Category Archives: Education

He who has ears, let him hear! Hypnosystemic pastoral care and tinnitus

Posted on by
Reply

Shortly before Christmas, on 19 December 2025, I completed my doctorate in philosophy (PhD) in Paderborn with my viva voce examination.

The dissertation was awarded a ‘magna cum laude’ grade.

The title of the thesis is ‘He who has ears, let him hear! Hypnosystemic pastoral care and tinnitus’.

The University of Paderborn has published it under doi: 10.17619/UNIPB/1-2450.

Here is a machine translation of my doctoral thesis:

He who has ears, let him hear!Download

For the thesis, I offered 27 test subjects 90 minutes of hypnosystemic treatment each; before and after, we took neurological, hearing, vocal and stress-related measurements.

After the treatment, 3 subjects experienced silence, all 27 subjects experienced quieter tinnitus, 26 experienced improved hearing abilities, all 27 experienced less emotional stress and 24 had a more resonant voice. Numerous direct correlations were found between the neurological (magnetoencephalographic) measurements, the tinnitus volume and the hearing threshold, as well as between the voice volume and the stress experienced (determined using heart rate variability measurement and a tinnitus questionnaire) and between the voice volume and the hearing threshold.

I was able to demonstrate that:

  • Tinnitus can be treated therapeutically and is potentially curable in terms of the perception of noise.
  • Tinnitus can be described and measured as a syndrome of neurological, auditory, vocal, muscular and stress-related symptoms.
  • Like many other health disorders, tinnitus can be treated effectively with words and non-verbal and paraverbal suggestions.
  • Pastoral care is physical care when it uses such words.
    Since Aristotle’s separation of body, soul and spirit cannot be the basis for a modern view of humanity in the age of psychosomatics, psychoneuroimmunology and epigenetics, the resulting separation of professions such as doctors, psychotherapists and pastoral carers (both male and female) must also be re-examined. There are obvious parallels between hypnosystemic treatment, in which words bring about physical healing, and the actions of Jesus, who treated physical, mental, social and spiritual healing as a unity, in which one condition determines and brings about the other.

I notice that a certain burden has been lifted from me now that everything is done. It’s nice to be able to end the old year this way. In the new year, I would like to publish the scientific findings I have gained as an article in a neuroscience journal. In 2027, the therapeutic essence of the work will be published as a specialist book. I signed the contract for this a few weeks ago.

I wish you all a confident, wonderful and healthy New Year!

Yours, Stefan

Кон и ездач (Horse and Rider)

Posted on by
Reply

Гледах как един ездач обучава кон. Дамата беше ниска и дребна. Мечокът, който тя яздеше, беше пълен с енергия. Той можеше всеки момент да я свали от гърба си, но не за това ставаше въпрос. Две души се бореха една с друга. „Кой е начело?“ Този въпрос изпълни въздуха. Жената не бързаше с коня. Искаше да укроти коня, но не и да сломи духа му. Искаше да има неговото уважение и доверие. В крайна сметка тя спечели борбата и вярвам, че и двамата бяха щастливи.

Тази история на английски език (This story in English):

Horse and Rider

От: Стефан Хамел: Стръкче трева в пустинята, впечатляващо 2012 г. (From: Stefan Hammel: The Blade of Grass in the Desert, impress 2012)

Книгата е достъпна в моя онлайн магазин. The book is available in my Onlineshop.

На 27 и 28 октомври 2025 г. в София ще проведа семинар за терапевтично разказване на истории.

Повече информация можете да получите от Българската асоциация по хипноза и хипнотерапия (БАХХ).

С най-добри пожелания
Стефан

Simon és a lámpa  (Simon and the Lamp)

Posted on by
Reply

I owe thanks for this story to Attila Mislai who translated it.

A nappaliban meghibásodott a lámpa. A család minden tagja azon ügyködött, hogy valahogy rendbe hozza. „Ne, Simon, ne nyúlj hozzá!”, kiáltották egy emberként, de későn. A Down-kóros Simon csavart egyet az égőn, s a lámpa felragyogott.

This story in English: https://www.stefanhammel.com/blog/2012/12/17/2600/

Seminars with Stefan Hammel in 2025

Posted on by
Reply

Here is an overview of the seminars, workshops, lectures and congresses with Stefan Hammel planned in 2025.

