Abstract
A single manualized abreactive hypnosis session (5-6 hours) based on Ego State Theory (EST) was recently subjected to two placebo-controlled investigations meeting evidence-based criteria. Thirty-six patients in study #1 and 30 patients in study #2 who met PTSD criteria were exposed to either 5-6 hours of a manualized treatment or a placebo in a single session. Abreactive hypnosis emphasized hypnotically activated “reliving” of the trauma experience to physical and psychological exhaustion. In study #1 hypnosis and control group’s reduced PTSD checklist (PCL) scores immediately post treatment (placebo PCL score mean reduction 17. 34 and EST treatment PCL mean reduction 53.11). However, only the hypnosis patients maintained significant treatment effects at followups. Study #2 used the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), Beck Depression II (BDI – II), and Beck Anxiety Scales (BAI). Only the hypnosis group showed significant positive effects from pretreatment to all post treatment measurement periods. Abreactive EST was shown to be a highly effective and durable treatment for PTSD. Apparently, EST works because it is emotion focused, activates sub-cortical structures, and because the supportive, interpretive therapist reconstructs the patient’s personality to be resilient and adaptive.
Highlights
Abreactive hypnosis, the key component of Ego State Therapy (EST), evolved from a psychodynamic understanding of personality as a product of an individual’s ego states [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Levene’s test for homogeneity of variance was significant at the posttest and 4 week follow-up, p
The placebo groups appeared to show a significant immediate post treatment effects indicating that the placebo conditions functioned as believable treatment conditions
Summary
Abreactive hypnosis, the key component of Ego State Therapy (EST), evolved from a psychodynamic understanding of personality as a product of an individual’s ego states [1,2,3,4,5,6]. As explained in detail elsewhere [4], sensory input triggering a trauma flashback stimulates hormonal secretions and influences the activation of brain regions involved in attention and memory. This discovery sheds light on why conscious control over the patient’s actions is limited [8]. A stimulus associated with the trauma experienced in the past becomes present [8] precluding patients from sufficiently integrating trauma memories into conscious mental frameworks This makes them inaccessible by the top-down (talk about the trauma/reframe) cognitive-processing therapies which focus on only conscious processes in an attempt to impact emotional responses which, at best, lead only to superficial functioning. The patient remains vulnerable to flashbacks and retraumatization [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]
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