World Hypnotism Day.

Dear Hypnosis Professional,

World Hypnotism Day (WHD) is the perfect day and opportunity to join fellow Hypnotists from around the world in educating the public regarding the many benefits of hypnosis, and the significant role a Certified Hypnosis Professional can play in helping people get more out of their lives. One of the most powerful things all of us can do is reach out to our local news and media outlets to educate them about who we are and what we do. We are Certified Hypnosis Professionals and We offer extraordinary solutions for every day problems.

Below find a copy of a Press Release that I will be sending out which reflects my take on World Hypnotism Day and my way of letting the media and news outlets know of my willingness and availability for interviews. I hope it inspires you to find creative ways to join in the fun and participate in this celebration of Hypnosis and Certified Hypnosis Professionals. All rights reserved.

Press Release:

On January 4th, 2005 Certified Hypnosis Practitioners from all over the world will join together for World Hypnotism Day. A special day dedicated to sharing their expertise and experience for the purpose of educating the public, the media and their health care communities about the many benefits of working with a Certified Hypnosis Professional.

According to Michael Ellner, an internationally prominent Certified Hypnosis Practitioner and educator, There is an urgent need for World Hypnotism Day because there are tens of millions of people who could be helped to feel better, heal faster and be more effective who are not utilizing this safe, effective and affordable approach to self-improvement and self-help.

Part of the problem is that the media has perpetuated many misconceptions about the practice and nature of hypnosis and, as a result, many people believe that being hypnotized means losing control. This is not true, in fact, Hypnosis is about helping people take control!

Another problem is that a subset of licensed shrinks and therapists--pass themselves oft as hypnosis experts. They advise the public to seek out only those Hypnotherapists who are licensed health care providers like themselves. One wouldn't expect an MD or PhD to be an expert plumber and by the same token there is no reason to believe that a licensed health care provider is an expert in hypnosis.

One of Ellner's major concerns is the ongoing damage that is being done by these self-proclaimed experts who insist that some people just can't be hypnotized--a notion, which reflects the limitations of their own study's design and clinical inflexibility rather than the subject's ability to be hypnotized. Tragically, tens of thousands of people who could be helped if they consulted a Certified Hypnosis Practitioner will instead visit one of these perceived experts and risk being told that they cannot be hypnotized because they are poor subjects.

In fact, shrinks and therapists have already proven that they can't be trusted to use hypnosis when they mindlessly harmed thousands of their patients by implanting false memories of childhood sexual abuse as their patients underwent hypnosis (Memories of Things That Never Were, Jane E. Brody, New York Times, 4/25/00).

Ellner explains further that Certified Hypnosis professionals are not at odds with most licensed health care practitioners. We only have a problem with a subset of shrinks and therapists who pass themselves off as experts in hypnosis, he says. These are the self-proclaimed experts who misinform the major news outlets by claiming they want to protect the public, when, in actuality, they are standing in the way of Certified Hypnosis professionals who simply want to take their rightful place in their health care communities. Podiatrists, optometrists, midwives, chiropractors and psychologists all suffered a similar backlash and operated within the same realm of quackery in the recent past. Now is the time to expose the licensed shrinks and therapists who are more interested in protecting their tuff and their wallets than in protecting the public's health and well-being.

Ellner maintains his private hypnosis practice in the prestigious Metropolitan Medical Healthcare and Wellness Center in NYC. He enjoys working as part of health care and wellness teams as well as a stand-alone hypnosis practitioner. Ellner will be teaching advanced hypnosis classes in Boston, Boerne (TX), Detroit, Greater LA and New York City throughout 2005.

World HYPNOTISM Day was conceived and sponsored by The National Guild of Hypnotists in association with The International Medical And Dental Hypnotherapy Association[R], The Academy of Professional Hypnosis, The Association to Advance Ethical Hypnosis, Die Freie Gesellschaft fur Hypnose e.V. (Germany), The Hypnosis Educational Council International, The Hypnosis Information Network, The International Hypnological Association, The National Association of Certified Hypno Counselors, The National Association of Clergy Hypnotherapists, The National Federation of Hypnotists OPEIU AFL/CIO, The National Federation of Neuro Linguistic Psychology, The Ontario Association of Hypnotherapists (Canada) and The National Council for Hypnotherapy (England).