“Derren Brown- The Events” and Hypnosis
Last Friday, 18th September, Channel 4 showed the second episode of the new Derren Brown series – Derren Brown The Events.
I was particularly looking forward to this show as it was all about suggestion and how we are all susceptable to a greater or lesser extent.
In this episode, Derren showed how he could place subliminal messages around a shopping centre so that he, dressed up as a homeless person, could collect a signifcant amount of money from the public. He ended up getting £350 and someone even donated their shoes to him!
This was, of course the precursor to the grand finale where Derren experimented with the general public to try to make them stick to their seats while they watched the programme at home.
There have been many reports of people becoming stuck to their chairs and even some people who did not believe it possible noticed that they could not get up from their sofas.
As usual, Derren used a certain amount of misdirection such as the short subliminal movie at the start of the experiment but in reality, the trick came down to some very clever wording of the “rules of the game” and what you could call informal hypnosis. A certain amount of expectation would have ensured success in a certain number of cases of stuckness, but this was enchanced by the unconcious communication going on in a very similar way to how all Hypnotists work, both in a stage setting and in a theraputic context.
Even the people who were conciously shouting at the TV that it was all a load of rubbish, were being spoken to on an unconcious level and unfortunately for them, the unconcious mind is running the show! This is why the non-believers still found themselves stuck and why Hypnotherapy is such a powerful tool for change- Just think, if someone can be stuck to their chair in as little as ten minutes, how much can be changed in a person’s life with a few sessions of Hypnotherapy?
I’m so glad this program was shown as it now gives me an even easier way to explain to the people who come for a consultation at my Dunmow Hypnotherapy Practice how quick and easy change can be and how it may happen without them knowing on a concious level.
If you are feeling stuck, come and see me- I don’t have the beard, but I’ll do my best to free you from what is holding you back!
