The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash., Dan Voelpel column

The National Pawnbrokers Association told The Wall Street Journal this month that its operators around the country report a surge fueled by a new clientele — middle- and upper-middle-class customers driving up in their Cadillacs and BMWs ready to hock their furs, Cartier watches and Tiffany jewelry.

Psychics in Atlanta told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that their clients don’t ask as much about love and health but more and more want advice on some of the most basic and personal of financial and professional matters.

Robert Neumann sees it too. Right here in Tacoma.

Clients, many of them first-timers, have turned to his hypnotherapy practice in hopes of finding their mental equilibrium after losing jobs, facing foreclosure on a home or feeling like a failure for not being able to provide for their families.

"One of the major stressors in life and in marriages is financial issues," Neumann said. "My role is about bringing people back into balance."

Maxine Taylor, an astrologer and a healer near Atlanta, has appeared periodically on CNN and has a client list that includes corporate executives, more of them near desperation. She told the Atlanta newspaper that during good times clients want to know about love, health and money. Now, she said, it’s money, jobs and money.

For Neumann, he normally counts his bread-and-butter clientele as those interested in weight loss and smoking cessation. Now, he said, it’s money issues.

How does a hypnotherapy session help?

"I view myself more like a personal trainer at the gym," said Neumann, who studied Eastern philosophy and tinkered with hypnosis as a teenager in post-World War II Germany.

"If someone’s butt is sagging a little or they want to get rid of that gut, a personal trainer can design exercises to get at those muscles. The mind works the same way. I’m a personal trainer for the mind."

Neumann said he helps people recondition the way they think about themselves and "assist them in using their own mind to achieve their own goals."

When it comes to financial issues, such as losing a job, the depression that follows can muddy one’s mind so much it can’t focus attention and energy on positive strategies to find a new job.

"Fear, fear of the unknown, is very debilitating," Neumann said.

Neumann tailors his hypnotherapy sessions to each client’s specific situation. In his inaugural sessions, he spends the first hour talking with the clients to learn as much as he can about their lives and concerns. The second hour, Neumann uses hypnosis to put them in a relaxed, near-sleep state and plants the seeds of positive thoughts and actions.

Despite the individual nature of the sessions, Neumann said he tells hypnotized clients dealing with financial fears some common things.

For example: "It’s OK for you to relax. Everything will work out fine. You’ve been through difficult times before. You’ll get through this… You have skills. Now you have time to look at those skills and to use them. Your family supports you in difficult times. Take a few breaths and relax.

"There’s plenty of work out there. You’ll find a job. Focus and you’ll be more relaxed… There’s a lot of money circulating out there. When you drive past a restaurant, is the parking lot empty? When you drive past a casino, is the parking lot empty? When you drive past a theater, are the parking lots empty? The answers are… No.

"There’s plenty of money and opportunities out there for you. It’s being calm enough to find them."

Neumann, a hypnotherapist certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists, first operated from a Chinese herbal pharmacy in Tacoma’s Lincoln International District. Now, his practice, The Vital Connection, shares the Milepost Credit Union Building at South 37th Street and Pacific Avenue.

Neumann also recently added a new twist to his practice. He records the audio from the hypnosis session and burns it onto a CD before clients leave the office. That way, he said, they can find a place to relax and reconnect with the positive messages without coming back to see him.

Wherever we find our stress relief, without question America has more stress to relieve. In a survey this month of nearly 1,200 households, Country Family Finances found that 75 percent of Americans reported more stress and one-third reported more arguments.

The impact of the economy showed up most among women, with 81 percent reporting the topic of money and the current economy has been very or somewhat stressful for their family, compared to 65 percent of men giving that response, according to the survey.

So we Americans try new things to cope.

"Even in the worst economy, there’s always… more,’" Neumann said. "At this time, at this point in history, there’s still more money circulating the planet than ever before, more prosperity than ever before, more food, better housing, more water…

"Some people get so wound up and stressed about money and a job they forget to be open to the obvious… They can’t find what’s right in front of their faces."