STEPHEN BROOKS AND THE ART OF COMPASSIONATE ERICKSONIAN HYPNOTHERAPY We are proud to announce that our book “Stephen Brooks and the Art of Compassionate Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Vol 1 – Phobias” has been voted no 2 in the Book Authority list of the top ten books on hypnotherapy.  Buy the book online HERE  ABOUT THE BOOK The book written by hypnotherapy expert Jos van Boxtel describes in detail a unique demonstration session by renowned Ericksonian hypnotherapist and trainer Stephen Brooks. The client suffers from an extreme spider phobia, and Brooks helps her overcome her fear in one session. The book describes how he uses her behaviour, thinking style and beliefs to cure her phobia through hypnotic desensitization and double dissociation. Stephen Brooks is known for his compassionate style and complex hypnotic language, modelled after legendary hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. When he communicates with a client, it seems like he is holding a normal conversation, but with close observation, you will discern a sophisticated network of indirect suggestions, implications, links and metaphors. Pre-talk, trance induction and therapeutic intervention flow seamlessly into one another and lead to an automatic and unconscious change process The first half of the book provides an overview of the

Milton H. Erickson Ericksonian Hypnosis is a method of indirect hypnosis named after Dr. Milton Erickson. A prominent American psychiatrist and psychologist, Erickson is widely regarded as the “father of hypnotherapy”. His discoveries have influenced a wide spectrum of therapy from strategic family therapy to neuro-linguistic programming. Dr. Erickson found that indirect suggestion could result in therapeutic behavioral change. He preferred to converse with clients using metaphors, contradictions, symbols, and antidotes to influence their behavior rather than direct orders. As a patient himself who suffered extreme pain after contracting polio at an early age, he thought it critical to “put yourself in the patient’s shoes” and truly understand the client’s present situation. Unlike Freud – who encouraged self exploration – Erickson adopted a form of brief therapy where a patient’s past history is not the focal point of change. Recalling one conversation with a patient with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who showered a dozen times a day, he asked the patient about the present rather than their past. Specifically he would ask about the process: “Do you wash from the neck down, or do you start with your feet and wash up? Or do you start with your

COMPASSIONATE ERICKSONIAN HYPNOTHERAPY utilises naturally occurring trance states to help client’s overcome problems in a caring and compassionate way. Thanks to recent discoveries in neuroscience, we now understand more about how and why hypnosis works and what happens within the brain when people practice mindfulness. As a training organisation running courses in hospitals and universities we have always looked to science for explanations about hypnosis, meditation and the mechanism behind its effectiveness. Where we originally only had our assumptions and observed experience, scientific evidence is now proving that hypnosis, mindfulness and therapy based on love and compassion can affect the brain and thought process. Science is now underpinning the training we have been offering for the past 40 years. To understand how hypnosis works we need to look at how the brain processes information about the world around us. Our awareness of what is happening in the world at any given time occurs within our senses, and our sensory experience is based on past memories, future expectations and what we believe to be our present experience. These sensory experiences are evolving and changing all the time through synaptic connectivity (LeDoux 2002, Synaptic Self and Doidge 2007, The Brain That