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Trying is lying, and John’s not into failures
Words: Kevin Childs | Image: David White
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OUBTLESS it’s nervousness, but new clients of Daylesford hypnotherapist John Bohn often say much the same thing, telling him their partners had joked, “Don’t come home running around like a chicken!”.
Confusing the role of a clinical hypnotherapist with that of a stage hypnotist is, it seems, a natural reaction. Of course working with people who want to give up smoking, are stressed or lack self-esteem is more than a world away from showbiz stunts. As Bohn says, the theatrical hypnotist has tricks of the trade, such as knowing who to select from the audience. If resistance is felt from a potential subject they will be discouraged from going on stage. Yet there is a connection between the two roles of hypnosis, with some stage performers moving on to become therapists. Just how Bohn became a hypnotherapist is a story with certain harmony of numbers: 11 years running a pharmacy in Myer, Ballarat, twice that time as a Daylesford pharmacist, and now a further 22 years in practice here and in Wendouree. His is the type of practice that the British Psychological Society found is a proven method of therapy. “Enough studies have now accumulated to suggest that the inclusion of hypnotic procedures may be beneficial in the management and treatment of a wide range of conditions and problems encountered in the practice of medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy,” it said. Hypnotic procedures were found to be effective in the management and relief of both acute and chronic pain. “Hypnosis and the practice of self-hypnosis may significantly reduce general anxiety, tension and stress in a manner similar to other relaxation and self-regulation procedures.” The study found a wide range of beneficial effects ranging from the treatment of insomnia to tension headaches and migraine, asthma, intestinal and skin complaints, and weight loss. Bohn’s clients come for help with their self-esteem, motivation, stress and personal or addictive problems. It wasn’t always so. From 1994 to 1998 he operated as a stress and health consultant before hypnotherapy was legalised. “It takes many years to learn to help a person,” he says. “It [hypnotherapy] has to be in good, experienced hands.
“Usually people come to me thinking hypnosis is the last resort, with many of them on tablets, anti-depression medicine and the like. I help them to help themselves.” The clients who come from across central Victoria, may want to give up smoking, sometimes for the simple reason that one’s fiancée didn’t smoke. They have to have an incentive to quit. “They expect results,” he says, “and I want them to come back and reinforce it.” Sitting in his rooms in his pleasant 1917-era home in Queensberry St, he waves a fist as he says, “‘Trying’ is lying.” Meaning? “If they say, ‘I’ll see how it goes’, I nearly kick them out the door. “If you just ‘try’ you are setting yourself up for failure.” His slogan echoes a number of those around the room, such as the Four Basic Needs: Affection, Approval, Recognition, Self Confidence. A divorced 80-year-old father-of-three and grandfather-of-six, Bohn is of German descent: his grandfather jumped ship in Port Melbourne, married a Footscray woman and farmed in Nathalia in northern Victoria, where John Bohn was born. When he moved to Daylesford in 1972 there were two pharmacies, John’s where Biggin & Scott is now and across the road Morrow’s Pharmacy, run by Colin and Beth Lelean, now Hocking Stuart’s premises. Morrow’s had been in that family since 1904, but in 1978 the two merged into Bohn-Lelean. By the early 80s Bohn, then 59, was feeling the need for a change and studied at the Hypnosis Academy, taking subjects such as psychology and counselling. He also did two study trips to the US. “Hypnotherapy is a very satisfying profession,” he says, “and has advantages over many talk-style therapies by accessing the inner or subconscious mind.” In his move away from the pharmacy world he helped preserve important items of its past, cataloguing about 800 items, mainly drugs and chemicals from both Daylesford shops. Many of these are in the Daylesford & District Historical Museum and some went to Sovereign Hill. He’s also involved in the Friends of Cornish Hill garden club, and every three months runs a hypnosis interest group in Melbourne. He also puts in a Saturday at the Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre, but his work is central to his life. “At my age I just love it – helping others to a better life.”
Link: wwww.daylesford.net.au/hypno