Hypnotist and self-proclaimed ‘Irish Derren Brown’ once earned just over €1,000 a week as a journalist, but now she earns the same amount in an hour helping clients lose weight, quit smoking and overcome their fears. I’m here.
Jason O’Callaghan even makes people believe he has lost the ability to speak or read, which he says is “absolutely amazing”.
The 50-year-old lives in Dublin with his wife Karina, 44, and their three children Camille, 11. Ethan (age 9). and Stephanie (6 people). He worked as a gossip columnist until 2006, often collaborating with stars such as Boyzone and Pierce Brosnan.
After having to work long hours, seven days a week, Jason decided to quit his job and pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology, studying hypnotherapy and how it can be used to treat problems such as mental health and obesity. I was fascinated by how I could help people.
He then set up his own clinic, which is now the largest hypnotherapy clinic in the country, helping people across Ireland and the UK. His most memorable session was with a groom who had a fear of flying, but he was able to go on his honeymoon after undergoing hypnotherapy at the airport.
Jason also staged wedding events, where he would make the wedding party “howl like a wolf” after drinking, making the bride believe there was a celebrity in the room, making people feel as if they had lost the ability to speak. Let me do it.
Jason shares these comedy routines with his 17,000 TikTok followers, and his videos often get more than 1 million views, which dramatically boosts his business.
Jason told PA Real Life: “I hypnotize people by repeating certain words and phrases and they go into a relaxed state. I’m like the Irish Derren Brown.”
“People who go about their daily lives are not aware that they are being hypnotized. For example, when you drive long distances and lose consciousness, that is the hypnotic state.”
Until 2006, Jason was a gossip columnist for Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper, when he decided to change careers for a better work-life balance.
He said: “I was going to parties almost every night to meet celebrities, but it was a very litigious job. It was very high pressure and I was exhausted after working seven days a week for 10 years and quit.”
Jason decided to enter the music and events industry as he has forged connections with many celebrities including Pierce Brosnan, B*Witched, and Boyzone.
I completed my BA in Psychology at Dublin Business School in 2008 and three years later completed my MSc in Applied Psychology at Trinity College Dublin while also hosting evening events.
He said:
“During my master’s program, I was trained in counseling, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and clinical hypnotherapy.
“They were a stepping stone to becoming a clinical psychologist, which was my plan. But I found hypnotherapy so appealing and got so involved in it that I abandoned my plans to do hypnotherapy instead. Did.”
Since graduating in 2012, Jason has founded Ireland’s largest hypnotherapy clinic, the D4 Clinic, and his research has been published at the Mayo Clinic.
He has featured on This Morning and has helped many people across the UK lose weight and quit smoking through hypnotherapy.
Jason explained: “We have a lot of people coming in who have been unable to eat anything but chicken nuggets and yellow food for 20, 30, 40 years.
“After 20 minutes of hypnosis, they eat fresh fruit, strawberries, and pasta.
“Even if it is purely psychological rather than biological, people can overcome it if they are given confidence, and that is hypnosis.
“For weight loss, we teach people to eat blue dinner plates. Historically, there are no blue foods in nature.
“When your brain goes off, it associates blue with the color of food, so you actually eat less.”
Jason considers his favorite memory so far to be when he helped a groom who was afraid of flying board a plane for their honeymoon.
“He fell ill at the airport, but I hypnotized him so he could enjoy his honeymoon.
“He was going on a three-week trip to America, and it was really rewarding to be able to help someone like that.”
As well as doing “very serious” hypnosis, Jason also does “fun stuff” like performing at around 150 high-profile weddings a year around the world.
“What I often do is we take away people’s ability to read, we take away their ability to speak, so we give them cow or camel tongues, we make them ride invisible horses, etc. I am.
“We’ve also had brides trick their audiences into believing there’s a celebrity in their wedding party, or a celebrity like Harry Styles in their wedding party, or think Uncle Joe is Madonna.” I’m really surprised.
“Finally, when it looks like the show is over, I have the whole room do things like howl like a wolf after having a drink.”
Jason explained how he hypnotized so many people at the same time: “It works on the principle of the so-called bell curve. So imagine a wedding of 100 people. 10 percent don’t want it.” When hypnotized, 80 percent They want to be tricked, and 10 to 15 percent of the population is susceptible to suggestion.
“They pay so much attention to something that when we put them in a hypnotic trance they actually believe it’s real. They get drunk and think they’re a great dancer. It’s similar to someone who is.
In 2022, Jason began posting videos of himself hypnotizing people at events, and now has over 17,000 followers, with some videos having been viewed over 1 million times.
“Since then, we’ve been getting inquiries from all over the world. It’s amazing,” he said.
On whether he was glad he made the switch from journalism to hypnotherapy, he said:
“I find hypnotherapy much more enjoyable and rewarding, and I don’t regret my decision.”
