ASMW Schedule

Session Description:

A core element of psychotherapies promoting resilience, with or without hypnosis, is empowering people to gradually shift from focusing on the painful, unchangeable past to instead focusing on the future’s positive potentials. Future orientation is more than just a philosophical or theoretical preference. In fact, it has been associated with some of the most fundamental factors shaping clinical practice, especially an individual’s treatment response. In this plenary address, then, we will consider some of the many facets of future orientation and some of the ways we can effectively promote resilience by encouraging a future focus in hypnotic psychotherapy.

Faculty Bio: Michael Yapko, Ph.D.

Yapko is a clinical psychologist residing near San Diego, CA. Michael is the author of 16 books, including the leading hypnosis text, Trancework: An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis (5th ed.) as well as The Discriminating Therapist and his newest book, Process-Oriented Hypnosis. Michael conducts intensive hypnosis training programs around the world, having been invited to teach in more than 30 countries across six continents. He is a Fellow of ASCH and has received lifetime achievement awards from The International Society of Hypnosis, the American Psychological Association (Div. 30), and The Milton H. Erickson Foundation.

Session Description:

Participants have accessible dream experiences that may be explored like normally occurring night dreams. Following imagery induction, the experience is unbounded by waking realities—“Encounter anything, in any place, at any age and enjoy extraordinary skills, like flying.” Dreams occur during suggested naps or simply by recognizing the unlimited hypnotically imagined world. On waking, participants report experiences. Commenting briefly on each, we work more deeply with several, “Carrying the Dream Forward” to a resolution that may include cognitive understanding of dream symbols. After a brief discussion of dreams and commonalities with—and differences from—hypnotic states, continue with demonstration, end with Q&A.

Faculty Bio: Jeff Sugar, MD

Sugar, a Child Psychiatrist, has used clinical hypnosis with adults and children for 30+ years in public non-profit, academic, and private settings. He learned hypnosis at UCLA with Jean Holroyd, John Hedenberg,  and Joseph Barber, then with Ernest Rossi, child hypnosis with Lonnie Zeltzer, Karen Olness, and Dan Kohen, and hypnosis research methods with Ken Bowers and John Kihlstrom. He has taught hypnosis to trainees at the University of Southern California, and presented work at national and international conferences and invited presentations. Since age 18, he has studied dreams and he has employed dreams clinically with adults and children.

Session Description:

This workshop will teach and demonstrate how scientific concepts in the area of dissociation, neurophysiology, and social psychology can be used to enhance the effectiveness of hypnotic inductions, and well as the impact of suggestions. The presenter will rotate through providing theoretic concepts through PowerPoint presentation, demonstrating the language of inductions and suggestions based on those concepts, and then creating dyadic or group practice of the principles. We will focus on crafting suggestions to enhance coping and resilience.

Faculty Bio:  David Patterson, Ph.D., ABPH

Patterson is a psychologist from the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he has practiced hypnosis in clinical and hypnosis for over 30 years. He began his career approaching acute pain on the burn unit and has evolved to the area of chronic pain management. His first grant from NIH was in 1989 and that line of funding lasted for 30 years. David continues to have a passion for eastern philosophy and Zen-Buddism for addressing pain and suffering. He has 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals and chapters relevant to hypnosis, pain control, and adjustment to trauma. He published Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control with the American Psychological Association in 2010.

Session Description:

Skin and skin disorders have spiritual and religious dimensions often associated with altered states of consciousness experiences since antiquity. The skin is a major sense organ and also expresses emotions detectable by others. How much skin is covered, scalp and beard hair cutting and styling, skin and nail and hair coloring and decorating, tattooing, and intentional scarring of skin continue to have a spiritual and religious significance, often derived originally from visions or another altered state of consciousness experiences. Persons with visible skin disorders have often been stigmatized. Building resilience through spiritual and religious interactions with various skin disorders is discussed.

Faculty Bio: Philip Shenefelt, MD, ABMH

Shenefelt is a retired professor of dermatology, University of South Florida, ASCH Fellow, Approved Consultant, Past President, deep interest in spiritual and religious influences on the healing of skin disorders other health issues.

