A combination of hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming and related techniques, practised within the medical model.
Newcastle upon Tyne · Online worldwide
“Some doctors struggle when the tests don’t hand back an instant, easy answer. In my experience, most of medicine is like that, and primary care especially so.”Dr Julian Kilburn
Medical doctor & clinical hypnotherapist · Newcastle upon Tyne
Julian trained in medicine at Newcastle upon Tyne and has spent thirty-five years in frontline care across primary care, emergency medicine, general practice and urgent medicine.
Over those decades he became increasingly drawn to the problems conventional medicine finds hardest to help: functional conditions that don’t show up on a scan, that medication barely touches, and that can leave people feeling unheard after every test has come back clear.
He now devotes much of his time to these conditions, combining hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming and related techniques, always grounded in the medical model he has practised throughout his career. He is also the author of six books on evidence-based medicine.
A term I’ve coined for a combination of hypnotherapy, neurolinguistic programming and related techniques, practised within the medical model.
The medical model is simply how doctors approach a consultation. The consultation is where we connect with a person’s problem: we bring together its history and its context, including the social and emotional consequences, and the way that trauma can block the body from working as it should.
Medicine recognises a whole range of conditions that cause real, functional problems yet are hard for conventional doctors to treat in ordinary working hours. These are conditions that often don’t show up on standard tests, that produce normal scans and X-rays, and that sit outside conventional treatment.
Much of this work has to be approached holistically. “Holistic” is an overused word, so I mean something specific by it: the place where the mind intersects with the body. The two are so often treated as separate things, which I find faintly bizarre after thirty-five years on the front line.
Conditions are also rarely a single thing. They’re usually overlaid with psychological factors that make something small begin to feel insurmountable. Sometimes targeting just part of that is enough to break the cycle. But that’s exactly what we’d explore together on a strategy call, depending on your own circumstances.
Hypnotherapy and related techniques have genuine, evidence-based efficacy in gut conditions such as IBS, and this is where much of my current work is concentrated.
Persistent pain where the cause is known, unclear, or no longer fully explains the experience.
Difficulty falling or staying asleep, and the anxious cycle that so often surrounds it.
The worry, tension and physical symptoms that amplify almost every other problem.
Real symptoms, including functional neurological ones, that tests keep returning “normal”.
If you recognise yourself here, the discovery call is the place to start. Not every problem is suited to this work, and part of my job is being honest with you about that.
I have a particular interest in people whom other doctors have struggled to help by conventional means, where medication has had little effect, and where every test under the sun has come back without an answer.
My role here is psychological and therapeutic rather than as your treating GP. But being a doctor changes how carefully we can work.
See me in person, face to face, in a calm and private setting in the city where I trained and have practised for decades.
Much of this work translates beautifully to video, which means I can help people wherever they happen to live.
Recordings, audio sessions and self-help material are on the way. For now, you can watch a selection of my videos on YouTube.
Watch on YouTubeI write about medicine, the mind, and the conditions that fall between the cracks of conventional care. Read along and subscribe.
Read on SubstackPossibly, and it is worth finding out together. A person is never just a condition in isolation. Even a diagnosis that cannot be cured can be made harder by layers of anxiety and disrupted psychological wellbeing, and evidence across many areas shows that these factors can worsen outcomes. Some patients are offered pastoral support, but more targeted, one-to-one work can also help, breaking down some of the barriers that stand in the way of healing.
No, and anyone promising that is not being straight with you. What this work can influence are functions and experiences governed by the brain and nervous system: gut function and IBS symptoms, pain perception, nausea, anxiety and the stress response, sleep, some skin conditions (psychodermatology), and habits or behaviours such as smoking cessation and disordered eating. It works by modulating perception, regulation and behaviour, not by enhancing a physical feature. It can also help you build personal resources such as confidence, creating a virtuous cycle of improvement.
For some conditions, yes. Gut-directed hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome has a strong evidence base, and there is good evidence in areas such as chronic pain and anxiety. It is not a cure-all, and part of the free discovery call is being honest with you about whether it is likely to help in your particular case.
No. I do not prescribe medication during any of the hypnotherapy and Paraconscious Medicine consultations I provide. I may, however, recommend that your GP consider it, if together we find that a mutually suitable idea.
With your consent, yes. I can write to your GP and keep them informed of the work we do together, and I am happy to review any information from your medical records that you choose to share, so I understand the context of your problem and can satisfy myself that nothing obvious has been overlooked.
Both. You can see me in person at my rooms in Newcastle upon Tyne, or work with me by secure video. Much of this work translates well to video, which means I can help people anywhere in the world.
The first step is a free fifteen-minute discovery call. The quickest way to book is through my online calendar.
Open the booking calendar