Editing Hypnotherapy (section)

== Definition ==
The United States Department of Labor's ''[[Dictionary of Occupational Titles]]'' (DOT) describes the job of the hypnotherapist:<blockquote>"Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior patterns: Consults with client to determine nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic state by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degree of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client, using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client's problem. May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oalj.dol.gov/PUBLIC/DOT/REFERENCES/DOT01C.HTM |title=Dictionary of Occupational Titles: Hypnotherapist (079.157-010) |publisher=[[U.S. Department of Labor]], Office of Administrative Law Judges |access-date=2017-11-15}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Traditional ===
The form of hypnotherapy practiced by most [[Victorian era|Victorian]] hypnotists, including [[James Braid (surgeon)|James Braid]] and [[Hippolyte Bernheim]], mainly employed [[Hypnosis#Post-hypnotic suggestion|direct suggestion]] of symptom removal, with some use of therapeutic [[Relaxation technique|relaxation]] and occasionally [[aversion therapy|aversion]] to alcohol, drugs, etc.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Kraft T, Kraft D |title=Covert sensitization revisited: six case studies |journal=Contemporary Hypnosis |year=2005 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=202–209 |doi=10.1002/ch.10}}</ref>

=== Ericksonian ===
In the 1950s, [[Milton H. Erickson]] developed a radically different approach to hypnotism, which has subsequently become known as "Ericksonian hypnotherapy" or "Neo-Ericksonian hypnotherapy." Based on his belief that dysfunctional behaviors were defined by social tension, Erickson coopted the subject's behavior to establish rapport, a strategy he termed "utilization." Once rapport was established, he made use of an informal conversational approach to direct awareness. His methods included complex language patterns and client-specific therapeutic strategies (reflecting the nature of utilization). He claimed to have developed ways to suggest behavior changes during apparently ordinary conversations.<ref>"Deep Hypnosis and Its Induction," M. Erickson, ''Experimental Hypnosis'', Leslie M. LeCron (ed.), New York, Macmillan: 70-114<!-- I can't find this book online; if anyone could check this reference, I'd deeply appreciate it --></ref>

This divergence from tradition led some, including [[André Muller Weitzenhoffer|Andre Weitzenhoffer]], to dispute whether Erickson was right to label his approach "hypnosis" at all.<ref name="Weitzenhoffer 2000">{{cite book |vauthors=Weitzenhoffer AM |title=The practice of hypnotism|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|year=2000|isbn=9780471297901|edition=2nd |location=|oclc=606253084}}</ref> Erickson's foundational paper, however, considers hypnosis as a mental state in which specific types of "work" may be done, rather than a technique of induction.<ref>"Deep Hypnosis and Its Induction," M. Erickson, ''Experimental Hypnosis'', Leslie M. LeCron (ed.), New York, Macmillan: 70–114.</ref>

The founders of [[neuro-linguistic programming]] (NLP), a method somewhat similar in some regards to some versions of hypnotherapy, claimed that they had modelled the work of Erickson extensively and assimilated it into their approach.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors=Grinder J, Bandler R |year=1976 |title=Patterns of the hypnotic techniques of Milton H. Erickson |volume=1 |publisher=Grinder & Associates |isbn=978-1-55552-052-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Gorton GE |year=2005 |title=Milton Hyland Erickson |journal=The American Journal of Psychiatry |volume=162 |issue=7 |page=1255 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.162.7.1255}}</ref> Weitzenhoffer disputed whether NLP bears any genuine resemblance to Erickson's work.<ref name="Weitzenhoffer 2000" />

=== Solution-focused ===
In the 2000s, hypnotherapists began to combine aspects of [[solution-focused brief therapy]] (SFBT) with Ericksonian hypnotherapy to produce therapy that was goal-focused (what the client wanted to achieve) rather than the more traditional problem-focused approach (spending time discussing the issues that brought the client to seek help). A solution-focused hypnotherapy session may include techniques from NLP.<ref>{{Cite web |vauthors=Eddolls T |date=June 9, 2017|title=Solution Focused Brief Therapy|url=http://afsfh.com/solution-focused-brief-therapy/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116035210/http://afsfh.com/solution-focused-brief-therapy/|archive-date=November 16, 2017|access-date=May 30, 2021|website=afsfh.com}}</ref>

