For those who are interested Here’s a small section on a massive Essay I did about Derren Brown and the techniques he does indeed use, which bottom line shows he uses HYPNOTIC TECHNIQUES in the vast majority of his TV and Live Shows, it all comes down to what your definition of “Hypnosis” really is…
MODERATORS NOTE – Any weblinks in this article are NOT to any of my sites and none web links go to any products of mine, they are all links to other peoples works relevant to this thread….
I’ve been teaching how to do the stuff for years. Indeed many of my training DVDs have been bought by Objective Productions who make Derrens TV Shows and I am aware at least one of my ideas (if not more) have been used as inspiration for material in his TV and Live Shows. There is a lot of hypnosis used but this is used BEFORE the camera starts rolling so the majority of the time you only get to see people reacting to Post Hypnotic Suggestions.
DERREN BROWN – MIRCALES FOR SALE & MESSIAH
For those of you in England (or those who use a fake ISP creator to appear to be in England) you can watch Derren’s most recent show “Miracles on Demand” here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-the-specials/4od#31…
Anyhow I recently received an email from a well known colleague of mine in response to him having looked at this video of me doing a “Psychic Style Feat” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMEdvfcUNDI
Some of you may recall that Derren Brown did something that looked exactly the same on his “Messiah” show, anyhow my colleague had tried to perform this in the past with limited success and was asking me how it was possible to get this to work the Majority of the time and that’s why I am now posting this report.
It seems that many members of the Magic and Mentalism Community are constantly arguing that Derren does not use Hypnosis and NLP techniques as often as it would appear, and at the same time many members of the Hypnosis and NLP World are believers that Derren does indeed use far more of their techniques than anyone realises.
Well my opinion (and experience of filming TV Shows in the past around the world) is that Derren does indeed use Hypnosis and NLP techniques Far, Far more than the majority of Magicians and Mind Readers actually realise or care to admit.
Later in this article I have republished a section of a report I did in 2010 after Derrens “Hero At 30,000 Feet” show which illustrates exactly how the entire shows success was (in my opinion and past TV experience) due entirely to Hypnotic, NLP & other Purely Psychological Manipulation Techniques.
When you have read that section of this report, I am sure you will start to realise just how often Derren does indeed use such techniques during the filming of his Television shows and often at some level in his live shows also.
Yes its true to say that many of the things he does that look like hypnosis actually have their secrets in the world of Magic and Mentalism and to that end I recommend that you read ALL of the books by Paul Brook (especially Book of Lies) – http://www.paulbrook.co.uk/heknows/bookoflies.htm and also of course The Gift – http://www.paulbrook.co.uk/heknows/thegift.htm and then you will start to realise that even when conventional Magical and Mentalism Secrets are being used by Derren, it also becomes clear that he combines them with proven techniques of Hypnotic Language, NLP Language Patterns and Psychological Manipulation in order to help make the effect even stronger (sometimes although rarely Psychological Means such as this will be the only method used)
You have to consider that one hell of a lot of pre-show work takes place and for a full understanding of “Pre-Show” I truly recommend you to read “The Gift” by Paul Brook – http://www.paulbrook.co.uk/heknows/thegift.htm – for example if you were to hypnotise someone (very easy to do if you follow the process outlined later in the “Hero At 30,000 Feet” report) prior to the filming beginning and were to give them Post Hypnotic Suggestions to react in a certain manner, say or do a certain thing etc upon a given verbal or non verbal cue then indeed they would do and when the cameras were to start rolling and these things occurred without any apparent hypnosis (as you never get to see that take place) then it would indeed look like a True Miracle.
Now often this is combined with magical techniques to add a further level of amazement to the participant who may have been hypnotised before the cameras start rolling so that it seems even more amazing to them, and occasionally the actual method used will have nothing to do with the hypnosis and rather will be a case of Dual or Multiple Reality Methods which in the context of TV Shows you can learn about in Paul Brooks “Book of Lies” – http://www.paulbrook.co.uk/heknows/bookoflies.htm
The point is that I have tested this out in the real world and trust me, not only will people react to Post Hypnotics given prior to the filming taking place so that people who watch the TV footage think its mega amazing as they are not aware that the person has been hypnotised and told how to react, but also once someone has been hypnotised its possible to tell them that when they open their eyes whatever you tell them will occur whilst their eyes are open will indeed occur for them as 100% total reality.
