Process-Oriented Hypnosis: Focusing on the Forest, Not the Trees

by Michael D. Yapko

Overview

Getting at client issues by focusing on the process of symptom formation rather than on the details of the problem.

In Process-Oriented Hypnosis, internationally recognized psychologist Michael D. Yapko provides clinicians with a new framework for utilizing hypnosis with clients. Yapko encourages clinicians to take a broader perspective, in which patterns rather than individual symptoms are the emphasis of therapy. He offers numerous insights into ways clinicians can hone in on the process of how people come to suffer various types of emotional distress. Beyond these insights, Process-Oriented Hypnosis provides highly practical information and specific examples for integrating this innovative perspective into clinical work.

The key patterns of human experience are central to the first section of the book, providing a sound conceptual foundation and a wide range of examples. In the second section, Yapko provides ten richly structured hypnosis session transcripts for clinicians to insightfully adapt to their clients’ needs.

Process-Oriented Hypnosis offers clinicians a fresh perspective for working with clients that can be integrated into many different treatment models.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324016335
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael D. Yapko, PhD, is a clinical psychologist residing in southern California. The author of fifteen books, including Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH) Arthur Shapiro Award for Best Book on Hypnosis winners Process-Oriented Hypnosis and Mindfulness and Hypnosis, as well as leading hypnosis textbook Trancework (now in its 5th edition), Dr. Yapko has taught in more than thirty countries and received numerous awards for his contributions. He has also received lifetime achievement awards from the International Society of Hypnosis and The Milton H. Erickson Foundation.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Foreword Jeffrey K. Zeig xvii

Introduction xix

Part I The Foundation of Process-Oriented Hypnosis

Chapter 1 That Problem Sounds Familiar: Repetitions in Therapy 3

Chapter 2 The Distraction of Content and the Salience of Process in Treatment 19

Chapter 3 The Process of Hypnosis: Paying Attention with Intention 26

Chapter 4 Targeting Symptomatic Sequences with Kind and Gentle Interruptions 37

Part II The Methods of Process-Oriented Hypnosis

Chapter 5 Recognizing and Tolerating Ambiguity 51

Chapter 6 Building Expectancy 63

Chapter 7 Making Better Discriminations 80

Chapter 8 Developing Impulse Control 95

Chapter 9 Facilitating Compartmentalization 111

Chapter 10 Encouraging Acceptance 130

Chapter 11 Defining Responsibility 149

Chapter 12 Catalyzing Meaningful Action 167

Chapter 13 Instilling Integrity 184

Chapter 14 Evolving Foresight 203

References 221

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

"Michael Yapko has explored an element that has become identified as a core Ericksonian approach—the tailoring that follows listening carefully to the words, the phrases, and the expressions of the client, then subsequently adapting the direction of therapy specifically to the needs, wants, and desires of what is revealed and expressed by the subject. Yapko has taken that basic concept and turned the whole picture upside down and inside out. "— Roxanna Erickson Klein, PhD, coauthor, Hope and Resiliency: Understanding the Psychotherapeutic Strategies of Milton H. Erickson, MD

"[O]ffers a fresh and approachable vocabulary for many of the process-oriented concepts and techniques that have often been overlooked and all but lost in the teaching and training of modern psychotherapy."— Stephen R. Lankton, LCSW, DAHB, FASCH, Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

"Once again Michael Yapko is proving himself to be a leader in the field of therapeutic hypnosis. This how-to book integrates practicing psychotherapy with salient and positive principles including ambiguity, expectancy, discrimination, impulses, compartmentalizing, acceptance, responsibility, action, integrity and foresight—the major principles of modern therapeutic hypnosis. "— Ernest L. Rossi, PhD, and Kathryn L. Rossi, PhD, codirectors, Psychosocial Genomics Research Institute and The Milton Erickson Institute of California Central Coast

"Michael Yapko distills and shares the very essence of his career-long knowledge and wisdom as a world-leading practitioner, teacher, and writer. His unique contribution with this new volume is in ways to use hypnosis effectively by articulating the specifics of how to be nonspecific. The process for learning this and becoming a more masterful clinician yourself is simple: first, read the book, and second, apply its approaches. "— George W. Burns, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, author, 101 Stories for Enhancing Happiness and Well-being

"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Process-Oriented Hypnosis: Focusing on the Forest, Not the Trees is an especially unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, college and university libraries."— Midwest Book Review

"The main purpose of this book is to help the reader understand when and how to respectfully invite the patient to move from analyzing the 'why' of his problem to the greater challenge of how to change the process...It is highly recommended reading for all hypnotherapists and clinicians who wish to integrate into their work a process-oriented treatment approach."— European Society of Hypnosis

From the Publisher