The Art of Therapy

Episode 22 continues the exploration of hypnosis by looking at the Esdaile state and waking hypnosis. We unpack how deep hypnotic states can support profound comfort and pain relief, and why waking hypnosis shows that suggestion can operate even without a formal trance state. This episode focuses strongly on language, authority, and expectation. Whether in therapy, medicine, parenting, or moments...

Episode 21 explores the practical use of hypnotherapy in psychotherapy. We look at how hypnosis can support relaxation, pain management, trauma work, hypnobirthing, and other therapeutic goals by creating a state where learning, relief, and corrective experiences may become more accessible. This episode also clarifies an important clinical distinction: hypnosis is not a therapeutic orientation on...

Episode 20 continues the hypnotherapy discussion by unpacking the live hypnosis demonstration from the previous episode. We explore how therapists can recognise signs of hypnosis, why clients may already be in hypnosis before they realise it, and how validation helps deepen the experience. The episode also looks at post-hypnotic suggestions, wellness during emergence, and the importance of consent...

A live Dave Elman induction with a first-time subject — recorded unedited in the Centre. No prior hypnosis experience. Full somnambulism reached on the first attempt. Episode 19 of The Art of Therapy. Dr Warwick D Phipps demonstrates a rapid Elman-style induction with a member of the Treatment Works team experiencing hypnosis for the first time. Four convincers are shown within a single session: t...

Episode 18 explores hypnosis and hypnotherapy as a therapeutic tool for accessing deeper levels of change. We look at the history of hypnosis, Dave Elman’s influential definition, and the role of the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind. This episode also challenges common misconceptions about hypnosis, including the idea that people lose control or can get “stuck”. Instead, hypnosis is f...

Episode 17 explores Narrative Therapy and the value of working with the stories people tell about themselves, their problems, and their futures. We look at how externalising the problem creates psychological distance, why problem-saturated stories can keep clients stuck, and how unique outcomes help uncover truths that may have been left out of the dominant narrative. This episode offers a hopeful...

EP16 introduces systems thinking as a value-adding lens in therapy: focusing on interaction, relationship, and pattern rather than isolated parts. We tease the idea of emergent qualities and self-regulation in systems, and why this shift can change how you understand problems and where you choose to intervene. 🎧 Subscribe now and master the art of communication in therapy. Learn more about CPD-ac...

EP15 introduces DBT as a third-wave development that targets emotional dysregulation with practical, learnable skills. We explore why regulation and stability often come before deeper change—and how DBT offers a structured way to help clients handle distress, improve relationships, and regain choice under pressure. 🎧 Subscribe now and master the art of communication in therapy. Learn more about C...

Episode 14 explores ACT as a third-wave CBT approach centred on psychological flexibility. We discuss how ACT helps clients relate differently to thoughts and feelings through defusion, acceptance, present-moment awareness, and self-as-context, creating more internal space and less struggle. We also emphasise values and committed action—how therapy can support movement towards a meaningful directi...

Episode 13 explores CBT as a practical, integrative framework that connects cognition and behaviour to create measurable change. We look at how CBT helps clients identify patterns that maintain distress, then test more workable alternatives through structured exploration and skill-building. This episode emphasises CBT’s value in supporting independence: clients learn how to notice their thinking,...

Episode 12 explores the cognitive revolution and why cognition becomes central to psychotherapy. We trace a key shift: the mind as an information-processing system worth examining, including memory, perception, attention, and beliefs. We then unpack Albert Ellis’ REBT and the ABC model (beliefs as the driver of emotional distress), followed by Aaron Beck’s empirical contributions: automatic though...

Episode 11 introduces Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy and the clinical relevance of meaning. We explore the existential vacuum—how a loss of meaning can present as boredom, depression, or compliance with roles—and why this can become a hidden driver of distress. We also unpack two key logotherapeutic ideas: paradoxical intention (approaching feared experiences to disrupt anxiety cycles) and dereflecti...

Episode 10 explores Carl Rogers’ person-centred therapy and why the therapeutic relationship itself can be the mechanism of change. We unpack the core conditions—accurate empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard—and discuss how these shape self-concept, safety, and growth in therapy. This episode clarifies the deeper logic of Rogers’ approach and why it remains a foundational lens wi...

