International Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis - E-Lib FK UWKS

TRAINING IN HYPNOSIS 29
therapy understood and enhanced the next time? We all know that hearing
audiotapes or seeing videotapes of our therapy with our patients evoke the same
thoughts and words in our minds that occurred during the actual therapyÐeven if
the therapy occurred years before. Unexpressed of course during the process of
therapy, these inner deliberations can be shared in a small group setting devoted to
examining the mind of the therapist. It is these inner deliberations, not solely the
actual patient±therapist dialogues, that shed the most light on our work.
The third session focusses on treating the `untreatable'patient. Dif®cult patients
force the therapist to return to basic concepts of history, mental status, diagnosis,
and treatment planning. Issues of transference and countertransference must
be examined freshly and often by consultation with colleagues. I believe Carl
Whitaker 1950) once said `Every impasse is an impasse in the therapist.'Yet some
patients are simply unable to summon suf®cient motivation to change. Others, of
course, experience symptoms derived from unknown biological disorders that resist
psychological interventions. All patients bene®t from a supportive therapeutic
alliance which enhances ego building and coping mechanisms. Teaching selfhypnosis
enables these simple goals to be accomplished in almost every case.
The next two sessions focus on using hypnosis in short-term and long-term
therapy with special emphasis on problems with memory retrieval. In this advanced
workshop, the participant's own case material is shared by the group and the
direction of the workshop is shaped and re®ned by these particular interests. It is
necessary to create a context of trust to facilitate this sharing, and yet it still remains
dif®cult to encourage these presentations and thereby exposure of the participant's
case material. This problem rests both in the persisting hesitancy to use hypnosis in
clinical practice, and in discomfort in reviewing publicly one's basic psychotherapy
skills. The leader must set the example by presenting his or her own dif®cult patients
and the process of dealing with them Bloom, in press). He or she must also be aware
that the group will readily allow the allotted time to pass in this way without
presenting their own cases. Occasionally an eager participant will monopolize all the
time, again allowing other members the opportunity to remain silent. Experience in
group dynamics and a clear understanding of the educational goals of the workshop
helps the leader to navigate these seemingly con¯icting agendas. These are the
challenges and rewards of good adult education.
The sixth and seventh sessions go to the heart of the advanced workshop. In all
creative therapy, true art occurs when science is fused with intuition Bloom,
1990). Learning to rely on one's intuition or hunches takes time and willingness to
trust oneself. Weaving these insights into the fabric of an individual's psychotherapy
often advances the process of therapy in useful ways. When participants
become more comfortable in ®nding responsible freedom to be creative in their
work, they begin to ®nd their style or `voice'in their work. This path of learning
leads to the knowledge that they are healers: it is the art and process of becoming a
therapist. In learning hypnosis and psychotherapy, each workshop member is
rewarded for examining his or her success and failures. However, while expanding