Dr, Charles Kinney,   LPN, BA,  MSCJ , PhD

Certified Hypnotherapist

As an LPN, (licensed practical nurse) with a BA ( human resource management) MSCJ (master of criminal justice) and a PhD (behavioral science), I graduated with majored in clinical hypnotherapy.  A certified member of the IMDHA since 1994 and an acknowledge Instructor of Hypnotherapy. My career with the Michigan Department of Correction’s most violent offenders provided vast training and experience in abnormal psychology. Michigan Hypnotherapy Institute has been recognized for it's excellence in the field of Hypnosis Education.  I have specialty certifications in Addiction Hypnotherapy, Hypnoanesthesia, Spirit Releasement Therapy, Fibromyalgia & CFS Therapy and Neurolearning Therapy. I'm known throughout southern, northeastern and now northwestern Michigan's medical and dental community as a complementary provider and hypnosis teacher. My work and research with incest survivors and those abused   physically, emotionally, mentally or sexually has helped untold numbers find total healing and recovery from past violence.

Trained in Army Medical, a wonderful emergency room doctor and I opened the 2071st medal Clearing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan.Together, we hired and trained soldiers while developing this Michigan National Guard Unit from practically nothing. I as the first E-8 First Sergeant of the unit and Major Edward F. Bigsby, M.D. as the Commander.    

Having served The Michigan Department of Correction as a nurse, supervisor and  manager/administrator. I retired in 2001 with twenty-five years of service. I now devote my life to healing the soul, both my own and others'.      

Currently licensed with the State of Michigan Board of Nursing, a certified member of The International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, The National Guild of Hypnotists, The American Board of Hypnotherapy, The International Association of Counselors and Therapists, The National Board for Hypnotherapy and Hypnotic Anesthesiology, American Board of Psychosomatic Counseling Association and The Society of Psycho-Linguistics. I have been acknowledged as a Hypnotherapy Instructor since 1995. I opened my first State Licensed School   (Discovery   Institute) in 1996. After my retirement in 2001,  My wife Emma and I , who is also a Certified Hypnotherapist chose the Oscoda area on beautiful Lake Huron to continue the work, research and training we both came to love.

From there we relocated to our new home near Cadillac, Michigan.and opened Michigan Hypnotherapy Institute. There we continue to serving the suffering client.  I first opened my hypnotherapy clinic/office in 1994. After my initial hypnotherapy certification training, I continued to take more advanced professional specialty training. It was this very specialized training that has served both myself and my clients so well. I might point out that to be a fully credible therapist, quality training never ends; it is an everyday process.

My very first clients were survivors of extreme abuse. These individuals had survived incest, sexual assault, physical, emotional, mental and   spiritual trauma/abuse. These were not the typical stop smoking, lose weight clients. My years of working with and learning about abnormal behavior and my additional hypnotherapy training were being put to the test. The hunger I had to learn all I could about the unconscious mind, the associated ego states, unconscious disassociation, fragmentation, divided consciousness, multiple personality disorders, spiritual attachments, thought forms and etc. became my own personal obsession. The techniques that I learned from my very caring and sharing colleagues across the world, is credited for my success."        

The Nature of Ego States:

    Incest, Child Abuse, (emotional, mental, physical,sexual) Trauma, Divorce, etc:

There are circumstances where the subconscious mind is wide open to suggestion, the first is the very young before a personal history has been developed. You can tell a young soul anything and they will except that information as fact. You can tell them that they are beautiful, loved, wanted, smart and can achieve anything they want in life and sooner or later they will produce evidence to support that in put. Likewise, you can tell that child that they were never wanted, will never amount to anything, no one will ever love them and that they will end up lazy and a drunk like their father or fat and ugly like their mother and sooner or later, they will produce evidence to support those suggestions. These suggestions don't necessarily need to be spoken. They can be feelings, thoughts or perceptions. Nonetheless, just as real to the subconscious mind. Over the years working with numerous survivors of incest, child abuse, extremely dysfunctional families (alcoholism, anger/rage,physical abuse), and criminal activities, I have seen clients turn their entire lives around in just a few sessions. During times of such trauma, accidents, war, death or divorce the subconscious mind is wide open to suggestion, either real or perceived. Many of the feelings of guilt, worthlessness, shame, hurt, anger, pain or a mix of other negative thoughts or feelings are the direct results of these incidents. Therapeutic techniques I have developed over the years along with hypnotherapy can result in miraculous life changes freeing the client from the past.

Analysis v Suggestion:

I use medical hypnoanalysis to deal with phobias as well as anxieties and other deeply rooted psychological problems, because it deals with the cause of the problem and not just the symptom. Suggestion therapy only deals with the symptom: the cause remains. Take this example to illustrate the difference: Someone suffers from a severe pain in their back. They go to see their GP who can prescribe pain medication, the doctor has dealt with the symptom: the pain medication has removed the pain, but it may return if they stop taking the tablets. This is synonymous with Suggestion Therapy. So the GP refers them to a specialist, who recommends surgery. The surgeon removes the cause and the pain is gone. This is synonymous with Analysis. The use of Suggestion Therapy to attempt to remove a phobia, say for instance claustrophobia, may, in some cases appear to work. The behavior pattern that was protective of the cause, the phobia (symptom), may have been removed, but because the cause remains, a new protective pattern of behavior must be created and a phenomenon known as symptom substitution can appear. When this happens, where the person is no longer   claustrophobic, they may now have acquired the opposite problem, a fear of going out into the open, known as agoraphobia or something equally as nasty. Of course, that person will sing the praises of the hypnotist who "cured" them of their claustrophobia. Then they find themselves having to spend more time and money going back to that "wonderful" hypnotist to get rid of the newly acquired agoraphobia. And so it can go on. Another substituted symptom will appear and the person will be back to square one. So that's why I personally refrain from using suggestion therapy to treat phobias (or other deeper rooted psychological problems, such as anxiety and panic attacks, depression, stuttering and stammers and many more).

