A chance encounter with hypnotherapy in college lead Michael Mullins on a new career path that would see him helping people get an insight into themselves or tackle their various ailments and phobias. Marie Madden reports.

Hypnotherapist Micheal Mullen.Photo:Alan Gallagher.

While studying English in college, Michael Mullins found himself suffering from a bad case of writers block. With essays and assignments building up around him, he desperately needed a solution and decided to try hypnotherapy. It worked and years later, he is now practicing the therapy full time from his clinic on New Street West.

While people have become much more open minded about alternative therapies, there are still a number of inaccurate assumptions out there about hypnotherapy, according to Michael. The word hypnotist often conjures up notions of deep trances and people making a fool of themselves, but Michael stresses that this is far from the reality.

When watching a movie or reading a book, we naturally emerge into a semi trance-like state. During a hypnotherapy session, this state of consciousness is induced by the therapist, allowing for access to the subconscious mind. At the Pelican Hypnotherapy Clinic, Michael practises two separate types of therapy: suggestion therapy and analytical therapy.

Suggestion therapy is where suggestions are made, either directly or indirectly, relating to the cause of the problem and this can bring about a resolution. This type of therapy has proved beneficial for slimmers, smokers, people anxious about wedding speeches, nerves and minor problems. The second type of therapy is best suited to psychosomatic disorders, a physical disorder that has a psychological or emotional origin to it. Examples of these would be asthma, migraine, hay fever, acne, anxiety states, sexual problems and phobias. The therapist works in partnership with the client to find out what is causing the problem, removing the root causes of the symptoms and replacing them with something more beneficial.

During a session, the therapist will look for repressions. Repressions are experiences that happened to the client when they were younger, which they have forgotten about. On finding out the root cause of the problem, the client gains new awareness and insight, which will bring about transformation and changes in their life. The next step is to remove the emotional charge or negative emotion causing the problem and in doing so, the symptom may disappear altogether.

As with many beneficial treatments, Michael says that patients often feel a resistance to the practice and have trouble letting go of the problem.

"There may well be resistance to treatment, coming to me will be like going to the dentist and having a troublesome tooth removed. As strange as it may sound, you may very well resist letting go of the very thing which is causing the problem. You won't mean to or want to; it might feel like a physical thing blocking your progress and you won't like the experience very much. This is the toughest part of the therapy. If you get through this and release the repression which is causing your problem, you will feel liberated. The journey is not easy, not difficult, just different."

Michael says there is no typical client at the clinic, with patients varying in age and needs. However, he says during the summer there is a large increase in the number of people getting hypnotherapy for fear of flying as many are heading off on holidays. With the clampdown on learner drivers, he says he has also seen an influx of people trying to calm their nerves before taking their test.

While hypnotherapy can be used to treat a number of ailments, from smoking, nail biting, insomnia and nervousness to emotional problems, claustrophobia and addictions, it can also be used simply as a method of discovering yourself. According to Michael, regular people without any problems not only can undergo analysis, but should.

"For an insight into yourself, it has no equal," he says. For more information on Pelican Hypnotherapy Clinic, contact Michael on 087-7928558.

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