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Position Statement on Hypnosis Approved by the Board of Trustees, September 2009 Approved by the Assembly, May 2009

“Policy documents are approved by the APA Assembly and Board of Trustees…These are…position statements that define APA official policy on specific subjects…” – APA Operations Manual.

Hypnosis is a specialized psychiatric procedure and as such is an aspect of the doctor-patient relationship. Hypnosis is not in itself a therapy, but rather is a state of aroused, attentive, focal concentration with a relative reduction in peripheral awareness that can be utilized to facilitate a variety of psychotherapeutic interventions. The capacity to experience hypnosis can be spontaneous or it can be activated by a formal induction procedure which taps the inherent neural capacity of the individual. This capacity varies widely but is a stable trait that can be reliably measured. Hypnosis provides an adjunct to research, to diagnosis and to treatment in psychiatric practice. It often shortens the time required for a psychotherapeutic effect.

Randomized clinical trials have shown that interventions employing hypnosis are effective in the treatment of pain, anxiety, stress, cancer surgery, phobias, psychosomatic disorders, nausea and vomiting, and habit control problems such as smoking and weight control. It is also helpful in the management of patients with dissociative and posttraumatic stress disorders.

Since hypnosis is a psychotherapeutic facilitator of a primary treatment strategy, it should be employed by psychiatrists or other health care professionals with appropriate licensure and training. Hypnosis or hypnotic treatment, as in any other psychiatric procedure, calls for all examinations necessary to a proper diagnosis and to the formulation of the immediate therapeutic needs of the patient. The technique of induction of the trance state usually can be brief. Long induction ceremonies using a sleep paradigm are misleading.

Although similar dangers attend the improper or inept use of all other aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, the nature of hypnosis renders its inappropriate use particularly hazardous. For hypnosis to be used safely, even for the relief of pain or for sedation, more than a superficial knowledge of the dynamics of human motivation is essential.

Since hypnosis has definite application in the various fields of medicine, physicians have recently shown increasing interest in hypnosis and have turned to psychiatrists for training in hypnosis.

To be adequate for medical purposes, all courses in hypnosis should be given in conjunction with recognized medical teaching institutions or teaching hospitals, under the auspices of the department of psychiatry and in collaboration with those other departments which are similarly interested. Although lectures, demonstrations, seminars, conferences and discussions are helpful, the basic learning experience must derive from closely supervised clinical contact with patients. Since such psychiatrically-centered courses are virtually non-existent, many physicians have enrolled in the inadequate brief courses available, which are taught often by individuals without medical or psychiatric training. These courses have concentrated on prolonged redundant induction ceremonies and have neglected or covered psychodynamics and psychopathology in a superficial or stereotyped fashion.

Originally developed by the APA Committee on Therapy and adopted by the APA Council in 1961. This revision was prepared by David Spiegel, M.D., and Herbert Spiegel, M.D. A

South African Society Of Psychiatrist www.sasop.co.za
American Society fo Clinical Hypnosis www.asch.net
American Psychiatric Association www.psychiatry.org
European College of Neuropsychopharmacology www.encp.eu
African College of neuropsychopharmacology www.afcnp.com
International Journal Of clinical & Experimental Hypnosis www.ijceh.com
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis www.asch.net

Q: What is hypnosis?
A: A state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterised by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion

Q: What is hypnotherapy?
A: The use of hypnotic techniques during hypnosis as part of the broader holistic treatment of some psychiatric, medical and emotional disorders.

Q: Can everyone be hypnotised?
A: Everyone motivated and willing to be hypnotised can be hypnotised. Like most human traits and abilities, some people are more easily hypnotisable than others. Some individuals are generally considered to be poor candidates for hypnotherapy, and these include individuals with Intellectual disorders, dementia and psychosis since they lack the capacity to focus their attention in ways that facilitate therapeutic trance.

Q: Can someone be hypnotised against their will?
A: No. Hypnosis requires the consent and willingness of another to promote and facilitate trance for therapeutic purposes.

Q: What is self hypnosis?
A: Self-hypnosis involves the independent facilitation and promotion of hypnotic trance. Many hypnotherapists encourage their patients to use self-hypnosis as it promotes a sense of independence, confidence and practice that allows hypnotherapy to be more effective for meeting their treatment goals. Hypnotherapists will teach and guide their patients how to do self-hypnosis.

Q: Will I reveal any personal secrets during hypnotherapy?
A: No. You will retain full control of what you say or do during the hypnotherapy session. You will reveal no secrets that you would not otherwise reveal in a waking state.

Q: What are some benefits of Hypnotherapy?
A: Benefits of Hypnotherapy as an augmentation therapy in the broader holistic treatment of Psychiatric disorders are many, including treatment of Anxiety disorders, Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Phobias, Conversion Disorders, Dissociative Disorders, Depression, Pain management, Sleep Disorders, Sexual Disorders, Trauma related Disorders, Medical Unexplained Disorders or Symptoms (Psychosomatic Disorders), Some Medical, Gynaecological and Surgical conditions.

23 May