Hypnotherapist casts a caring spell
Concord's Jean Fain rips stage shows, aims to help people with problems, fears
Yes, she uses a pendulum sometimes. And yes, she tells you that you're feeling very sleepy. But unlike stage hypnotists who put you in a trance to make you cluck like a chicken for a laughing audience, Concord hypnotherapist Jean Fain wants to help you lose weight or stop smoking or overcome your fear of heights.
The Boston area is a hotbed for hypnosis and hypnotherapy, with an active professional organization and some of the field's top researchers at local hospitals and medical schools.
In addition to her practice, Fain, 52, who worked for The Boston Globe in the 1990s, teaches hypnosis to psychology interns and social workers at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. She also produces self-hypnosis YouTube videos - including one in which she pretends to put her cat into a trance. While some hypnotherapists make seven figures by selling CDs and other products, Fain said most earn somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. An hour spent under Fain's spell costs $150.
I notice you have a lot of crystal balls and other New Age-looking stuff in your office. Well, hypnosis is certainly considered complementary to alternative medicine. The crystals and Aladdin's lamp are just the power of suggestion. This is a stage set, essentially. To help people feel like, 'Oh wow, she knows something, she's powerful.' And even if it's a little hokey, it seems to work.
Who comes to you? Mostly women, because women seek help more than men.
How come? Just the way it is. We try to improve ourselves. Men go play golf. No, that's not fair. But men have other ways of dealing with problems.
What do you enjoy treating? Phobias. Phobias are fun. They're very responsive to treatment, and people get better fast. Flying phobias, performance anxiety, social phobias.
What fears do people have about hypnosis? Most common is that I'm going to make them do something embarrassing. I tell them that all hypnosis is truly self-hypnosis and I can't make them do something they don't want to do.
All the people they see in the stage shows doing embarrassing, ridiculous things have volunteered to go on stage to do embarrassing, ridiculous things. I don't have the power to make them do stupid things.
Where does this popular perception of hypnotists come from? It's based on the stage show. Those people are not interested in helping people. Those people will do anything they can to make a good show. Even if it makes people feel bad about themselves. Even if it traumatizes them. And it can.
Are people who are hypnotizable somehow weaker-minded? There's no evidence to suggest that. It's just a trait, like brown eyes. Are you someone who gets absorbed in daydreams and can really leave reality behind, or are you someone who's really logical and paying very close attention to what is, and maybe not be so interested in imagination?
What's it like when someone who's really hypnotizable comes in here? Immediately you notice them responding. You tell them their eyes are getting heavy, and their eyes get heavy. You tell them they're relaxing, and their head falls forward. And then they can do these phenomenal things. You tell them their hand is numb, and they don't feel anything. They can undergo surgery without chemical anesthesia - and that is the ultimate.
But that's very few people that can do that, right? That's very few people. And most people are not motivated to do that. They have to have a very good reason.
You help people overcome a lot of problems. It must be rewarding. It can be. Not every day, though. You don't always see dramatic, wonderful changes. There is a lot of just sitting with what is and listening to a lot of pain and suffering.
What's the most surprising thing you treat? There's a whole genre of finding lost objects. People come to hypnotists to remember where they put their diamond ring, where they put their cache of money. One fellow came to me because he wanted to remember a woman's name who he had met 10 years ago who he had a crush on but had no information on how to find her. He was hoping we could re-create the scene and help him find her.
How did that work out? I'm not sure he ever knew her name, with hypnosis you can't remember something you never knew. I don't think I helped him with finding the woman. What I might have helped him with is the sense of sadness and grief about the fact he had never had a serious adult relationship. That was a good one, really touching. 