In therapeutic trance, a person releases from rigid ego positions, thereby opening to the resources and healing capacities of the creative unconscious. In this process, nonverbal communications—such as limbic resonance, felt sense, somatic centering, and musicality—are of central importance. The workshop explores how therapists may attune to these nonverbal patterns and utilize them to develop and guide creative trance work.
Clients progress by the realizations they achieve in treatment. Evocative methods prompt conceptual realizations that prompt adaptive states and identities. Experiential methods derived from hypnosis can be applied with and without formal trance.
The use of guided imagery using hypnosis will be demonstrated with a volunteer as a method of doing brief therapy. The volunteer may present a physical or behavioral difficulty for this demonstration. Also demonstrated will be the use of physical anchors.
This clinical demonstration will explore how the skillful use of therapeutic trance can produce positive change. A six step model will be demonstrated: (1) Opening a positive connection, (2) goal setting, (3) cultivating a relational trance field, (4) including client parts into field, (5) transforming identify patterns, (6) bringing changes into real world.
Individuals are often referred for mind-body oriented pain management services concerned that the referring physician thinks that their pain is not real or that it is “all in my head”. The way in which such concerns are addressed and the relationship between mind and body is explained to patients will be demonstrated.
Dissociation is a critical element in hypnosis. But its converse, association, is highly useful in generating individualized hypnotic therapy. This demonstration will illustrate the importance of utilizing associations of both the subject and the hypnotist.
Posttraumatic stress disorder consists of a complex of symptoms including hyper arousal, social withdrawal and intrusions. The panelists will describe commonalities and differences in their approach to PTSD.
Hypnosis has an extensive history and research findings about its use with functional problems. Panelists will describe their experience in the medical applications of hypnosis.
A well-known self-hypnosis technique will be taught in a way that it is at the same time a first trance induction for a client. There will be one demonstration client but at the same the whole group can learn the approach too. This includes an old oriental story of the lion who saw his face in the water. At the end it will be discussed how this approach can be tailored for individual clients and modified for many goals: treating chronic pain, phobias, sleeping disorders, etc.