It’s then possible to have the person stare at a spoon and as you suggest verbally it is bending they will due to the fact they are in an eyes open hypnotised trance state react exactly as if they are seeing the spoon bend…
They can be told you have turned invisible, or that they are getting drunk on Alcohol when they are drinking fresh air or ordinary water, these are just a few examples of routines that Derren has indeed done on his show which work purely by Hypnosis and/or NLP Language Patterns.
People can forget their names or the name of where they are going on the tube, Taxi Drivers may forget how to find somewhere – these are all low level hypnosis stunts which often can easily be achieved without the need for a formal induction process – so called “Waking Hypnosis” but are even more reliable when an induction procedure and selection testing has been done in advance as explained in the “Hero At 30,000 Feet” report below!
So back to the video of me as per: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMEdvfcUNDI How did I do it?
Well there was no pre-show of that I can assure you and the person had not been hypnotised in the conventional direct sense in advance to do this.
However he was sat in a seminar room having paid a lot of money to be there and so awe rapport and other psychological elements that are mentioned later were indeed firmly in place.
I had earlier stood someone else at the front of the room and done a dropback induction on them as per – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaVwk9DxiP8 So already he had in his mind a mental image that when I get people to stand with their feet together, heel to heal with their hands by their side that I am about to do that technique on them and so his mind would have been wrapped around the idea of falling backwards.
Further because I got him in position and did not say the same things as he had seen before there was a level of confusion, disorientation and bewilderment taking place which arguably placed him into an instant trance state.
In my mind I knew it was just a matter of time before he would fall backwards and so as you watch the video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMEdvfcUNDI you will notice that I have my hand in such a position that I can pull it towards myself when he moves backwards, however people perceive it as me making him fall backwards by moving my hand, the truth is I am waiting for him to fall backwards and then start to move my arm to make it look as though my arm movement is the cause for him falling backwards.
Another thing to consider is that the wall he was facing (due to the lighting) was such that as he looked at it he would have seen the shadow of my arm reaching outwards and that in itself is a non verbal suggestion that I am going to pull him backwards in a similar manner to the dropback induction that he had witnessed on someone earlier.
Its also important to note that I choose this person because their hands had locked together and they had reacted extremely well to the group suggestibility tests that I had done on the whole group at the start of the seminar (something that often has taken place before the cameras start rolling for TV Shows)
I also imagined myself reaching forward into his body and grabbing his stomach area and pulling it slowly towards me, I know that sounds a bit science fiction but its good for my facial expressions (from a method acting point of view) and well if there is anything in “energy” work then just perhaps that also helps it work even easier?
And what is not obvious on the video is that as I am stood behind him I am breathing inwards, in otherwords I am taking a big deep breath inwards so that air moves towards me as does the sound of me breathing inwards move towards me and that acts as a low level sound suggestion for him to move in my direction.
Oh and when I had breathed fully inwards I held my breath which would confuse him and make him more lightly to lose his centre of balance as he perhaps started to wondering why he could not hear my heavy noisy breathing anymore!
All of these elements come together to make this a very reliable technique indeed, however some may wish to cheat a little more in which case you could either use someone who had been pre-hypnotised and inform them that when you coughed they would fall backwards into your arms, this cough being quite quiet so the audience don’t pick up on it and as they have not seen you previously hypnotise the person they will be amazed.
Or in conjunction with all of the things that I have already mentioned when getting them to stand up straight you could leave a length of invisible thread over their shoulder which is furthest away from the audience (see video again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMEdvfcUNDI ) so that when you release the reel which has been slowed down so it winds the thread in very slowly compared to normal, they will suddenly feel something move along their shoulder area and over their skin and then behind them.
Obviously in this case you need someone like I used on the video who is wearing clothes that will allow the thread to come into contact with their skin and thus act as a non verbal suggestion to fall backwards, indeed they may perceive having seen the dropback induction earlier that its you pulling them backwards, but either way the sensation will be weird for them and this add a major level to helping make them fall backwards.
I made my reel which on occasion I have used from a hand held pocket battery operated fan and a cotton reel and some hook eyes which are used to help slow down the pulling of the thread back into the reel.
Anyhow consider all of the above and also the report that follows and you may well start to realise how much Hypnosis, NLP and Psychological Manipulation techniques are actually used in much of Derren Browns TV work!
An Excerpt From An Article I Wrote During 2010 About Derren Brown’s Show “Hero at 30,000 Feet”
Firstly Derren’s production company advertises to find people who are both suggestible, easily manipulated and essentially would do pretty much anything to get their face on Television and to meet their “idol” Derren who they most likely already have a level of Hero Worship for, in otherwords those who apply will mostly always already be in “Awe Rapport” and their levels of Belief and Expectancy in Derren’s abilities to “control” their minds will already be firmly in place.
This important element of Belief, Expectancy, Prestige, Perception and Hero Worship of a Celebrity and/or fear/respect for Special Powers of Mind Control which is what they are looking for people who are in the state of mind that they believe in “Special Powers” are not to be underestimated.
Any Experienced Stage Hypnotist should already understand the importance of these elements and how when they are in place it is quite literally possible to get anyone to do anything even if it would normally contradict their morals or their values, yes I am going on record and stating that done correctly with hypnosis and hypnotic techniques you can quite literally get people to do anything and everything that you could possibly ever think of and thats the kind of stuff I teach in my courses.
Those who state otherwise either are downright liars, have been brainwashed into thinking this is not true by the people who taught them or frankly don’t have enough real world experience of what is truly possible using Hypnosis, Hypnotic Techniques and Real World “Brainwashing” methods.
A logical context which is created and which those who apply are already in is vitally important to the success of a show such as Derren Brown’s “Hero at 30,000 Feet” – its much the same as the fact that the pre-show advertising for any Stage Hypnotist Show is just as, if not more important than any other element.
I go into great depth about how to create this correct psychological context and environment where most anything becomes possible to achieve within the pages of my book “Confessions of a Hypnotist”.
Adverts such as this which appeared on Derren Browns own blog – http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2010/04/take-part-in-my-new-show/ are used to get people to apply for a show where they are not even given any idea when applying what the show is about.
Automatically people will be curious, and only those who already desire fame and/or a chance to meet Derren Brown will apply and these people are already arguably 99% hypnotised before Derren Even ever gets to meet them in person and so to manipulate them and the situations they will be placed into becomes as easy as 1,2,3.
Another example of adverts used to attract participants are – http://www.channel4.com/microsites/T/takepart/derrenbrown.html – again nothing is revealed about the nature of the show and that starts the psychological selection process of finding a highly suggestible and easily manipulated individual.
Those who apply will be sent out a questionnaire style application form, which will be a cross between a Psycho-Metric evaluation test and a job application form, structured to make them aware at this stage that they are applying to take part in a game show to be presented by Derren Brown.
Structured so that it makes it clear only a small handful of people will ever be successfully selected to come to audition for the show, and an even smaller number of them will ever be chosen to take part in the show and given the chance of fame and of course the chance of winning the Prize. (Lets say for example only that they are told the prize is £10,000 cash and a dream holiday) At this stage they are now psychologically entering into a competition with other applicants, other people they have not even met and in their own minds are already competing with to try and get through to the next stage.
They’ve been dangled the carrot of appearing on TV, they have the carrot of meeting Derren Brown, they have the carrot (in this example) of winning a Dream Holiday and £10,000 cash, and of course their ego is already being manipulated and thoughts of “am I good enough” to get through to the next round will be entering their mind.
They are already being placed into a position of submission where the TV production company is the boss and Derren Brown the figure of authority also who has it in their/his hands to decide their future, if this all sounds a little bit deep and over the top as to how important the application process and questionnaire/application forms are then clearly you need to learn more about human psychology and hypnosis and once again I’d say a good starting point is to read my book “Confessions of a Hypnotist” as these are very important components used by Derren and his team and are the back bone to becoming a successful Hypnotist.
