Exploring Hypnosis and Therapeutic Dissociation: The Role of Detachment Across Therapies as a Precursor to Meaningful Change

What makes it possible for someone to get so absorbed in subjective experience that they experience a significant reduction or even elimination of pain? How does encouraging someone to view their hurtful thoughts “as if clouds in the sky floating away from you” make it easier to dramatically reduce emotional reactivity to those thoughts? Clinicians are often trained to be aware of the negative effects of dissociation (e.g., fugue states, psychogenic amnesia, etc.) through their clinical training, but some of the most vital elements of any good therapeutic intervention will feature dissociation. After all, every client has to detach from whatever it was he or she was doing, thinking or feeling that was hurtful in order to begin doing, thinking or feeling something else that is healthier and more adaptive. The field of clinical hypnosis has been studying the phenomenon of therapeutic dissociation intensively for over a century since it is the foundation for producing remarkable hypnotic phenomena. In this workshop, we will witness some of these impressive human capabilities and consider the merits of positive applications of dissociation as a catalyst for meaningful change across a wide array of therapeutic approaches.