“You are getting very sleepy,” is not a phrase you will hear at the Pennsylvania Hypnosis Center in Wexford. There are no pocket watches in the vicinity, and president and mental trainer Daniel Vitchoff does not put you in a trance to make you quack like a duck or act like a monkey.
“There’s some people that make it a stage show,” Vitchoff said in a phone conversation one sunny afternoon in November. “Anyone can go out there and say they are a doctor, say they are a hypnotist. It’s hard to overcome what you may have heard or seen on the Internet.”
The hypnosis practiced at the Pennsylvania Hypnosis Center is a strict, disciplined therapy program focused on helping patients overcome struggles with weight gain, smoking, anxiety and more.
“What we do is we help people fix issues that they can’t do on their own,” Vitchoff said. “Typically, these are issues that they have a common sense solution, such as put down the cigarettes and don’t pick them up again, quit worrying about the airplane [going down]. This is for people who know what their issues are, but their subconscious mind is programmed to keep them off track, really doing the opposite of what they know they should do.”
Vitchoff, who graduated from Point Park University with a bachelor’s in Psychology, entered the field of hypnosis to overcome his own learning disabilities and mental blocks regarding focus and information retention. After discovering the “power of music,” and how pairing melodies with information helps the brain retain information better, he was exposed to hypnosis by Psychology Professor Robert Fessler in his Theories of Personalities course.
“Dr. Fessler really sticks out in my mind because he was such a tremendous educator,” Vitchoff said. “The way he delivered his class was through the use of sort of hypnotic language. He had you hanging on every word, he almost forced you to learn what he was saying.”
After graduating and working several different jobs, he then used his own tricks of mental training with music to develop a special practice of hypnosis called the 33 Method. The patented method, which he and his National Guild of Hypnosis-certified employees practice at the Pennsylvania Hypnosis Center, uses phrases specifically tailored for each patient matched with a music playlist to specifically target the patient’s problem areas.
“Through different types of language patterns, the way you talk to someone, it opens up the subconscious mind,” Vitchoff said. “Not just the words, but way it’s phrased can bypass the mental barrier. Certain types of music and tones with the words is a lot more powerful, certain types of words or sentences said in specific ways.”
In this way, Vitchoff or his associates would use negative phrasing and tone of voice when speaking about cookies or fattening foods to a patient trying to lose weight, as well as positive phrasing and lighter tones when speaking about vegetables, for example. Additionally, Vitchoff said the brain has a better chance of retention of information if repeated in threes, which is where the name for the method was contrived.
“We’ll tell them something three different ways – like non-smokers will be healthier, happier and have more energy. They’re going to remember that.”
While Vitchoff is known in the area as “the guy who can help you quit smoking,” he is internationally known for his work with Olympic athletes. His focus for the athletes is to help with mental training and preparation for success, such as helping the athletes find their “zone.” This can also be achieved using the 33 Method.
“The cornerstone of my success has been being able to help them, under the most intense pressure, in the moment of their life that they’ve prepared for since they were 5 years old, to actually be calm and get in the zone,” Vitchoff said. “The end result is they are able to perform under pressure – we call that the zone. The brain slows down everything to the point where … any distraction that’s around you, you don’t notice.”
Vitchoff has also developed a patented machine specifically for athletic mental training. Named The Original Mind Gym, this compact, zero-gravity chair combines visual stimulation of a touch screen computer, special light set-up, as well as music stimulation and relieved pressure on the spine for a feeling of weightlessness. Vitchoff said the Mind Gym is the mental equivalent to practicing a workout regimen.
The Original Mind Gym works in a similar way to the 33 Method. Through repetition of scenarios, the brain develops a substance called myelin, which sends messages directly to the brain of these patterns of movement. It can be developed for things like driving a car, athletic movements like throwing a football, or even of giving a public speech.
Vitchoff plans to introduce the Mind Gym to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the next year, and also has plans to make it available to the general public.
Vitchoff also has a contract to work with the 2012 Olympians, and is currently developing a program for veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“After the Olympics, my passion is going to be really being able to help those men and women that come back from something nobody can see, these scars that nobody can see. They’re living a really hard life,” he said. “Their myelinating of the brain is to go into panic mode. [Hypnosis] would help them wire their brain to relax and adjust to the stresses that you and I go through.”
And all of this, he said, is a direct result of his studies at Point Park.
“I give so much credit to Point Park, I treasured my time there,” he said. “Everyone there is so great, they give such personal attention, and it’s how I got here.”
cnfergu 