Session Description:

Trauma is a word that fosters many associations and has multiple meanings. This workshop focuses on the relationship between trauma as an experience that involves a derailing of the primary function of memory: the capacity to encode experience to aid in the prediction of our unlived future. Past supplants present and presupposes the future. Going beyond trauma as a cycle of recalling and reliving past experience, the workshop will delve into evolutionarily adaptive, integrative, and disintegrative brain faculties, embodied memory processes, and how hypnotic portals provide access to these inborn functions to facilitate trauma "re-solutioning."

Faculty Bio: David Alter, Ph.D., ABPP, ABPH

Alter is a clinical psychologist with advanced training as a health psychologist and neuropsychologist. His interests, developed over 35 years of clinical practice, involve the intersection of mind, brain, body, and our social nature. He is a published author of award-winning books and scientific articles. Known as an engaging and accessible teacher who leaves participants with practical and accessible tools to enhance and enrich their clinical practices, Dr. Alter's workshops draw on evolutionary neurobiology, research into consciousness and intentional awareness, social learning, and ancient wisdom.

Session Description

Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is associated with histories of prolonged trauma, abuse, and neglect and is considered a form of developmental trauma. Such Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders include disturbances of self-organization that overlap with attachment deficits and pathologies requiring specialized interventions to modify. This program will review the nature of the unrepressed unconscious, related memory systems, and the use of clinical hypnosis to facilitate relevant change. 

Polyvagal strategies to optimize neurophysiological substrate for trauma stabilization and attachment repair will be reviewed.  Examples of specific interventions and management of potential issues that may emerge as the process unfolds will be addressed. 

Faculty Bio: Louis Damis, Ph.D., ABPP

Damis is a Diplomate with the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Health Psychology, the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance, and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He is a licensed psychologist who holds ASCH Certification in Clinical Hypnosis with Consultant Status. Dr. Damis is a Past President of the Florida and Washington DC Societies of Clinical Hypnosis and has taught hypnosis for over 25 years for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Florida Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

Session Description:

Functional neurological disorders include a range of prevalent poorly understood conditions often dismissed or inappropriately treated as psychogenic. This workshop will review the range of conditions that comprise functional neurological disorders, common misconceptions, diagnostic indicators, and a biopsychosocial conceptual model that includes predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors.  Treatment approaches will be reviewed, including hypnotic strategies congruent with the currently most widely accepted explanatory metaphor, “It’s a problem with the software, not the hardware in the brain”.  Effective suggestions often involve “turning down or turning off” current programs, enabling “reprogramming” to occur through accessing prior positive experiential learning.

Faculty Bio: Jeffrey Feldman, Ph.D

Feldman earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University and interned at NYU Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital.  In 1980 he helped found the NY Milton H. Erickson Society for Psychotherapy and Hypnosis. Jeff is an Associate Professor in the Section of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, and Associate Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  Jeff has served as Co-Chair of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health’s Clinical Working Group and Co-Chaired the 2018 International Congress for Integrative Medicine and Health.

Session Description

Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is associated with histories of prolonged trauma, abuse, and neglect and is considered a form of developmental trauma. Such Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders include disturbances of self-organization that overlap with attachment deficits and pathologies requiring specialized interventions to modify. This program will review the nature of the unrepressed unconscious, related memory systems, and the use of clinical hypnosis to facilitate relevant change. 

Polyvagal strategies to optimize neurophysiological substrate for trauma stabilization and attachment repair will be reviewed.  Examples of specific interventions and management of potential issues that may emerge as the process unfolds will be addressed. 

Faculty Bio: Louis Damis, Ph.D., ABPP

Damis is a Diplomate with the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Health Psychology, the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance, and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He is a licensed psychologist who holds ASCH Certification in Clinical Hypnosis with Consultant Status. Dr. Damis is a Past President of the Florida and Washington DC Societies of Clinical Hypnosis and has taught hypnosis for over 25 years for the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Florida Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

Session Description:

Participants will be introduced to various rapid and instantaneous hypnotic inductions which can be modified for any healthcare profession, in any context, but will be of greatest value to hands-on healthcare providers. Mental health practitioners may wish to take advantage of an opportunity to practice inductions that they would rarely use in practice. Participants will acquire an understanding of the prerequisites and the mechanics through didactic presentation and small group practice. 