=== Cognitive/behavioral ===
Cognitive behavioral hypnotherapy (CBH) is an integrated psychological therapy employing clinical hypnosis and [[Cognitive therapy|cognitive behavioral therapy]] (CBT).<ref name="Robertson_2012">{{Cite book |vauthors=Robertson D |title=The Practice of Cognitive-Behavioural Hypnotherapy: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Hypnosis|year=2012|publisher=Karnac |location=London |isbn=978-1855755307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=um6_7kEszusC}}</ref> The use of CBT in conjunction with hypnotherapy may result in greater treatment effectiveness. A meta-analysis of eight different types of research revealed "a 70% greater improvement" for patients undergoing an integrated treatment than those using CBT only.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2014-08-04 |title=Integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Into Primary Care Settings |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1077722914000431 |journal=Cognitive and Behavioral Practice |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=247–251 |doi=10.1016/j.cbpra.2014.04.002|pmc=4961302 }}</ref><ref name="Kirsch">{{cite journal |vauthors=Kirsch I, Montgomery G, Sapirstein G |title=Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy: a meta-analysis |journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=214–220 |date=April 1995 |pmid=7751482 |doi=10.1037/0022-006X.63.2.214 }}</ref>

In 1974, [[Theodore X. Barber]] and his colleagues published a 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.<ref name="Barber">{{Cite book |vauthors=Barber TX, Spanos NP, Chaves JF |year=1974 |title=Hypnotism, imagination, and human potentialities |url=https://archive.org/details/hypnosisimaginat00barb |url-access=registration |publisher=Pergamon Press |oclc=912492464}}</ref> 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 closer integration of hypnotherapy with various cognitive and behavioral therapies.<ref name="Richard">{{cite journal |vauthors=Bryant RA, Moulds ML, Guthrie RM, Nixon RD |title=The additive benefit of hypnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating acute stress disorder |journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=334–340 |date=April 2005 |pmid=15796641 |doi=10.1037/0022-006x.73.2.334}}</ref>

Many cognitive and behavioral therapies were themselves originally influenced by older hypnotherapy techniques,<ref name="Weitsenhoffer">{{cite journal |vauthors=Weitzenhoffer AM |title=Behavior therapeutic techniques and hypnotherapeutic methods |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=71–82 |date=October 1972 |pmid=4679810 |doi=10.1080/00029157.1972.10402222}}</ref> e.g., the [[systematic desensitisation]] of [[Joseph Wolpe]], the cardinal technique of early behavior therapy, was originally called "hypnotic desensitisation"<ref name="Wolpe">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Wolpe J |year=1958 |title=Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition |journal=Conditional Reflex |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=234–40 |doi=10.1007/BF03000093 |isbn=978-0804705097 |pmid=5712667 |s2cid=46015274}}</ref> and derived from the ''Medical Hypnosis'' (1948) of [[Lewis Wolberg]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medical hypnosis |volume=2 |vauthors=Wolberg RL |year=1948 |publisher=Grune & Stratton |oclc=881360526}}</ref>

=== Curative ===
Peter Marshall, author of ''A Handbook of Hypnotherapy'', devised the Trance Theory of Mental Illness, which asserts that people suffering from depression, or certain other kinds of neuroses, are already living in a trance. He states that this means the hypnotherapist does not need to induce trance, but instead to make them understand this and lead them out of it.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Marshall P |date=2012 |title=A Handbook of Hypnotherapy |location=Bexhill-on-Sea |publisher=Oakley Books |isbn=978-0-9569784-5-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-08 |title=What Is Hypnotherapy and Why People Start Choosing Hypnotherapy Instead of Drugs |url=https://www.hydromedicalbali.com/hypnotherapy/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Mindful ===
Mindful hypnotherapy is a therapy that incorporates [[mindfulness]] and hypnotherapy. A pilot study was made at [[Baylor University]], Texas, and published in the ''International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis''. Gary Elkins, director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory at Baylor University, called it "a valuable option for treating anxiety and stress reduction” and "an innovative mind-body therapy". The study showed a decrease in stress and an increase in mindfulness.<ref>{{Cite web| vauthors=Pedersen T |date=2020-06-18|title=Brief Mindful Hypnotherapy Shown to Ease Stress & Anxiety|url=https://psychcentral.com/news/2020/06/18/brief-mindful-hypnotherapy-shown-to-ease-stress-anxiety/157426.html|access-date=2020-06-19|website=psychcentral.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-15 |title=Mindfulness Combined with Hypnotherapy Aids Highly Stressed People, Baylor University Pilot Study Finds |url=https://news.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2020/mindfulness-combined-hypnotherapy-aids-highly-stressed-people-baylor-university |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=news.web.baylor.edu |language=en}}</ref>

===Relationship to scientific medicine===
Hypnotherapy practitioners occasionally attract the attention of mainstream medicine. Attempts to instill academic rigor have been frustrated by the complexity of client suggestibility, which has social and cultural aspects, including the practitioner's reputation. Results achieved in one time and center of study have not been reliably transmitted to future generations.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine |date=2008 |vauthors=Harrington A |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06563-3}}</ref>

In the 1700s, [[Franz Mesmer|Anton Mesmer]] offered pseudoscientific justification for his practices, but a commission that included [[Benjamin Franklin]] debunked his rationalizations.