The interview below identifies frequently asked questions about chocology by global media.
Please read them as a guide to your questions about chocolate.
Further information will be posted on the health section of this site.
Frequently asked questions about Chocolate Therapy and Murray Langham
Please make sure that you have read the book /books and had fun with friends and a box of chocolates. This enables you the enquirer to partake in the ritual of group analysis and therefore you start to comprehend the wonder of chocolate and you.
My area of expertise is Chocolate Personalities.
I am a Strawberry centre! what can I say but I am working through it! We Strawberries like to be wanted and needed in fact we are really nice people, just a little misunderstood. We, the keepers of the peace, the facilitators and sometimes we can actually stand up for ourselves if pushed.
How did all this start with Chocology? It all started with my daughter Amelia and other friends one New Years Eve. All the adults were therapists of some kind, a box of chocolates came out and the children took over half an hour to make their choice. We all started talking as one does about "What does this mean" etc, etc, we just got a little carried away. A few months latter I started writing and the more I wrote and researched the more it seemed to work on friends and colleagues, then I started testing chocology on some of my clients and so on from there. There have been many years (3 before the book came to be published) looking at ancient and contemporary herbals and alchemical / metaphysical papers and my knowledge of people and personalities. This book you have is only a small portion of the findings.
What sort of response did you have to your first book - Chocolate Therapy: dare to discover your inner centre? Overwhelming. People really embraced the unique and fun aspects of Chocolate Therapy. It was a great ice-breaker and talking point at parties.
You've just returned from promoting Hot Chocolate - Chocolate Therapy II in the US and UK -how did it go? Chocolate Therapy has been predicted as the number one bestseller in the UK by the Booksellers Association. Chocolate Therapy completely sold out in New York while I was there and there has been huge interest shown in my second book, Hot Chocolate: Unwrap the flavour of your relationships, which has only just been released in New Zealand. You've also recently featured as a special guest at the huge New York Chocolate Show. What was that all about? Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! The show is for lovers of chocolate, where they are able to taste and experience and learn every aspect of chocolate imaginable from history, myths and cuisine. My role was to talk about chocolate personalities and the psychology of chocolate - chocology.
Can you explain the basic principles behind 'Chocology' (chocolate psychology)?
Chocolate's place in our society has always been about giving and receiving, which provides a good model when one is talking about personal relationships. When we choose certain centres and shapes above others, those choices can be interpreted to identify habits of behaviour. Chocology works most effectively for people when they have clearly defined chocolate preferences: choose your chocolate, change your life. If you have changed your dominant chocolate preference, every time you take one, you are reminded that you are capable of change. The more you know about yourself and others (ie your partner) the greater your relationship with yourself and others will be. The personalities described in my first book are archetypes. Hot Chocolate explores the exciting interplay between the flavours.
What has been the reaction from people working in counselling and therapeutic positions - do you think they might adopt Chocology in their sessions?
In the States I was delighted by the positive reaction from the many psychologists and therapists I spoke to and we are in the process of planning further workshops and seminars over there. Some of them indicated that they would be using Chocolate Therapy in their sessions. One prominent New York psychologist has ordered books as gifts for his clients. His comment was that chocolate therapy was simple and uncluttered as well as being a fun way to break through the barriers. New Zealand therapists are a little more conservative - there is still a ten-session minimum before you can expect a change here. I met a few on my book tour who can see the value of fun in therapy and will include chocology in their treatment programmes.
When and how did your fascination with the connection between chocolate-eating and relationships begin?
As a former chef and restaurant owner, I know how popular chocolate is. Our relationship to chocolate has many parallels to our relationships to people that are close to us. Words that come to mind are adoration, comfort, celebration, satisfaction, sharing etc
How have you come to the conclusions behind each centre - for example, how do you know that Hazelnut people are 'responsible, peace-loving and adaptable' and Peppermint people are 'changeable, extreme and versatile'?
The conclusions behind each centre are based on many random samples over the last four years throughout New Zealand and overseas. If people don't like chocolate they can either stand on their own or get a life! Before the addition of chocolate, many of the flavours have been used for centuries for medicinal and celebratory purposes (alchemical texts, Culpepers herbal, folklore etc.) these have been incorporated into the personality profiles with stunning results. Some people will find that they are a cross between their first two choices and that is fine.
How does the choosing of a chocolate explain more about us than, say, choosing what type of shoes we wear?
