International Journal of Clinical and Experimental

Hypnosis

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The Effective Use of Hypnosis in Schizophrenia:

Structure and Strategy

Young Don Pyun

To cite this article: Young Don Pyun (2013) The Effective Use of Hypnosis in Schizophrenia:
Structure and Strategy , International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 61:4, 388-400,
DOI: 10.1080/00207144.2013.815059

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 Intl. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 61(4): 388–400, 2013
Copyright © International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
ISSN: 0020-7144 print / 1744-5183 online
DOI: 10.1080/00207144.2013.815059

THE EFFECTIVE USE OF HYPNOSIS

IN SCHIZOPHRENIA:
Structure and Strategy
Young Don Pyun1

Pyun Neuropsychiatric Clinic, Seoul, South Korea

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Abstract: Many schizophrenia patients seek hypnosis when they have

not improved with psychopharmacological therapy. However, there
has been controversy regarding the use and effectiveness of hypno-
sis in schizophrenia. Hypnotherapeutic methods such as direct and
indirect suggestions, psycho-strengthening suggestions and imagery,
hypnoprojective restructuring, guidance, and neutralization of affect
associated with delusions have been effective in selected highly hyp-
notizable patients. Details of the hypnotherapeutic structure and strat-
egy used for managing delusions in schizophrenia are presented with
representative cases.

Schizophrenia patients and their families seek hypnosis in hope of

improvement. Typically, those patients who seek hypnosis have shown
minimal or no therapeutic response to current psychopharmacological
and psychosocial therapies.
Schizophrenia is not considered an appropriate indication for hyp-
nosis, because patients with schizophrenia are expected to have low
hypnotizability (D. Spiegel, Detrick, & Frischholz, 1982; H. Spiegel &
Spiegel, 1978, 2004). However, measures of hypnotic susceptibility have
differed among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia depending
upon the assessment scale used. One study found that individuals with
schizophrenia scored lower on the Hypnotic Induction Profile than nor-
mal college students (4.98 vs. 6.51/10), whereas their scores on the
Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, were as high as those
of the normal control group (5.83 vs. 6.08/12; Pettinatti et al., 1990).
Another study using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale also
reported that patients with schizophrenia scored much like the normal
group (Kramer & Brennan, 1964). These results may be interpreted as
indicating that there is a possible use for hypnosis in schizophrenia.
There have been continuing, albeit intermittent, efforts to apply
hypnosis to cases of psychosis (Abrams, 1963, 1964; Baker, 1983; Bowers,

Manuscript submitted October 3, 2011; final revision accepted October 27, 2011.
1 Address correspondence to Young Don Pyun, Pyun Neuropsychiatric Clinic, 628-10,

Yeoksam Dong, Gangnam Gu, Seoul, 135-080, South Korea. E-mail: [email protected]
388
 EFFECTIVE HYPNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 389

1961; Brown, 1985; Brown & Fromm, 1986; Erickson, 1970; Feinstein &
Morgan, 1986; Gafner & Young, 1998; Hodge, 1988; Murray-Jobsis, 1993;
Scagnelli, 1976).
Although some patients did not respond to hypnosis, others have
responded well and have shown much improvement. Those who
improved showed a decrease or disappearance of most symptoms,
including delusions and hallucinations, and they were able to live a
near-normal life. In the previous literature, such results have been seen
as an indication that the diagnosis was not schizophrenia but rather an
acute psychotic disorder (D. Spiegel & Fink, 1979). However, it remains
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possible that some individuals with true schizophrenia may respond to

treatment with hypnosis.
The following representative cases illustrate the patients’ responses
to the application of hypnosis and hypnotherapeutic techniques.

Case 1
Miss A, who locked herself in her house because of perceived
stalkers.