The Kaiserslautern seminars will take place “hybrid”, i.e. with physical AND digital participants. Feel free to ask!

Occasional events may still be added! Participant feedback on the video seminars can be found here!

2025

March 04, 2025, 7-9 p.m.: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

March, 6.- 9, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Trainer seminar 3: TH – body language, multi-level communication, utilization

March, 14.- 15, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic storytelling, Seminar 2: Writing good therapeutic stories – in 10 minutes & proven narrative structures

March, 27.- 30, 2025: Kassel, MEG Annual Conference 2025: Therapeutic greetings and other brief interventions in working with traumatized people (Info: www.meg-hypnose.de/veranstaltungen)

April, 1st, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

April, 11.- 12, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Storytelling, Seminar 3: The Island of Love – Maps and Landscapes in Individual, Couple and Family Therapy

May, 6th, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

May, 16.- 17, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Storytelling, Seminar 4: Therapeutic Greetings, Deals & Ordeals and other Brief Interventions

June, 3rd, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

June, 6.- 7, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Modeling, Seminar 1: Introduction to Therapeutic Modeling

June, 12-15, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Trainer seminar 4: TH – Thematic seminar: Addiction and eating disorders

July, 1st, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

July, 4.- 5, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Modeling, Seminar 2: Working with symbolic figures and fragmenting and transforming burdens

July, 24.- 25, 2025: Munich, SySt: The Sofa of Happiness – Therapeutic Modeling with Individuals and Couples

August, 5th, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

August, 29.- 30, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Modeling, Seminar 3: Transgenerational work and integration of real and fictitious persons from the client’s external world

September, 2nd, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

September, 4.- 7, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Trainer seminar 5: TE – Developing metaphors and stories

September, 19.- 20, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Modeling, Seminar 4: The Sofa of Happiness – Therapeutic Modeling in Couple and Family Therapy, with Teams and Groups

October, 7th, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

October, 10.- 12, 2025: Vallendar/ Rhine-Main area: 5th International Festival of Therapeutic Storytelling: Lecture and workshop, Therapeutic Greetings and other short interventions (Info: www.erzaehl-festival.de)

October, 17.- 18, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Hypnosis, Seminar 1: Trance Inductions and Trance Phenomena in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy

November, 4th, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

November, 6.-8, 2025,  Balsthal / Switzerland, SMSH annual conference: Tinnitus – Why it comes when it comes, why it stays when it stays, why it goes when it goes. (Info: www.smsh.ch)

November, 9th, 2025, Wuppertal, Bernd Isert Systemic Conference: Introduction to Therapeutic Modeling: (Systemische Tagung Bernd Isert): Einführung in das Therapeutische Modellieren (Info: www.nlp-ausbildungsinstitut.de)

November, 14.- 15, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic Hypnosis, Seminar 2: Therapy Structure – Anamnesis – Utilization: Transforming Problems into Solutions

December, 2nd, 2025, 7-9 pm: Online, Zoom, free of charge: Online event “Hypnosystemic bag of tricks – everyday miracles in counseling, pastoral care and therapy” (every 1st Tuesday of the month)

December, 4.- 7, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Trainer seminar 6: TE – Therapeutic maps and landscapes

December, 12.- 13, 2025: Kaiserslautern, hsb – Hypnosystemic training, Therapeutic hypnosis, Seminar 3: Body language, voice and verbal implications (multi-level communication) 

Best regards from Kaiserslautern!

Stefan

“Hammel Digital” – AI assistant for utilization and supervision

Posted on by
Reply

I asked an AI developer to build me a chatbot with offers for therapeutic interventions based on my manual for therapeutic utilization, among other things.

The prototype has been refined and improved over the last few months.

You can find the AI assistant for Utilization and Supervision embedded in my

🔗 Blog.

If you feel like it, you can play around with it (e.g. ask: “my client suffers from moth phobia and tinnitus, how can I help her therapeutically / do you have a story I can tell her) and write me what positive / negative experiences you have had with it and what you think should be improved.

The AI also works if you speak to him in other languages.

I look forward to your feedback 📧.

