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Clinical hypnosis can be used to treat depression

Dr Michael Yapko has, for the last thirty years, specialized in the treatment of depression with clinical hypnosis. In a climate where anti-depressant medication is still physicians' first treatment choice, Dr. Yapko's approach to clinical practice still represents cutting-edge work.

Clinical hypnosis has been directly influenced by the current push for empirically supported treatments, and in recent years substantial high-quality research has assessed the effectiveness of hypnosis and its contribution to improving therapeutic outcome.

There is also a growing body of evidence demonstrating that, when hypnosis is part of the treatment process, it catalyses positive clinical outcomes and generally increases the benefits of established treatments.

"Hypnosis offers a way to conceptualize how human beings construct their individual realities, and how to interact more effectively with others; in clinical hypnosis hypnotic processes are employed as agents of effective communication and change," says Dr. Yapko, who was chosen to write the sections on Treating Depression and Brief Therapy for the Encyclopedia Britannica Medical and Health Annuals. "Our knowledge of depression has greatly improved in recent years, firmly establishing the essential role of psychotherapy in treatment. Whenever psychotherapy is indicated, so are specific identifiable patterns of hypnotic influence, since the two are fundamentally inseparable."

It is estimated that at any one time almost 10% of the UK general population are suffering from depression. Worldwide the figure rises to over 100 million (Paul Gilbert, Overcoming Depression 1997), and the World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2020 depression will be the second most burdensome illness in the world.

Financially, depression costs the British nation more than 8 billion annually; included in this cost is provision of health and medical care, lost production and social security benefits." (Depression Alliance 1999).

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Yapko, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist based in Solana Beach, California. He is internationally recognized for his work in depression and outcome-focused psychotherapy, and has had a special interest spanning nearly a quarter century in the intricacies of brief therapy, the clinical applications of directive methods, and in training therapists to treat the disorder of major depression. He is the author of numerous books, book chapters, and articles on these subjects, including Treating Depression With Hypnosis: Integrating Cognitive-Behavioral and Strategic Approaches; Psychological 911: Depression; Hand-Me-Down Blues: How to Stop Depression From Spreading in Families; Breaking the Patterns of Depression; and Hypnosis and the Treatment of Depressions. Dr. Yapko is a member of the American Psychological Association, a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Dr Yapko is a charismatic and engaging speaker, whose recent London master classes (February 2004) elicited high praise from delegates.

Formal Education
     * Doctoral: Ph.D. in Professional Psychology, Clinical Specialization, United
        States International University, San Diego (1980).
     * Masters: M.A. in Psychology. United States International University, San
        Diego (1978)
     * Bachelors: B.A. in Psychology. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1976).
        Received academic class honors.

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