Dissociation And Trauma
There is growing clinical and some empirical evidence that dissociation may occur especially as a defense during trauma, an attempt to maintain mental control just as physical control is lost Spiegel, 1984 Kluft, 1985 Putnam, 1985 Spiegel, 1988 Bremner, Southwick et al., 1992 Cardena amp Spiegel, 1993 Koopman, Classen et al., 1994 Marmar, Weiss et al.,1994 Butler amp Spiegel, 1997 Butler, Jasiukaitis, Koopman amp Spiegel, 1997 . Fifteen studies of immediate psychological reactions within the...
Guilt And Anger
Since a thought can produce a 'burn' see above , continued feelings of guilt or anger can prevent healing, and should be dealt with during emotional countershock Mattson, l975 a day or two after admission. If the patient caused it and is feeling guilty, I stress the fact that the injury was unintentional, he has been punished enough and has learned a lesson he will never forget or repeat. If someone else is at fault and he is angry, I point out that our first priority is healing. Getting well...
PHASE lll HYPNOTIZABILITY ASSESSMENT
The assessment of hypnotizability is phase III of patient preparation. Standard measures may be used, although increasingly these are limited to research settings. The most common measurement instruments are The Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scales for Adults and Children, The Hypnotic Induction Profile, the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Forms A, B, and C, and the Children's Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. Other research instruments...
Hypnosis And Psychoneuroimmunology
In light of current interest in psychoneuroimmunology and mind-body connections, a somewhat neglected area of hypnotherapy research of major theoretical and practical interest is the underlying neurophysiological processes that might mediate hypnosis in its contribution to immunomodulation. Interpretation of earlier research is hindered by methodological shortcomings these shortcomings are now being addressed and overcome with the most recent wave of research. It is suggested that the reduction...
Conversion Disorder Dissociation And Hypnotic Trance
The so-called dissociative phenomena are explained by Kihlstrom as follows. The information is not processed explicitly the patient does not consciously perceive an object or remember a happening. Implicitly, however, the stimuli do influence the patient's behaviour. These observations support the view that there are two memory systems the explicit memory system and the implicit memory system Schacter, 1987 or memory with and without awareness Jacoby amp Dallas, 1981 . A similar distinction is...
Observations On The Use Of Hypnosis With Dissociative Disorders Today
The challenge to contemporary practice is to preserve what is useful and solid, to refuse to be panicked into throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and to utilize all available information in a constructive effort to be of help to the dissociative patient. Not only has hypnosis been instrumental in the recovery of many dissociative patients a strong argument can be made that since hypnosis is an inevitable aspect of their treatment, it is best that the treater be prepared to use it...
Injunctive Communication
Erickson was a master of injunctive language. In fact, his style of therapy, and especially hypnosis, can be characterized as building responsiveness to injunctive communication. Applying Watzlawick's ideas to Erickson's work affords a useful insight into the mechanisms activated in a typical induction. A good illustration of this is Erickson's well-known early learning set induction Erickson amp Rossi, 1979 . A close reading of the induction reveals an indicative level how a child learns to...
Healthy Dissociation Away From The Sexual Fears And Negative Cognitions
As a transitional part of therapy, during self-stimulation, the sensate focus or pleasuring experiences, and during actual sexual intimacy, the patient can be encouraged to use dissociation in a healthy and constructive way, to separate themselves from their sexual fears and negative cognitions about their sexual functioning. Hammond 1990 describes strategies for patients to distance themselves from an excessive focus on their sexual functioning. The approach described is equally applicable to...
Dissociative And Placebo Components Of Hypnotic Pain Management
The significant contributions to understanding the nature of acute pain that have been made in the hypnosis literature will not be reviewed. The meticulous psychophysical studies of experimental pain conducted by Hilgard 1969, 1977 and others have shown that there is a lawful relationship between the intensity of the noxious stimulation and the subjective experience of transient, acute pain, which also holds for the reduction of pain following hypnotic analgesia. Most experimental studies of...
Pacifier Finger And Thumb Sucking
According to the authors of 'Oral Habits A Behavioral Approach' Peterson amp Schneider, 1991 'Some 13 to 45 of children are reported to suck their digits. Practically all children who eventually take up the habit do so during their first few months. By 3.5 to 4 years of age, most children have discontinued the habit spontaneously. The severity and even presence of deleterious effects of finger sucking depends on the habit's frequency, duration, intensity, and position of the finger in the...
Conclusion 1
In summary, the selection of the client for hypnosis is a relational process in which both the client and clinician bring many variables to the therapeutic table. The hypnotic responsiveness of the client, individual differences and the positive expectancies the client holds, or those which are established with the client, are all important variables in the assessment and preparation of a client. There are no known dangers inherent to hypnosis, but contributing factors to 'negative effects' are...
Hyperarousal
The fourth criterion involves hyperarousal symptoms trouble falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance, and an exaggerated startled response. Two such symptoms are required. The reader may notice that in many ways these symptoms seem inconsistent. How can one be numb, detached and avoidant and at the same time have intrusive flashbacks and nightmares The crucial issue is that the cluster of PTSD symptoms is a combination of intrusion...
Contraindications
There are only a few instances in which hypnosis should not be used, and these mostly have to do with the skill of the therapist. Hypnosis should not be used with any presenting problem that the clinician is unprepared to treat without hypnosis. When a client's presenting problem is outside the clinician's field of expertise the client should be referred elsewhere. Every clinician has had the experience of meeting a client they would rather not treat. It is advisable to refer them elsewhere, as...