-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
hypnotherapy
overview
psychospiritual approaches

definition

"Therapeutic hypnosis can be more adequately conceptualized from a psychobiological perspective rather than from the traditional but misleading perspective of hypnosis as a programming of mind and behavior." Erickson characterized programming as a 'very uniformed way' of attempting to do hypnotherapy. Erickson's indirect approach utilizes the mind's own naturalistic means of self healing, without the intrusion of direct suggestions that could only be expressive of the therapist's limited view of how the cure 'should' take place. This form of hypnotherapy is very different from the classical approach of using direct suggestion to 'command away' or inhibit a symptom. The therapy takes place not by a hypnotic command imprinted on the subject's mind, but by circumventing what Erickson called 'learned limitations' and accessing therapeutic response potentials that already exist within the subject.

These approaches are all explorations of how to actualize human potential rather than manipulate and control behavior. The process is to access state-dependent memory, learning, and behavior systems and to make the encoded information available for problem solving. The locus for control of the healing process remains within the patient at all times, and their words, attitudes, and world views are the most desired routes to accessing the problem areas. The therapist is a facilitator, guide, consultant. The approach is usually problem-centered because 'problems' are paths to a person's 'growing edge.' Symptoms are often signals of the need for personal development. Tuning into a symptom with an attitude of respectful inquiry rather than the usual stance of avoidance, resistance, and rejection is the first step towards accessing the state-dependent memories and associations that may be signals from those parts of the personality that are in need of expressive development (individuation).
The basic premise is that "every access is a reframe." Every time we access the state-dependent memory, learning, and behavior processes that encode a problem, we have an opportunity to 'reassociate and reorganize', or reframe that problem in a manner that resolves it. As with all mind-body connections, psychosomatic problems are highly individualized expressions of the learnings and life experiences of each person that have been encoded as state-bound information and behavior.

Three step routines for problem solving:
The essence of all the therapeutic approaches that follow can be found in the basic accessing formula. It does not involve imprinting, conditioning, or programming the subject but rather utilizes the 'implied directive.' The method provides a framework for the patient's access to the state-bound encoding of the problem, and facilitates information transduction (conversion or transformation of information from one form to another) so that inner healing can take place.
(Rossi, 1986, p. 66-95)

see:
bodymind psychobiology
converting a symptom to a signal
holographic consciousness
human energy fields: overview
hypnotherapy: guidelines and precautions
hypnotherapy techniques: basic accessing; problem solving; incubating;
healing; symptom scaling; trance
process paradigm
reframing
relaxation techniques
self-hypnosis
shadow and physical symptoms
shifting cerebral hemispheric dominance
state-dependent learning
transference and countertransference
ultradian rhythms


footnotes