Dr. John Butler, Executive Director

PhD (Med Sci., Lond.), MBSH, MBPsS, MA, BA(Hons.), BSc(Hons.), DHP, Dip A.T., CHT, FNRHP

Registered with U.K.C.P., E.A.P., B.A.S., A.C.H.E.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Dr John Butler is a highly regarded hypnotherapist with over 35 years of proven experience as a successful clinical practitioner.
He has been a therapist to many high-level performers in performing arts, the media and business.
He has been a highly regarded teacher of clinical hypnotherapy for over 25 years.

He has been a hypnotherapy educator to a wide variety of health professionals including writing and tutoring the first official training in hypnotherapy in the NHS in 1992, teaching at the Royal College of Nursing in London.

Dr. Butler trained in experimental neuroanatomy, neurosurgery and neuroscience methodologies and carried out research in medical science specialising in the field of neuroendocrinology, in which he holds a doctoral degree from the University of London.

He has lectured in higher education for over 20 years and has taught medical psychology, neuroanatomy and medical neuroscience in medical education. He has taught psychological therapies specialising in clinical hypnosis for over 20 years, teaching in the UK and internationally.  This included writing and tutoring the first official training in clinical hypnotherapy in the NHS in 1992, at the Royal College of Nursing in London.

He is an instructor in surgical applications of hypnosis and has taught clinical hypnosis applications to surgeons and anaesthetists in a course accredited by the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

He is the principal instructor for Hypnotherapy Training International which operates training programmes internationally.

He is an approved hypnotherapy instructor for the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners and several other accrediting bodies.

He has been lectured to major businesses including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, BUPA, Ernst & Young, etc.

He has acted as an expert witness and as an advisor to the police in legal cases involving hypnosis.

STANDARDS SETTING & REGULATION ACTIVITY
He has been active for 30 years in the development of professional psychological therapies the UK and internationally and has served on committees and boards of government and private initiatives in setting training standards for this field.

He was a key figure in the development of the profession of hypnotherapy in the UK. Since the early 1980s he has been highly influential in the areas of establishing educational and training standards for hypnotherapists and in achieving public and political recognition of hypnotherapy as a major healing art.

He organised the first conference of heads and delegates of hypnotherapy schools and registers in 1986 to formally initiate processes of standard-setting for the training and professional regulation of hypnotherapists in the UK.

He played a major role in many private and government-sponsored initiatives concerned with training requirements, occupational standards and self-regulation of hypnotherapists that were established in the late 1980s and 1990s. His contribution to the profession in the UK was formally recognized in 2004 by an award from a national confederation of hypnotherapists.

TRAINING & EDUCATION
He trained in a variety of systems of psychological therapies, including autogenic therapy and other systems of psychotherapy and made an intensive study of many healing systems.  He studied hypnotherapy with several schools and learned directly from many renowned medical hypnotherapists.  He specialised in clinical hypnotherapy and undertook lengthy training with Gil Boyne.  He studied personally with Gil Boyne and taught with him on many occasions.  Dr. Butler was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the ACHE in 2011.   

He has been registered as a psychotherapist in several modalities with the United Kingdom for Psychotherapy and received certification from the European Association for Psychotherapy and holds membership of the British Psychological Society.  His academic background includes degrees in science and psychology and medical science with higher degrees in psychology and medical science.  He holds a doctoral degree in medical research from University of London.

MEDIA APPEARANCES & CONTRIBUTIONS
In his clinical work Dr Butler has been influential in establishing the effectiveness of hypnotherapy as a healing method in the perception of the public and health professional alike.

His work was first filmed over 20 years ago and since then has been reported many times in the media, including a major BBC television series, “Mysteries”, in 1997 and Channel 4’s breakthrough live broadcast with John Butler using hypnosis as a sole anaesthetic while surgery was performed on a patient in April 2006  (“HypnoSurgery Live”, More 4 / Channel 4 TV).

He has made more than 30 television appearances as an expert in hypnotherapy with several programmes focused on his use of hypnotherapy as an anaesthetic for chronic pain and in invasive surgeries.

He has been widely quoted in the media as an authoritative source of information on hypnosis.

Dr Butler has written numerous articles on hypnotherapy for magazines and newspapers and contributed to many publications and television programmes on hypnosis and related subjects.

He is the clinical author of the popular book “Secrets of Hypnotherapy” (Pub. Dorling Kindersley).

Some of his clinical work has been featured in “Time” magazine and “Science” magazine.

He is the clinical author of the popular book “Secrets of Hypnotherapy”. (Pub. Dorling Kindersley).

He has contributed to several books, written many articles in popular and learned publications, and published papers in the field of neuroscience and hypnoanaesthesia.

SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS

MEDICAL RESEARCH – SAMPLE PUBLICATIONS
Kalló I, Butler JA, Barkovics-Kalló M, Goubillon ML, Coen CW. Oestrogen receptor β-immunoreactivity in gonadotropin releasing hormone-expressing neurones: regulation by oestrogen.
J Endocrinol13: pp741–748, 2001.
Butler JA, Sjoberg M, Coen CW.
Evidence for oestrogen receptor alpha-immunoreactivity in gonadotrophin-releasing hormone-expressing neurones.
J Neuroendocrinol.11(5): pp331-335. 1999
Butler JA, Kalló I, Sjoberg M, Coen CW.
Evidence for extensive oestrogen receptor alpha-immunoreactivity in the cerebral cortex of adult rats.
J Neuroendocrinol.11(5): pp325-329. 1999

CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPY – SAMPLE PUBLICATIONS

Butler JA.
Clinical hypnosis in practice
Therapy Today: Journal of British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy(Sept) pp22-25, 2012
Butler JA.
Pain Control
The Dentist(Aug); pp58 – 60, 2012
Butler JA.
Stress reduction means risk reduction
Dental Protection(Aug); p23. 2012
Butler JA.
Pain control and dental hypnosis
Aesthetic Dentistry Today(July); pp80-82, 2012
Kiss G, Butler JA.
Hypnosis for cataract surgery in an American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status IV patient
Anaesth Intensive Care 39: 1139-1141, 2011