Hypnosis as a Tool for Facilitating Change in Short-Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: On Alloying the Gold of Analysis with the Copper of Suggestion

This chapter explores how and when hypnosis can be used to facilitate therapeutic change within the framework of short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Hypnosis is a therapeutic tool that can contribute to effective treatment outcome when used in the context of short-term models of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. When used sparingly and judiciously, hypnosis can help patient and therapist resolve impasses in diagnosis and treatment. Freud (1981) first proposed that the benefits of psychoanalysis could be extended if: “The pure gold of analysis [might be] freely alloyed with the copper of direct suggestion” (p. 168).