Significant Developments in Clinical Hypnosis During the Past 25 Years

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In the past 25 years, important changes have taken place in clinical hypnosis. It has become scientifically respectable as the field has moved from publishing anecdotal case reports to testing hypotheses on significant samples of patient populations. In addition, new treatment approaches have been introduced, foremost among them hypnoanalysis of psychotic, borderline, narcissistic, and post-traumatic stress disorders, as well as hypno-behavioral methods for the treatment of habit disorders and somatic and psychosomatic diseases. The former treatment approaches combine hypnotic techniques with the newer psychoanalytic methods derived from object relations and self-theories; the latter combine hypnosis with the methods of behavioral medicine and attempt to teach the patient voluntary control over ordinarily involuntary somatic processes. In general, while formerly the therapeutic use of hypnosis involved mainIy direct and indirect suggestion, in the last 25 years hypnotherapists of all persuasions have become more and more convinced of the important role imagery plays in the application of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. Several areas of clinical application are described.

This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit: