As Cognitive Hypnotherapists being able to empathise with our clients is a vital skill, but recent research by the University of Peking has demonstrated that the degree of empathy varies according to our connection with people. The more similar they are the more we respond to their situation, and the more we perceive them to be different the less our brains respond to their pain. I think the further study of mirror neurons – and perhaps their relationship to our feeling of selfhood – may reveal why this is so, but for now it remains something we should monitor in our work with people from different backgrounds and cultures, and definitely something I’ll be emphasising in our hypnotherapy training.

Click here to read the report on the research.