ABSTRACT
Hypnosis skills have several characteristics that make them uniquely suited to the care of traumatized individuals. Trauma is a universal embodied experience that disrupts our development. Trance, if defined as a process of “going plastic”, is hardwired in all of us. It initiates as the orienting response (often to danger or trauma) that alerts our survival instincts. It can be evoked with hypnosis skills, in a bidirectional manner between the brain and the rest of the body, with the purpose of shifting autonomic balance, improving self-regulation, and increasing a resilient response to traumatic events. The therapeutic communication of the hypnosis skill set is uniquely equipped to positively address the shared trauma characteristics of “going plastic”, experiencing dissociative phenomenon, being in shock, and being entranced. The carefully worded suggestions of hypnotic practice employed to increase calm, safety, agency, change perceptions, meaning, and engage the array of embodied mind processes allow those in our care to recover and heal from trauma.
Like mythological Janus’ two faces, trauma is explored looking backward at the history of foundational concepts and forward to the promise of neurobiological research to better understand the mechanisms for resolving traumatic symptoms.
