Rob's Blog

The 100th Monkey: Fact and Fiction - By Dr. Norman Allen I came across this and found it interesting. Dr. Allen is a noted homeopath as well as practicing a broad range of other modalities. His writing is a joy. He can be found at http://www.normanallan.com . The following is one of many interesting and well researched pieces he has written. I have edited it for use on VancouverHypnotherapy.org I think it was Lyall Watson who coined the term "the 100th monkey". Koshimo Island: In the 1950s, in order study the behaviour of macaque monkeys on Koshimo Island, some Japanese ethologist ( footnote "ethology" is the science of behaviour. Konrad Lorenz, he whom the greylag geese followed, was the father of ethology, the study of the natural behaviour of animals, mankind included ), left out food, yams, on an observable beach to draw the monkeys there. So they weren't exactly observing behaviour in the wild, but they thought it would be the next best thing....

I work with addictions and eating disorders mostly. It’s a fairly tough area of hypnotherapy, because you can see immediately how effective treatment is. It either works or it doesn’t. There’s not much in the way of a ‘grey area’ if your client is still using cocaine. I am fortunate enough to have studied homeopathy as well as hypnotherapy. As a result I have the benefit of several different views on the nature of disease. When we look at the cause of conditions in Hypnotherapy, we can learn a lot from our colleagues on the homeopathy side of the fence. The system of homeopathy which I studied had quite a lot to say about the nature of disease. While orthodox medicine treats disease generally symptomatically, most hypnotherapists know that we should look for the actual causes. Under this regime, treating bulimia is best treated by managing the sources of anxiety, rather than simply force feeding and preventing purging. One system works, the other simply doesn’t. So, in the case of buli...

We are influenced at an emotional level by all our senses. In hypnosis we typically use soft words to create a receptive feeling as the subconscious open to suggestion. However, aggressive words also create a response, often the reverse. Our guard goes up, and we become defensive. We are anything but receptive. Many of us will dig our heals in and respond to aggression by refusing to co operate.Actually when we are very stimulated we have all our senses working overtime, as the XTC song says. As a hypnotist I tend to be very aware of the importance of these sensory responses. Some are subtle and others less so. If you listen to harsh aggressive music, guess what… You’ll become harsh and aggressive. Listen to sad melancholy songs all the time and you are going to have a response too. One way to beat depression for some people is to play upbeat music, watch comedies on TV and dress up in brighter colours. Even exposing ourselves to the news can have a negative effect for some of us. My b...

I see a great many clients about the challenges of managing their alcohol intake. For some it is about moderation - for other cessation is the only option. The therapies I provide can either reduce or eliminate their use of alcohol. A disturbing trend over recent months has been developing. I see an increasing number of people who are by any definition alcoholic and who have been prescribed antidepressants by their doctors. Some antidepressants come with a warning against using alcohol while on antidepressants, though by no means all. Nonetheless, there is widespread knowledge and reports of interaction between most SSRI antidepressants and alcohol; and yet medical professionals still prescribe them to patients who make no secret of the fact that they are alcoholic. These patients are not going to simply not drink. They often drink because they are unable to stop. Simply being on antidepressants is not by any stretch of the imagination going to change this. And yet the known interacti...

When we work using regression we regularly see the most extraordinary results very swiftly. Suddenly things become plain to the client and they understand why something happened. Subsequently their ability to manage their issue becomes very much more easily understood. Dave Elmans book, Hypnotherapy provides a good roadmap for anyone using regression generally to manage an issue. However the pattern occasionally swings out of the norm. Typically an incident in the recent past is associated with an incident in the clients’ early life that had traumatic elements and introduced stress and anxiety. By reframing the earlier incident the issue in the recent past is resolved – and future occurrences defused. This is not an unfamiliar process to most hypnotherapists. A client saw me recently about a fear of flying that put a rather unusual twist on regression. The client has been growing increasingly distressed with air travel. Recently he felt overwhelming anxiety on a plane heading to the ea...

From time to time we all get hit by self doubt. It haunts some of us everyday. However, the absolute knowledge that success is assured can make us almost superhuman. Confidence is like a steamroller. Resistance is futile. Hypnosis can instill confidence - just as conditioning can. In the clips below, Derren Brown - an amazing English hypnotist, takles the issue of self doubt. It's a very surprising outcome. Keep in mind this is a British TV episode, and has none of the restraint of a North American TV show. No one sues you in England for electrocuting a kitten... Part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHaFuYZwX2U&feature=channel_page Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwIlueCNu8M&feature=channel_page Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap35u0zB6QM&feature=channel_page

Regression is one of the most powerful tools we have in Hypnotherapy. Here's an example. I had a client that gave up smoking successfully, however would restart after two or three months. Her pattern went back years. When she came to me she was skeptical because she knew she would stop, but did not want to restart. In regression it turned out the causes originated far back as a four year old child. She had gone to a fair that was visiting town one day with her mother. She'd enjoyed a couple of hot dogs. Her father had taken her with her sister later that day, and she enjoyed two more hot dogs. Later she threw up and it was quickly evident that the hot dogs were giving her severe problems. She had food poisoning. While she was not in a life threatening illness, it was a very disturbing tie for the young child. She couldn't keep anything down for days, and had to stay home from school. Her mother would read to her and looked after her. As she recovered this became a time she ...