MINDFULNESS-BASED HYPNOTHERAPY FOR COMMON

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
Mindfulness is an essential element of Buddhist meditative practices. It is
proposed that mindfulness, the radical and unmitigated attention to pleasant as
well as unpleasant experiences, is the means of counteracting experiential
avoidance and alleviating human suffering.
Hypnosis is a state of a state of increased suggestibility with constriction
of peripheral awareness and increased focal concentration on task at hand. Thus
hypnosis can be used to reprogram the subconscious mind.
There are some similarities between hypnosis and mindfulness, such a be
used as a psychological process that can produce outcomes, begin with attempts to
relax and training the mind; can reduce anxiety and autonomic arousal, be a
means to promoting positive personal growth, etc.
Mindfulness is a skill which allows one to be less reactive, helps one to
not get entangled in past/future, focuses ones attention to the task at hand, helps
one to be non judgmental and develop acceptance towards things just as they are.
The leading approaches are as follows is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive
Therapy (MBCT), and Mindfulness Based Hypnotherapy (MBH) by Michael
Yapko.
There are two parts of MBH is mindfulness-based part (consist of
observation without evaluation and progress) and hypnotherapeutic part (consist
of expansion of awareness, relaxation training under hypnosis, and use of posthypnotic suggestions. MBH has many segments such as assessment, awareness of
body, awareness of mind, befriending the unpleasant experience, befriending
oneself, and relapse prevention.
Mindfulness Based Hypnotherapy (MBH) can be applied for common
psychological disorders, they are:
1. For depressive disorders : The individual is taught that thoughts are not
facts but just thoughts! Thus he/she is not always experiencing depressed
mood.

2. For anxiety disorders : The individual is taught to be less identified with the
thoughts and simply noticing the event, as it is occurring, with a sense of
acceptance.
3. For chronic pain : The individual is made aware of the role their cognitions
and emotions play in pain. Hypnotic suggestions are given to the individual
to help increase his tolerance to chronic pain.
4. For substance use disorders : Hypnosis helps by creating motivation
through suggestions, changing the meaning the substance has to the
individual and mindfulness helps the individual to become more aware of
his urges/cravings without identifying with them and reacting in automatic
habitual manner.
In conclusion, our review indicates that mindfulness based hypnotherapy
has promise in the treatment of a variety of psychological disorders.