Rob's Blog

I think one of the most dysfunctional and disturbed, not to mention disturbing, groups of people I know are therapists. In their various forms and shapes we have a strange collection of therapy types out there, and equally varied therapists to go with each one. One client came to me recently who had been seeing a therapist elsewhere. They had stopped seeing the therapist after showing up to their office to find it had closed, and that the therapist had been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. While I would be the first to admit that my own stress levels sometimes get up there a bit, I don't think things have got quite that bad, yet. The psychiatrist in the great 1983 movie, Local Hero, is not so far from being true to life. Coincidentally, he should also have been locked up. You can watch the entire movie above. It's worth every minute. When I look through the feeds on my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts I can see a diversity of humanity that is truly...

Many times I see postings on forums asking if people have as script for - and then an obscure issue gets listed. It's as if the common issues are all contained in a giant book of scripts and anything else one can go out and ask the community of hypnotherapists at large and someone will have it. Every time I see this I am forced to wonder, is this really serving the client, and is it the correct approach to hypnotherapy? There's no doubt, if one has nowhere else to start from, a script is better than nothing. However, that is virtually never the case. When training therapists I always hammer home the things that helped me as I was learning my craft. hief among those things is asking questions. A one does so one realises swiftly that in almost all cases one is not working with 'arthritis' or 'depression', one is working with Josephine Smith, or Danny Demitrio.  I don't know where those names popped up from, but they are quite suggestive and to the poin...

Mental healthcare in BC got of to what might at best be called a shaky start. Here's short account of the first reported incident relating to mental health in this, the most beautiful of Canadian provinces. In 1850 British Columbia recorded its first case of insanity. A Scottish migrant who had recently arrived on a ship, assaulted Dr. John Helmcken, the local doctor at the jail in Victoria. From 2.bp.blogspot.com There is something wholly unsurprising about a Scotsman getting off a ship and promptly hitting someone. This may be a sad comment on my own deep seated prejudices, but the fact remains. I like Scottish people. I even like bagpipes. I used to spend every Christmas on the Isle Of Skye. As a result I can picture the scene with crystal clarity. A man stumbles down a gangplank onto the quay in Victoria harbor. He turns to a stranger, and says,”Fok, mahn, where the heel am aye?” A helpful passer-by says,“Canada.” “Wha?” says the new arrival and then punches him i...

I often get asked this question.  There are several answers, but the most obvious is that the medical profession does not really embrace hypnosis as a modality it recognises. While some hypnotherapist are concerned about this, it ceased to be an issue we were concerned with at Vancouver Hypnotherapy a few years ago. We adopted this position primarily because most of the clients coming through our doors treat the medical profession with skepticism, as a result of their own experiences. As such, our bookings calendar is increasingly full, and many of the clients consider the use of pharmacy a step backward, particularly when it comes to addiction. Increasingly the general public treats orthodox medicine as flawed. This is not to say that they reject the 'science' of medicine. They are merely appalled at the way it is delivered, and the extremely questionable practice of medicating someone as a solution to what is often a psychological or behavioural issue. Hypnotherapy is ...

I was recently shocked to hear of one woman’s battle with a gambling addiction. She had originally approached Vancouver Hypnotherapy for some help, but instead went to her doctor. She was short of money, and felt that working with a solution covered by her government health insurance was the better bet (pardon the pun). Her doctor referred her to a psychiatrist. She had a four month wait before seeing a psychiatrist, during which her addiction cost her a further $16,000, and the psychiatrist then prescribed antidepressants. Asked how long she would have to take them she was told “We’ll see”. After two months, with no benefit she returned to the psychiatrist. She was concerned that she felt she was becoming addicted to the antidepressant, but that it was not having any effect on her gambling. His response was to  raise the dosage level. After a further three months she found she had no benefit whatsoever from her prescription, and n...

So, if you read to the last blog I wrote, you'll see I am in the midst of talking about healthcare, the need for reformation of the system, and how alternative healthcare has a very important role to play in the future of our health delivery systems. Six hundred years ago, when people began to question their priests about what was in the bible that they heard read every Sunday, they were often told not to be concerned about it, the safety of their immortal souls was safe in the hands of the church. These smiling and helpful priests that read the mystical words were there to look after them, after all. Oh, And don't forget to pay your tithe on your way out of the vestry door. Being largely illiterate, unable to read or write in Latin  and essentially without education, one had to defer to the wisdom of the priest. Sound familiar? The reformation in the 16th century led to wars throughout Europe, and the great ecclesiastical schism that later resulted in thriving ch...

