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Presenter: David S. Gordon, PHD & Cynthia Costas Cohen, M.A, MFT

Guided imagery techniques have been incorporated into the healing traditions of cultures dating back to ancient times. This seminar will focus on a dynamic form of guided imagery that has many parallels to Ericksonian approaches to hypnosis, including:
1. Similarities regarding the hypnotherapist-client dialogue;
2. The critical role of the therapist to track the image process along with the client;
3. The importance of fully accepting and utilizing the client’s reality;
4. The client is revealing an unconscious reality filled with symbols and referents laden with affect that is being experienced in the moment with the spontaneity that precludes conscious filtering and analysis.

The hypnotherapist in this approach, similar to Ericksonian hypnosis, has the advantage of understanding clients’ unconscious worlds to facilitate interactions with guide figures and symbols to foster behavioral change. The metaphorical nature of language in imagery allows symptoms to be worked with directly without the client experiencing intolerable anxiety that previously had inhibited their ability to confront symptoms and alter the ways they responded to them. Rather than following a more scripted, structured format, the hypnotherapist interacts more spontaneously with the client, monitoring clients’ affective experience such that they neither become overwhelmed by feelings nor demonstrate automatic avoidance behaviors that protect them from affect at the cost of engaging more proactively in the imagery, and ultimately, in their own lives.

During and at the conclusion of this session, the attendee will be able to:
-> List the basic skills necessary to utilize this dynamic guided imagery approach with patients.
-> Differentiate between psychological approaches to interpreting imagery content also will be discussed;
-> Articulate how and when to utilize this guided imagery approach with their own patients;
-> Describe new therapeutic techniques that can be added to their repertoire of hypnotic techniques, enabling them to work more efficiently and effectively with a wider range of patients; and
-> Discern how and when to implement this therapeutic approach within their own practice.