So, Derren Brown is at it again. His shows are a masterclass in entertainment and also in misdirection. His latest is called "Apocalypse" and in it he convinces an unsuspecting man that the end of the world is not only nigh but has in fact come. The poor chap is under the impression that he is on his way to a Killers concert when the bus he is on is surrounded by meteors landing and exploding.

The next thing he knows is that he is waking up in a hospital and on meeting a young girl who has lost her family he will be tested to see if he can change his lazy ways to those of a hero.

Like all of Derren's shows it is marvellous entertainment. He really is a showman. He used some hypnosis during this show and my phone started to beep with people asking questions so I thought I may as well just write a very quick blog entry about what I think went on.

The question that I am being asked is how did he manage to hypnotise the man so quickly on the bus?  Derren appeared from the back of the bus and telling the man to just sleep he did go off into a lovely trance which meant that Derren was able to get him off the bus and into the fake hospital.

There are a couple of ways that he could have done this. It is possible to do very quick hypnotic inductions. Derren has used these before with people and it is quite possible that with all of the shocking things going on the man could quite easily have slipped off into a trance when instructed to do so. There is also a possibility that on seeing Derren Brown he may well have twigged that he was being set up.

So, I wonder if perhaps we are not seeing everything here? It does occur to me that he perhaps had already been hypnotised by Mr. Brown and given a post hypnotic suggestion that he could easily go back into trance when he next saw him. Of course maybe another hypnotist had done this and given the suggestion that if he ever met Derren he could easily slip into trance again.

The great thing about his shows is that they really do get people talking about hypnosis. The aim of this show is to make a positive change to his subject and leave him more caring and a better person. As a clinical hypnotherapist I also look to help people make positive changes, just not in quite such a dramatic way!

So, are we being tricked? Is the man even a real member of the public? That's another question. The only thing I know for sure is that the show scores top marks for entertainment. 

We will just have to wonder how much is real...and how much we are imagining.

If you are interested in experiencing a trance like state but don't want to visit a hypnotherapist then you may find that my Free relaxation MP3 is a very interesting option CLICK HERE

and if you cant get enough of Derren Brown....