Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Types of Hypnotherapy

I was researching the forms and techniques of Hypnotherapy and I decided that the best information can all be found on Wikipedia.

The following information has been summarised from Wikipedia's Hypnotherapy page.




Traditional hypnotherapy
The form most commonly practiced. Employs direct suggestion of symptom removal with some use of therapeutic relaxation.



Hypnoanalysis
“Sigmund Freud (photo below) and Joseph Bruer used hypnosis to regress clients to an earlier age in order to help them remember…repressed traumatic memories.”



Ericksonian hypnotherapy

Developed by Milton H Erikson (photo below), “one of the most influential hypnotists of the 20th century”.
"Erickson made use of a more informal conversational approach with many clients and complex language patterns, and therapeutic strategies…Erickson's work continues to be one of the most influential forces in modern hypnotherapy.”


Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a methodology similar in some regards to hypnotism (has roots in Eriksonian Hypnotherapy).

Cognitive/behavioral hypnotherapy***
“Combined hypnotherapy with elements of cognitive and behaviour therapy. In 1974, Theodore Barber and his colleagues published an influential review of the research which argued, following the earlier social psychology of Theodore R. Sarbin, that hypnotism was better understood not as a "special state" but as the result of normal psychological variables, such as active imagination, expectation, appropriate attitudes, and motivation. Barber introduced the term "cognitive-behavioral" to describe the nonstate theory of hypnotism, and discussed its application to behavior therapy.”

“The growing application of cognitive and behavioral psychological theories and concepts to the explanation of hypnosis paved the way for a closer integration of hypnotherapy with various cognitive and behavioral therapies. However, many cognitive and behavioral therapies were themselves originally influenced by older hypnotherapy techniques, e.g., the systematic desensitisation of Joseph Wolpe, the cardinal technique of early behavior therapy, was originally called "hypnotic desensitisation" and derived from the Medical Hypnotism (1948) of Lewis Wolberg.

The traditional style of hypnotherapy can be seen as a precursor of cognitive-behavioral therapy insofar as both place emphasis upon "common sense" theoretical explanations and the use of relaxation, and rehearsal of positive ideas and imagery in therapy.

Modern cognitive therapy primarily differs from previous hypnotherapy approaches by placing much greater emphasis upon the direct Socratic disputation of negative beliefs. However, cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapists, like those mentioned in this section, have assimilated this technique alongside their use of hypnosis.”

*the closest fit that I could find to the Hypnotherapy technique that I have experienced.

New Age hypnotherapy
“Many New Age therapists employ past-life regression which usually combines belief in reincarnation with techniqes of hypnotic regression ultimately derived from Sigmund Freud.”
I highly recommend you visit Wikipedia’s Hypnotherapy page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotherapy