Mindfulness and Hypnosis: The Art and Science of Treating Depression Experientially

The cutting edge of rapidly expanding scientific evidence highlights that the more we learn about the biology of depression, the more important psychology and social life experiences become in understanding and treating it. Furthermore, the more we learn about the neuroscience of depression, especially neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, the more important well-designed experiential learning processes become in treatment. Dr. Yapko’s latest book, Mindfulness and Hypnosis: The Power of Suggestion to Transform Experience, as well as his recent books, Depression is Contagious and Hypnosis and Treating Depression, break new ground and challenge much of the conventional wisdom therapists typically hold about depression and its treatment. Providing experiential learning opportunities in therapy has been shown to improve both the rate and quality of recovery from depression.

In recent years, forms of meditation that have their origins in eastern Buddhist traditions that have collectively come to be called “mindfulness” have been applied to a variety of clinical problems, especially depression, where they have successfully demonstrated the therapeutic value of teaching people ways to direct and intensify their quality of focus. Clinical hypnosis has also paid a great deal of attention to the merits of focusing as well as to the ways unconscious resources can be accessed and mobilized in order to empower people. Neither mindfulness or hypnosis are therapies in their own right, of course, but their capacity for improving the quality of people’s lives has received substantial empirical support as a class of meaningful interventions, particularly when embedded in a substantive therapeutic framework.

This web conference describes principles of clinical hypnosis and mindfulness as they apply to a goal-oriented treatment process which emphasizes experiential learning. This is NOT a presentation about spiritual exploration or using standard (i.e. scripted) mindful meditations or hypnosis sessions for personal growth. The focus is entirely on clinical applications of key aspects of these overlapping approaches by deconstructing them, identifying their therapeutically relevant components, and constructing meaningful interventions by incorporating them in novel ways. Dr. Yapko’s perspective and course content is shaped by his expertise in suggestion, information processing, and therapeutic applications of dissociation and association in treatment.

Mindfulness and hypnosis have much to offer a person in therapy who is depressed and anxious and in need of a means to build a life-enhancing focus. During this presentation, mindful and hypnotic interventions aimed at easing different facets of personal and clinical difficulties will be considered and described in short case examples. A primary goal of the presentation is to encourage a greater awareness of and sensitivity to the personal and interpersonal dynamics that make such interventions meaningful to people.

This Web Conference is designed to help clinicians:

1. Recognize the power of focus and the role of suggestion inherent in any type of experiential therapy;
2. Identify core components of mindfulness and hypnosis to increase client responsiveness and enhance treatment efficacy;
3. Identify specific cognitive patterns influencing treatment, especially expectancy responsiveness to experiential processes such as mindfulness and hypnosis;
4. Identify the role of dissociation in experiential processes;
5. List ways hypnosis and mindfulness can be used as a means of enhancing emotional self-regulation and self-efficacy.

If you have any questions about this Web Conference or would like more information, please contact us here.

Continuing Education (CE) Information

1.5 CE credits will be provided by GoodTherapy.org for attending this web conference in its entirety.

GoodTherapy.org is also an Approved Education Provider by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #135463). Of the eight counselor skill groups ascribed to by NAADAC, this course is classified within counseling services.

GoodTherapy.org is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements.

GoodTherapy.org is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. GoodTherapy.org maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

GoodTherapy.org, SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0395.

To receive CE credit hours for an archived event, you will need to complete a survey as well as a 12 or 15-question exam, verifying that you listened to or watched the event in its entirety. Archived CE events generally are considered "homestudy" by licensing boards.

Registration Information

Premium and Pro Membership with GoodTherapy includes access to this web conference at no additional cost, as well as other member benefits such as a profile listing in GoodTherapy's Therapist Directory. Not yet a member? Sign up for a Premium or Pro Membership, here.

Just want CE credits? Sign up for a monthly or annual CE Subscription with GoodTherapy to get unlimited access to our CE Program, including this event, other live CE web conferences, and hundreds of hours of homestudy courses.

Mental health professionals who are not members can attend this live web conference for $30.95 or access the homestudy recording for $15.50. Sign up here to purchase this CE course and earn a CE certificate.

If the event is canceled by GoodTherapy, registrants who purchased the event will be notified and the charge for the event will be refunded

If you have any questions or would like information regarding disability accommodations, please contact us.

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