{"id":18773,"date":"2021-12-14T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/?p=18773"},"modified":"2022-07-18T02:49:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T08:49:54","slug":"should-i-use-hypnosis-with-a-client-who-dissociates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/should-i-use-hypnosis-with-a-client-who-dissociates\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Use Hypnosis With a Client Who Dissociates?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently I had a question on a members’<\/a> Q&A call about working hypnotically with a client who tends to dissociate :<\/p>\n

“If dissociation is a fundamental part of hypnosis, is it something you would not use with someone who tends to dissociate?<\/em>“<\/p>\n

Certainly it’s a great question. As you’ll see (or hear) in my reply, dissociation is a regular part of everyday life for all of us, but for some it becomes a dysregulated state and can properly be called a symptom.<\/p>\n

Post-traumatic stress disorder<\/a>, depression<\/a>, and possibly right-hemispheric lesions1<\/sup> and some medications,2<\/sup> can all cause feelings of detachment, as can recreational drug use.3<\/sup> Dissociation can also occur in those suffering psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia.4<\/sup><\/p>\n

Symptoms of pathological dissociation include feelings of depersonalization<\/a>, of being outside of one’s body, dis<\/em>embodied, and detached from life in general. People might also feel disconnected from their past or any sense of future.<\/p>\n

We can all feel disconnected sometimes, not so much in a clinical sense but in a way that can make us feel empty, where life feels purposeless with little meaning<\/a>. And perhaps a life spent in abstracted communication on phones rather than in embodied company can sometimes add to these feelings of derealization.<\/p>\n

Now, the question we’re looking to answer here relates specifically to the use of clinical hypnosis with clients prone to feelings of dissociation. Should we use it?<\/p>\n\n

Circumstances alter cases<\/h3>\n

Of course, like so much in life, it depends.<\/p>\n

We can use hypnosis to help people dissociate from anxiety or pain whilst associating<\/em> with resourceful feelings of connection<\/em>. So hypnosis isn’t just<\/em> a state of dissociation, although we are always associated<\/em> with something (even to feelings of dissociation) and disassociated from other things \u2013 like many of your memories, or the long ago heartbreak of a broken relationship.<\/p>\n

We only associate<\/em> with these particulars when something triggers their association and they come back<\/em> to mind.<\/p>\n

So there are three elements to this:<\/p>\n