ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a relational theory of mind, self, and clinical hypnosis. In contrast to a psychoanalytic depiction of relational hypnosis, the approach developed here draws not from Freud but, rather, from Gregory Bateson's conceptions of communication and mind; from observations and findings in neuroscience and the field of embodied cognition; and from mind-body practices such as mindfulness meditation. The theory defines hypnosis as a context and method for facilitating flow experience and avolitional agency. Clinical hypnosis is characterized by interpersonal and intrapersonal attunement and entrainment, along with concomitant alterations in the defining boundaries of the client's circumscribed sense of self. These changes facilitate avolitional shifts in the client's orientation to their problem and/or in the contributing strands of their symptomatic experience. The chapter defines key terms and illustrates relevant ideas and processes of both hypnotic and hypnotherapeutic change.
