Applicability of hypnosis to the treatment of Complex PTSD and dissociation

ABSTRACT

In considering the applicability of hypnosis to treating Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) we examine the relationship between trauma, hypnosis, and dissociation, the latter being a common response to traumatization that is particularly salient in C-PTSD. We then provide an overview of the nature of C-PTSD, which research is beginning to demonstrate is considerably more prevalent than the more circumscribed PTSD syndrome depicted in the DSM. Building on this foundation, we discuss the reasons why hypnotically structured treatment is particularly well suited for C-PTSD, explaining how each of the major aspects of this syndrome can be addressed within a hypnotic framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Complex PTSD
• contextual Trauma Therapy
• dissociation
• hypnosis

Notes

¹ The World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations, encourages all its member nations to use the ICD.

² In fact, Brown and Elliott (2016) have similarly proposed that with extensive and intensive attachment-focused therapy, trauma-focused intervention may not be necessary in order to successfully treat traumatization. The decisive impact of the therapeutic relationship in the treatment of C-PTSD is addressed in the following section.

³ Although there is not universal agreement on this point, several specialists in dissociation, including the senior author, contend that dissociation has normal and normative variants, and therefore does not always indicate the presence of a disorder (Seligman & Kirmayer, 2008).

⁴ From a CTT approach, it is not mandated to move to trauma processing during the course of treatment. Survivors who develop the foundational capacities emphasized in phase one, are able to achieve gratifying and functional lives without the necessity of trauma processing. Survivors are capable of achieving a level of functioning in phase one that permits them to independently focus on the third phase of treatment in order to further develop a more gratifying and functional life.