An Autoethnographic Exploration of Hypnotherapeutic Experience
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Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks Department of Family Therapy Dissertations CAHSS Theses, Dissertations, and Applied and Applied Clinical Projects Clinical Projects 2018 An Autoethnographic Exploration of Hypnotherapeutic Experience Jimena Castro [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dft_etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Jimena Castro. 2018. An Autoethnographic Exploration of Hypnotherapeutic Experience. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences – Department of Family Therapy. (27) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dft_etd/27. This Dissertation is brought to you by the CAHSS Theses, Dissertations, and Applied Clinical Projects at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Autoethnographic Exploration of Hypnotherapeutic Experience by Jimena Castro A Dissertation Presented to the College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Nova Southeastern University 2018 Copyright by Jimena Castro June 2018 Acknowledgments This project has deepened and widened my understanding of the nature of collaborative work. I would like to express my gratitude to the people who directly contributed to it and to the people who have loved, inspired, and supported me throughout my life. Thanks to every one of you from the bottom of my heart. My dissertation chair and committee members have been instrumental in shaping and supporting this project. Dr. Flemons’s embodiment of relational ideas and epistemological congruency has been a source of inspiration. I’m deeply grateful for his ideas, insights, edits, and empathic understanding throughout the process of preparing and writing this dissertation, and also for his mentorship throughout the years I was in the Master’s and Ph. D. programs at NSU. Thank you Dr. Flemons for being so generous with your time and commitment, and for eliciting in me the ability to believe that I could accomplish this. Your way of encountering me with recognition has dispelled many doubts along the way. Thank you Dr. Shelley Green for supporting this project from the beginning, for your questions to help me focus the idea, and for bringing your sensitive voice and concerns regarding the vulnerability issues of autoethnographic work. Thank you Dr. Jerry Gale for agreeing to be part of this study, for your comments, valuable suggestions, and tough questions that helped me reposition myself vis-à-vis my study. To Dr. Eric Greenleaf, my most sincere appreciation. Without you, this study would not have been possible. I enjoyed very much our session and conversation. The experience has stayed with me. To Carolyn Ellis, I am thankful for the conversation I had with you before I started this project. It gave me the courage to pursue it. To the professors who were part of my journey throughout the doctoral program, Christine, iv Martha, Chris, Jim, Ron, Jill, Fariha, Arlene, and Tommie, I also want to express my gratitude and let you know that I have learned so much from each of you. It has been a pleasure for me to be part of this amazing community. To my colleagues, it was a delight and an inspiration to share with all of you thoughtful conversations during our time in the program. To my clients, thank you for allowing me to work and learn with and from you. To my dear husband, Santiago, thank you for being supportive in so many ways. Your love has kept me going. My relationship with you has been a fertile ground for growing and expanding, and it has also been a safe haven for collecting myself whenever I needed to. To my dear son, Shanti, thank you for your sweetness and love. Your presence and sparkling comments are always an invitation to be better. I love you so much. To my father, thank you for indulging me with interesting and inspiring conversations since I was a child and for loving and supporting me. To my mother, thank you for being so unconditionally loving. To my brother Alvaro, thank you for being there for me, for your beautiful daughter, and for helping me develop communication skills. To my brother Adriano, your presence has made everyone grow, you sweet and loving being. To my in-laws, thank you for your love and presence in my life. To my spiritual teacher, SCS, I love you and always have your teachings grounded in my heart. To my dear friend D, thank you for the years we were able to walk together. And to all my extended family and friends in South Florida and abroad, thank you for your love and support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….