The application form will have strict rules on it, for example some sections may say complete in Blue pen only and others complete in black pen only.
Some sections may well say Complete in Block Capitals only and other sections say use lowercase text. This will be done to both on a low level disorientate and confuse the person (which places them into a level of trance and starts the fractionation and conditioned response process which by virtue of Derren Browns name being connected to the application form means this becomes anchored and associated to Derren Brown thus making it easier for him to hypnotise those who are truly suggestible when he meets them) and also is done to see how obedient these people are to instruction and how Eager they are to please Derren Brown and his production company and how eager they are to take part.
The Vast majority of Those people who desperately want to take part will automatically fall into the category of highly suggestible and easily manipulated, the next stage is to narrow these down to the most easily manipulated and hypnotised, in otherwords those people who want it most and will quite literally do whatever they are told when they are told to do it in order to be one of the lucky chosen few to take part…
Now imagine if right from the start the application forms said a one off pilot show for a new game show series was being made with Derren Brown as presenter and that only ONE person will get the chance to take part in the Pilot show which they are led to believe will be broadcast on Channel Four in order to see how popular it is with the general public with a view to the series then being commissioned.
This would have put the person in the position of feeling that they would be incredibly LUCKY if they are the “chosen one” and then later if they do become that “Chosen one” this feeling of being special, makes them feel loved, wanted, needed, appreciated, cared for and cherished on many psychological levels and they will want to THANK the person who has made them feel this way, in this case Derren Brown and his production company.
So suddenly they are in a psychological situation of being totally compliant to Derren and whatever he may suggest, they also have a feeling on some unconscious level of great responsibility to help make the show work well as they currently believe it to be a pilot for a TV Game Show, and are led to believe that a decision on whether to make it into a full series is down to how well the pilot is received.
Therefore this situation itself contains within it the suggestion that they personally are responsible on some level (eg how well they participate) for the success of the show and for whether their Celebrity Idol Derren Brown who they respect, admire and Believe to have “Mind Control” powers gets commissioned to make a full series or not.
Very quickly a similar psychological situation to that which exists between a Cult Religious Leader and his followers has been generated and can easily be manipulated to quite literally get the most suggestible to do most anything you could ever dream of. Perhaps you think that what I am saying is a little far fetched, well of course there are numerous other psychological manipulation elements coming into play in the situations already mentioned, indeed arguably they are more akin to brainwashing than just conventional hypnosis alone and to that end I’d recommend that you take a look at this excellent article on Brain Washing and Psychological Manipulation by Dick Sutphen – http://www.tstonramp.com/~soaringspirit/html/battlemind.html
And of course consider things such as the law of reciprocation, indeed to understand fully what is going on at this stage I’d advise you to study the book Flipnosis – http://www.flipnosis.co.uk/ in conjunction with reading my book “Confessions Of A Hypnotist” I’d also suggest that you read the excellent book “Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini” – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cial… and also take a close look at The 3 main experts in Behaviourism Psychology namely – Ivan Pavlov, John Watson and B. F. Skinner.
Frankly if you study the works of the people that I have already mentioned above and use a small amount of common sense then you would now be in a position to realise that despite what some so called experts say, it is indeed possible to use these psychological manipulation techniques and insights in such a manner as to be able to make most anyone do most anything, even if usually it would have contradicted their morals and/or values.
The psychological power instigated by a person in a position of perceived Authority and expertise (such as Derren Brown) makes things even easier and to this end I’d advise you to take a look at the details of the “Milgram Experiment” – http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/milgram.htm
Hitler himself and his associates are a prime example of manipulative psychology at work in the real world, most are to scared to admit the facts, but the fact is and the truth is that people can very easily be manipulated to do most anything and indeed this can in reality be done in such a manner that they have no real knowledge and/or recollection of how they were made to do those things, and indeed just find that they feel compelled to do these things without question.
Cold-Reading is another wonderful technique which in interview situations can easily be used to give the impression that you know far more about the person in front of you than you really do, or indeed should be able to know based on the information they completed in their application forms.
The best book on cold reading by far is “The Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading” by Ian Rowland – http://www.thecoldreadingbook.com/ and I unreservedly recommend that you get a copy, I’d also advise you to get my book “Confessions of a Celebrity Psychic” And for high level advanced Hypnosis Techniques (such as non verbal inductions and even more amazing stuff) along with sometimes shocking revelation on real world brainwashing and psychological manipulation techniques (many of which are used by the Military and other such secretive organisations) then I would unreservedly recommend “THE HYPNOTIST’S BIBLE” by Delavar
So the persons desire to take part in the show leads them to apply and they make a commitment to the process by taking the time to complete the form and return it to the production company, this process alone has already started to manipulate and condition them to do whatever Derren Brown should later suggest.
Its my educated opinion that these application forms are then studied and a small number (say 20 for example) of those who have completed them correctly (and so followed all the confusing instructions) and who have answered the Psycho-Metric element of the questions in such a manner as to illustrate their pre-disposed compliance to authority figures and suggestion etc are then invited to an audition day.
For obvious reasons all who attend will be subject to a legal notice of non disclosure, and anyway at this stage will be in a category that they are so easily manipulated that those who are not chosen on the day to be “the special one” can be made to “forget to remember and remember to forget” pretty much everything that took place anyway, or made to remember it and relate it to others in a manner which bears little if any resemblance to what really occurred.
(Instilling false memories is explained in depth in THE HYPNOTISTS BIBLE by Delavar)
Initially at this audition day the group of (in our example) 20 people who have been selected will be put through a whole host of suggestibility tests as a group so that there is still the element of competition in play and also the elements of group social psychology come into play also.
A certain number will then be dismissed in order to make those who remain feel “special” and “Lucky” that they are through to the next stage.
Further suggestibility tests will be done with these people, and also exercises such as those used in corporate team building to see which of the people are naturally most compliant and responsive to instructions and suggestion.
A further number will then be dismissed so those (lets say now about half so 10 people) will feel even more “special” and “Lucky” to have got this far.
At this stage everyone would be hypnotised, the trance deepened and as a group they would be put through various tests whereby they would be given suggestions whilst in trance such as it being a hot day, then a cold day etc and their level of responsiveness and reaction to hypnotic suggestion would be observed.
After this I’d guess that around half of them are dismissed (in our example that leaves 5 remaining) so that the 5 remaining by now feel that success is in sight for them and that their “dreams” to take part and win the prize etc could now seriously come true for them.
This process has conditioned them that being responsive and obedient to whatever Derren Brown says is the key to their success and this will have sunk In to such a level that they will now be doing things both in and out of trance that Derren Brown suggest without even giving the suggestion a second thought, they are now essentially “brainwashed” and “obedient” to their “leader” Derren.
The five remaining will be brought out of trance and then re-hypnotised several times in order to fractionate them to such a level that it is firmly established that they are quite literally under Derren’s control by this stage of proceedings.
At this stage each of the five people will be taken off into different rooms and social psychology experiments such as the smoke under the door (which we did see on the show) will be conducted with them out of trance to see which of them react submissively and further illustrate they are one of the “sheep” so to speak, rather than someone who would question things or resist at a later stage.
Once all this has been done a clear winner will have emerged In the eyes of Derren Brown and his production team and that person will be decided upon by them along perhaps with the second best person (as back up just in case).
The other 3 will be dismissed but this will at this stage be done in such a manner that the two who remain have no idea at this stage that the others have been dismissed and that they have been earmarked to be the star of the show.
In otherwords they might tell all five of them that they have all done very well and over the next couple of weeks videos which were taken as they took part in the days experiments will be watched over and a final decision on who will take part will be made in a few weeks time.
This leaves them all (especially and most importantly the ones earmarked to take part) in a state of anticipation, they are now so close to achieving what they set out to do and yet so far at the same time.
Obviously all consent forms and legal stuff will have been signed and all legal permissions to film them in any manner (including secretly) will have been signed away by the people by this stage so that the rest is now relatively easy.
At this stage the person who will actually be used for the show is so fractionated that whenever Derren Brown says “Sleep” to them they will re-eneter what they perceive and believe a trance hypnosis state to be and they will become instantly compliant to his each and every suggestion and command.