Symptoms
An unmarried 28-year-old woman presented to my office, having
been discharged without improvement after 3 months of hospitalization
with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, paranoid type. Her chief complaint
was that other people could read her thoughts.
She reported that she first felt as if someone were frequently fol-
lowing her during her middle-school years; she had been treated
intermittently since that time. She said there were currently so many
stalkers around her apartment, which was located on the first floor, that
she could not leave the apartment. She stated that they continuously
watched her from outside the windows, so she would close the curtains
for the entire day. She believed that the stalkers were all male, and they
consisted of a variety of characters including famous singers, actors,
and rich, middle-aged men. They were all interested in her and wanted
to have an affair with her.
She also suffered from murmuring auditory hallucinations all night
long that spoke ill of her private life. A mental status exam found
such symptoms as ideas of reference, paranoid delusions, auditory
hallucinations, visual hallucinations, thought stop, thought insertion,
and thought broadcasting. The Korean version of the Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; Kim et al., 1989) showed a
profile consistent with schizophrenia. The patient also complained of
moderate depression, anxiety, emotional ups and downs, and outbursts
of anger.
 390 YOUNG DON PYUN

Recently, she had scratched an aerobic teacher’s car, claiming she

wanted to take revenge because the teacher had stalked her.

Evaluation and Induction

A Korean version of the Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP:K), which
I created with cooperation and authorization from one of its original
authors, David Spiegel, was used (Pyun, 1998). The HIP:K was adminis-
tered in the first session of hypnotherapy; the patient’s profile score was
Intact 3.5, and the induction score was 5.5/10. She responded positively
to ideomotor techniques (magnet and arm heaviness), and, after rapid
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progressive relaxation (r-PR) or brief relaxation, her subjective comfort

rating was 9.5 on a 0- to 10-point scale that consisted of a simple ques-
tionnaire: “What is the number of the amount of comfort now if your
ordinary state is 0 and the most comfortable state you can imagine is
10?” When asked to imagine a comfortable place, she imagined watch-
ing the sky from a wooden rocking chair in a forest. Visualization was
vivid.

Methods and Progress

After induction, direct and indirect suggestions (DIS) for the grad-
ual disappearance of symptoms and the development of a desirable
state were given in simple form for the first session. After awak-
ening, the patient said she felt comfortable feelings. Antipsychotics
were prescribed (perphenazine 8 mg [perphenazine 10 mg = chlorpro-
mazine 100 mg] and pimozide 2 mg [pimozide 1 mg = chlorpromazine
100 mg]). These were relatively small amounts compared to the medi-
cations prescribed previously.
When she came back after a few days, she was in a more stable state,
and her clothing looked nearly normal for her age, in contrast to the
childlike primary-colored clothes she had worn at the first visit. An r-PR
was used as a hypnotic induction, followed by psycho-strengthening
suggestions and imagery (PSSI). There are several components of
psycho-strengthening suggestions (PSS): (a) unconscious psychological
connection with the doctor; (b) unconscious support from the doctor,
that is, one feels the existence of the doctor at one’s back for support;
(c) hypnotic comfort unconsciously felt whenever anxiety arises; and
(d) direct and indirect suggestions for psycho-strengthening in simple
forms. Psycho-strengthening imagery (PSI) has the following compo-
nents: (a) a comfortable feeling occurs and is amplified when imagining
the most comfortable place in the world. The feeling occurs in the chest
and spreads to the whole body as if air is spreading in a human-shaped
balloon until completely full. A suggestion that this feeling strengthens
the mind and body is added. (b) The doctor’s comfortable feeling and
strong psychological energy pass from the doctor’s hand (touching the
 EFFECTIVE HYPNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 391

patient’s shoulder or forehead) and spread to the patient’s whole body

as if air is spreading in a human-shaped balloon until full.
Hypnoprojective restructuring, a technique that uses imagination
and suggestions together in two phases, was performed. In the first
phase, while the patient projects his or her undesirable situations (i.e.,
those that provoke anxiety, fear, depression). They receive the sugges-
tion that those situations will be dropped as if a scab is being peeled
away and will be easily dumped. Also, there is a suggestion for the
neutralization of undesirable feelings connected with those situations:
“The affect associated with these will be neutralized with the comfort
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of hypnosis.” Later, while the patient projects hopeful future situations,