…iv Abstract………………………………………………………………………….......xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………….....1 Research and Researcher Background……………………………………….1 The Refinement of my Research Question………………………………......4 Brief Background Regarding my Anxiety…………………………………. .9 Why Hypnotherapy?...................................................................................... 11 Autoethnography: A Mind-Body Approach to Researching a Mind-Body Approach to Psychotherapy………………………………………………... 11 Limitations and Possible Benefits………………………………………….. 14 Overview of Chapters…………………………………………………….... 15 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE………………..…………....17 The Work of Dr. Eric Greenleaf…………………………………………… 17 Hypnotherapy………………………………………………………. 18 Utilization, a Permissive Approach to Hypnosis……………...…… 18 The Unconscious is the Unsayable………………………………… 20 Communication with the Unconscious: Hypnosis and the Use of Metaphors……………………………………………………….......21 Active Imagination…………………………………………………. 21 Some Ericksonian Definitions……………………………………………... 22 Hypnosis and Trance………………………………………………. 22 vi Hypnotherapy………………………………………………………. 24 Core Elements in an Ericksonian Approach……………………………….. 25 Treating Hypnosis as Interrelational……………………………….. 27 The Concept of Interpersonal Responsiveness in Hypnosis...28 The Cooperative Aspect of the Hypnotic Relationship……. 29 The One-Mindness of the Hypnotic Relationship…………. 30 Respecting Client’s Uniqueness…………………………………… 31 Structuring the Process for Clients to Discover an Answer from Within………………………………………………… 32 Generating Intraventions and Creating Relational Freedom..33 Fostering Generative Autonomy……………………............34 Appreciating the Role of the Unconscious in Change……….……..37 Using Multilevel Communication—Emphasis on Indirection……...41 Evocative Communication………………………………….44 Embedded Metaphors………………………………………45 Indirect Communication…………........................................46 Committing to Utilization…………………………………….......... 47 Contrasting Ericksonian with Traditional Views of Hypnosis……….......... 50 Traditional and Current Views of Hypnosis……………………………….. 53 Altered-State Perspective…………………………………………. 55 Sociocognitive or Social-Psychological Perspectives……………....58 Interactive-Phenomenological, Integrationist, and Neurophysiological Perspectives…………………………………... 60 vii Empirical Research on Hypnosis………………………………….………..63 Clinical Research………………………………………………...…65 Empirical Research on Ericksonian Hypnosis……………………...66 Phenomenological Research on Hypnosis…………………………….……69 Focus on the Subjects’ Experience………...………………….……70 Focus on the Hypnotist or Psychologist’s Experience……………...72 Focus on the Interaction between the Hypnotist and the Subject….. 74 Seeking Narrative Explanations of Hypnosis……………………………….77 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS……………….………...80 Autoethnography…………………………………………………………… 80 Theoretical Influences in Autoethnography………………………………... 81 Autoethnography—Culture as Context……………………………………. 83 Self of the Autoethnographer………………………………………………. 84 Methods……………………………………………………………………. 87 Research Participants………………………………………………………. 87 Setting Up the Context…………………………………………………...…88 An Autoethnographic Approach to Interpersonal Process Recall………….89 Interview Guidelines………………………………………………..96 Briefing about the Interview………………………………..96 Approaching Questions …………………………………….97 Understanding the Role of Participants…………………….97 Collecting Additional Autoethnographic Data……………………………..98 Data Processing……………………………………………………………..98 viii Data Analysis……………………………………………………………….99 Evaluating Autoethnography……………………………………………...100 Generalizability as Resonance…………………………………….102 Validity as Verisimilitude………………………………………....102 Reliability as Credibility…………………………………………..103 Relational Ethics…………………………………………………………..105 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS.....................................................................108 Context Setting……………………………………………………………111 Setting the Mood………………………………………………………….114 Holon One: Imagining and Embodying a Desired End…………….……..116 Holon Two: Casually Constructing a Resourceful Identity………………123 Eliciting a Shift in Self-Evaluation—Discovering that I am Just Right!........................................................................................124 An Invitation to Own my Local Knowledge—I am a Self-Sufficient Traveler ……………………………..…………....128 Holon Three: Embracing the Complexities of Family Relationships…….133 Holon Four: Dancing with and Embracing Polarities…………………….140 Embracing Polarities…………………………...…………………146 Holon Five: Engaging with the Ineffable…………………………………156 Recontextualizing Dissociative Experiences as Trance ……….....157 Encouraging Trance