In Milwaukie
Hypnosis
service
dissolves
myths
concerning
craft
Accredited Hypnotist’s director Hal Leonard. Photo by Duffy Coffman.
By Kelly Laughlin
Of The Print
We all have a mental picture
> of the hypnotist: he enters the
room dressed in a dark robe,
his head wrapped in a turban.
He has large, dilated eyes,
and the power to put everyone
in the room, including his pet
| poodle, into a deep trance.
The dog begins speaking Fren­
ch, and everyone else barks.
According to Hal Leonard,
¿director of Accredited Hyp­
notists of the Pacific Northwest,
located
on
McLoughlin
Boulevard in Milwaukie, the
above is not only a myth, but
“It gives our business a bad
name,” he said.
As the only accredited hyp­
notherapy service in the state,
Accredited Hypnotists does
business of its own at the
.Milwaukie office, and provides
referrals to 26 other similar
establishments in the Portland-
Vancouver area.
Accredited Hypnotists
professes to rise above the
sometimes obscure, sometimes
bizarre state of the art, by
describing and practicing the
profession in clear and un-
“mystifying
terms.
Said
Leonard, “Our association was
formed so the profession would
reach a higher lever of
sophistication.”
With a 96 to 98 percent suc­
cess rate in correcting weight
problems, insomnia, smoking,
memory problems, speech im­
pediments, fingernail biting,
thumb sucking, bed wetting,
and a host of other un­
desirables, Accredited Hyp­
notists must be
doing
something right.
The training students of
hypnotism receive through Ac­
credited Hypnotists is rigorous.
To become a technician, the
student must work under an
accredited therapist for 100
hours, and log another 500
hours to begin working "in­
dependently. Students must
also be able to demonstrate
their ability. Said hyp­
notherapist Bill Dorrenbacher,
“all the study in the world won’t
do you any good unless you
can put someone under.”
About 90 percent of Ac­
credited Hypnotists’ clients
come through word of mouth
referral, according to hyp­
notherapist Glenn Lamaster.
“A lot of them come from our
competition,” he said.
The competition? “They’re
the game show hypnotists,”
said a beginning hypnotism
student, Darlene Stover. “The
ones who put people on stage
and make them look stupid.”
Or, said Lamaster, “they read a
‘nice’ $2 book and think they
have all the answers.”
Unlike their competition, the
Accredited Hypnotists said
their responsibility is to guide
clients over specific problems.
Wednesday, February 27, 1980
SN: OL0055
“They feed us the necessary
ingredients
about
their
problem, and we help them in
getting over it,” said Lamark.
The hypnotherapists dispell
the fallacies concerning hyp­
notism in its most sensational
form. Ironically, “game show”
hypnotism, however ineffec­
tive, has existed parallel to
trusted or accredited forms of
hypnosis, and continues to
receive more publicity and
public attention than its coun­
terpart. “Someday, we hope it
will die completely,” said
Lamark.
Hypnotherapist Dorren­
bacher said it is impossible to
hypnotize someone without the
person’s desire to be put under
the power of suggestion. “All
hypnotism is self-hypnotism,”
he said. The client “must be
willing—if our suggestions are
to be accepted, translated in­
to the subconscious, and acted
upon. If he or she rejects it,
there will be no reaction.”
(This reporter, who sat
beside a hypnotism student,
gathered from the remark that
Lamark made—“Don’t look at
her too closely, she’s pretty
good at it”—that she could
have really put me under.)
Of course, the hypnotists do
their work only for a price. The
hypnotherapists at the Ac­
credited
Hypnotists
organization contend that their
rates are negotiable, depending
on the financial status of the
prospective client, “but the
base rate is $50 an hour,” said
Leonard.
The time it takes to correct a
problem varies as much as the
number of clients, and their
eventual remedies.
The five practicing hyp­
notherapists at the Milwaukie
office admit that their word has
little prospect for success unless
“there is
100 percent
motivation from the client,”
said Lamaster.
Dorrenbacher commented,
“We only take clients to the
spot where they want to go,
and this is because we know
what they’re in here for.”
There’s no “stock formula”
for treatment. According to the
therapists, it all depends on the
individual. And sometimes,,
they said, the client is turned
Guest lecturers keep
workshop fresh, vital
If guest lecturers help to keep
the Carolyn Taylor/Carol
Petersen Wellness Workshop
fresh and vital, ..their third an­
nual presentation on Saturday
should be another resounding
success.
According to Petersen, this
year’s workshop will feature
nutritionist Jane Abbott,
biofeedback lecturer Ruth Kir­
chner, masseuse Virginia
Lissitz, and Middle Eastern
dance
instructors
Jeani
McLena and Joanna Pratt, in a
well-organized program em­
phasizing the holistic approach
to physical and mental well
being.
Petersen also credits the
audiences at prior workshops
with “keeping it fresh.” Past
Wellness Workshops, termed
“special events,” have in­
variably drawn the largest par­
ticipation of any Focus on
Women activity.
“This year we’re' doing
something that we have not
done previously,” said Peter­
sen. “We’re allotting a longer
time for each of the topics, but
the people are going to have to
pick which ones they want to
see.”
The workshop, which will be
held in the College Community
Center Mall, will cost $15 and
last from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in­
cluding a “nutritious lunch,”
served in the cafeteria.
Registration begins at 8 a.m.
Attendance at the Wellness
Workshop qualifies participants
for one unit of College credit.
over to another therapist, if a
personality conflict arises. “We
are not here for a clash of
wills,” said Dorrenbacher. “We
just want to get the job done.”
The hypnotherapists have
no far-fetched definition for
hypnosis. They consider it
merely another form of
awareness—relaxation like
meditation or yoga, though
generally faster in its benefits.
More importantly, said Rita
Larkin, who decided to begin
studying hypnosis after losing
50 pounds from it, “It helped
me find out that hypnotism
really exists, that there’s more
to it than most people are
told.”
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