Derren Brown is a British magician and illusionist who, through his series of television shows and stage performances, has managed to turn the otherwise stale magic industry into something much more exciting, especially to new a generation. Like all performers he has his fans and critics, but whether you like him or not, we all want to know how he carries out his tricks.

But, as we all know, a magician never reveals his tricks. Although Brown has never gone into detail about how he carries out each of his tricks, what he has done is reference a few of the types of techniques he uses to successfully achieve his illusions.

Understanding human psychology plays the largest part in Brown’s tricks, which is why it isn’t a surprise to know that Brown is trained in hypnosis. But he also uses other methods such as cognitive psychology and a range of memory, body-reading and lie-detection techniques. It is Brown’s ability to read even the smallest of details that provide the basis for most of his illusions, helping to, for example, tell when someone is lying or holding something back.

Derren Brown has also admitted to having attended NLP, or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, sessions. The techniques used in NLP can be implemented in many aspects of life, with the basic principle using the power of suggestion and subliminal cues to lead a person in a particular direction. Although there are many critics of NLP (Brown himself has admitted that he’s not fully convinced by the methods), there are some definite similarities between Brown’s illusions and the ‘tricks’ NLP uses, including hypnosis.

The second part of Derren Brown’s TV career has seen his move away from the more traditional magic tricks, to become known as a mentalist. Just like other famous mentalists like David Blaine and Uri Geller, Brown’s illusions are very much based on his psychic abilities, where his tricks are associated with mind control, telepathy and clairvoyance skills rather than physical tricks and slight of hand.

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