Recently I have become just a tad concerned about peoples’ infatuation with Derren Brown.  Video clips of his TV programs are all over the net, and there are literally thousands of discussions and analysis of his work.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Derren Brown.  He seems to be immensely popular on both sides of the Atlantic, and it’s easy to see why.  His programs take you on a rollercoaster ride of intrigue, mystery, and shear scary mind bending techniques.  Derren himself seems to be quite a likeable person, who is articulate, charming, and confident.
 
For those of you that are unaware of him, Derren Brown is an English magician and ‘psychological illusionist’.  Derren has made many notable TV appearances in his series ‘Mind Control’ and ‘Trick Or Treat’, and several TV specials, such as ‘The Heist’, ‘The System’, ‘Séance’ and ‘Russian Roulette’.  What sets Derren Brown apart from his peers is that he is openly skeptical about paranormal phenomena.  He clearly states that he has no psychic or paranormal abilities, yet he proceeds to perform the same phenomena as those that claim such things.
 
Derren Brown started off as a traditional conjurer, and he was apparently very good at it, achieving some very good reviews.  In 1996, he started performing stage hypnosis shows at the University of Bristol under his stage name of Darren V. Brown.  Eventually he developed his own unique style and became a ‘psychological illusionist’, working for the UK’s Channel 4.
 
I am a big fan of his work, and have enjoyed watching his shows, and reading his books.  However I see all over the internet people analysing Derren’s use of NLP, hypnosis, body language and psychology.  Often people seem to be using this material as a learning tool, and to back up their opinions on certain therapeutic techniques or theories.  Whilst it can be beneficial observing what he does, be very careful as YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TECHNIQUE HE IS USING AT A PARTICULAR TIME!  He may, for example, be pretending to be using NLP, when really he is using traditional magic.  Wouldn’t that seriously compromise your ‘learning tool’ somewhat?!
 
In one of his shows, Derren Brown gives a demonstration of how he can use suggestion to sap the strength of a big tough boxer.  He has him stand still and easily lift up a woman.  Derren uses some pretty accurate techniques to suggest that he can no longer lift the women.  Sure enough the boxer can no longer lift her.  The suggestions worked then, didn’t they?  Well, not really.  The women in the film took a step back after the ‘suggestions’ were given, and Derren Brown attempted to control where the boxers stood.  This makes it much harder to lift, and massively accentuates the power of Derren’s suggestions.  Also she probably tensed and relaxed certain muscles in order to subtly offer more resistance.  All good fun, but you cannot accurately analyse the suggestions that he gave, as that was not the real cause of the effect.  The last boxer probably managed to lift her because he was really big and strong, skeptical, and did not stand where Derren tried to make him.  Any learning taken from this effect would be distorted, as the perceived cause of this effect was not in fact the true cause, if that makes sense?!
 
I have been a hypnotherapist for many years now, and I was nearly fooled.  He used many legitimate hypnotic techniques of persuasion in this film.  Whilst I know that it is possible to influence someones’ physical performance to some degree, I did not think it could to such a degree.  I knew that doing this would maybe sap 10 to 20 percent of the boxers’ strength with a clever use of suggestion, not nearly all of it!  I was confused for a while.  How he has managed to give such powerful suggestions, I thought, is beyond me.  That is precisely how he makes his illusions seem so real.  He almost gives them a solid base of how he did them for real, and will even employ some quite sophisticated techniques in many disciplines in order to back up his illusions.  He is so convincing that he even regularly fools experts in many fields.  I see countless discussions on the internet about his psychological techniques, and how he uses them to influence people.  People simply ‘forget’ that he is an entertainer.
 
Part of how he managed to fool me for a while is that he has done some tricks that DO rely on hypnosis.  For example getting someone to put a needle through their hand, or convincing them they are drunk are totally possible with hypnosis, and aren’t that difficult to do.  I think seeing these genuine hypnosis demonstrations in the past, momentarily misdirected me into believing that other illusions are genuinely using hypnosis.  Now I know that just because he says he is using a certain technique doesn’t make it so.  However he sometimes does use what he is saying he is using, which adds a validity to the times when he is saying one thing and doing another.  All very confusing!
 
