Hypnosis and Existential Psychotherapy with End-Stage Terminally Ill Patients

Abstract

Existential Psychological Theory was employed as a conceptual and theoretical foundation for the use of hypnotically facilitated therapy in the management of intractable pain, nausea, and vomiting in 3 end-stage, terminally ill cancer patients. The existential principles of death anxiety, existential isolation, and existential meaninglessness were addressed with a combination of classic and Ericksonian techniques. The intractable nature of the presenting physical symptoms was conceptualized as a possible manifestation of the impact of the terminal prognosis. Direct hypnotic suggestions for the management of pain, nausea and vomiting were avoided. It was hypothesized that, as the existential conflicts associated with the patients' terminal status resolved, the physiological symptoms would become responsive to medication. After 6 sessions grounded in the principles of Existential Psychotherapy, the intractable status of the physical symptomatology remitted, and the patients responded to medical management. This paper addresses the usefulness of Existential Psychotherapy in hypnotic interventions for mediating somatic and psychosomatic symptomatology.

Existential Suffering in the Palliative Care Setting: An Integrated Literature Review

“…There is no clear theoretical framework for understanding how existential suffering is treated outside of psychiatric and psychoanalytic approaches. Emerging psychotherapeutic interventions are, for the most part, grounded in meaning-centered psychotherapy, 8,77 cognitive behavioral interventions, 78 hypnotically facilitated therapy, 79 or psychoeducational counseling. 80 Kearney, 81 drawing on experiences of working with dying patients, shows how a psychotherapeutic response to suffering and ''soul pain'' can help people by attending to ''inner'' or ''depth'' work.…”

Classes of Multichannel EEG Microstates in Light and Deep Hypnotic Conditions

“…Hypnosis also is of practical interest because successful treatment of various conditions such as nausea, pain, anxiety, stress and depression can be achieved [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

The new futility? The rhetoric and role of “suffering” in pediatric decision-making

“…14 More clinically-oriented approaches in palliative care identify the resources of psychotherapeutic interventions such as meaning-centered psychotherapy, 15,16 cognitive-behavioral interventions, 17 or hypnotically facilitated therapy. 18 But our response to this type of claim of patient suffering in pediatrics—one that is primarily psychological or spiritual in nature—is complicated by the fact that these are often children who cannot directly communicate about their experiences. For an older child, and certainly for most conscious adults, these tools can be powerful.…”