At one time, feedback from clients and messages of thanks just got shoved in a cupboard, I never put them on the website. This was because it was suggested to me during my initial hypnotherapy training that testimonials from clients should not be used as promotion, that this was somehow tacky or unprofessional. I didn’t really see why, as long as they are genuine and you have the client’s permission to use them in that way, but for the first six or seven years I was practising I stuck to the original advice I was offered. Then one day I looked at the bulging file of feedback in the cupboard and thought: “What a waste!”
When new clients are contemplating trying hypnotherapy, what is it that they want to know most of all? That’s right: “Will it work for me?” And what is most likely to make them feel more confident about that? Genuine positive feedback from previous clients, as well as proper explanations about hypnotherapy itself. Of course I don’t want these pages to be all testimonials, they should also be informative about how it works. So I like to explain what hypnosis is and what I do, and then use the testimonials (with written permission, of course, in each case) to allow my clients to comment on the success of it in their own experience.
“Why do all these testimonials seem to be from women?”
I’m glad you asked me that! I’ve noticed that myself. You may be wondering if only women ever try hypnotherapy, or if men don’t respond to it or something.
Not so! Over the last ten years I have conducted thousands of hypnotherapy sessions, and I have noticed no difference whatever in the way men and women respond. However, I have noticed that twice as many women choose hypnotherapy in the first place. I think this is simply because men don’t like asking for help, just as they don’t like asking for directions. If this means they have to stay fat, can’t stop smoking or miss the event because they cannot find the venue, that is still better – to the anxious male ego – than admitting that you don’t already know everything and can’t manage everything entirely by yourself, always. And, although the success rate is the same for both sexes, hardly any of the men who actually do come here send me ‘thank you’ messages of any sort!
Men do refer other people to me just as often as women do, so I hear about their success that way – and of course they come back to get rid of other problems too sometimes. So there is no doubt they have the same success and get just as excited about it too, when they are recommending my services to their family and friends. But they rarely send Thank You cards or email messages… although I do get a few, like the one from the martial arts instructor I posted in the Cannabis and Other Drugs section on this site.
I think it’s just a male thing. They paid their money, they got the results they wanted and that’s the end of it from a man’s point of view. They might rave about hypnotherapy to their friends, but they may feel less inclined to boost my ego with messages of thanks! I understand that completely, I’m a bloke. I certainly don’t mind if they do, but I’m not going to weep if they don’t. It’s not about me anyway, but the success of hypnotherapy itself.
Women have no such reservations, and so far not one of them has even hesitated when I request permission to publish their comments here. Women are usually brilliant communicators, and when they find something that really works, they want everyone to know. Look how Amanda – one of my current clients – responded when I asked if I could use her email as a testimonial:
“Hi Chris
Of course you can use my message I want other people to know how good it really is. I have already recommended you to a number of work colleagues.
Don’t worry, if I feel I need a boost I will be right back, I am not settling for anything but the problem GONE, I’m looking forward to the new slimmer me and once again thank you, I cannot tell you how good the session felt, to be honest I didn’t want it to end.”
This is one of the reasons I reckon being a hypnotherapist is the best job in the world. Another reason I will never get tired of practising hypnotherapy and especially with clients with weight issues is because discovering hypnotherapy means, for all of them:
The End of the Weight Loss Struggle
Many ‘thank you’s tell of years of battling with weight issues and food issues, and of course, by the time people find their way to me they have become absolutely sick of dieting, putting the weight back on, gaining more weight, denying themselves this or that and generally becoming seriously down about it. As you can imagine, most of them are really not expecting miracles. In fact, they aren’t really expecting it to work, it’s just that it’s probably the one thing they haven’t tried before.
At this point, many of these people are blaming themselves for what they see as ‘failure’, and are quite fearful that they might be stuck with the problem forever. They don’t know it, but when they walk into my office they are just about to discover:
1). Why none of this is their fault after all, and why diets didn’t solve the problem.
2). How the problem can be easily corrected here at Central Hypnotherapy without willpower being needed even if they don’t really expect it to work for them, and:
3). A proper explanation of exactly how it really works, and why the weight lost through hypnotherapy will never go back on.
Can you imagine how that feels? After years of struggle, after years of accepting the blame when the fault actually lies within the dieting method itself? To find out all of a sudden that it is not your fault after all, and that you can have the success you had begun to believe was never going to be yours?
Folks, it is a really moving thing to be a part of, and I love to witness people going through this transformation, it is so uplifting! Listen to Gale’s account of the huge difference between the dieting experience and the revolutionary effect of the Central Hypnotherapy experience:
“I was down about my weight and for many years had battled with diets… even when I lost weight on them I felt so moody and craved for things I could not have.
I had an appointment with you on 4th July 2009, it is now week 9 and I have lost 11lbs, I don’t have the chocolate and cakes I had always craved and if I have a takeaway I only want half the portion I had before. I have also reduced my bread intake but don’t crave for what I had, as you listened to me and knew these were my weaknesses. You made me think that these ‘goodies’ as I called them were not good at all, it’s as easy as that. I am still positive and I am enjoying the weight coming off slowly but healthily and I know that should this stop, I can visit again for another session. Thanks for helping me deal with what I have been struggling with for years.
Gale”
Now, as Gale is still fairly new to hypnotherapy she can only relate her experience of the results, she can’t explain what really happened as clearly as I can – especially as she is quite astonished that these things happened anyway!
I didn’t really ‘make her think’ any differently on a conscious level, I just explained something to her Subconscious mind which it didn’t previously know: that those ‘goodies’ actually cause weight-gain, so please switch off the cravings and impulses that prompt the consumption of such things. (I include a lot of detail, by the way, to make the case for change very clear. Also, because I understand how to talk to the Subconscious mind I can put the case across in a way that has natural appeal, so it is pretty much bound to be accepted straight away. Not all hypnotherapists will know how to do that.)
The other clarification I want to make is that Gale described the things she previously felt compelled to eat as her “weaknesses”. This notion comes from the dieting industry of course, but it is a misunderstanding based on the observation that willpower isn’t very reliable when it comes to resisting the impulse to eat something like chocolate or cake. The suggestion of the dieting industry is that you must apply more willpower, which is just dumb.
Question: Where does the impulse to eat cake come from? Well it doesn’t come from the cake, or else everyone would compulsively eat cake, and as we all know, quite a lot of people don’t care about cake at all. And the impulse doesn’t come from the conscious mind – we know that because it is the conscious mind that is applying conscious efforts (willpower) to resist that urge.
Which leaves the Subconscious mind. And once I explain to the Subconscious mind, through the hypnotherapy process, what the problem with cakes actually is… guess what? It shuts the impulse down, no problem. Because you see, the Subconscious mind isn’t stupid, and it doesn’t mean to cause problems like weight gain. It just didn’t know about the connection until I explained it. Whereupon it solved the problem immediately.
Does that sound better than fighting pointless battles with yourself? Call me (Chris) any time for more information. Every client gets full explanations and all questions answered. There are no mysteries to it and no risks. Just success. Go for it!
Office: 0161-474-8120 Monday-Friday 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., or call/text 07748 838 644 any day, any time.
Consultant Hypnotherapist Chris Holmes has been Director of Central Hypnotherapy, Stockport, England UK since August 2000
