Supervised clinical training in the use of hypnosis
Every year I help clinical students become familiar with the use of hypnosis. Usually this is done in a small informal group (five or six students) who are treating patients in the UT Psychological clinic. Occasionally I teach a formal course, but in any event, what I write below captures the spirit and content of training.
This applied seminar provides basic knowledge and skills for using hypnosis in psychotherapy, with special emphasis on short-term psychoanalytically informed approaches. Hypnotizability, hypnotic phenomena, all major theoretical positions, and treatment applications will be covered. Basic skills in inductions and deepening, use and construction of suggestions, and treatment planning are taught through discussion, demonstrations, videotape case material and student case presentation. Considerable attention is paid to theory and research matters. Clinical topics include:
- HYPNOTHERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF PAIN DISORDERS
- HYPNOSIS AND PTSD
- HYPNOTHERAPY WITH CHILDREN
- INDICATIONS AND CONTRAINDICATIONS OF HYPNOSIS
- HYPNOSIS IN PEDIATRIC MEDICINE
- HYPNOSIS WITH PSYCHOTIC AND BORDERLINE PATIENTS
- APPLICATIONS OF HYPNOSIS IN BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE
- HYPNOSIS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS
- OBESITY, SMOKING CESSATION, AND EATING DISORDERS
- HYPNOSIS IS THE EMERGENCY ROOM
The work will be structured in an advanced seminar format, with students expected to discuss the assigned readings in light of their own clinical work, both present and past. While the instructor will guide and clarify the discussion, he will rarely lecture per se. Almost all seminar meeting will include three components: discussion of readings; demonstration and practice of techniques; and videotape demonstrations of actual clinical work.
Here is the syllabu for the clinical course