International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis - E-Lib FK UWKS

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International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis. Edited by G. D. Burrows, R. O. Stanley, P. B. Bloom
Copyright # 2001 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBNs: 0-471-97009-3 Hardback); 0-470-84640-2 Electronic)
Hypnosis and Depression
GRAHAM D. BURROWS and SANDRA G. BOUGHTON
University of Melbourne, Australia;University of Western Australia,
Australia
Depression is a frequently occurring disorder with estimates of the lifetime risk
for Major Depressive Disorder varying from 10 to 25% for women and from 5 to
12% for men. Signi®cant levels of depression are also associated with many other
major disorders, such as chronic pain. There appears to be a widespread assumption
that hypnosis has no role, indeed is inappropriate, in the management of
depression. In Australia, over the past 10 years, material presented for examination
by the Australian Hypnosis Society or for publication in the Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Hypnosis has not included any detailed description of
clinical or experimental work on the use of hypnosis in the treatment of
depression. The understanding has been that expert opinion regards hypnosis as
contraindicated for the management of individuals presenting with depression. It
would seem that the situation has not signi®cantly changed since Burrows 1980)
concluded that
It would seem nevertheless that most experienced clinicians teach that severe
depressive illness is a de®nite contraindication to hypnosis. Although they teach this,
depressive illness appears to have received, for such an exceedingly common medical
problem, minimal attention in most modern reference books on hypnosis. A possible
interpretation is that the authors concerned may believe hypnosis has little place in the
therapy of depression. p. 167)
CURRENT OPINION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
HYPNOSIS AND DEPRESSION
A review of the literature indicates that the consensus of opinion is not, in fact,
strongly opposed to the use of hypnosis in the treatment of depression.
Commentators vary, however, in their readiness to accept the use of hypnosis
unconditionally . Yapko 1992) advocates a broad-based acceptance: `As for the
speci®c contraindications to the use of hypnosis, it may seem a bold statement
to make, but I am aware of no such contraindications' p. 186). Clarke &
International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis. Edited by G. D. Burrows, R. O. Stanley and P. B. Bloom
# 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd