August 15, 2018

EP 3: The Hypnotic Therapy of Douglas Flemons

39 minutes

Ryan and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Douglas Flemons. A wonderful therapist and a personal mentor we’ve been talking about hypnosis and change for some time now. A brief therapist in practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Douglas specializes in hypnosis, sex, and suicide.

In this episode we talk about:

How his approach is a mix of Gregory Bateson’s theory of mind and Daoism

Why he doesn’t let clients set the goals of therapy (sort of)

Why Flemons doesn’t encourage clients to use hypnosis

How he thinks about brief therapy

The wisdom he took from Olga Silverstein, one of the lost gems of therapy

Where he and Jack Kornfield agree, and where they disagree

A case where he deals with a kid’s fear with art therapy, but not really

Why he doesn’t believe in mentors

And why he recommends Shunryū Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginners Mind

Click here to listen

Check out his book Of One Mind. It’s one of the books which changed my life so much I talk about it in my manifesto. If you want a brief summary of his brief approach I recommend his article “Making Symptoms Vanish.”

P.S. If you enjoyed this episode check out this blog post. I think you’d enjoy it.

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