Derren also appears to genuinely use NLP techniques when he persuades a man to give him his wallet.  He uses classic pacing and mirroring to gain rapport, an Ericksonian handshake induction to quickly induce a trance, and says “thank you for give it to me, are you sure you don't mind?”.  He covertly uses the command ‘give it to me’.  Now this COULD work if done right, and in the right context.  People know who Derren is, and deep down know that he would not permanently steal their wallet – there is some trust already there.  I’ll bet Derren would have struggled if he was an unknown doing this.  This technique is far from guaranteed to work.  He may have tried it 20 or 30 times before getting his take.  He’s not going to show you all his failures is he?  Think about it, if you filmed yourself asking 100 people for directions, and then slipped in a request for their car keys, you will probably get at least one success.
 
In a Daily Telegraph article published in 2003 Simon Singh criticised Derren Brown's early TV appearances, arguing that he presented standard magic and mentalist effects, such as the classic Ten Card Poker Deal trick, as genuine psychological manipulation. Derren himself states that he uses ‘magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship' in order to achieve his effects.  He goes on to say that ‘I happily admit cheating, as it's all part of the game.  I hope some of the fun for the viewer comes from not knowing what's real and what isn't.  I am an entertainer first and foremost’.
 
Despite these clear admissions, many people still use his work as a learning tool.  It is almost as if people have been fooled by denials of his abilities.  Like in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian when Brian shouts “I am not the messier!”  Everyone believes even more that he is because “only the true messier denies that he is the messier”!  People seem to want to believe that something magical is going on, even when he states quite clearly that it is not.

In early 2005, Derren Brown travelled to the United States to try to convince five leading figures that he had powers in their particular field of expertise.  These were Christian evangelism, alien abduction, psychic powers, New Age theories and contacting the dead.

Derren succeeded in convincing four of the five "experts" that he had powers, and they openly endorsed him as a true practitioner.  The fifth expert, the Christian evangelist Curt Nordheilm, whilst impressed by Derren, asked to meet him again before giving him an endorsement.  The concept of the show was to highlight the power of suggestion with regard to beliefs and people's abilities, and the failure to question them.  His conclusion was that people tend to hear the things that support their own ideas, and ignore any contradictory evidence.  This is known in psychology as ‘confirmation bias’.

Now it seems to me that many budding hypnotherapists, NLPers and other practitioners, could be doing the exact same thing.  Many perceive Derren as an expert in their chosen field, and even choose to learn from him.  Whilst I am sure that Derren is indeed very knowledgeable in some of these areas, he is an entertainer ‘first and foremost’.  He is not delivering a lecture, or producing educational material, nor is he holding claim to be doing so.  He is an entertainer, and his goal is to entertain, not educate.  I think there is something within us all that wants to believe in the mythical and magical.  Like me, we are all still children at heart that want to believe in the tooth fairy and Father Christmas.

However there is no place for this in the therapy room.  Enjoy his shows, as they make compelling viewing.  Enjoy trying to decipher what technique or techniques he is using at a particular time.  But be wary - take with a pinch of salt what can be learnt from it.  Don’t spend too much of your time and energy analysing his techniques.  Read a hypnosis or NLP book instead if you wish to learn.  They may not be as fun, but they will give you a greater understanding.  If you pay too much attention to Derrens’ techniques, you could find that your perceptions of hypnosis and NLP become as bent and distorted as the illusions that he creates.  Our minds naturally try and find a single unifying method of how something is achieved, which is how he fools us so consistently.  There is no single explanation of how he achieves his effects.  That is the secret to how he keeps us guessing.

Fantasy land seems to be a place where we all like to go every now and then.  Derren is an immensely talented performer, and has brought fun and intrigue back to magic.  There are only so many rabbits that you can see being pulled out of hats, or women being sawn in half.  Like magicians such as David Coperfield and David Blaine before him, Derren Brown has given magic a new lease of life, and has made it exciting and interesting again.  That is really where his talent lies.  Just remember, if he tells you he is using a certain technique, it doesn’t make it so! 

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