he or she receives suggestions for the implant of a hopeful self-image
and the regeneration of a stable psyche as if normal tissue were being
regenerated in a wound.
Neutralization of affect and uncomfortable bodily sensations asso-
ciated with delusional anxiety were also performed. While patients
imagine their delusions, associated anxiety and uncomfortable bodily
sensations are neutralized with hypnotic comfort itself and suggestions
including PSSI. This neutralization makes patients experience their
delusions more comfortably.
To resolve past psychological injuries, reinterpretation of meaningful
events and affect neutralization through exploration were performed
while the patient was in hypnosis. These explorations did not include
making the unconscious conscious. Instead, the author speculated on
the patient’s unconscious mechanisms and contents related to her
symptoms and utilized this for suggestions. Therapy included guidance
for her everyday real-life situations in and out of hypnosis.
After seven hypnosis sessions, she became nearly symptom-free
except for the continued perceptions of stalkers. However, she opened
the window curtains and looked like she was enjoying the stalkers,
considering them to be her fans. She could go anywhere she wanted
together with several stalkers. The author did not deny the existence
of the stalkers but instead suggested that the stalkers would disappear
spontaneously if she did not respond to them, adding that it would
be better if she were to find a realistic relationship with a man at an
appropriate level.
This patient married by means of a marriage agency, keeping her
mental illness secret. She said that the number of stalkers had decreased
since she was no longer single, and many of them had given her up.
She also moved to a high floor of a high-rise apartment building to
be free from any other stalkers’ watch. When she went out to the
street, she believes that stalkers were still following her, but because
she was married and had a husband, their pursuit of her became weak.
Her father said that she had now become a normal person. Recently,
she claimed that her stalkers had completely disappeared; she now
 392 YOUNG DON PYUN

maintains a near-normal life with the maintenance of a small dose of

antipsychotics.

Case 2

Miss B, who was being closely watched in her house.

Symptoms
A 21-year-old female came to see me with her mother after being
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hospitalized with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, paranoid type. The hos-

pitalization had only aggravated her symptoms. During her admission
stay, her hands and mouth had trembled due to her belief that there
were many surveillance cameras in the hospital, even in the bathroom.
She rarely went out of the house because she believed that several
male college classmates were moving around her house and watched
her night and day. She had ideas of reference, paranoid delusions, and
auditory and visual hallucinations. She also had guilty feelings and
depressive symptoms.
In the seventh grade, she was in the same class with a boy who lived
upstairs. She could not swallow her saliva, worrying that if she did the
boy would think she liked him. Also, during her freshman year at col-
lege, her male classmates moved next door, and she perceived them to
be watching her, speaking ill of her, and taunting her. She could not
leave the house, and she always kept the windows closed. The MMPI
showed a profile consistent with schizophrenia.

Evaluation and Induction

Before beginning hypnosis, she said she was afraid that a ghost or
devil might emerge from inside her due to hypnosis. Her HIP:K profile
score was 3 Soft, and her induction score was 6/10. She responded pos-
itively to ideomotor techniques (magnet and arm heaviness), and after
r-PR, her subjective comfort rating was 5.5 on a scale of 0 to 10. In the
second session, her score increased to 7/10, and after the third session,
it was 8.5/10. She felt tension in her head and forehead, pain in her
fingers, and uncomfortable heaviness in her toes. These uncomfortable
sensations could be relieved by a tense-and-release technique. When
asked to imagine a comfortable place, she imagined watching the sky
from the rooftop of a European-style building. Visualization was vivid.

