ABSTRACT
The ecological model of hypnotherapy describes how the basic emotional needs are accommodated and conflicts between them are resolved due to inherent features of the hypnotherapeutic setting. For therapeutic changes to be ecologically sound, they should foster the homeostasis of the basic emotional needs for feelings of autonomy, relatedness, competence, and orientation. Based on the ecological model, structural dimensions of hypnotherapy may be defined, describing essential decisions that must be made during the hypnotherapeutic process. The structural dimensions are hierarchical, providing a model for planning, shaping, and reflecting and supervising the hypnotherapeutic process and all significant decisions that are involved: The basic decisions about appropriate therapy goals and hypnotherapeutic approaches inform subsequent choices regarding the purpose of a specific session and its trancework.
