The Transparent Hypnotist

Location: Manchester, England

Cyber Location: adriantannock.com

1.  Are you a full time hypnotist, part-time or hobbyist?

I’m a full time clinical hypnotherapist with four years experience in working with clients to help overcome a range of issues. Like most hypnotherapists, I have experience in wide range of problems, such as smoking and weight loss, but I tend to specialize in matters to do with letting go of the past, anxiety, and confidence.

2. Do you specialize in any type of hypnosis?

I have trained in NLP, and so tend to use Ericksonian approaches, conversational techniques, indirect elicitation, that kind of thing. I really enjoy the use of language and how it affects our experience of hypnosis. My strategy for therapy involves releasing any negative emotion associated with unconscious memories, plus looking to utilize unconscious resources in order to be happier, healthier, more confident, etc.

3. Is there any type of hypnosis you do not do? Why?

I don’t do “Stage Hypnosis” - not because I find it unethical, or that I feel that stage hypnosis detracts from its clinical application (although many of my colleagues think that) - just purely because I’d be kicked out of my hypnosis association if I did!

4. Do you use self-hypnosis regularly in your life?  If so, how?

I use self-hypnosis each day, both for relaxation purposes and also to give affirmations, using NLP interventions, and also post-hypnotic suggestions. According to “Heartland’s - Medical and Dental Hypnosis” 20 minutes self-hypnosis per day can really help with stress, motivation, and the like.

5. Describe your hypnosis office or work setting.

I rent a consulting room in Manchester city centre (UK); it’s nice, although it can be noisy sometimes. The noise isn’t too much of an issue however; I tend to use some Ericksonian style utilization “And the gentle noise of the traffic outside can remind you that all you need to do is relax even more…”

6. Describe a typical day in your life.

Like any self-employed therapist, I have had to work long hours to build up my practice. Although I tend to spend less time on my business now, and more time reading or studying, I still “work” twelve to fourteen hours each day (I say “work” because I love what I do, it doesn’t really feel like work at all!) So I’ll usually arrive in my office at 9am; answer email inquiries and the like; spend some time studying (usually a couple of hours), and then I’ll begin seeing clients. As I don’t “charge by the hour” my sessions with clients mostly last around 90 minutes, and sometimes around 2 hours. I work with an array of different presenting issues, which means my days are nice and varied. I would not enjoy spending all day, every day working with people hoping to lose weight or stop smoking!

7. Where did you get your training in hypnosis and are you certified?

I’ve been on many training courses - they were all accredited by some awarding body or other. In the UK there is no regulation of the field of hypnotherapy; however I think that will be changing. At present I am working my way to UKCP (UK Council of Psychotherapy) accreditation. The course I most enjoyed was actually an NLP training course with Richard Bandler in London. Richard Bandler, although a controversial figure, as a very entertaining guy!

8. Most fabulous hypnosis technique you use?

I extensively use ideo-motor signaling as a way of inquiring of the “Unconscious Mind” (whatever that is?) to find out what the problems are. I tend to use hypnosis in an NLP style - less associated revivification of repressed material (I’m not one for tears and snot bubbles) and more dissociated styles. I think my favorite tool is the fast phobia cure (the visual kinesthetic dissociation technique) - the number of applications that tool has is basically limitless.

9. Worse moment ever in a hypnosis setting that ended up being a valuable learning experience.

Just after I’d begun my practice, a lady and her husband came for (separate) smoking cessation sessions. The work with the husband went well, as he really wanted to stop. The wife was more challenging, however - even though she strongly protested that she wanted to stop, she was very awkward in answering the questions, and “couldn’t do” the NLP techniques I tried. I use a long, progressive relaxation induction, and after a while I noticed that she kept pinching herself! She complained “Was that supposed to be relaxing? It just gave me a headache!”

I felt quite angry (although I didn’t show it) for the fact that she was wasting my time, but  then I realized she’d been pressured into coming and just wasn’t ready to stop smoking. So, with that in mind, rather than being angry I remembered that people are people - you can’t force them to change, they have to want to change. That was a valuable lesson.

10.  Any words of advice to potential clients or other hypnotist.

To a fellow hypnotherapist, I’d say three things: be creative and eclectic in your approach to therapy; respect the fact that your client’s model of reality will be different from your own, and - most importantly - get training in other psychotherapeutic philosophies and skills; hypnosis is a wonderful tool but it is not blunt instrument that will fix all problems, it needs to be applied with precision and skill.

To potential clients, I’d say the most important thing is: you do not have to suffer with your difficulties indefinitely. However, when choosing a therapist to help you with your problems, consider this: their methodology - which tools they use, how they use them, and why; their experience - how long have they been helping people for, and finally - your rapport with them. If you like their company, this kind of helps!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 6:33 am and is filed under 10 Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.