Methods and Progress

DIS was given in simple form in the first session. After finish-
ing the initial hypnosis session, she said it had been comfortable
and nice. Antipsychotics (haloperidol 1.5 mg [haloperidol 2 mg =
chlorpromazine 100 mg] and pimozide 2 mg) were prescribed. These
 EFFECTIVE HYPNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 393

were relatively small amounts compared with the medications pre-

scribed previously.
During the second hypnosis session, her subjective comfort rating
was 7/10 after r-PR. She felt tension in her forehead, which was relieved
with direct suggestions. Hypnoprojective restructuring and DIS were
given. She said she was less nervous than in the first session.
In the third session, she said she wanted to go to a bakery to buy a
piece of cake. In hypnosis, when she imagined going to a bakery, the
degree of tension was 10 on a 10-point scale. Her head and neck became
stiff; her hands, feet, and mouth were trembling; she felt tension in her
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stomach; she had chest discomfort with a heartbreaking sensation; and

she felt as if her whole body had been wrapped in tape. The author
applied techniques to neutralize affect and uncomfortable bodily sensa-
tions. After neutralization, she felt comfortable while rehearsing going
to a bakery. Her symptoms were very much alleviated, and she felt
something had cleared up in her mind. She said it was a new kind of
experience.
The next day she went to a bakery and bought a piece of cake with
her father. She said she was a little nervous but felt okay, and she said
she might be able to go to a bakery alone next time. PSSI and guidance
were administered.
Delusions and hallucinations have almost disappeared. She now
works in an apparel store and has become more adapted to a social life.

Case 3
Mr. C, who was intermittently aggressive toward his mother.

Symptoms
A 32-year-old unmarried man came in with his mother, against his
will, after several admissions to mental hospitals. He had recently been
so aggressive toward his parents that he was about to be rehospitalized.
The parents decided to take him for hypnosis as a last resort.
The patient had been overly managed by his parents ever since his
childhood. He even had to buy chocolate in secret, because they did
not allow it. He still felt anxious whenever he ate chocolate. A men-
tal status exam found paranoid ideation involving violence against his
mother. Usually, he was an obedient son. A follow-up appointment
was made, but he missed it. When he came back about a month later,
he said that he had been hospitalized during that period. Full psy-
chometric evaluation including MMPI during his hospital admission
had resulted in a diagnosis of schizophrenia, simple type, or paranoid
type.
 394 YOUNG DON PYUN

When asked about his hopes, he said he wanted to be more

expressive, decisive, and emotionally stable. He also hoped not to be
disturbed if someone spoke ill of him, and he wanted social anxiety
symptoms, such as phobic reactions to pretty women and the public, to
be cured.

Evaluation and Induction

HIP:K showed a 3.5 Soft profile score and a 7.5/10 induction score. He
responded positively to ideomotor techniques (magnet and arm heav-
iness), and after r-PR his subjective comfort rating was 9 on a 10-point
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scale. In the third session, it reached 10/10, and this 10/10 state was
reached in every session thereafter. When asked to imagine a comfort-
able place, he described walking around a beach with a good friend,
picking up some shells, and having nice conversations. Visualization
was vivid.

Methods and Progress

DIS was given in simple form in the first session. Antipsychotics
(olanzapine 5 mg [olanzapine 5 mg = chlorpromazine 100 mg]) that he
had taken for the preceding 3 years were maintained.
When he returned a week later, he said he was doing various
activities, including going to a Taekwondo class every day (He holds
a high rank in martial arts) and going to church for the first time
in his life. In the second session, the subjective comfort rating was
10/10 after r-PR. Hypnoprojective restructuring was done. He said he
was feeling more comfortable during hypnosis than he had the first
time.
In the next visit, he showed great confidence in the doctor. A tech-
nique was used to neutralize affect and uncomfortable bodily sensa-
tions that came up when he heard someone speak ill of him. To resolve
past psychological injuries and meaningful episodes, such as his friends
having hurt him emotionally, reinterpretation and affect neutraliza-
tion through exploration were done while the patient was in hypnosis.
Loneliness, the fear of being alienated, and social phobic symptoms
were neutralized. PSSI and guidance for everyday real-life situations
in and out of hypnosis were done. After 11 hypnosis sessions, he was
enjoying a near-normal social life, working in his father’s shop, and
participating in his church’s youth community.

