The ability to "play" in life and in the mind is a key to both the creative process and to general happiness in life. In this workshop, as in my work, I will use techniques of hypnotherapy to help participants to tap into their creative unconscious minds to enhance their abilities to play and create.
By tapping in on the child's natural tendency for curiosity and mastery, and utilizing the natural everyday hypnotic communication patterns within the family, it is possible to create a therapeutic "hypnotic space" within the family. The use of brief hypnotherapy from a family therapy frame can help the child/adolescent disengage from the individualistic problematic view, increasing the possibility for more lasting generative changes. Special attention will be given to the role of parents as active participants in this therapeutic process.
Hypnotherapy has been an under-used tool in social work. However, the principles of Ericksonian hypnotherapy are quite congruent with social work especially in serving at risk populations. Examples of how to use Ericksonian hypnotherapy and evaluate outcomes with at risk populations will be presented.
Hypnosis is an experiential method of "gift wrapping" ideas. With or without formal trance, hypnotic methods can be used in the assessment and intervention process of couples therapy.
Educational Objectives:
To describe the three-step Basic Accessing Question to facilitate reactive reorganization of the problem.
To demonstrate two variations of the Basic Accessing Question in Depth Psychotherapy.
The evolution of psychotherapeutic methods over the past 200 years from Mesmer through the psychoanalytic schools, behaviorism and current cognitive psychology tells a fascinating tale of our evolving understanding of human nature. In this address we will trace the development of fundamental techniques such as suggestion, free association, active imagination, gestalt dialogue, focusing, Erickson's indirect approaches and what I now call "The Basic Accessing Question."