Shoes, along with the other ways we choose to adorn our outer bodies tells more about how we want to appear to others. Chocolate, and our habits of consumption present a far more intimate picture. What we eat fuels our bodies and makes us what we are. We are more likely to choose foods that sustain and satisfy us either on a nutritional or psychological level. Therefore our personalities are bolstered/defined by the chocolates that we choose to eat.
You have a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming as well as running a motivational and counselling practice - do you use 'Chocology' in your work?
Yes. In fact I run Choice seminars that operate solely on the principles of chocology - it is all part of my general philosophy in practice. I think the public perception of therapy is that it is abstracted from normal human interaction. There is fear on both sides about what can and can't be said. Using chocolate is often less intimidating than more common practice methods. Chocology breaks down the barriers and allows one to see that you are what you love, not what others say you should love. This simplicity changes a cold, clinical environment into a warm healthy one where change can happen. I believe that life is to be enjoyed - the more serious we make it, the more complicated we become and the less we are able to disentangle ourselves and accept change. I use whatever is needed to assist a person to move from where they are to where they would like to be - if chocology is needed then it is used.
If a couple chose very different centres does it mean that their relationship is doomed?
Of course not. It would simply provide a means of recognising each other's habits in order to celebrate and enjoy each other's differences. Sometimes different centres can support each other - a balance of strengths and weaknesses.
Is there an ideal match? - and if so, what is it?
There is no perfect match, just many layers to unwrap and many flavours to combine!
For many people, their choice of centres depends on their mood at the time - does this mean that they are indecisive?
This could be a an indication that the person is going through a period of change or indecision, or they may feel that they can't make a difference at that point in their life. Most people demonstrate a clear preference for one or two flavours and that is what I work with.
Do the Wrappers tell you so much about how one handles their sex life?
The simple answer to that is yes they do. I call this post-chocolate behaviour it is a lot of fun and red faces, when I am given a lecture and then explain about the chocolate wrappers that they have been playing with for the last half an hour. Use the book and ask people yourself or your friends, great at dinner parties.
1) How can people derive either psychological or physical benefits from eating chocolate and why?
Firstly by just eating and enjoying chocolates guilt free and referring to health information in the Chocolate Therapy books and at such places as other chocolate books and websites.
2) Has there been scientific research done on this to prove this?
Yes plenty, eg, check the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, USA.
3)Can it elevate someone's mood, and for how long?
Yes but not long enough you need more. Phenylethylamme is what gives us a high it is found in all foods but chocolate has the highest percentage in any food.
4) Are endorphin's produced?
Yes Any real health benefits to eating chocolate? Yes helps lower cholesterol it is full of Anti-oxidants, the cacao butter protects your teeth from any sugars.
5)How would you define a chocoholic, or someone who is "addicted" to chocolate?
Someone who can't function "normally" in every day life with out chocolate.
6)Is there such a thing?
Yes,but, how do "you" define addiction and is all addiction negative?
7) Can chocolate become a habitual pattern, with people developing dependencies on it like other substances?
Yes, again with addiction, is the "addiction" a negative in the person's life.
8) In the Restaurants USA piece on your book it said that you believe peoples' chocolate preferences say a lot about their personality, how they communicate in life and how they function in life?
That is right.
9) How?
Test it out with the book
10) Is this connected to what kind and shape of chocolate they prefer?
Yes but the centre is the starting point.
11) Where did your interest in chocolate come from?
Refer to my biography.
12) Are you yourself a lover of chocolate?
Yes.
13) What is your favourite kind?
Strawberry.
14) What is your background in "chocolate studies"?
Many years of owning Restaurants, cafes knowing and understanding people. Now doing chocolate readings around the world and seminars after dinner speaking all reinforce the truth of Chocolate and Personalities
15) How does it relate to your work as a therapist?
There is no separation in my life from therapy, chocolate and living.
16) Has chocolate been seen as a delectable luxury throughout history?
Yes. {ed.dumb question}
17) Why do people love chocolate so much?
It just is! They just are!
18) Are women, as I've heard before, more inclined to love chocolate than men?
The popular conception is that more women eat chocolate than do men, however I think that this is a misconception and women are more open about their sensual desires than are men.
19) Some women I know claim it helps control their bad moods or cure PMS -- any truth to this?
Yes, according so some of the reports I have read.