Sunday
Jul112010
Introduction to the Third Edition of the Complementary Medical Hypnotism Curriculum
Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 04:43PM This August 16th and 17th I will teach the Certification Curriculum in Complementary Medical Hypnotism of the National Guild of Hypnotists at the Post-Convention Institute. I am the primary author of this curriculum which is the Guild’s official certification curriculum on this subject.
This year we will be presenting a lot of new material in this course preparatory to a major re-write of the manual. Here is the introduction to the new material.
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This year we will be presenting a lot of new material in this course preparatory to a major re-write of the manual. Here is the introduction to the new material.
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Introduction the the Third Edition
The Complementary Medical Hypnotism Certification Curriculum of the National Guild of Hypnotists has won the respect of both the hypnotism and medical communities over the decade since it’s first careful development.
At the time of its development there were many people teaching what they called “medical hypnotism.” Typically such courses were based on theoretical models that were academically suspect, such as the claim that all contemporary illness results from childhood trauma.
The National Guild of Hypnotists sought to create a curriculum on a popular subject that would be effective and free of the claims and superficial techniques that had caused many previous efforts to fail. We wanted something that would hold up to examination by the medical community that would allow our members to win a place as accepted members of the health care team.
Now, a decade later, that goal stands accomplished. Many health care facilities make use of the services of National Guild of Hypnotists certified practitioners and we hope that will increase in the years ahead.
With the publication of Version Three of our Complementary Medical Hypnotism Certification Curriculum we undertake a major re-write of a successful program. The decision to revise the material comes from changes in the medical environment, new research, and advances in the hypnotic arts and sciences.
Previously, time was given in the curriculum to the use of standardized paper forms that were needed to document work in an area where documentation was considered essential. Now, Electronic Health Records are the norm, and our concern for the creation of good documentation is better met by a discussion of available software and the sort of templates a Consulting Hypnotist would need in such software.
When the previous curriculum was created, there was scientific debate as to the nature of hypnotism as it is understood in the medical community. Now, much of that debate has ended and hypnotism is understood as a powerful state of consciousness that arises out of the social interaction between operator and client. Leaving intact the solid discussion of the neurophysiology of hypnotism in the previous curriculum, we have collapsed the formally vague “research” section into a tight summary of findings.
Further development of excellent National Guild of Hypnotists specialized curricula by other Instructors allowed the removal of material, such as regression hypnotism and high-order pain control, that is better covered elsewhere. The space freed allowed us to expand the material on cognitive restructuring and hypnotic phenomena.
This change in focus was motivated by the new understanding that what brings a medically ill client to a Consulting Hypnotist is primarily fear, worry and loss-of-control. While pain management may remain an important tool for the Consulting Hypnotist, the vast majority of clients consult a practitioner in order to obtain relief from fear, worry and loss-of-control rather than a specific symptom. Interestingly, by helping such emotions to lift, the hypnotist encourages an improvement in medical condition. A practitioner who lacks excellent skills in helping with the problems of fear, worry and loss-of-control will soon be out of business.
The Complementary Medical Hypnotism Certification Curriculum of the National Guild of Hypnotists has won the respect of both the hypnotism and medical communities over the decade since it’s first careful development.
At the time of its development there were many people teaching what they called “medical hypnotism.” Typically such courses were based on theoretical models that were academically suspect, such as the claim that all contemporary illness results from childhood trauma.
The National Guild of Hypnotists sought to create a curriculum on a popular subject that would be effective and free of the claims and superficial techniques that had caused many previous efforts to fail. We wanted something that would hold up to examination by the medical community that would allow our members to win a place as accepted members of the health care team.
Now, a decade later, that goal stands accomplished. Many health care facilities make use of the services of National Guild of Hypnotists certified practitioners and we hope that will increase in the years ahead.
With the publication of Version Three of our Complementary Medical Hypnotism Certification Curriculum we undertake a major re-write of a successful program. The decision to revise the material comes from changes in the medical environment, new research, and advances in the hypnotic arts and sciences.
Previously, time was given in the curriculum to the use of standardized paper forms that were needed to document work in an area where documentation was considered essential. Now, Electronic Health Records are the norm, and our concern for the creation of good documentation is better met by a discussion of available software and the sort of templates a Consulting Hypnotist would need in such software.
When the previous curriculum was created, there was scientific debate as to the nature of hypnotism as it is understood in the medical community. Now, much of that debate has ended and hypnotism is understood as a powerful state of consciousness that arises out of the social interaction between operator and client. Leaving intact the solid discussion of the neurophysiology of hypnotism in the previous curriculum, we have collapsed the formally vague “research” section into a tight summary of findings.
Further development of excellent National Guild of Hypnotists specialized curricula by other Instructors allowed the removal of material, such as regression hypnotism and high-order pain control, that is better covered elsewhere. The space freed allowed us to expand the material on cognitive restructuring and hypnotic phenomena.
This change in focus was motivated by the new understanding that what brings a medically ill client to a Consulting Hypnotist is primarily fear, worry and loss-of-control. While pain management may remain an important tool for the Consulting Hypnotist, the vast majority of clients consult a practitioner in order to obtain relief from fear, worry and loss-of-control rather than a specific symptom. Interestingly, by helping such emotions to lift, the hypnotist encourages an improvement in medical condition. A practitioner who lacks excellent skills in helping with the problems of fear, worry and loss-of-control will soon be out of business.
The previous section on Specific Imagery for medical problems has been removed in light of the fact that some of these problems now have drug-related solutions that have become the treatment-of-choice in the medical community.
While the drug-free techniques in the previous version of this curriculum remain valid, the reality is that medical professionals will no longer refer patents to a hypnotist to help with a problem that has an easy and effective drug-related solution. Instead, we include specific restructurings for more general chronic medical issues (such as headache) that continue to be a problem at every nursing station around the world.
Finally, it seemed important to include materials about third-party reimbursement (i.e. health insurance) given the many questions that have been received over the years about it. We have also expanded the section on self-hypnotism given that many hospitalized patients appreciate learning this skill in order to maintain their progress after the hypnotic consultation has ended. As social networking has become an important tool in the marketing of hypnotism services, a section on that has been added.
The National Guild of Hypnotists is pleased to present this new version of our celebrated curriculum. We have retained what was solid and good, removed what was outdated and added much that is new.
Finally, it seemed important to include materials about third-party reimbursement (i.e. health insurance) given the many questions that have been received over the years about it. We have also expanded the section on self-hypnotism given that many hospitalized patients appreciate learning this skill in order to maintain their progress after the hypnotic consultation has ended. As social networking has become an important tool in the marketing of hypnotism services, a section on that has been added.
The National Guild of Hypnotists is pleased to present this new version of our celebrated curriculum. We have retained what was solid and good, removed what was outdated and added much that is new.
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