Traditional therapy presumes that treating anxiety produces healthier sleep without specific intervention. By shifting therapy to focusing on sleep first via collaborating on comforting bedtime stories, clients can rapidly acquire self-hypnosis skills for their present and future. This strategic process focuses on sleeplessness first by reframing the client's anxiety metaphorically, utilizing the client's strengths and recalling natural sleep rhythms.
By tapping in on the child's natural tendency for curiosity and mastery, and utilizing the natural everyday hypnotic communication patterns within the family, it is possible to create a therapeutic "hypnotic space" within the family. The use of brief hypnotherapy from a family therapy frame can help the child/adolescent disengage from the individualistic problematic view, increasing the possibility for more lasting generative changes. Special attention will be given to the role of parents as active participants in this therapeutic process.
The presenters will describe specific strategies for naturalistic trance induction and utilization. Emphasis will be on the adaptation and application of brief Ericksonian techniques, methods of naturalistic trance induction, deepening techniques and process instructions utilized to stimulate participants into shifting their perceptual positions and thinking about things differently.
Over the past 20 years Dr. Rossi has innovatively expanded Ericksonian work by demonstrating its connections to microbiology, chemistry, physics, chaos theory and mathematics. This course will explore the relationship and relevance of Dr. Rossi's mind- body work to other forms of psychotherapy. We will learn how mind-body work utilizes and integrates many of the core processes used in the work of Winnecott, Klein, Jung, Gestalt, Masterson, Kohut and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
"Paradox" is a frequently used term, but less frequently understood and effectively used in brief therapy. This dynamic and light-hearted presentation will borrow Weber's widely accepted construct of Just Noticeable Difference to make the case for Erickson's "tipping the first domino" with pattern analysis and paradoxical intervention. This approach to psychotherapy will be demonstrated and discussed using case examples from the presenter and the participants.
Hypnotherapy has been an under-used tool in social work. However, the principles of Ericksonian hypnotherapy are quite congruent with social work especially in serving at risk populations. Examples of how to use Ericksonian hypnotherapy and evaluate outcomes with at risk populations will be presented.
Appropriate hypnotic treatment planning can facilitate the process of moving through crisis into subsequent stages of health. Physiological issues of pain and discomfort can contribute greatly in the psychological distress in patients. Participants will learn the fundamentals of solution-focused treatment planning for health-challenged populations.
What are the causes of fundamentalism and militant behavior? Can we clearly understand or define terrorism? This presentation will examine the root causes of radicalism and religious militancy and will explore how Milton Erickson would have dealt with these emerging and recent phenomena. We will attempt to address these sensitive, timely matters through open discussion among participants and analyze the psychosocial nature of terrorism and its impact on people.
The diagnosis of cancer brings with it a host of psychological as well as physical challenges. Interactive imagery can help patients restore their sense of control when their coping abilities are both most needed and most challenged. In this presentation we will review at least four evidence-based techniques that can help restore a patient's coping and decision-making abilities, stimulate their immunity and help them reduce the adverse effects of surgery, chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.
Few cases are as difficult for therapists as those involving the intentional harm of one family member against another. This course provides participants the fundamentals of the model for treating family injustice developed by The Family Therapist Institute Midwest and presented in the new book, Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System: Strategies for Systemic Advocacy and Family Healing. Didactic, participant discussion and videotape examples explain the model and its application.