Nick Kemp

This DVD (PAL format, region 0) set will be released on August 28th
2007 on www.human-alchemy.net as well as being distributed
internationally by Anglo American Books from mid Sept, priced at
£29.99 plus £2 p and p for UK

These DVDs show Nick working with two longstanding phobics, using a
combination of insights derived from Provocative Therapy, Hypnosis and
NLP. Many people will know Nick best for his NLP and Hypnosis skills
in producing the Human Alchemy products and running NLP trainings;
however Nick's inclusion of the "Provocative element" is in his
opinion the key to producing greatly accelerated changes in client
behaviour. In recent years Nick has literally immersed myself in
learning about Frank Farrelly's extraordinary Provocative Therapy and
he now teaches Provocative Therapy alongside NLP and Hypnosis. Frank
provides an introduction to these sessions as well as a commentary on
Nick's work.

Provocative Therapy is a system of psychotherapy in which the
therapist plays the devil's advocate, siding with the negative half of
the client's ambivalence toward his life's goals, his relationships,
work and the structures within which he lives. The therapist also
plays the Satanic role by facetiously agreeing with the doom and gloom
feelings and expectations of the client, and "tempting" him to
continue his "sinning," his self-defeating attitudes and behavioural
patterns.

The purpose of this therapy is to change the client. One of the
therapist's main tools to implement this change is warm-hearted humor
in its varied forms -- exaggeration, irony, self-deprecation,
Daliesque absurdities, etc.

With a twinkle in his eye, a smile playing about his lips, and
genially employing the style of affectionate banter between friends,
the therapist uses humor both to sensitize and desensitize the client
to problematic cognitive, affective, and behavioural patterns. This is
the key to Provocative Therapy -- humour. Jocular, whimsical, caring,
supportive humor.

The root meaning of provocative is pro + vocare, to "call out", and
there are five different types of behaviours that are "called out" in
the client in this approach. Every single interview with every single
client does not elicit all five of these, but each interview with each
client demonstrates at least some of these five.
The client, then, is provoked by the therapist to:

Affirm his self-worth, both verbally and behaviourally.
Assert himself appropriately both in task performances and
relationships.
Defend himself realistically.
Engage in psycho-social reality testing and learn the necessary
discriminations to respond adaptively. Global perceptions lead to
global, stereotyped responses; differentiated perceptions lead to
adaptive responses.
Engage in risk-taking behaviours in personal relationships, especially
communicating affection and vulnerability to significant others with
immediacy as they are authentically experienced by the client. The
most difficult words in relationships are often "I want you, I miss
you, I care about you" -- to commit oneself to others.
In 2006 Nick was invited onto BBC Radio for 26 consecutive weeks to
cure phobias live on the air. In each case all these phobias were
cured within an hour, even though some of the conditions had existed
for over five decades! The producer of the BBC shows was amazed that
each week phobics increasingly discovered that their phobia could be
removed by this talking therapeutic approach. This DVD set is an
outstanding representation of the "Provocative Change Works" Nick used
during the BBC sessions.

The first session is with Matt who had been a needle phobic for many
years. This is one of Frank Farrelly's favourites and both he and Nick
provide a clear explanation of what Nick is doing during the session,
so that therapists can see how the approach differs from classical NLP
or Hypnosis. The second session is with Karen who had suffered from
severe claustrophobia for over 30 years.

You can watch each of these sessions with a variety of viewing
options. The viewing option with Frank Farrelly's commentary and
feedback allows you to see Frank's responses in the corner of the
screen. To my knowledge, this is the only commercially available
footage of Frank describing the Provocative Therapeutic approach used
in these sessions .

"Nick Kemp and Frank Farrelly have put together an excellent DVD set
that will make an invaluable addition to any therapist's personal
library. With both Nick and Frank offering their commentary on the
two client sessions, this is undoubtedly the first recording of
provocative therapy where the elegence and sophistication of the
provocative therapy process are made explicit to the viewer."


Andrew T Austin
Psychotherapist/Author