International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis - E-Lib FK UWKS

28 INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS
A ®nal note on enhancing creativity in one's practice is made, and future
advanced workshops designed to cultivate these attributes in each participant, are
presented and encouraged.
ADVANCED WORKSHOP: APPROVED AND ACCEPTABLE BY
ASCH AND SCEH
Four months later, an advanced workshop in Clinical Methods in Hypnosis and
Psychotherapy: Integration and Applications is offered. The art of psychotherapy
depends on the individual therapist as well as his or her individual patients. The
advanced workshop as given is different from the workshops usually given in
annual meetings of the National Constituent Societies of the International Society
of Hypnosis. Usually an intermediate workshop is given to further one's experience
with deepening techniques and using hypnosis in more complicated clinical cases,
before advanced workshops in treating speci®c syndromes such as chronic pain,
cancer, post-traumatic stress disorders, sexual problems, anxiety disorders, and
dissociative identity disorders formerly Multiple Personality Disorders) are presented.
My own advanced workshop, presented here, shifts the emphasis from the
problems of the patient/client to the professional development of the therapist. Let
us examine what an `ideal'advanced workshop might look like in this regard.
Creating a strong therapeutic alliance is the essential basis of successful
psychotherapy. The context in which this relationship develops must be understood.
The `demand characteristics'described by Orne 1962) in the laboratory also
contribute to the outcome of therapy in the clinical setting. With this in mind, I
begin the ®rst workshop session with a detailed examination of the setting of my
own of®ce: the location of the windows and doors, the arrangement of the chairs
and bookshelves, and the creation of various visual lines to create a sense of
comfort. It is not surprising, and in fact it was the speci®c requirement I had for
creating my of®ce, that each new patient would respond, when asked for the ®rst
word to come to their minds when sitting down, with `comfortable'.
Once the context of the of®ce is described, the personal styles of various
therapists, both contemporary and historical, are discussed. While there should be
no ideal style, emerging styles that are unique to each therapist should be
recognized and encouraged as valuable. Finding one's voice as a therapist is a
lifetime task Bloom, 1995a,b). Selecting the `right'patient and learning to treat
the `wrong'patient are challenges that can lead to therapist and patient growth.
How to identify and strengthen the unique styles of each participant is the main
task of the group's leader in collaboration with the other members of the workshop.
The next session examines the `mind of the therapist', a concept originated by
Bernauer W. Newton, PhD personal communication, 1988). By presenting our
mutual cases, we elaborate what we were thinking as the therapy unfolded and
clinical choices in therapy were made. When is hypnosis utilized, what is the nature
of the interventions, what are the goals of treatment, and how are the results of