Abstract
This paper explains that the phenomenon of hypnosis is a naturally occurring talent, capacity, and skill that some practitioners suggest exists in nearly 90% of the population. Erickson's concept of and utilization of indirect suggestion is described and critiqued as an approach consistent with the separation/individuation issues confronting contemporary young adults. Hypnotherapy is recommended as a highly effective tool in a society suffering from severe alienation and lack of identity. Hypnosis is compared and contrasted with Cousin's discussion of placebo utilization in medicine. Hypnosis, akin to the placebo, is recognized as “giving the doctor who resides within each patient a change to go to work.”
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Pollens, M.S. Hypnosis for young adults: Freeing “the doctor who resides within”. J Contemp Psychother 12, 125–136 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00946188
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00946188