Does hypnosis work? Do demons leave?

I'm often asked if hypnosis works and how many sessions a person might need.

I recall a day back in April 1993, when a woman in New Jersey told me of several problems she wanted to work on. When she asked how many sessions I thought it might take, I answered, "Is this supposed to take more than one?"

And we did one session.

One of the difficult things about building my type of hypnotherapy practice is that clients most often do come to see me only one time. And it's not because they run away afterwards. It's because hypnotherapy is incredibly effective or, rather, the mind is incredibly effective in resolving problems when it has the right tool(s).

Two of her problems we solved without hypnosis. She told me that she was having problems with her ex-husband. What was the problem? He wouldn't give her a divorce. "So he's not your ex-husband, is he? He's your husband!"

She had had four lawyers, and they couldn't get him served. Since he was a transmission repair shop owner, I told her he was the easiest guy in the world to serve with divorce papers. I told her to buy a junk car for $25 and pay $100 to have it towed to the guy's shop. When Louie rolled out from under it and said it would be $1,000 to fix the transmission, all the process server had to do was drop the summons on his chest and leave. Bingo! Served!

Next problem?

After four lawyers and $40,000, she wasn't divorced. I told her to hire a new lawyer, sue to get the $40K back, give the new guy $20K and tell him to get her divorce finished. Take the other $20K and go around the world. Tell the new guy, if she wasn't divorced when she got back, she was going to sue him and get that $20K back.

Next problem?

Now, her hypnotherapy session did last over two hours. She had a whole bunch of demons. Dr. Hickman and I couldn't get most of them to leave together, so we had to pick them off, one by one.

Some were threatening, but they left. They all left. In one session.

M. Scott Peck, M.D. - exorcist?

A fellow traveler in Australia recently recommended a book called Glimpses of the Devil, by M. Scott Peck, M.D. Many will be familiar with Dr. Peck's book, The Road Less Traveled.

I have only just begun reading this book, and I find his method greatly differs from my training with Irene Hickman, D.O.(1915-2002). She trained with William J. (Bill) Baldwin, D.D.S., Ph.D. when she was 78, and I met Irene in 1988, when she was 73.

On the inside of the front dustcover is the claim that Peck's book "... reveals the amazing true story of his work as an exorcist - kept secret for more than twenty-five years." Perhaps he was afraid it would affect his psychiatric practice or his popularity as an author. The book was his last book, and it was published in the year of his death - 2005.

Although he mentions hypnosis briefly while describing his therapy and exorcism with a patient to whom he gave the name "Jersey", his methods seem to me to follow his psychiatric training and religious models.

My training, with Irene Hickman on Bill Baldwin's model, is likely to produce positive results considerably faster. It also does not require a larger "team" approach, lengthy preparation or long duration of effort.

I'll always remember being introduced to a C.P.A. in the Indianapolis area in about 1997. He asked what I did, and I asked him what he thought I did. He thought about it for a moment and then said, "You're an exorcist." I was so astonished that I didn't even ask him what has caused him to make that guess!