The Analysis: (What's involved):
Analytical Therapy sounds a little heavy going, but in reality is quite enlightening. At each weekly session, a client is regressed to a point in their own past, a time frame that their subconscious mind has prepared for them to reveal and they simply verbally relate whatever memory comes to them, in as much detail as they can. It’s a bit like mentally traveling back into your personal history while talking out loud about everything that is happening in your thoughts.

Some memories will be fond ones, some not so nice, and some they may cringe at the thought of them. Eventually memories all surface for a reason and it feels good to get them off your chest. Eventually some memories that are not too well remembered start to surface until, usually without warning, the event that was repressed is revealed along with the associated emotion and the whole experience. This is generally the Initial Sensitizing Event, a point of surprising and liberating enlightenment and catharsis takes place. It usually marks the end of analysis and the end of the problem permanently. * Only a highly trained regression hypnotherapist can identify the Initial Sensitizing Event (ISE) from the Symptom Producing Event (SPE) and the Symptom Intensifying Event (SIE). These are all found during hypnoanalysis. The cause has been dealt with by the mature adult mind - the client has come to terms with it and released it. The cause has been removed and because there is now no reason for the protective pattern of behavior, the symptom is also removed. Permanently. They will never have to suffer that particular problem again. When the client leaves the consulting room for the last time, they feel absolutely wonderful and ready to get on with their life - a more happy and fulfilling life.

Suggestion Therapy:

This form of therapy is the best-known use of hypnosis. It makes use of the heightened susceptibility to beneficial suggestions in order to change bad habits for good ones and to build confidence. It has a particularly high success rate in helping people to stop smoking, to change eating habits and to lose weight, also in assisting people with pre-test nervousness, relief from stress and so on. It usually requires one or more weekly sessions of about   claustrophobia   hour   and a half each, except in the case of stopping smoking, which is outlined below.
Suggestion therapy has been criticized for dealing only with the symptoms and not the cause. For this reason it is not recommended for deep-rooted psychological problems (see Analytical Therapy).

Stop Smoking:

There are many and varied methods around today to help people who really want to stop smoking to do just that. In a recent daytime television survey, it was discovered that hypnotherapy had the highest success rate out of all the alternative therapies and methods tried. These included acupuncture; nicotine patches; sheer will power, etc.
Here at Oscoda Hypnotherapy Center, I use a three intensive "Stop Smoking" session to help smokers who want to stop, to become non-smokers. The first session is divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to informing the client of the many aspects of smoking and finally stopping:

* the health issues involved with smoking
* why people have come to believe that stopping is so difficult
* the psychological factors at work when people do stop
* the importance of your commitment to stop

The second part is where I explain hypnosis and how it works. Then in an altered state I will test for a death wish or other deeply seated self defeating thoughts and remove them through a non-invasive technique referred to as ideomotor response. Rarely will I need to use hypnoanalysis to release these thoughts, but I have had those occasions. The suggestions given throughout the hypnosis part of the session are designed specifically to break the unconscious links a client has made by associating smoking with certain activities, as well as to reassure them that they really are much happier to be a non-smoker (which, of course is their aim in making the decision to stop smoking in the first place). The session also includes suggestions designed to counter the possibility and reduce the greatest fear of would-be ex-smokers: that of putting on weight.
Sessions last about an hour and a half, after which they leave the consulting room as a non-smoker. Not someone who is giving up or has tried to give up (these ideas imply failure) but a non-smoker (a positive self belief).   A follow up call is made within the next couple of days.

The two following sessions are designed to allow the client to be a non-smoker for the rest of their life.

Lose Weight:

Again there are many different methods of losing weight. The most important factor you must consider before embarking on a weight loss program is to ask yourself: "Do I really need to lose weight?". If you can honestly answer: "Yes", and have already tried dieting and exercise without much success, and have consulted your doctor, then hypnotherapy might be the solution. The method used at Oscoda Hypnotherapy Center for weight loss where there is no obvious underlying cause (see the section on " Analysis v Suggestion"), is to use suggestion therapy and visualization techniques to achieve the size and weight you desire to be. You then set an achievable target: the amount of weight you want to lose and can reasonably expect to lose in a reasonably achievable time frame.
Suggestions are used in hypnosis to erase the image of the unwanted, overweight person held in the mind and replace it with an image of the desired, fit and contented person at the correct weight. Coupled with powerfully worded suggestions that show you how to make a friend of your appetite so you only want to eat what you need and ignore the rest, the hypnotic session enables you to unconsciously need to eat less while still being satisfied. You therefore lose weight at a sensible pace - whatever is right for you as an individual.
Sessions last about an hour and a half and at least two or more are recommended, but not essential. A free "Session Reinforcement" cassette tape is given to complement the session.

Lose Weight (Deep seated issues):

Generally putting on and carrying excess weight is not about food. Weight is often put on and kept on for protection, to fill a void, an emptiness, etc. These cases are all handled using medical hypnoanalysis.