Current Trends in Hypnosis Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Current Trends in Hypnosis Therapy - Essay Example Current theories of hypnotherapy attempts to find out the neurological connections and alterations associated with it, and once the neurocognitive significance of such diseases would be elucidated, hypnotherapy, as expected, would perhaps get the status of treatment from its current status of adjunct to treatment. Current research calls for more extensive studies to develop specific criteria for development of management guidelines. Introduction: It is difficult to define very precisely what hypnosis is, and on the face of very many different definitions, it can be defined as a temporary condition of altered perception in the subject which may be induced by another person and in which a variety of phenomena may appear spontaneously or in response to verbal or other stimuli. These include alterations in the consciousness of the subject and in his memory, may involve increased susceptibility to suggestion, and these may lead to production in the subject of responses or ideas that are familiar to him in the usual state of mind. Hypnosis is all about the manipulation of the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind of any individual not only holds information that is outside his consciousness, but it also manages sensations and body functions. Thus, not only does information from the mind affect the body, but there is now scientific evidence that any mental processes, mental states, and mental behaviors affect all the cells and all the organs in the body all the time. Hypnosis, in one form or another, has been used in different parts of the world to treat various medical and psychological disorders since ancient times. As yet no universal definition or explanation of hypnosis has been postulated. Many theories, loosely classified under state and nonstate theories, have been advanced to explain hypnosis, but none of the theories has satisfactorily explained all the phenomena associated with. State theorists conceptualize hypnosis as a trance or altered state of consciousness, influenced by subjective traits and the states of the hypnotized person. According to Alladin in 2006, the nonstate theorists purport a social, psychological explanation and maintain that there is nothing unique about hypnosis; they argue that most hypnotic phenomena can occur without a hypnotic induction (Alladin, A., 2006). These theorists focus on the social or relational aspects of the hypnotic interaction, and they emphasize the role of a variety of interactional forces, such as expectations and situational demands, in the production of hypnotic phenomena. These different formulations of hypnosis have broadened our understanding of the subject. Academics and experimentalists have generally endorsed nonstate, interpersonal, or multifactorial views of hypnosis, whereas clinicians have tended to adopt state, intrapersonal, or single views of hypnosis. There is another theory; the neodissociation theory of hypnosis is a new approach that has been accepted by the clinicians. Proponents of both camps, however, agree that hypnotic suggestions can produce altered states,