Your Stefan

Koń i Jeździec (Horse and Rider)

Posted on by
Reply

I owe thanks to Aleksandra Piatek for translating the story “Horse and Rider”.

Obserwowałam jeźdźca trenującego konia. Kobieta była niska i delikatna. Wałach, na którym jeździła, był pełen energii. W każdej chwili mógłby ją zrzucić, ale nie o to tu chodziło. Dwie dusze zmagały się ze sobą. „Kto prowadzi?” – to pytanie unosiło się w powietrzu. Kobieta nie spieszyła się z koniem. Chciała go ujarzmić, ale nie złamać jego ducha. Pragnęła jego szacunku i zaufania. Ostatecznie wygrała ten pojedynek i wierzę, że oboje byli szczęśliwi.

(From: Stefan Hammel: The Blade of Grass in the Desert, impress 2012)

The book is available in my Onlineshop.

Kind regards, Stefan

The Librarian

Posted on by
Reply

The story “The Librarian” shows a metaphor for the cooperation of conscious and unconscious thinking and represents a useful viewpoint of how memory functions. It is useful in any context where learning and gaining access to memories and capacities plays a role…

Do you sometimes try and think of somebody’s name and it just doesn’t come? And then you do something else and don’t even think about it any more and then suddenly – hey presto! – the name pops up! Isn’t it strange that you sometimes don’t find the solution while you are looking for it, but indeed and very so often, afterwards? How is this possible? There is only one answer…
A friendly librarian works in the brain that manages the stockpile of your knowledge. He sits in the service area on the ground floor near the lobby. The most frequently used books and folders he has nicely to hand and clearly presented in this zone. He has well ordered long shelves in the basement for the material that is rarely required. Sometimes when a book is out of place or your request does not meet the specifications of the registry, he needs more time to research. Because you’re not used to waiting, you are likely to think that he has forgotten you. But as the librarians are not like that, they are in fact very service-oriented and extremely meticulous! With your request in his hand off he goes through all of the basement rooms. He hunts and searches and finally: “Aha! I’ve got it!” With the book in hand, he comes up the stairs. He brings you what you need.

Africa

Posted on by
Reply

This therapeutic story can be used for supporting learning in general, as well as re-learning abilities after a health problem. For example, it can be applied quite beautifully with stroke patients. Obviously, it is also indicated as a story supporting change and developement with anyone who has got a strong biographical link to Africa. Of course, instead of Africa, other continents or regions of the world can be used, in order to adapt the story to individual needs. The reason why I chose the mapping of Africa as the key focus of this story is, that on maps Africa has the shape of a head or scull and thus points to brain functions.

Maps have existed for millennia but there a big differences between modern maps and those from dating from earlier centuries. For example, three hundred years ago, if a publisher printed a map of Africa, it had big white patches on it. ‚Terra incognita’ was marked on it; unknown territory. The coasts were then largely free of such white spots, but the interior of the continent was still a single, large white patch. However, many researchers undertook trips into the heart of Africa and what they learned there, they reported to the cartographers who diligently recorded everything. Land and water routes were discovered. The turns of each river were researched and drawn. The names of the settlements were recorded and the names of the tribes written down. The white patches on the map became smaller and smaller. The parts of the country that were explored and known steadily grew. Finally, the white spots disappeared completely. The whole of Africa was mapped.

Le gramophone

Posted on by
Reply

J’ai un phonographe à la maison. J’y fais passer des chansons comme « Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen » – Seulement ne pas pleurer à cause de l’amour et « Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh’n » – Je sais qu’il y aura un miracle un jour. Zarah Leander chante ça avec sa voix basse – c’est magnifique ! Puis j’écoute la voix de corbeau de Louis Armstrong, et pour moi c’est une rencontre avec lui-même, avec lui tout personnellement. J’écoute Caruso, il chante avec son vibrato depuis la nuit des temps : « O sole mio… ». Leurs voix volent vers moi des rainures du disque, sans électricité. Elles arrivent vers moi comme les voix de ces personnes même. Quand leurs voix retentissent du pavillon, les chanteurs sont des hôtes dans mon temps. Je les rencontre dans la même pièce. Puis le gramophone se tait, leurs voix retournent dans cet autre monde séparé du notre, là où habitent les anciens possesseurs de ces voix.