London College of Clinical Hypnosis Professional courses now offered in Singapore in Collaboration with Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Condition based approach

The LCCH is focused on training future would-be hypnotherapy practitioners to deal safely, ethically and effectively with the enormous variety of presenting symptoms - physical, emotional or psychological - for which their patients will seek help in the reality of the consulting room.

During the long experience teaching the LCCH has developed the "condition based approach" as being the most effective way of dealing with the vast number of presenting symptoms. Durint the Certificate course, students will learn the application of safe ethical hypnosis and are then allowed to focus on a limited number of problems and conditions. These are exemplified in with smoking and stress erlated problems. Students also learn specialized techniques for improving memory.

During the Diploma Course, students are taught to compare, contrast and critically evaluate various techniques and psychotherapies. The approach is integrative and designed to ensure that the trainee hypnotherapist can assess which treatment is suitable for both the individual patient and the condition itself. Both these factors are important.

As the course develops, more and progressively more complex issues such as phobias, eating disorders and psychosomatic and emotional conditions are explored. The course does not teach medicine, but an extensive back-ground of medical knowledge is provided through our medical staff.

Skills based training

All courses are taught by lecture and practice. The presenting lecturer will present the skills necessary. Often this is done by inviting a member of the class to volunteer. Students then are divided into small groups and are provided with ample time to practice the skill. In addition, students will have tutorial time to explore the skill further and to practice again the techniques or inductions.

Lectures, practice and tutorials are a core part of the teaching at all LCCH courses. Students are encouraged to work with different partners, so that they benefit from working with both receptive and resistant subjects. Practice sessions are always overseen by a senior lecturer and supervisor(s) where appropriate.

Teaching methods

All courses are divided into lecture, tutorial and practice. This may seem like a traditional approach but our extensive experience indicates it to be the most effective in training future clinical hypnotherapists.

The weekends are structured and each lecture is accompanied by another lecturer or supervisor(s). We may also invited guest lecturers to speak on specific subjects during the course of the weekend. The extensive notes which we provide during each weekend are also structured. You will also find a structure in the way that the course content is structured. The LCCH apply a modular approach with the LCCH own style called the "salami technique".

During our many years training future hypnotherapists we have discovered that this structure ensures that no student is ever left behind. The "salami technique" is designed to provide each student with a manageable piece of information which can be build upon and revisited as the course progresses.

The LCCH takes pride in the recognition that just as each patient and each problem presented is unique, so too are our students and practitioners. Our aim is to ensure that you are able to understand the many different methods in the simplest and most effective way and just as importantly are able to choose your own preferred style of operating.

Research

The last twenty years have seen some tremendous advances in the application and research into hypnotherapy. The LCCH conducts - and also encourages - ongoing scientific research into hypnosis and allied fields. Students are encouraged to submit research and case history findings to the European Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. A primary aim at the LCCH is to constantly seek to advance our knowledge of hypnosis in the therapeutic context, with the aim of improving the efficacy of treatments.

In this context, the LCCH has over produced a number of highly original and effective methodologies for the treatment of certain conditions. The benefit is that these are also conditions which are difficult to treat by ordinary psychotherapy. This includes the LCCH two-stage technique for dealing with Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD's). A recent example is the collaboration between the LCCH research team and the Heart Hospital, London. This group is studying the effect of negative and positive emotions on heart variability. Other studies are the comparative study for smoking cessation between hypnotherapy, nicotine patches and zyban and investigation into the management of pain with brachial fractures.