“Tears flow”: How hypnotist Bernhard helps federal ministers out of psychocrises
Hypnosis can be a very effective form of psychotherapy. In Berlin there is a therapist who even puts federal ministers into a trance when their psyche is troubling them. In an interview with FOCUS online, the hypnotherapist explains why politicians often come to him.
The woman is known throughout the country. Everything in her life she has subordinated to her career, right now she is at the top. She needs attention and power, longs for more recognition. And here in Berlin, Germany’s political heart, she gets that. But then, on a certain day, everything is different. A day when she is not on the move with her entourage in Berlin’s government district, but is quietly making her way to Petersburger Platz in Friedrichshain. Presumably, large sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat obscure her face. Because nobody should recognize who she is.
She rings at a door on the ground floor, enters and is immediately in the treatment room of the practice, which is decorated with teak furniture, African wooden masks and palm trees. But she is only safe when the beige curtains are drawn behind her. She climbs onto a Zero Gravity chair, where she is maneuvered into a limbo-like state by a friendly bearded man. The woman, who is federal minister at the moment, came to “Kiez Hypnose Berlin” to be in a trance to be healed from the panic attacks that plague her when she speaks into the microphone in parliament.
Hypnosis officially recognized as a form of therapy since 2006
Anyone who thinks hypnosis is hocus-pocus is on the wrong track. As early as 2006, it was recognized as a form of psychotherapy by the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Medical Association. “It starts where reason stops,” explains Bernhard Tewes, hypnotherapist and owner of the practice.
Hypnosis thus concentrates on 98 percent of all human decisions that people do not make consciously, but unconsciously. In contrast to classic psychoanalysis, it offers another advantage: “With no other solution can you achieve such effective and rapid solutions.”
Troubled politicians are looking for quick solutions
Prominent actors and musicians seek Tewe’s help. Patients are increasingly coming from abroad. Even a sheikh from Saudi Arabia has been there before. If you want to hypnotize yourself first, you can do this with the help of the “HypnoBox” via the app. And of course, the patients in his practice on Petersburger Platz also include non-celebrities from the neighborhood.
But it was precisely the speed and effectiveness of the therapy that made hypnosis particularly attractive for a category of patients who need exactly that most urgently and who are in abundance in Berlin: politicians.
When power becomes a psycho trap
Anxiety, such as panic attacks, says Tewes, is not uncommon in this professional category. There is “particularly great pressure” in this job, which is closely linked to the pursuit of power. “Politicians get a lot of self-esteem through power.” The problem: not everyone can handle it confidently.
There is a type of politician who is internally very stable, sovereign and knows that there are also hurdles on the career ladder in their own party. They didn’t doubt themselves, dealt with it pragmatically and didn’t get upset when they couldn’t implement their ideals the way they wanted.
Others, on the other hand, would have aimed for a steep career primarily because they wanted to compensate for one thing in particular: a lack of self-esteem. And that, says Tewes, can sometimes backfire if the pressure is too great.
Panic attacks at the lectern in the Bundestag
This was also the case with the Federal Minister at the time, who let him put her in a hypnotic trance. “The hypnosis revealed that she suffered greatly from not having been a desired child.”
The higher she climbed the career ladder, the worse the consequences would have been. “She could no longer separate her work from her responsibilities in her family. And so suffered not only from the trauma of, as she said, ‘my mommy doesn’t like me,’ but also from neglecting her own family.”
In addition, the pressure on her ministerial chair grew when she realized that it was not only difficult to get this post, but also just as difficult to defend it against envy and resentment. There were also headwinds within the ministry itself, which had previously been run by another party. The result: panic attacks during their speeches in the Bundestag. “Fortunately, nobody noticed this from the outside.”
Minister in tears: “My mom doesn’t like me”
There are various methods of putting patients into a trance. For example, using a pendulum as a fixation point or using hypnotic language patterns. Tewes prefers the latter, also called the “deepening loop”. And with this pattern he also prepared the trance of the then cabinet member of the federal government: “The deeper you go, the more you relax. The more relaxed you are, the better you feel, and the better you feel, the deeper you can walk.” He then often covers the patients on the “Zero Gravity” chair with an electric blanket.
Five sessions of 90 minutes each would have been enough for the Federal Minister to treat the panic attacks away. Through a new self-reflection, the patient was finally able to use her “natural resources” more purposefully. “The minister reacted very emotionally to the trance, and tears flowed. After that, she was able again to take negative things directed against her less personally, was able to sleep better and lost the uncertainty during speeches in the Bundestag.”
Bullying in the Bundestag administration
The problems at department head level in the federal ministries and in the Bundestag administration are even more pronounced. “It’s not just about power, it’s also about bullying.”
Especially after a change of government, when many of these posts are filled by the new employers, Tewes feels this in his everyday practice. “People who have the wrong party book are simply exchanged. That means a hard career break that many can not cope with. Of course, it takes a few months for the wave to reach me. But then the number of patients in this category swells noticeably for me.”
Power and pressure: “Habeck shows nerves”
According to Tewes, the extent to which even popular professional politicians in top positions have to suffer mentally from a loss of power or at least part of this power can be seen particularly well in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in his deputy – Robert Habeck (Greens) .
The eloquent Schleswig-Holsteiner, who was the most popular politician in the state for months in the initial phase of the new federal government after taking up his job as Economics and Climate Minister, has shown up several times in the past few weeks in response to persistent inquiries from the media and from the ranks of the opposition about his heating transition and the amigo affair about his state secretary Patrick Graichen in front of the cameras. “He seems distressed because he realizes how difficult it is to implement his policies in reality,” said Tewes. “You don’t have to be a psychologist to see that.”
