Mindfulness-Based Hypnosis: Blending Science, Beliefs, and Wisdoms to Catalyze Healing

Abstract

We live in a global village, comprised of people with diverse cultural and religious orientations. How do we integrate these different beliefs and values into our clinical practice? Mindfulness-based psychotherapy (MBP), an evidence-based psychological intervention, provides a secular template for assimilating various cultural beliefs and wisdoms in therapies. MBP represents a cross-fertilization between Western psychological practice and Eastern meditative disciplines. Guided by MBP, this article describes how intention, mindfulness, acceptance, gratitude, and the "heart" can be combined with cognitive hypnotherapy to catalyze healing of emotional disorders-particularly depression. This integrated approach is referred to as mindfulness-based cognitive hypnotherapy (MBCH) as it assimilates cognitive hypnotherapy with mindfulness strategies. MBCH represents an attempt to broaden the comprehensiveness of hypnotherapy as an integrated form of psychotherapy. Additionally, based on new understanding of the heart as a complex information center, an innovative hypnotherapeutic strategy for generating psychophysiological coherence and psychological well-being is described.

New directions in hypnosis research: strategies for advancing the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of hypnosis

“…Despite different historical trajectories and sociocultural contexts, hypnosis and meditation, both originated as practices of attention and self-regulation designed to ease suffering ( Lutz et al 2008 ; Lifshitz et al 2012 ; Raz and Lifshitz 2016 ). Psychotherapists and clinicians use both to treat similar types of conditions, such as major depression ( Lynn et al 2010 ; Segal et al 2010 ; Alladin 2014 ), acute or chronic pain ( Patterson and Jensen 2003 ; Chiesa and Serretti 2011 ), and substance abuse ( Barnes et al 2010 ; Brewer et al 2010 ). Although renewed scientific interest has brought hypnosis and meditation into the scientific and clinical mainstream, their relationship – including their relative efficacy for treating different conditions – remains poorly understood.…”

Mindful Hypnotherapy to Reduce Stress and Increase Mindfulness: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

“…The synthesis of mindfulness and hypnosis has been theorized in recent years due to the similarities of the proposed mechanisms of mindfulness and hypnosis for stress reduction (Alladin, 2014;Elkins, Roberts, & Simicich, 2018;Otani, 2016). In both mindfulness and hypnosis, an enhanced mind-body connection is experienced by focusing attention to suggestions and imagery to achieve specified treatment goals (Otani, 2016).…”

Integrating Pediatric Hypnosis with Complementary Modalities: Clinical Perspectives on Personalized Treatment

“…Best practices for mindfulness-based hypnosis [ 100 ] in pediatrics include a strong relationship (rapport and therapeutic resonance) with the patient and family, in addition to a thorough understanding of the patient’s developmental level, history, and temperament. For children with a cognitive level of 8–10 years or less, it is often helpful to help parents learn these approaches for themselves and also how to best incorporate them into their daily routine with their child (either as something each person does individually or as a collective experience).…”