What training is required? In many states, but not Texas, the use of hypnosis for psychotherapeutic reasons is limited to psychologists and other health care practitioners (physicians and dentists) to use in conjunction with their specific professional practice. Professionals using hypnosis should have taken postgraduate training in a health care area and obtained appropriate hypnosis supervision. It is very important to realize that the person providing hypnosis might not be appropriately educated, trained, and supervised. Consequently, patients must ask how the person is licensed/credentialed ("are you a psychologist, social worker, etc.?") in providing health care services. In other words, ask which licensing board has reviewed their education, training and experience.
What problems are treated by hypnosis? Psychologists use hypnosis for a variety of interventions. Frequently it is used as a part of psychotherapy, but it is also used in pain management, smoking cessation, phobias, depression, anxiety, sexual problems, ego strengthening, and forensic work with wtnesses. Physicians and dentists most freqently use hypnosis in providing anesthesia for patients in pain and undergoing surgery. Professionals typically do not use hypnosis in medical patients where by masking symptoms a disease might go undetected.
How would I find a qualified hypnotist? Look for a professional who is licensed as a psychologist, social worker, physician, or dentist. The Yellow Pages is one source which identifies providers of hypnosis, but there is no guarantee that the provider is licensed or certified by any licensing board. That is a very real danger. Be sure to ask how the hypnotist is licensed by the state in which services ar being provided. Other major organizations that have more stringent membership requirements are:
- The Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Division 30 of the American Psychological Association
- The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
- The Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
Psychological Assessment
Psychological assessment is the professional integration of interview techniques and reliable and valid psychological tests. It is deemed professionally necessary because it:
- identifies both weaknesses and strengths,
- makes judicious use of time limitations,
- clarifies presenting problems within normative and ideographic frameworks,
- provides shortcuts in understanding problems, motivations, defensive styles, etc.,
- gives both the therapist and the patient important information,
- facilitates disclosure of sensitive or repressed information,
- fills information gaps
- standardizes our information collection, and hence rapidly confirms
- a) diagnostic impressions, and
- b) proposed treatment regimes
To elaborate on each of these items:
1. Identifies both weaknesses and strengths.
Psychological treatment proceeds best when both the therapist and the client understand the client's problems and weaknesses, resources and strengths. The task of assessment may precede the initiation of treatment or it may be ongoing throughout therapy. In this particular case psychological assessment precedes the initiation of therapy, and is a critical aspect of my evaluation, diagnosis, and establishment of the treatment plan of the patient.
2. Makes judicious use of time limitations.
A person facing the difficult task of gaining self-knowledge through therapy, and who wishes to make or consolidate important changes into his or her life, is committed to the task of self-scrutiny. However, not all therapies have the luxury of time, and not all patients are psychologically insightful and verbally fluent. In this era of insurance limitations, I certainly do not feel that I have the luxury of time in helping a patient get to a point of being more productive in their life, and of enjoying life once again.
3. Clarifies presenting problems within normative and ideographic frameworks
Psychological testing provided me both with a " normative framework " within which I could compare the patient's problems with others, as well as an "ideographic" understanding of the patient in his/her own terms.
4. Provides shortcuts in understanding problems, motivations, defensive styles, etc..
Psychological assessment can provide a shortcut and, at times, a clearly defined path of the way to revealing a patient's problems. Psychological assessment can offer an "outside" opinion about personality maladjustment and symptomatic behavior, and provide invaluable information as to the nature and source of problems. In addition, such information may forewarn of possible dangerous "minefields", as well as reveal areas of potential growth.
Psychological assessment provides information about motivation, fears, attitudes, defensive styles, and symptoms of which the patient may be unaware.
5. Gives both the therapist and the patient important information.
Almost all patients that I have seen look forward to their test results and would like me to provide detailed feedback of what it all means.
Psychological assessment is undertaken as a means of obtaining information that will be helpful to the patient and the therapist in the course of therapy.
Patients need to know how severe their problems are in comparison to those of other people. Patients seek and deserve to have personal feedback from their therapists about the nature and extent of their problems. Patients need objective information about themselves if they are to know what behaviors need to be changed. Thus, providing patients with objective information about themselves and their problems becomes one of the most important tasks the therapist undertakes. Psychological testing provides an excellent framework within which initial feedback may be provided.
6. Facilitates disclosure of sensitive or repressed information.
Patients are faced with the task of disclosing to a stranger a great deal of personal information that may be painful to recall. It may at times seem to the patient to be a hopeless mess - too difficult to sort through and even more difficult to formulate into words and sentences.
Traumatic life events and problems may have been stored away for a long time and may only be selectively remembered. It is difficult for the therapists to know what to focus on and what to ignore. Early treatment and sessions are frequently filled with gaps and "untold secrets", either because the patient cannot accurately remember, cannot articulate well, or consciously chooses not to report significant materials.
7. Fill information gaps.
Many people entering therapy for the first time have an unclear or confused picture of their problem and may be unaware of the actual precipitant(s) of their psychological distress.
8. Standardizes my information collection, and hence rapidly confirms:
- diagnostic impressions, and
- proposed treatment regimes.
Another benefit of psychological tests in pretreatment is that they identify problems that may not be readily apparent from the clinical interview. Psychological tests might reveal issues that a patient may not discuss in the initial interview, such as alcoholism or childhood sexual abuse.
In my opinion, it is a clear professional error or omission to skip this critical stage of treatment, as it identifies the salient factors affecting the patient's condition through the use of standardized, valid, and reliable psychological measures.