Case 4
Mrs. D, who was a violent housewife because she thought her mother
had seduced her husband.
 EFFECTIVE HYPNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 395

Symptoms
A 33-year-old housewife, accompanied by her mother and sister,
came in 15 years ago with anxiety as her chief complaint. Her his-
tory included repeated hospital admissions and discharges, and she
had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia or schizoaffective
disorder. When she was a junior college student, she had tried desper-
ately to vindicate herself when she believed that her classmates had
started a rumor that she was having an affair with a professor. She was
brought to a psychiatrist and started medication that she had been tak-
ing since then. She was admitted and discharged several times because
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of paranoid ideation, anxiety, depression, and violent behavior. She was

treated with psychopharmacotherapy, and she received 20 treatments
with electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). Recently, she attacked and hurt
her mother, because Mrs. D thought her 75-year-old mother was try-
ing to seduce her 39-year-old husband. Her MMPI profile showed
depression.

Evaluation and Induction

She responded positively to ideomotor techniques (magnet and arm
heaviness), and after r-PR her subjective comfort rating was 3 on a 10-
point scale in the first session and 8/10 in the second session. After the
induction, she felt tension in her spine, both hands, and neck. This ten-
sion was relieved with the use of a tense-and-release technique. When
asked to imagine a comfortable place, she imagined lying against a big
tree in a large green field. Visualization was vivid. Eye-roll sign (H.
Spiegel & Spiegel, 1978) was 4; whole HIP:K was not done at that time.
An antipsychotic, haloperidol 3 mg, was prescribed.

Methods and Progress

At the next visit 2 weeks later, she said she did not feel anxious
and was getting along well with her mother. The author was surprised
by this immediate effect and thought that the schizophrenia diagnosis
was probably incorrect. After using the tense-and-release technique as
an induction method, the patient’s subjective comfort rating was 8/10;
some tension felt in her neck was easily relieved. DIS and PSSI were
done. After three sessions, the patient said she felt happy. Her antipsy-
chotic dosage was decreased to a minimal level (haloperidol 1.5 mg)
and maintained. Hypnotherapy was continued for 8 years. Usually, the
patient brought current issues that she wanted to be solved immedi-
ately into the session. This was done in each hypnosis session when
possible. During 8 years of hypnotherapy, there was no exacerbation of
symptoms, and her condition remained stable. Hypnotherapy was dis-
continued. She lived a relatively normal, everyday life with her family
for the next 7 years without hypnosis.
 396 YOUNG DON PYUN

Discussion

The discovery of chlorpromazine 60 years ago was a turning point

in the history of schizophrenia treatment. Psychopharmacotherapy has
developed significantly and has become a primary treatment modal-
ity. In addition, there are various kinds of complementary psychosocial
approaches to schizophrenia treatment. Among them, individual cogni-
tive therapy has been applied with some success recently (Beck, Rector,
Stolar, & Grant, 2009; Kingdon & Turkington, 2005). However, even
with all these modalities, treatment results are still unsatisfactory, and
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better treatments are demanded. Hypnosis could be helpful, but sci-

entific evidence to support it is lacking, and there is a need for better
studies (Izquierdo de Santiago & Khan, 2007).
Four representative schizophrenia cases from an outpatient psychi-
atric hypnosis clinic have been presented here to illustrate the devel-
opment of an effective hypnotherapeutic model. All these cases were
treated with the same methods and strategies, and the cases share the
following common features:

