Our guest writer and business psychologist, Claire Ashworth, explains about NLP, hypnosis and common misconceptions that could be preventing many from benefitting from these life-changing disciplines.
I’ve recently completed an NLP course, part of which was some training in the basics of hypnosis. Excited at having learnt something I find interesting and new, naturally I’ve been telling everyone about the course. To my amazement there has been the overwhelming impression that I seem to have learnt some dark art which will force them to bring me tea and crumpets or have them dancing like a chicken at the click of my fingers. Oh, if only it were so simple!
Just imagine the simplicity with which you would get promoted, get discounts in shops get your partner to buy you expensive jewellery. Unfortunately for those who want the above, hypnosis still leaves the hypnotised in the driving seat. Firstly, a subject has to trust you and want you to hypnotise them and most importantly, you cannot convince a subject to do anything that violates their values or belief system – otherwise my fiancée would be buying me a new handbag every week! Watching Derren Brown you would think a hypnotist has the same powers as a Jedi knight, but not so. Derren relies on finding people within an audience who are suggestible and / or extroverted – they don’t show you on TV all the times that he used his skills and they didn’t work.
If you have read the basics about hypnosis you will already know that, in the main, it is a form of trance similar to that which we have when watching TV, dropping off to sleep or driving on the motorway for a long time. You are still aware of your environment and are in complete control. Many are not so afraid of the concept of not being in complete control but giving that control completely over to others who can then suggest negative things that will affect them. So, how do many of us feel about marketing?
At a party this weekend I met a mother who refuses to allow her daughter to watch general TV, preferring her to watch DVDs – which I found rather strange. Maybe it’s because of this story that I noticed an article in the newspaper criticising the targeting of children by marketers and I began to see the mother’s point. In 1999 awareness was raised at how marketers are working with child psychologists to tailor their TV marketing to manipulate these young minds and build brand loyalty from an early age – strange that somebody would enter into such an admirable profession as child psychology and then use it for such unethical means, but such is the lure of commerciality.
The needs, wants and desires that these adverts programme into our children can lead to young adults with a questionably material value system. The advertisers rely on a constant battle of tantrums until we crack and give our child one of the over-priced, easily broken and irritatingly loud toys that they decide they absolutely must have.
The reason it is so easy for children to be a target for such practices is that they still live very much in every moment and inside their heads. They will accept messages sent to them through images, metaphors and their peer group with a great deal less questioning than that of adults. At any age, when we watch TV we can go into a mini-trance, zoning out the rest of the world and at times not hear when someone right next to us asks a question. When in this trance-like state we are more suggestible and our subconscious is listening more actively so although children are more suggestible, as adults we are not beyond the same type of manipulation ourselves. We see adverts that imply through amusing imagery, funny stories or sexy images, that if we purchase the product it will evoke a certain positive emotion in ourselves as well as in those around us. However, the point remains that we are the ones who choose to watch and accept these messages.
Hypnosis, like any tool, can be mis-used and abused. It would never have occurred to me to distrust the profession of child psychology, but it appears that some qualified child psychologists have made the choice to use their skills for great financial gain only. The same would apply for Hypnosis. If you needed an operation would you go to someone’s house to seek treatment simply because they have a sign on their door saying they are a surgeon? I can’t hear you responding but I am making an educated guess that the answer is no.
Like any kind of relationship that requires a level of trust, you should research the person you are putting your trust in. Make sure they are member of a regulated association such as the General Hypnotherapy Register, the majority of practitioners have a vested interest in making hypnotherapy a positive and results-oriented experience. If you are curious as to the content of hypnotherapy CDs, buy one and just listen to it without lying back and relaxing, that way you’ll gain an understanding for how hypnotherapy is something that is done with you and not to you. You are the one who is in control.
Hypnotherapy is one of my life’s greatest discoveries to date. To be able to induce a feeling of calm and relaxation when my mind and heart are racing with stress, is invaluable. Self-hypnosis, or meditation, can be one of the most liberating things. You can use it to really effect physical and mental change in your life. For serious issues and problems it is worth visiting a hypnotherapist and if you find that this is too costly a route, then CDs may be your answer.
If you are uncomfortable with the word hypnosis, call it deep relaxation – surely you believe in being deeply relaxed? Think back to a holiday or a time where you felt totally and utterly relaxed, go on, close your eyes and remember how that felt. Would it be so bad if you could feel that feeling on demand?
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