Session Bio: Gabor Filo, DDS, ABHD

Filo graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry in 1984. Since then, he has been an ardent and passionate proponent of dental hypnosis. During the last two decades, he has proselytized to fellow dentists at many of the major North American dental conferences. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Hypnosis in Dentistry, a Fellow of the ASCH, and an Honourary member of the Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis – Ontario Division and the Hungarian Association of Hypnosis.  He has belonged to the major hypnosis societies, participating organizationally and as faculty, both nationally and internationally. He has authored articles, chapters, and a DVD on Rapid Hypnosis. His private practice emphasizes the non-pharmacological treatment of dental anxiety and phobia. 

Session Description:

This workshop will provide a brief overview of advanced interactions with the subconscious including ideomotor signaling, arm strength testing, automatic writing, automatic talking, and automatic word processing. The main part of the workshop will focus on experiential learning by practicing how to interact with the subconscious effectively including how to formulate questions for the subconscious in a permissive, non-leading manner, how to interpret and respond to its answers, and how to formulate suggestions when interacting directly with the subconscious. After the session attendees will be able to immediately apply the tools demonstrated in the workshop to their clinical practice.

Faculty Bio: Ran Anbar, MD, FAAP

Anbar is board certified in both pediatric pulmonology and general pediatrics.  He offers pediatric hypnosis and counseling services through Center Point Medicine in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Anbar is a past president, fellow, and approved consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Anbar served as a professor of pediatrics and medicine and the director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, for 21 years. He is a published author of more than 80 articles, abstracts, and book chapters on pediatric functional disorders and pediatric hypnosis. Graduating from the University of California-San Diego with undergraduate degrees in biology and psychology, Dr. Anbar earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency and pediatric pulmonary fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. Dr. Anbar received training in hypnosis from the Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

Session Description:

Moving hypnotic practice from the formal and traditional ritual of induction-intensification-suggestion-re-alerting into a conversational framework can increase accessibility, efficiency, and effectiveness. The interactive volleys of hypnotic conversations allow for the cultivation of experiential resources. But how do we translate the formal ritual into the nonlinear conversation? In this workshop, we will draw on the teachings of Milton H. Erickson, Ernest L. Rossi, and others to explore and practice the form, principles, and foundational skills of conversational hypnosis. Video, demonstration, and experiential learning will reinforce the concepts. Come and enjoy having weird and creative conversations.

Faculty Bio: Laurence Sugarman, MD, ABHM

Sugarman is Research Professor/Director at the Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-regulation at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, and behavioral pediatrician in private practice at the Golisano Autism Center in Rochester, NY. Dr. Sugarman’s publications include the acclaimed video documentary, Hypnosis in Pediatric Practice: Imaginative Medicine in Action, Therapeutic Hypnosis with Children and Adolescents (with William Wester), and Changing Minds with Clinical Hypnosis (with Julie Linden and Lee Brooks) and many papers and book chapters on creatively integrating therapeutic hypnosis into health and care.

Session Description:

Although clinical hypnosis can be a powerful tool in empowering individuals to address chronic pain, it is often most helpful as a part of a comprehensive approach to care.  The presenters, pain psychologists using clinical hypnosis in the Veterans Health Administration, will offer a model of integrated care for Veterans with chronic pain based in the VHA’s Whole Health approach.  Incorporating mind, body, and spirit into the care of Veterans with chronic pain recognizes how their lives can be fulfilling despite the pain.  Participants will practice several techniques that they might incorporate in their own work to support individuals with chronic pain.

Faculty Bios: 

John Hall, Ph.D., ABPP

Hall works as Emeritus LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator and a health psychologist in a Whole Health pain program with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in Charlotte, NC.  He is one of three Subject Matter Experts in clinical hypnosis for the VHA's national rollout.  He is treasurer of ASCH and a board member and continuing education lead of the NCSCH.  He is also Zoom host for the popular Hypnotic Idea Exchange, a joint venture of several ASCH component sections.

