Audio recording

Presenter: Laurence Sugarman, MD, ABMH, FASCH

Clinical hypnosis needs empiric grounding and clear definition if it is to achieve its potential to transform heath and care. This presentation starts by redefining hypnosis, trance and mind in an effort to drive consensus. Then we will explore how this framing of hypnosis, when used in therapy of young people with developmental differences, provides new ways of seeing them and their ?diffabilities.? Specifically, the response of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to hypnosis and biofeedback in therapy has led to a novel autonomic dysregulation theory of ASD and, so, creative combinations of hypnosis and biofeedback in self-regulation training with them. We will describe these therapeutic initiatives and the results from preliminary clinical studies. Finally, since we all share degrees of developmental ?diffabilities,? we will scale back up and speculate on the how the integration of hypnosis and biofeedback into health and care, as means to foster psychophysiological self-regulation, can build both resilience and flexibility in young minds, of any age.