Index | PROFESSIONALS
  1. professional training
  2. supervision service
  3. continual education
  4. the new frontiers

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1. Professional training

[up]. To train people in TRUE hypnotherapy is a difficult job, because it is by no means, as falsely suggested by the name, a therapy in a sleep-like state, but it is a special stimulation of abilities already present. In fact, after entire centuries of "scientific" publications and books on hypnosis, it is now evident that THE MEDICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MODELS HAVE FAILED COMPLETELY not only in understanding hypnosis, but even in describing it, showing that they are definitely useless and inadequate (because HYPNOSIS IS NOT A CURE, and trying to sell it as a cure is pathetic). In fact, the "scientific" literature for the most part describes a low-level type of HYPNOTISM (sometimes, I would say, nearly amateurish), with meaningless HYPNOTIC SCALES, unreliable TESTS, unrealistic and rigid PROTOCOLS, childish approaches ("SCRIPTS"), very ridiculous AUDIO RECORDINGS, and, constantly, the usual DELIRIOUS IDEA OF ADMINISTERING COMMANDS and suggestions. Unfortunately, the operators that work in this way neglect the individuality of each person, and naively delude themselves with the false idea of being able to "apply" hypnosis, that is they forget that in the hypnotic activity the operator has a negligible role. And that's not enough yet. In fact, in addition to this frightening mixture of ignorance and arrogance, there is also the damn obsessive and vain effort to perform STATISTICAL ANALYSES and PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC VALIDATIONS that are completely amiss, because it is impossible to make objective a subjective functioning like hypnosis (it is like trying to measure a distance by counting the steps of a walking person; every time the result will be different!). In short, speculative theories, elegant methods, complex approaches, unnecessary frills, encyclopedic manuals, long trainings, are things that perhaps satisfy the primitive and superficial people, but certainly prevent a genuine learning because actually they often are smoke into the eyes and nothing else.

2. Supervision service

[up]. At the beginning of the profession, the hypnotherapist has a limited experience and few clients, but if (s)he is a responsible person, then (s)he will feel the need of sharing ideas, doubts, and experiences with other colleagues. This activity is called supervision, but it is important to underline that the success of a practitioner is entirely determined by the SATISFACTION OF THE CLIENTS. Moreover, it is not difficult to find beginners that are more proficient than their supervisors, and therefore in these cases actually it's not a supervision, but it's a peer and reciprocal learning and benefit.

3. Continual education

[up]. The so-called Continual Professional Development (CPD) is compulsory for the hypnotherapy practitioner, but professional associations are satisfied by just 15-30 hours yearly. Each year many fresh events are offered, and these new things in theory seem interesting, but when put in practice they confirm once more that hypnotic activity is controlled by people themselves, and that it defies whatsoever technique (which, in fact, almost never gets the desired results). I personally invest 150-300 hours each year into investigating such a fascinating but also upsetting characteristic of hypnotism, that is a HOLISTIC activity which is extremely COMPLEX but also completely INNOCUOUS, and therefore absolutely IDEAL for a vast experimentation on the field.

4. The new frontiers

[up]. Psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists base their work on the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual), which, in my opinion, has no scientific validity, because (as far as I know) there is no proof that a certain human behavior is a mental disorder or a psychopathology. In fact a psychologist, David Rosenhan (1973), demonstrated that it is extremely easy to deceive a psychiatrist and to get repeatedly wrong diagnoses and contraindicated therapies; this fact suggests that the supposed problem is not in the patient but is in the mind of the psychiatrist. Despite that, the DSM has legal value, because if a psychiatrist says that a citizen is mentally ill, then this person can be deprived of freedom, children, or bank account, unless (s)he find another psychiatrist that says the contrary. Fortunately, the world is changing. For example, in the past the DSM psychiatrists classified the homosexuals among the mentally sick people that must undergo the conversion therapy, but then those same psychiatrists have been judged homophobic and intolerant by the civil society, and in 2012 Robert Spitzer (a psychiatrist coauthor of the DSM) publicly apologized to all the homosexuals. And today there are no longer the handicapped, but only the differently able. And some day in the future there will be no longer the mentally disturbed, but only the mentally different, ad the DSM will be only a bad memory. Milton Erickson (1901-1980), psychiatrist, has been a true pioneer in envisioning this more human and gratifying idea of the world; he was oriented to the healing rather than the cure, in the sense that to accept ourselves is much better than to refuse ourselves. In 1980, during the funeral of Erickson, a physician named Robert Pearson said: "Erickson took on the psychiatric establishment single-handedly, and he beat them. They don't know it yet" (in: S Rosen, 1982, My voice will go with you, Editor's note, i8). The reader must fully understand that my words don't want in any way to be an attack to psychiatry (which is certainly useful), but they are only the expression of my thoughts and personal opinions and beliefs. Certain psychiatrists should realize that I'm not interested in their theories, and therefore I don't practice psychotherapy. In fact, since the beginning, in the development of my hypnotic approach I have got inspiration from the most innovative parts of Erickson's publications, and my professional interest is particularly focused on TEN FUNDAMENTAL EMPIRICAL CONVICTIONS (that are the base of an avant-garde informal training reserved to an elite group of hypnotherapists accurately selected by me).

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