1. Subjective comfort ratings during hypnosis were high in all cases, from
8 to 10 on a 10-point scale. This suggests that the experience of the
hypnotic state itself as a comfortable state is important in effectiveness.
2. Hypnotic susceptibility, as measured by ideomotor responses and visual
hallucination, was high in these successful cases. All the patients
responded positively. Eye-Roll Signs (ERS), considered a biological mea-
sure of trance capacity, (Frischholz & Nichols, 2010; H. Spiegel, 1972;
H. Spiegel & Spiegel, 2004) were 3.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 on a 4-point scale.
However, only 1 patient of 3 showed an intact profile. HIP:K were done
in three cases. The other two showed soft profiles, which means the
expression of biological trance capacity was blocked. Induction scores
were 5.5, 6, and 7.5 on a 10-point scale; with 6 being considered a ref-
erence point for those who are not low. This may mean that, although
their trance capacity expression may be blocked to some degree by their
illness, these patients may experience hypnotic phenomena in another
sense. As a whole their ERS scores were high and their suggestibility was
good.
3. Nonspecific hypnotherapeutic methods originally devised for those with
anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and conversion disorders were
also effective in these individuals with schizophrenia. These meth-
ods include direct and indirect suggestions (DIS) for the gradual dis-
appearance of symptoms and the development of a desirable state,
psycho-strengthening suggestions and imagery (PSSI), hypnoprojective
restructuring, and the neutralization of affect and uncomfortable bodily
sensations that accompany delusions. Direct suggestions, once consid-
ered the hallmark of hypnosis (Bernheim & Herter, 1889; Erickson, 1989),
combined with indirect suggestions (Rosen, 1991) had a rapid effect,
 EFFECTIVE HYPNOSIS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 397

especially in the early phase of hypnotherapy. The mind is concep-

tualized as something that operates the body. A strong psyche, con-
ceptually, is not disturbed by internal and external stimuli but instead
maintains stability against stressors. Affects such as anxiety, fear, depres-
sion, and anger can be rapidly stabilized if one has a strong psyche.
PSSI aims for this kind of mental state. Hypnoprojective restructur-
ing, borrowed ideas from screen techniques (H. Spiegel & Spiegel,
1978), not only provides cognitive restructuring but also implants
a hopeful self-image for the future. Delusional anxiety is neutral-
ized with hypnotic comfort. Neutralization makes patients experience
their delusions more comfortably, and this results in the decrease in
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delusions.
4. Delusions are accepted just as patients describe them (Erickson &
Zeig, 1989). With inpatients, cognitive therapists try to change the
delusion because the patient’s idea is wrong (Kingdon & Turkington,
2005). However, for outpatients, challenging their delusions may cause
them to drop out of therapy. The aim of treating delusions with
hypnotherapy is to enable the patient to experience delusions with
comfort. Neutralization is an effective method for achieving this aim.
5. Psychotic patients usually are unable to understand that they are
delusional. Accordingly, interpretation and uncovering in the psychody-
namic sense were not attempted. The author speculated on the patient’s
unconscious mechanisms and contents that may have been related to
their symptoms and then utilized these speculations to make suggestions
rather than interpretations.
6. Therapy includes guidance regarding the patient’s everyday real-life sit-
uations in and out of hypnosis, often based on understanding rather than
criticizing or reinterpreting the patient’s delusions.
7. Antipsychotics were used, but the dosage was lower (chlorpromazine
equivalent 75–300 mg) than the patient’s previous pharmacotherapy.
Improvement despite this low dosage suggests that the improvement
was a result of the hypnotic therapy. My experience is that hypnosis
patients require lower medication dosages than pharmacotherapy-only
patients.