Christina L. Vair, PhD

Session Description:

Mindfulness/Meditation has received much attention among clinicians, especially those who are trained in clinical hypnosis.  This presentation will introduce basic tenets and applications of Mindfulness-Based Phase-Oriented Trauma Therapy (MB-POTT), a 4-step approach developed to treat PTSD (Otani, 2020).  The participant will also learn various forms of trauma (i.e, direct, indirect, perpetration-induced, moral injury) and their relevance in the context of contemporary society (e.g, pandemic, global warming, social disparity, etc.). The presentation is relevant to physicians, nurses, mental health practitioners, and social workers. No prior knowledge in mindfulness/meditation is required.

Faculty Bio:  Akira Otani, EdD, ABPH

Otani is a psychologist in private practice in Annapolis, MD.  He was on the graduate faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and senior staff psychologist at the University of Maryland at College Park Counseling Center.  He spend 4 months in Japan to study Buddhist meditation in 2016.  He published 9 books (all in Japanese) and more than 60 journal articles (both in English and Japanese).

Session Description:

In this didactic and experiential workshop, the participants will be offered the basic theories and protocols regarding the application of Past Life Regression Therapy. The use of ideomotor signaling both in the form of Chevreul’s Pendulum and Muscle Testing will also be offered. Participants will be afforded the opportunity the ideomotor signaling and Past Life Regression work. The workshop will conclude with a Q & A and processing segment.

Faculty Bios: Paul Schenk, Psy.D.

Schenk has been in practice as a clinical psychologist since 1978. An Approved Consultant with ASCH for many years, he is the author of two books and co-author of numerous journal articles that stemmed from his large MMPI-2 outpatient research study back in the 1990s and has written for lay audiences in publications such as Family Circle. Past-life Regression Therapy has been part of his work since 1987. His journal articles have appeared in AJCH and AJCEH, and his book on the topic was released in 2006 by Crown House Publishing.

Philip L. Accaria, Ph.D.

Dr. Philip L. Accaria has been practicing in the field of mental health since 1976 and has been utilizing clinical hypnosis since 1986. He is a Past President of ASCH and Past Chair/Moderator of its Board of Governors. He is also specialized in Indigenous/Shamanic Energy Medicine practices which utilize the clinician’s trance state and intuitively access information in the service of clients. Dr. Accaria has been practicing Past-Life Regression Therapy and teaching ideomotor signaling methodologies since 1992. He and Dr. Philip Appel have presented the “Gathering of Healers” since 2005 which incorporates energy medicine principles into clinical hypnosis practices.

Session Description:

The seminar will instruct attendees on the importance of having a working knowledge of the theories behind several commonly used techniques in clinical practice. Age regression, anchoring, ideo-motor signaling, and post-hypnotic suggestion will be addressed and used to expand the attendees' use and effectiveness of these techniques. Exploring how to modify and fit the technique to the history and current needs of the patient will be covered as well. The assumptions that underly each technique will be explored and several possible adaptations for each technique will be used in interactive practice.

Faculty Bio: Robert Phillips, Ph.D.

Phillips is a licensed Psychologist in South Carolina and North Carolina, who has been using hypnosis in his clinical practice for 42 years. He has attended approximately 35 annual ASCH conferences and many other hypnosis-related training programs. He has held the position of Secretary and President of the Georgia Hypnosis Society and is an Approved Consultant.

Session Description

The HypnoScience Project in Zurich, Switzerland, set out to find out, using a multimodal approach using fMRI, MRS, and EEG, if it is possible to prove scientifically the existence of different states of hypnosis. 50 individuals went through fMRI, MRS, and then EEG. The amount of data (150 sets) that were accumulated do suggest that different levels of hypnosis exist. Are there identifiable neural networks? The HypnoScience Project in Zurich, Switzerland, set out to find out, using a multimodal approach using fMRI, MRS, and EEG, if it is possible to prove scientifically the existence of different states of hypnosis. 50 individuals went through fMRI, MRS, and then EEG. The amount of data (150 sets) that were accumulated do suggest that different levels of hypnosis exist. Are there identifiable neural networks? What was the approach used to the project, what were some of the obstacles, and how were they solved. What are the surprising findings?

