My Blog
Brian’s innovative spirit and compassionate insight clarify the power of hypnotherapy as compared to other mental wellness disciplines. Search here to learn more about a specific concern.
Faith in Recovery
We know the value of virtue when it shines into our lives. Those that bring that grace, however, often fail to realize how important it is to turn that light inward. That oversight allows corruption to take root in the darkness. My client – “Gustav” below – was a 51...
Partnership for a Healthful Diet
Weight control is considered among the most demanding applications of hypnotherapy. Nutrition and portion sizes are established in childhood while the body is growing and frequently engaged in exercise. In adulthood, workplaces are designed for efficiency, and...
Play (Seriously)
While most of us would prefer to be happy rather than anxious, we should admit that happy can be a lazy place to be. Our most creative moments are moments of play, when we shift rapidly between happy and anxious. The difficulty arises when we have a source of stress...
Anti-Social Psychology
American exceptionalism was formed in the shared struggle of World War II and cemented in the mass-marketing of consumer goods in the 1950s. The seeds of destruction of that social consensus came with mass-marketing of oral contraceptives in 1960. A whole new world of...
Trance at Work
When I invite a client to put love at the center of their world view, often I am asking them to take a leap of faith. To give love is to be vulnerable; to receive love is to be changed. While we desire both, as we go about learning those skills, we make mistakes, and...
Moral Foundations
Every addictive substance and activity activates our dopamine system. This network of neurons alerts us that "what comes next is important." What would happen, then if every cocktail napkin offered moral guidance? Would that help reduce the tide of alcoholism? This is...
A Bridge Too Far?
Kappasinian desensitization allows a client to manage emotional reactions that inhibit normal behaviors. The most common emotional reaction is panic in confined spaces (elevators or airplanes) but can also present as shame that causes us to rebuff intimacy or...
Elephant of the Mind
If one was to specify an affliction ideally suited to investigation of personality structures, depression qualifies. The condition is progressive, starting as a mood that, left unchecked, slides into debilitation. While it can be comorbid with suicidal ideation, the...
Separate, Then Equal
It is hard enough for doctors. A patient ignores the warning signs, arriving for treatment with a life-threatening condition. The doctor’s tone is determinative. Reassurance galvanizes the body, rallying healing powers that are essential to recovery. But when...
Honoring Emotion
The movie "Inside Out" reinforces the idea that emotions are all in your head. They are not. Emotions are your organic response to experience. They involve hormones and blood flow and muscle tension and more - all contributing to create subtle sensations inside the...
Rediscovering Trance
Milton Erickson, the mid-century guru who revived academic interest in hypnosis as a therapeutic tool, was inspired to his studies by his recovery from polio. As he retold it, Erickson recovered the ability to walk by studying his baby sister as she learning to take...
The Value of Trance
Spirituality is the negotiation of the boundaries between "me" and "we." Unilaterally imposing "me" is megalomania; dissolving into "we" is schizophrenia. The principle that sustains balance is love. Therapy is a re-introduction to love, and a conscious submission to...