I find myself increasingly having to say, 'I'm not a zealot with a crusade against orthodox healthcare, but...', however I find myself once more writing about the problems of our healthcare system. When I say 'our', I really mean everyone's. The concept of a bricks and mortar hospital is relatively new. Only on the last two hundred and fifty years have any but the largest of cities had their own hospitals. Prior to that capital cities, and some university towns had hospitals, but it was by no means typical of medieval cities. In fact, even having access to a doctor of rudimentary training was likely quite rare. Instead traditional healers, priest and witches were pretty much it. If you had a severe wound, although many survived the experience, more than likely you would make do with what help was immediately at hand. Obviously this was far from ideal. And so, in the place of this ragtag collection of mixed ability, people began to look for a better solution. ...

I was recently talking with Russian hypnotherapist Svetlana Lazovskih. Svetlana is a talented hypnotist who has had great success working with clients managing poor self image and compulsive eating. We were discussing the fact that there is among hypnotherapists a greater burnout rate than one sees in psychotherapists or some other therapy types. There are likely many reasons for this.   Part of it is the fact that training for psychotherapy is extensive and there is clearly an emphasis on the idea that there is a ‘healthy’ distance between therapist and client.  The nature of hypnotherapy is very different to other modalities. There is a necessity for trust that does not exist in other therapy types to the same extent. This closeness to a client is positively discouraged in many counseling and therapy situations. However, the upside of this risky prospect is that the client is often working in a partnership that attains positive ends very rapidly. The dang...

We've built some great tracking software for use in our practice. This is a data driven system, which starts from when the client first makes the enquiry. It helps us develop the relationship with the client, and gives us a accurate idea of what the client would like assistance with. Over the years we've built up this data and now it's beginning to tell an interesting story, and give us deeper insights into what we should be doing to develop our practice. The graph above shows how many clients are in each of the listed categories. Obviously some categories have a great revenue contribution than other. 

After nearly three months of working with a hard core bulimic client, I have just had a session that has left we with such respect for this young woman. It's been log and slow progress, but now she's become happier, motivated, and has reduced the swing between bingeing and purging, and the pain of restricting. When using hypnotherapy with most clients we see a rapid result and evidence of progress is obvious. In this case progress has been slow and painstaking, but in reviewing her condition she is now clearly moving easily toward resolution. I've seen her go from desperation, through release of her fear, to a point where she embraces her creativity, and physicality. She's doing pottery, exercising (yes, I even got her into yoga) and she's now enjoying her job. She's got a great place to live now, and she's done all these things through her own determination. Now, she's less anxious and her bulimic nature is slipping into a controlled place. ...

Don't run... Don't smoke... Don't do this - don't do that... There's an awesome set of three videos, which cannot be embedded sadly, available on the links below. They show how we are all susceptible to the trap of negative suggestion. We help clients get past this every day. Take a look at the videos and see if this is you... Would you electrocute a kitten? If you're doing this in your office, you might want to get two or three people to watch it with you! Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHaFuYZwX2U Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwIlueCNu8M Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap35u0zB6QM By the way, we do not generally condone the electicution of small mamals. Validation - A key approach to overcoming negative suggestion. What you put out, you get right back. A simple approach to dealing with negative suggestion is to adopt a positive attitude - such as the method well illustrated in the short video below. We are always here t...

Do you lie to yourself? Can you tell, at any level, if you are deceiving yourself? This is a fascinating broadcast that forces you to question yourself in an uncomfortable way. Have a listen, and then squirm a little. We've used many of the techniques you hear here, in a surprisingly effective manner. Listen to the broadcast and let us know what you think.

Where I grew up fox hunting was quite a prized part of life. When one first rode with the hunt, the novice hunters would be ‘blooded’ when their first fox was taken. It was exciting. It was primal. It was disgusting. Being 'blooded' was the smearing of fox blood over the faces of those who had not taken a fox before, to the cheers and upturned flasks of other members of the hunt. A young girl sweating with exertion and excitement, being smeared with blood and plied with hard alcohol sounds like something out of a satanic ritual, and yet with hunting season it was not out of the ordinary. All the new hunters went through it, and loved the event. All except the fox, that is. And Mrs. Barlow’s cat, Mittens. Yes. Accidents happen. I remember the day when thirty fox hounds took of yelping and snarling after something in the hedgerow, and all the horses chased excitedly down the narrow farm lane. The clatter of steel shod hunters on the tarmac as we followed the baying hounds into th...

As a hypnotist I fall firmly into the camp of alternative healthcare systems. I value the fact that we are an unregulated group. The last thing I want is government regulation of my business. Equally I feel extreme disquiet when I look at some other hypnotists, and other systems of alternative healthcare. My clients need real solutions, not to have their chakra realigned. If we’re in the business of providing an alternative health solution, then let’s keep it real. So what do we have to offer that the conventional providers cannot provide? Who is this individual, and what could he possibly provide that a medical professional can’t? The truth is that modern orthodox healthcare has lost its way so thoroughly that even if it can provide help to some patients, there are many situations in which it is unable to actually deliver. The average time a visitor to a GP spends with their doctor is only 17 minutes. The orthodox channels of healthcare are so severely hindered by this l...