Faculty Bio: Hansruedi Wipf

Wipf is married, grew up in Switzerland, Brazil, and the USA speaks five languages, and has a BA in PolSci from Emory University, Atlanta, GA. He is the president of Hypnose.NET GmbH in Switzerland, a member of the board of the Swiss Association of Professional Hypnotherapists (sbvh.org), and the founder of the Hypno.Science project in cooperation with scientists from the University of Zurich/Switzerland. Hansruedi is teaching hypnotherapy, has his own center in Switzerland, has written four best-selling books on hypnosis, and is an expert consultant for the Kusnacht Addiction clinic in Switzerland.

Session Description:

In this 180 minute workshop, four clinical hypnotherapists with extensive backgrounds working with Veterans, three from across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), one of whom is also a veteran, and one who works with Veterans from the community, will present information on modern veterans, the clinical problems they face, and the modern VHA that combine to make clinical hypnosis a particularly useful tool for this population.  Based on decades of leadership within the VHA and clinical work with modern Veterans, specific examples of potential inductions and metaphors that might serve as suggestions will be offered as well.

Faculty Bios: 

John Hall, Ph.D., ABPP                 

Hall works as Emeritus LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator and a health psychologist in a Whole Health pain program with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in Charlotte, NC.  He is one of three Subject Matter Experts in clinical hypnosis for the VHA's national rollout.  He is treasurer of ASCH and a board member and continuing education lead of the NCSCH.  He is also Zoom host for the popular Hypnotic Idea Exchange, a joint venture of several ASCH component sections.

David Gaffney, LCSW

Dave Gaffney, MSW, BCCH, EFT-Adv, has been practicing hypnosis since the 1970s and providing clinical hypnosis for over 35 years.  He currently works as Clinical Social Worker at the Aleda E. Lutz VAMC in Saginaw, Michigan, providing psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and biofeedback in the MH Integrated Pain Clinic.  He serves as national VA Subject Matter Expert for Hypnosis, Biofeedback, and Guided Imagery and works for the VA Integrative Health Coordinating Center as the National Champion for Hypnosis and Guided Imagery and Biofeedback.

William "Bill" Hayes, LCSW

TBD

Courtney Armstrong, LPC

Armstrong is a licensed professional counselor and Board Certified Fellow in Clinical Hypnotherapy who specializes in resilience-focused treatment for grief and trauma survivors. Inspired by mentors such as Bill O'Hanlon and Michael Yapko, she is the founder of the Institute for Trauma-Informed Hypnotherapy and has developed clinical hypnosis training programs for the United States Veterans Administration. Known for her ability to translate scientific research into practical treatment strategies, she is the author of Transforming Traumatic Grief, The Therapeutic "Aha!" and Rethinking Trauma Treatment: Attachment, Memory Reconsolidation, and Resilience.

Session Description:

This plenary session will discuss how scientific concepts in the area of dissociation, neurophysiology, and social psychology can be used to enhance the effectiveness of hypnotic inductions, and well as the impact of suggestions. The history and science behind each of these concepts will be discussed, as well as how they relate to hypnosis. The presenter will then describe how these concepts can drive the choice of language used in inductions and suggestions, and demonstrate how they can enhance coping and reliance on patients.

Faculty Bio: David Patterson, Ph.D., ABPH

Patterson is a psychologist from the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he has practiced hypnosis in clinical and hypnosis for over 30 years. He began his career approaching acute pain on the burn unit and has evolved to the area of chronic pain management. His first grant from NIH was in 1989 and that line of funding lasted for 30 years. David continues to have a passion for eastern philosophy and Zen-Buddism for addressing pain and suffering. He has 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals and chapters relevant to hypnosis, pain control, and adjustment to trauma. He published Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Control with the American Psychological Association in 2010.