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The Advantages and Limitations of Standardized Clinical Hypnosis Treatment: When, why and how to develop and use scripted treatment protocols

Olafur Palsson, PsyD

Successful practice of clinical hypnosis depends in part on customization of the intervention for each client based on the client's unique characteristics and responses, as well as the expertise and clinical artistry of the therapist. However, standardized hypnosis following written scripts can also be effective for certain health problems and can provide important advantages. For example, it can enable large numbers of therapists to easily apply the same exact methods that have been tested and shown efficacious in clinical trials, thereby making highly credible and reliably effective evidence-based treatment widely available. On the other hand, scripted protocols are not easily applied to presenting problems that have no clear symptom pattern or no firm diagnosis, and they may not be as effective as an individualized approach with clients with atypical symptoms or where unusual factors cause or maintain the symptoms.

In this presentation, Dr. Palsson will discuss the value and limitations of scripted hypnosis treatment, summarize what is needed to develop a generally useful and effective standardized treatment protocol, and discuss the future of scripted treatment in the field of clinical hypnosis.