Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy

Contents: Basic Principles: Symptoms, Families, & Hypnosis Stages of an Interview Exchanges of Power in the Therapeutic Relationship Role of Family Interactions in Inducing Symptoms Case Study of a Hemophiliac Case Study of a Suicidal Woman Adapting Intervention Strategies to Particular Problems In 1983, Dr. Michele Ritterman wrote Using Hypnosis in Family Therapy, the first systemic integration of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy and Structural Family Therapy. In this classic text she pioneered and developed the concept of the symptom as a trance state and compiled the first study of natural interactive trance inductive sequences and coordinated therapy counter-sequences. The focus of the book leads to a new view of the symptom as a "gift" in a series of therapeutic exchange rituals. In the words of Daniel Araoz, M.D., "What the family is doing ineffectively and counterproductively can be turned around for their benefit. The awareness of this aspect of family communication we owe to Ritterman (1983), whose "dialectical" approach to family therapy is a welcome relief from the rigid systemic approach elevated recently to the status of religious dogma in many family therapy circles (The New Hypnosis, 1985, p. 106).