AD25 Workshop 01 - Process-Oriented Hypnosis: Expanding Targets of Depression Treatment - Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D.

Workshop 01 - Process-Oriented Hypnosis: Expanding Targets of Depression Treatment

“You’re unique…just like everyone else.” This statement highlights a challenging conundrum: if everyone is special then is anyone special? Anyone who has been doing therapy for any significant length of time will likely have noticed that while each person is unique as an individual, their problems are often remarkably redundant: here’s yet another person suffering with an anxiety disorder, another couple suffering in a distressed and depressing marriage, and another person feeling unhappy with life, and so on. Is the problem in them? Or is it in their process, i.e., the steps they follow leading to distress? By asking ‘how’ questions rather than ‘why,” we can more readily identify unhelpful processes and know where to intervene. In this address, I’ll describe how hypnosis can be used to help build better processes that are lifeenhancing.

When people follow ineffective sequences, identifiable steps that lead them down a symptom-producing path of experience, anyone following those same steps will end up in the same psychological place. Individual differences matter less: it no longer matters how many academic degrees they might have, or what their job is, or what they like to do on their days off. For as long as they continue to do whatever they do (cognitively, behaviorally, emotionally, interpersonally, etc.) in the same problematic way, the unfortunate outcome can be quite predictable. The problem is not in them. Rather, it’s in their process.

Based on Dr. Yapko’s recent book, Process-Oriented Hypnosis: Focusing on the Forest, Not the Trees, the advantages of a macro-view of people’s problems will be described as a complement to the more typical micro-views clinicians focus upon. The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis gave this book its esteemed Arthur Shapiro Award for being the “best book on hypnosis in 2021.”

Educational Objectives:

1. To describe and discuss recent studies on the role of over-general cognitive style in treatment response.

2. To demonstrate how general language can generate specific effects in the listener.

3. To list and describe the key components of a “process-oriented hypnosis”