Formats: MP3 Download $16   |   Compact Disc $20

Presenter: Michael Yapko, PhD

Hypnosis isn’t a therapy and the mere performance of hypnosis doesn’t cure people. Rather, hypnosis provides an environment in which people can discover resources and abilities that can give rise to powerful transformations. In this presentation, the first half will explore the subjective patterns that can lead one into depression. In the second half, we will have an opportunity to watch and analyze a clinical hypnosis session with a 34 year old man suffering comorbid depression and anxiety, specifically PTSD arising from a history of ongoing violence at the hands of his father throughout his childhood. How hypnosis targets specific patterns of this man’s symptomatic experience will be explained throughout the viewing of the session, and follow-up information about this single-session intervention will be provided. The presentation thus emphasizes the importance of using hypnosis to empower the disempowered and provide a means for re-defining oneself in more expansive terms.

Attendees will learn that the more clearly therapeutic goals are defined and the more well elaborated the paths to those goals, the more beneficial hypnotic interventions are likely to be. Depression in particular responds well to the goal-oriented structure of good clinical hypnosis sessions, and to the inherent belief in performing hypnosis that people have more resources than they realize. Thus, attendees will learn the value of strength-oriented, skill-building interventions rather than either analyzing the presumed meaning of symptoms or merely offering support.

During and at the conclusion of this session, the attendee will be able to:
-> Identify specific patterns of self-organization that increase one’s risk for suffering depression;
-> Construct goal-oriented hypnosis sessions that target specific risk factors for depression;
-> Formulate interventions based on individual risk factors for depression rather than global treatments such as prescribing medication alone; and
-> Apply observed interviewing skills into a hypnosis session that identifies and addresses specific skill deficits by constructing skill-building interventions.