A lower medication dosage is beneficial because most side effects

are related to the dose. Side effects such as weight gain, metabolic
syndrome, neurological effects, and sedation were not reported in
any patients. Discontinuing drugs was not considered. In fact, com-
bining the use of antipsychotics with hypnotherapy may improve
hypnotherapy’s efficacy. Schizophrenia involves chemical and physical
changes in the brain related to ideation and sensation, for exam-
ple, delusions and hallucinations (Sadock, Sadock, & Ruiz, 2009).
Hypnotherapy of this kind utilizes hypnotic phenomena that also
involve changes in ideation and sensation.
Structured strategic hypnotherapy combined with medica-
tion is effective in selected highly hypnotizable individuals with
schizophrenia.
 398 YOUNG DON PYUN

Conclusion
Chronic, recurrent, drug-resistant schizophrenia showed improve-
ment with the combined use of hypnosis and medication. Four repre-
sentative cases were described. Nonspecific hypnotherapeutic methods
such as DIS and PSSI, which were originally devised for less disturbed
patients, followed by specific delusion-neutralization techniques were
effective in helping patients achieve a near-normal life, individually and
socially. A high eye-roll sign, positive responses to ideomotor induction
techniques, visualization, and the experience of the hypnotic state as
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a comfort were common to all cases. Hypnotherapy with specific struc-

tures and strategies was effective with the minimal use of antipsychotics
in highly hypnotizable individuals with schizophrenia.

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Der effektive Gebrauch von Hypnose bei Schizophrenie :

Struktur und Strategie

Young Don Pyun

Abstrakt: Viele Schizophreniepatienten kommen zur Hypnose, nachdem
sie durch Medikamente keine Besserung erfahren haben. Dennoch gibt es
Kontroversen bezüglich der Anwendung und Effektivität von Hypnose bei
Schizophrenie. Hypnotherapeutische Methoden wie direkte und indirekte
Suggestion, psychologisch stärkende Suggestionen und Bilderleben, hypno-
projektive Restrukturierung, Führung und Neutralisation von Affekten ver-
bunden mit Wahnvorstellungen waren bei ausgewählten hoch hypnotisier-
baren Patienten erfolgreich. Details der hypnotherapeutischen Struktur und
Strategie, um Wahnvorstellungen bei Schizophrenie handzuhaben, werden
mittels repräsentativen Fallbeschreibungen präsentiert.
Stephanie Reigel, MD
 400 YOUNG DON PYUN

L’utilisation efficace de l’hypnose chez des personnes schizophrènes :

Structure et stratégie

Young Don Pyun

Résumé: De nombreux patients atteints de schizophrénie recherchent
l’hypnose lorsque leur état ne s’améliore pas avec la thérapie psychophar-
macologique. Cependant, il existe une controverse au sujet de l’usage et de
l’efficacité de l’hypnose dans le traitement de la schizophrénie. Les méth-
odes hypnothérapeutiques, comme les suggestions directes ou indirectes, les
suggestions et l’imagerie de renforcement psychologique, la restructuration
hypnoprojective, les conseils et la neutralisation de l’effet associé aux transes
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ont été efficaces chez certains patients hautement hypnotisables. Les détails
de la structure hypnothérapeutique et de la stratégie employées pour gérer les
transes schizophrènes y sont présentés avec des études de cas représentatifs.
Johanne Reynault
C. Tr. (STIBC)

El uso efectivo de la hipnosis en la esquizofrenia: Estructura y estrategia

Young Don Pyun

Resumen: Muchos pacientes con esquizofrenia buscan la hipnosis cuando
no han mejorado con terapia psicofarmacológica. Sin embargo, ha habido una
controversia sobre el uso y la eficacia de la hipnosis para la esquizofrenia. Los
métodos hipnoterapéuticos como las sugerencias directas e indirectas, sug-
erencias y visualizaciones de fortalecimiento psicológico, reestructuración
hipnoproyectiva, guía y neutralización del afecto asociado a delirios, han
sido eficaces en algunos pacientes altamente hipnotizables. Se presentan los
detalles sobre la estructura y la estrategia de la hipnoterapia utilizada para el
manejo de delirios en esquizofrenia junto con casos representativos.
Omar Sánchez-Armáss Cappello, PhD
Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi,
Mexico