The Handbook of Hypnotic Phenomena in Psychotherapy
My notes on this book will be fairly selective. I’m already not a big fan of Erickson, and if you’re reading my website for ideas on therapy you’re turbo-fucked. These are mostly notes for me - so you’ll be reading my own perspectives and rants intermixed ambiguously with the authors. Otherwise this whole document would turn into a ton of “but I think bla bla bla.”
Part 1 - Preludes
Section titled “Part 1 - Preludes”1. An Overview of Ericksonian Hypnosis
Section titled “1. An Overview of Ericksonian Hypnosis”- The book is pleasantly forthcoming about its Ericksonian perspective.
- Trance is a substrate for creating phenomenal change that can affect the client’s daily life.
- Indirect suggestion is good for implication, or when direct suggestion would just make the symptoms worse.
- Ericksonian hypnosis creates a process for change, working with the parts of the problem, rather than directly attacking it. The style is designed to guide and give permission rather than demand. It also attempts to empower the client to use (and find) their own resources, rather than giving them new tools.
- The Ericksonian approach also encourages tailoring suggestions to the client’s needs.
- “Multilevel Communication” is supposed to change the client’s behavior or experience in unrelated areas without them being aware. Their example is talking about how to savor a meal (highlighting sensory stimulation) to improve someone’s sex life. Or doing what hypnotists always do - taking credit for things the subject did.
- Utilization, from a classic Ericksonian perspective, is about using what’s already there. EG - a client’s hypervigilance, instead of being fought against, could be used to absorb them into an experience.
- Thank fucking god they warn people against using hypnosis in forensic applications.
This quote on contraindications is… pertinent and a bit amusing for a recreational context.
Some conditions, however, do require an advanced amount of knowledge of hypnosis and special parameters because of the risk of severe regression, the emergence of overwhelming affect states, or personality disorganization. Treating psychotics or severely character-disordered clients would be included in this category (Edgette, 1988). Sometimes hypnosis is ontraindicated because of what it means to a client; one example of this is the client who insists on seeing hypnosis as a way of giving up responsibility for solving a problem. Another example is the client with a very eroticized transference who insists on construing the hypnotic session in sexualized terms.
Page 9, Edgette, J. H., & Edgette, J. S. (2013). Handbook of Hypnotic Phenomena in Psychotherapy. In Routledge eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203777268
2. What Are Hypnotic Phenomena?
Section titled “2. What Are Hypnotic Phenomena?”- Trance phenomena can occur outside of formal hypnosis (EG - age regression could be interpreted as a child ego state or transference reaction in other modalities.)
- The author wants to disambiguate characteristics of trance from hypnotic phenomena. Trance shit happens automatically (physiological and cognitive shifts) and is used as an indicator (in my view, a readiness to respond,) where phenomena is created deliberately.
- There’s a list of hypnotic phenomena here with short descriptions. It might be useful as a shopping list but I’m not going to list them all out since they’ll be covering techniques later.
- They provide a few conceptualizations of hypnotic dissociation - which I personally want more concrete descriptions of beyond “a feeling.” Here’s what they’ve got…
- A separation of the conscious and unconscious
- ”… a separation of emotions from thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.” (p14)
- “systems of ideas are split off from the normal personality and operate independently” (p14, from Hilgard)
- Personal note - despite sociocognitive research, they still cite trance as a precursor for other hypnotic phenomena 9.9
- 💩 Aw ugh - they’re already talking about repressed memories… I don’t like where this is going.
- Hyperthesia might be worth looking up some time. (Enhanced feeling. I’m not sure the mechanism is related but I swear I’ve serendipitously bumped into this one a few times.)
- One idea is to shape unwanted behavior in hypnosis. EG - creating the phenomena in hypnosis, then giving the client control of the phenomena, then they can apply that skill outside of hypnosis.
- They make an argument for an “experimentalist” approach… which… I think misses the point of academic research but I like the conclusion. Work with your partner/client to create phenomena within their abilities.
- They include the usual list of cross-correlation between hypnotic phenomena in measurement scales… which I feel is useless in recreational practice. Ideomotor suggestions are usually low-hanging fruit. If I was practicing as a therapist, I’d probably go for a hand-stick to check for readiness to respond then go directly for components of the phenomena I wanted to elicit. In person, I’d probably enjoy the nerdery of being administered a formal scale.
- They suggest Quick and Convenient Assessment of Hypnotic Depth: Self Report Scales for measuring depth.
- Creating phenomena may be relationship dependent. (Or - the no shit version, you need to build trust and expectation.)
3. With a Buffet Spread Like That, How Do I Know What to Eat? Selecting Hypnotic Phenomena
Section titled “3. With a Buffet Spread Like That, How Do I Know What to Eat? Selecting Hypnotic Phenomena”This fucking chapter title. These fucking section headings. 🧡