The Trance Factory

Is hypnotherapy the wave of the future? I ask Bobby. That's a loaded question to put to someone who just sank nearly three grand into becoming a hypnotherapist, but I'm still a little groggy.

"I'll tell you this," Bobby says, "hypnotherapy is a real dark horse, culturally, because it has come through such a funny, unlikely history that the whole power structure gives very little credence to it."

Until recently, Bobby was a technical writer. When she finishes her internship, she plans to become a full-time hypnotherapist. "I'm not saying [hypnotherapy] is the panacea, like, no more AMA," she continues with a laugh, "but in the meantime, we're making steps. So yeah, I am a wave of the future."

Did my session with Bobby help me kick the habit? Well, no. But our excursion into inner space did stir something up. That night, I dreamt I was visited by a giant filter-tip cigarette, which either means there's hope for me yet, or I have to stop reading Doonesbury.