted promise to myself on January 1st 2008 that this would definitely be the year that I learnt how to play chess. But it all played out rather predictably (my motivation, not the game itself) and was forgotten within a week.  

So if you do love making resolutions and the process works for you, then carry on, I salute you. And for the rest of us, maybe it's worth taking a different approach ....