Episode 9 explores the humanistic lens through Abraham Maslow’s work on human motivation, development, and self-actualisation. We look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a practical way of understanding what drives behaviour and distress, and why unmet needs often shape the problems clients bring to therapy. We also discuss the humanistic focus on growth: therapy as a process that supports movement...

Episode 8 explores operant conditioning and Skinner’s key insight: voluntary behaviour is shaped by consequences. We unpack reinforcement and punishment, why reinforcement often maintains patterns unintentionally, and how clinicians can think more clearly about what a behaviour achieves for the client. We also introduce concepts like shaping and extinction, framing behaviour therapy as a structure...

Episode 7 explores the “step change” introduced by behaviourism and behaviour therapy. We unpack the shift from interpreting inner experience to focusing on observable learning processes, including Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Watson’s behaviourist framework. We also discuss how emotional responses like fear can be learned and maintained through conditioning, and why this lens helped psycho...

Episode 6 explores Attachment Theory as a foundational lens for psychotherapy. We discuss Bowlby’s central shift: attachment is a primary, biologically wired survival system, not something secondary to other drives. We then follow the research pathway through Ainsworth’s Strange Situation and the emergence of attachment patterns (secure and insecure strategies). We focus on clinical relevance: how...

In Episode 5, we explore Object Relations Theory—a major development in psychodynamic psychotherapy that helps therapists understand how a client’s early relationships shape their inner world, expectations, and patterns of relating. We look at how theorists like Melanie Klein shifted the focus from drives to relationships, and how concepts like splitting (the “good” and “bad” object) can help expl...

Episode 4 introduces Anna Freud’s ego psychology and the clinical value of understanding what the ego is doing in session. We explore defence mechanisms as adaptive strategies—often necessary for survival—and how Anna Freud’s work helps therapists distinguish between healthy and unhealthy defences with greater clarity. We also reflect on trauma-related work and why ego strengthening, reorientation...

Episode 3 introduces Jung’s analytical psychology as a vital lens within integrative psychotherapy. We explore individuation, Jung’s distinction between the personal and collective unconscious, and how archetypes offer a practical way of understanding repeating patterns in human behaviour and meaning-making. We unpack the persona and shadow, and why disowned parts of the self often shape symptoms,...

In Episode 2 of The Art of Therapy (Season 3), we step into the psychoanalytic lens and explore how Freud’s thinking emerged—starting with hypnosis, the early treatment of hysteria, and the debate between the Paris school (Charcot) and the Nancy school (Bernheim/Liébault). We trace how hypnosis shaped Freud’s discovery of unconscious processes, and how Breuer’s work (including Anna O) introduced c...

In this first episode of The Art of Therapy: Season 3, we begin with the origin story of psychotherapy and the question that grounds everything: why do we do what we do? We revisit the early foundations associated with Freud and Breuer, the cathartic method and the “talking cure”, and the movement from hypnosis towards free association. From there, we map the broad arc of theory development—psycho...

Season 3 is about integration: not simply knowing multiple approaches, but understanding how they connect and why they belong together. Building on last season’s focus on Interactional Pattern Analysis (IPA), this trailer introduces the season’s central idea—moving from an ad hoc, eclectic approach to integrative psychotherapy that is coherent, purposeful, and clinically clear. Across the season,...

In Episode 23 of The Art of Therapy, Dr. Warwick Phipps and Marizaan Koen walk through the practical steps of doing an Interactional Pattern Analysis (IPA) — from the first person-centred session to identifying interactional variables and finding meaningful therapeutic direction. This episode shows how IPA allows therapists to remain deeply present with clients while also stepping back to observe...

In Episode 22 of The Art of Therapy, Dr. Warwick Phipps and Marizaan Koen explore how DSM diagnosis and Interactional Pattern Analysis (IPA) work together — and why therapists don’t have to choose between them. They unpack the DSM as a powerful, symptom-based diagnostic system rooted in the medical model, while introducing IPA as a relational diagnostic lens that locates difficulty in patterns of...