The psychotelerapeutic use of hypnosis: Case illustrations of direct hypnotherapy

Direct hypnotherapy is described for alleviation of anxiety, removal of symptoms, and alteration of behavior patterns and at titudes. It may incorporate persuasion and reassurance. The hypnotherapist using direct hypnotherapy undoubtedly conceptualizes his techniques in some measure and within some theoreticd frame of reference. This adaptability is a signpificant advantage for hypnotherapy. Any suggestions offered to patients serve a9 stimuli that set unconscious forces in motion within each patient. These forces are reorganized and lead, when favorable results ensue, to more efficient, symptom-free patterns. The doctor-patient relationship influences the therapeutic process and progress, and hypnosis has conscious and unconscious meanings for both patient and therapist which are implicit in the facets of interaction. Forces within patients strive toward healthy change and some tend also to resist change. The patients described here were troubled by severe anxiety, ichthyosis, gastrointestinal discomfort, achalasia of the esophagus, Gaes de la Tourette's disease, chest pain, vaginal spasm, spastic colon, and sexual impotence. Degrees of succesa and failure are mentioned within the framework of concepts such as assurance of illness reversibility, authority substitution, suggestibility in relation to symptom relief, and symptom substitution.