Now as for the rest of the show, the simple fact is that it would have been impossible due to time constraints for Derren to include everything that went on to achieve the end outcome and the steps along the way.
However from experience I can tell you that everything he did on that show is without doubt achievable and possible by using Hypnosis, Brainwashing and other Psychological manipulation techniques.
Yes of course there were elements that were not broadcast or shown (such as everything like people being hypnotised at the audition process etc) and other times when I’m sure Derren would needed to have placed him back into trance and deepen him further and/or fractionate him more, but at the end of the day everything he did was and is possible using Genuine Psychological Means.
Another Psychological element to consider is that whether consciously or unconsciously (that’s another debate entirely) the guy would have had Darren’s Words and suggestions (which we heard on screen) of making it real of going into a Policeman’s house etc, ringing in his ears when the opportunity arose.
And of course no doubt off camera a suggestion was given to him whilst under hypnosis that he’d feel the absolute desire, need, want, craving and compulsion etc to enter the house and make himself feel at home.
These suggestions whilst being abided by and responded to on the one hand, would also prove reassuring on another due to the context of taking part in a Derren Brown Gameshow scenario.
In other words his mind would be telling him there is nothing legally or morally wrong on any level in going into the Policeman’s house and doing what he did. That’s the key to Brainwashing and being a Cult Leader etc as explained in Delavars books THE HYPNOTISTS BIBLE – its to make the person believe that what they are doing is completely normal, legal, moral and safe, when in truth the reality can often be disturbingly directly the opposite, that’s how Cult Leaders get their disciples to kill themselves in mass suicides and it’s the same kind of techniques which are being used here, but for the purposes of entertainment and also to help empower the person in their life.
Its all about context and conditioning, for example hypnotise someone and tell them they will wake up and pick up a gun and go and shoot someone and they won’t if it’s against their moral code and deemed by them to be wrong.
However suggest to them they are in their minds 6 years of age and that they are playing cowboys and Indians and that when they are awoken they will pick up the toy cap gun on the table in front of them (which could actually be real) and they will go and kill the big bad chief Indian who is dressed in (detail of victim given) and is currently hiding at (their location given) and it becomes very possible indeed to create a context and state of mind where it feels and seems to be perfectly acceptable, safe and logical to do exactly as they have been instructed to do.
This truly is the tip of a huge iceberg and I sincerely recommend that you look at all the links given in this report and read all of the books that I’ve recommended as then you’ll truly start to understand that what I am stating is not science fiction rubbish.
Yes there was stuff done before the cameras started rolling of that I’m sure, and yes elements of Dual and Multiple Realities were I am sure used, for example its easier and safer to take someone who is scared of flying, use NLP and Hypnosis to CURE their Phobia and then for the purposes of filming (to ensure that no unexpected or dangerous health issues occur) instigate a Hypnotically suggested fear of flying which will automatically be cancelled out for good when Derren awakes them from Trance fully at the end of the final show.
When you consider everything I have said here along with Derren Browns own comments on his own blog here: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2010/09/hero-answers-questions/ and you’ve read the books and information available at the links that I have given then I am sure you will realise that Everything on the show was indeed possible due to Hypnosis and Psychological Techniques.
At the bottom of this page/report you will also find some other useful links to Free information and other points of view on how Derren Brown may have achieved the contents of his “Hero at 30,000 Feet Show” but for the record I am indeed stating that everything can be achieved through purely psychological means…
WELL THAT’S AN INSIGHT INTO THE HYPNOSIS & BRAINWASHING STYLE APPROACHES USED IN MANY OF THE TV SHOWS…
To understand a little bit more about the Mentalism Techniques and also what “Dual Reality” is watch this video..
WARNING – The 12 Things You Should Ask Any Hypnosis or NLP Trainer Before You Ever Spend A Single Penny With Them…
Make sure you ask anyone you are considering paying money to for any Hypnosis Course or Training these 12 Questions before you ever give them a single penny of your hard earned cash….
klearthoughtsmentalismhypnosis 